In a perfect world, none of us would care what we look like, nor what anybody else looks like. We'd all be judged on the merits of our own skills and personalities. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, and so we're all judged to some extent on our appearance.
Because of that, our appearance and self-confidence are strongly linked. When we don't look our best, we don't feel like we can perform to the best of our abilities. That can lead to insecurity and depression, which can make the problem worse as we stop taking care of ourselves.
It's never too late to make positive changes in your life and change the way you look and feel, though. Everybody you'll see on this list hated what they saw every time they looked in the mirror, but then decided to do something about it. Now, they all look fantastic!
Excess weight is a common cause of people feeling negativity towards their appearance. As a society, we've been told that fat people are ugly and unhealthy. That may or may not be true, but losing weight is a common goal for millions of people. That's why dieting is so popular. Most people have tried at least one diet at some point in their lives, but not everyone is as successful at it at this young man!
Through a carefully balanced program of diet and exercise, he was able to shed a massive 100lbs - although we think that some of that weight may have been his hair! It also looks like he decided to give his wardrobe a makeover at the same time. Now he looks like he could be working as a male model. You wouldn't even believe it was the same person if we hadn't told you.
Losing weight and getting into shape isn't easy, and nor should it happen quickly. There are many 'crash' diets which are designed to help you lose weight at a rapid rate, but the weight loss is often unsustainable. No sooner do you finish the diet, you put all the weight back on, and you're back where you started. Losing weight and keeping it off is a long - and sometimes difficult - process, but it's well worth it when you can achieve end results like these.
This mom felt like she was out of shape after having a baby, and decided to get to the gym and push herself harder than she'd ever pushed before. Over a period of two years and three months, she didn't just lose weight - she replaced it with muscle. Now she works as a personal trainer - although she also looks like she could be a professional athlete.
There's a slightly sad tale behind this picture. We don't think this young man looked overweight in his 'before' picture, but apparently, his schoolmates disagreed. He'd put weight on during a difficult time in his life - his parents went through a bad divorce, he temporarily moved in with his grandmother, and he started comfort eating to deal with the situation. That's when the bullying started.
When he left school and moved onto college, he found himself surrounded by more positive people. They didn't want to bully him; they wanted to help him. Before long, he was going to the gym regularly, spurred on by the encouragement of his new friends. He's lighter and happier - and he says he now finds it a lot easier to communicate with people and make confident decisions. To put it another way, he's living his best life!
You'll find that people losing weight is a common theme in this list, but it's not the only one. Some people just needed to make subtle changes to their appearance in order to feel happier with the way they look. Often, a new hairstyle is can dramatically change the way your face looks. A different method of applying makeup can achieve the same thing. This young woman took both routes.
The two pictures were taken four years apart, with the 'before' image showing her as she was when she was 19 years old. Those teen years can be difficult for all of us as we experiment with our style, trying to work out who we really are. She's grown her hair out, highlighted her eyes and lips, and (we think) had a little dental work done as well. This is what the younger generation call 'glowing up!'
When we're young, we go through 'growth spurts,' during which our bodies change significantly. We can quickly grow taller, or gain or lose weight. For many people, this is a difficult and uncomfortable process. For some, it's like going into a chrysalis and emerging as a beautiful butterfly. For this man, it was definitely the latter.
It's hard to believe that there are only two years between these pictures, but he's 19 in the picture on the left, and 21 in the picture of the life. He still has the winning smile in both shots, but everything else has changed in a big way. He's dropped a lot of weight, and he's grown his hair out to the point where it's like a lion's mane, framing his face! We imagine cutting back on pints of full sat soda helped a lot.
It's an awful feeling to be unhappy with the way you look. You have to see yourself in the mirror every morning, and if that makes you sad, then you'll carry that sadness into the rest of your day. This beautiful young woman was so tired of feeling ugly that she just wanted to run away and hide. In a way, that's exactly what she did - and it made her feel a lot better about herself!
Dieting is one way to lose weight, but exercise is just as important. She took up running - and she quickly fell in love with it. The further and faster she ran, the more her weight dropped away. That made her want to carry on going, so she pushed herself harder and harder. Now, she's in incredible shape and says she can run marathons - although apparently, her boyfriend can't keep up!
This man knew that he wasn't particularly overweight to begin with - he had a little 'puppy fat,' but nothing that small changes in his diet and lifestyle wouldn't take care of. His real issue was that he couldn't find a hairstyle that suited him. He felt that no matter what he did with his hair, it always made him look heavier than he really was. Then it dawned on him that the one thing he hadn't tried was not having it cut at all.
As you can see from the up to date picture on the right, it worked with him. When someone has a round face, long hair can help to provide framing and complement your natural shape. Not all men can pull off the long hair look, but he's mastered it! He's lost a little weight through exercise at the same time, but it's the hair that's doing most of the work in this transformation.
When we talk about weight issues, we're usually referring to people who have too much weight, and want to lose the excess. Some people have the opposite problem, though. Anorexia - an acute form of body dysmorphia - forces some people to believe they're overweight even when they're dangerously thin. If the condition isn't successfully treated, it can lead to long-term health conditions, and even death.
Fortunately, this woman got the help she needed in the nick of time, and she's now on her way to recovery. At her lightest, she weighed only 60 pounds, and doctors feared for her future. She's now up to 90 pounds, and she's finally beginning to see how beautiful she is. She still has work to do, but she's no longer in danger. The ideal body type isn't 'thin,' it's 'healthy,' and she's on her way to reaching that goal.
Sometimes, a body transformation is so shocking that it's almost impossible to believe you're looking at two pictures of the same person. The boy on the left and the man on the right here are one and the same - and thee images are only three years apart. If you look closely, the giveaway that confirms his identity is the eyebrows - but everything else has changed. Is it us, or does he look a little like Cristiano Ronaldo?
He was a shy, quiet, and reserved boy in school, and you can get that impression just by looking at his 'before' picture. After leaving college, he hit the gym hard - and he carried on hitting it. He challenged himself to work harder than anybody else, and the result is the kind of muscular body that you see in action movies. Cutting his hair shorter and ditching the glasses have helped to complete the look.
This girl had a baby at a young age, and so understandably it took over her life. She didn't have time to care about her appearance, because everything in her life revolved around taking care of her newborn - just as it should have done. At the same point, she was going through the awkward part of youth where we often have braces fitted to straighten our teeth, which makes many of us feel self-conscious. As a result, she says she was very shy.
She's not so shy now. Her baby is three years older, and so she's been able to turn a little bit of her attention back on herself. That's all it took to allow her to revamp her appearance totally. Her teeth are fixed, she's lighter, and she's got the time in the mornings to style her hair. She looks fantastic, and she knows it. She's not so shy anymore!
There's one thing that's always bound to get you into shape, and that's joining the military when you leave school. The military performs a brave and important role, and they have to be in excellent physical shape to do it. That means going through a lot of very strenuous and difficult training, but the end results are always worth it. If you don't believe us, just take a look at these pictures!
The boy on the left isn't dramatically out of shape - he's just carrying a little bit of extra weight, and he hasn't fully grown into his body yet. Four years later, having joined the navy, he's in the shape of his life. In case you can't tell, he's the one on the right. You can tell just by looking at his expression that it's done wonders for how he feels about himself - there's a lot of confidence in those eyes.
There's one thing that all young men dread, and that's the prospect of losing their hair. If they have bald relatives in their family, it's even worse, because they know it's coming and there's nothing they can do to stop it! Going bald at a young age can devastate a man's confidence, and make them look years older than they really are. Some men will try to grow out what little hair they have left and try to make the best of it - and good luck to those who try - but it's often better just to embrace it and shave it all off.
This man hasn't done anything to his body shape - he still looks exactly the same in that respect. He's just embraced the baldness and made it a central part of his image, accentuating it with a beard and a new sense of fashion. Now he looks lean, mean, and tough. He's got rock star style!
If you're someone who has to work hard to maintain your appearance, this list entry might annoy you a little. This man didn't go on a diet. He didn't find a new form of exercise. He didn't take up a healthy hobby like yoga. He just found that as he grew older, his body changed naturally, and transformed him into a much better-looking person. How annoying!
When we're young, we often have 'puppy fat' left over from our childhood and adolescence. That puppy fat melts away as we age. For very lucky people who have an excellent natural metabolism, that means you get a slim and healthy look without doing anything to earn it. We think cutting his hair short was the final piece of the jigsaw for him - the long and messy look did nothing for him, but now he looks sleek and sharp.
One of the worst things about being very overweight - other than the dangerous health conditions that it makes you more prone to - is that it ages you far beyond your years. Incredibly, in the 'before' picture, this man is only twenty years old. For the majority of those twenty years, he'd been spending too much of his time and money going to McDonald's and other junk food outlets, and washing all the food down with full-fat coke. By his own admission, he was destroying his body.
One day, he woke up and realized he didn't want to do it anymore. He took up yoga, and trained both his body and his mind to seek out healthier options. Without the constant diet of greasy food and empty calories, the weight simply melted away. Now he looks great, and he's given himself a second chance at life.
Usually, there's a specific trigger which makes us decide that it's time to start taking better care of our body and our appearance. For some of us, it's when our favorite clothes no longer fit properly. For others, it's seeing a terrible picture of ourselves and realizing we look far worse than we imagined. For this girl, it was something much more specific. She'd always been very proud of her defined chin and jawline, and it was disappearing as her face got fatter.
Her sole motivation for cutting back on the wrong types of food and starting an exercise regime was to get her chin back, and regain her pride in her appearance in the process. It only took her fifteen months to rid herself of all the extra pounds, and now she looks stunning once more. Look at those cheekbones - they were hidden by the fat before, and now they're her best feature.
Every weight loss story has a start and an end, and that 'start' picture is your motivation to carry on going. If you follow your plan properly, the first picture you take is the worst you'll ever look. Every day from then on, you'll look a little healthier, and you'll be able to take a little more pride in your appearance. If you carry on taking pictures, you'll be able to chart the changes as they happen. That should give you the motivation to carry on.
This man wasn't enormously obese on 'day one' of his journey, but he was carrying enough extra weight for his situation to make him unhappy. By the time he took the picture on the right, he'd lost an incredible 100lbs, but he's still not smiling! That's because he doesn't consider his journey to be complete yet. Having lost all that weight, now he wants to start adding some muscle.
They say that beauty is only skin deep, but sometimes skin alone isn't any way to measure beauty at all. You can have all the natural assets in the world, but if you don't know how to dress to accentuate them, you'll never look your best. This man is the exact same size and shape in both pictures - and yet he looks completely different. He describes himself as a 'nerd' in the first photo. Now, four years later, he's happy to call himself a 'macho man.'
Having the braces removed will have helped with his confidence, and growing his hair out has done a lot for his looks too, but the biggest change is the one he made to his wardrobe. The shirt, the jacket, and the sunglasses are a great look for him. We wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's now working as a catalog model.
If you've been overweight for your whole life, it's sometimes harder to find the motivation to lose weight than if you were once slimmer. People who used to be slim but gained weight can usually remember what they once looked like, so they have a target to get back to. People who've always been overweight have no idea what they'd look like if they trimmed down, so it's more difficult for them to picture their goal.
As it's always better for you to be at a healthy weight anyway, it's always worth working to shed the pounds and find out what you're hiding. In the case of this woman, having been an overweight child who became an overweight adult, she had no idea she was hiding that incredible jawline under all the fat around her face. She's very glad she made the decision to eat more healthily - and it's only taken her two years to achieve her new appearance.
This man didn't deliberately take his 'before' picture - someone else did. When he saw it, it became the spark that ignited his desire to change his life. He always knew that he was badly overweight, but had no idea he looked quite as bad as he did. When he got on the scales, he was amazed to find that he'd ballooned to 330 pounds. His eating and drinking had got out of control, but now he was determined to take that control back.
The day after he saw the picture, he cut out all of the bread and sugar from his diet, and bought himself a gym membership. He still allows himself the occasional beer, but taken in moderation alongside a healthy diet there's no reason why he shouldn't. When he got down to 220 pounds, he asked the person who took the first picture to photograph him again in the same chair. This time, he was much happier with what he saw.
This girl was unhappy with her appearance for two reasons; she didn't like how 'big' her natural hair became when she grew it out, and she didn't like the fact that she was a little heavier than she'd ideally like to be. Her first goal was to lose weight, but as she did so, she felt like she was lacking a little something. For the first time in her life, she decided just to let her hair grow and see what happened.
With a much lighter frame, she found that her hair complemented her figure, and so she decided to run with it. Speaking of running - that's what she did to bring her weight down! This selfie on the right was taken just before she headed out for a run, and was taken just twenty months after the image on the left. She's got a new-found confidence and swagger, and she's worked hard to earn it.
We get not just one 'after' picture from this young man, but two. He was so keen to show the world his new look that he added a second 'after' photo, taken a few months on from the first one. We don't blame him for it - he looks incredible. His hairstyle and outfit are particularly on point - although we have a weird feeling that he probably topped the look off with sandals.
Although is transformation is staggering, we can't help but feel that he cheated a bit with the 'before' picture. We can see that he was overweight, and also that his skin needed some work, but the little blue mustache and the red whiskers he's drawn onto the pictures wouldn't make anybody look good. You could have put those on the 'after' picture and they'd look equally as ridiculous.
At the risk of stating the obvious, taking out a gym membership - and using it - will do wonders for both your looks and your self-esteem. The difference between the picture on the left and the picture on the right here is really quite something to look at. On the left, we have a man in his early twenties who's almost visibly lacking in confidence. On the right, we have the same man at the age of 25, and he looks like he's been reborn.
Between the two pictures, he lost 120 pounds, and he puts all of that weight loss down to his gym regimen. He still works out every day to make sure he stays on top of the figure he worked so hard to achieve, and he's got every right to feel proud of himself. Note how much better his hair looks, too. That's because when we feel good about our bodies, we'll do more to make sure we're always looking at our best.
For some people, losing weight and making positive body changes is about trying to make yourself more attractive to potential partners. It's even said that when we enter into a relationship and settle down, we stop taking as much care of our bodies because we're no longer 'advertising' ourselves to potential mates! This young man already had a girlfriend, and she took both of these pictures. He made these changes for himself - but nobody's prouder of him than she is.
The 'before' picture here is of a 16-year-old who knows full well that he doesn't look great. He's overweight, and he's wearing multiple layers of clothing to hide his body. The picture on the right was taken on his 21st birthday. At some point during those five years, he's put himself through a lot of hard work and effort to shake off that weight, and he's very happy about it. Just look at that beaming smile!
People who develop a very strong sense of who they are at a young age are very lucky. For the majority of us, it takes a lot of time - and a few failed experiments - before we work out what our style is, and how best to dress to look our best. This girl has never had issues with her weight, and she's always been beautiful, but it's taken her until well into her twenties to find a look she's happy with.
The red-haired look in particular is a classic teenage decision - we think a bold and vibrant hair color will make us stand out and look edgy. Who doesn't want to look cool? She manages to pull the look off, but we think she looks much better now. Her new, softer look is sophisticated, classy, and elegant.
This woman is wearing the same dress in both of these pictures - but in the 'after' photo she has to pinch it from behind to make it fit her shape because of all the weight she's lost! She says she never struggled with her weight until she was in her last year of high school, but then found it shot up sharply. By her mid-20s, she was 225 pounds. Shortly after that, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and she thought she'd permanently ruined her body.
Happily for her, she was wrong. She consulted with her doctor to put together a healthy diet plan, and in the time between these two pictures she dropped an incredible 98 pounds. Best of all, she's no longer diabetic. She says that isn't the best thing though - she literally cries years of happiness when she drops a clothing size, and it gives her the motivation to keep on going.
This pastor has an interesting explanation for gaining so much weight - he says that when his wife became pregnant and developed cravings, he would make sure he ate as much as she did so she didn't feel self-conscious about it. That's commendable of him, but after he did the same thing again during their second pregnancy, he'd piled on a lot of weight. By 'a lot,' we mean a whole 170 pounds.
He'd tried diets before, but only because other people had suggested them. It wasn't until he saw a picture of himself looking seriously bloated that he realized that he didn't want to change for anyone else anymore - he wanted to change for himself. He's now dropped every single pound that he put on, and he looks great for it. Let's just hope that he and his wife aren't planning to have any more babies!
Getting yourself into shape is one thing, and it usually takes a lot of work. Keeping that weight off is a totally different process, and it means a lifestyle of constant attention to what you're putting into your body, and what you're doing to burn off excess energy and calories. This gentleman has managed to shed all the weight he was carrying in his 20s - and he's kept it off for a full twenty years. Would you believe that he's over 40 in the picture on the right?
When he was much younger he'd always played sports, but a late diagnosis of asthma killed off his dreams of becoming a professional sportsman, and so he lapsed into depression, preferring to stay at home with junk food than carry on with the limited exercise he was able to do. The change came when he found that he grew out of his asthma, and he was able to run again. Since then, he's never stopped.
Going through pregnancy inevitably has a transformative effect on the female body. It places strain on flesh and bone, and also usually leads to weight gain as you take on more food to support the baby growing inside you. For a lot of women, that makes it hard to get back into shape after a baby has been born. After you've been through it twice, it can be a struggle even to see the point! This woman decided to do it, though - and once she saw the results, she wanted to help other women achieve the same.
As she worked hard in the gym, shedding weight and gaining muscle, she found herself swapping tips and advice with other gym users. She quickly found that other people were receptive to her techniques, and so now she's a full-time fitness instructor. Not only that, but she also takes part in bodybuilding competitions!
The woman you see in these pictures had always been a little overweight - even during her school years - but in as she left school and went into work she found that the number on the scale started creeping up dramatically. She particularly found that she struggled with her breasts, and decided to have breast reduction surgery to reduce the pain she was in every day. It backfired. She no longer recognized her body shape in the mirror, and so gave up on her appearance, gaining more weight than ever before.
Eventually, she says that something 'just snapped' within her, and she decided to stop eating so much poor-quality food, and start doing regular exercise. To her delight, she found that her body was very responsive to it. From a peak weight of 255 pounds, she's now down to 144 - and she looks incredible for it.
The 'before' picture here shows us a man who's lost control of his weight. In his case though, it had happened not only once, but five or six times. For most of his adult life, he'd gained up to 100 pounds at a time, worked hard to get it off, and then put it all on again. Infuriated with his own lack of discipline, things took a dark turn for him one night when he found he'd hit 360 pounds, and his trousers no longer fit. He took an overdose, and tried to end his own life.
He shouldn't have survived, but he did. He took that as a sign that he was still supposed to be here, and that he should take control of his life. Once again, he devoted himself to shedding all the extra weight. This time he not only did better than ever, but he's also managed to keep it all off for good. He's almost 200 pounds lighter than he was on that awful day.
There's quite a story behind the picture you see on the left-hand side. There, you see a woman who had beaten cancer not only one, but twice. She and her body had been through a lot, and considering what she'd had to subject herself to both physically and emotionally, we think she looks great. She disagreed, though. She never used to look like that, and it wasn't until she saw the pictures that she realized how she looked to other people. She vowed to change.
Other people had commented on her weight gain, and she found herself giving them excuses - blaming her illness, and also saying she had thyroid issues. They were lies. She signed up for a boot camp to bring her weight down, and she loved it. Because of that, she did another, and then another, and then another. As the weight came down, something amazing happened - she no longer felt in any pain from her surgeries and years of illness. She stopped taking medication, and she felt better than ever. Now, she runs boot camps of her own.
We apologize for the blurry picture you see of the boy on the left - but there's a good reason for it to be here. He was so ashamed of his appearance when he was younger that she wouldn't allow himself to be photographed, and so surreptitiously-taken shots like this one are all that he has to show for his early years. When he was at school, he was bullied by other boys, who suggested he was pregnant. That made him more miserable, and his weight peaked at 270 pounds.
Determined to do something about it, he started walking on a track near the school. As his body became used to that, he progressed to running. Each day he'd push himself to run farther than the day before - and the weight gradually came down. As it did, his confidence grew. By his mid-20s he'd lost over 100 pounds, and finally became brave enough to come out to his parents. Now, having kept the weight off for a full ten years, he's finally happy with who he is and how he looks.
This tale is sad and beautiful at the same time. The man on the left was a drinker, an over-eater, and a heavy smoker. He knew he shouldn't have been doing any of those things, but he never got around to doing anything about it. He was always going to start a diet or kick the smoking habit 'tomorrow' or 'next month.' Tomorrow never arrived, and so he just carried on getting bigger, hitting 330 pounds. Then, struck down by a sudden and deadly illness, his wife passed away without warning. He was alone.
Although he could easily have given up on life in those circumstances, the lesson he took from it is that tomorrow is promised to nobody, and that if he wanted to change is life, he had to start immediately. He no longer smokes or drinks. He eats sensibly, and looks after himself. Now aged 45, he's in the best shape of his life. He found his strength in the worst of situations.
Earlier on, we said that pregnancy could have many negative effects on the female body, and everything we said was true. When your children have been born and grown up a little, though, they can have the opposite effect to the one they had when they were still in the womb. They can be the push that finally persuades you to look at the state of your health.
This woman found herself getting out of breath when she was trying to play with her children. They were very active, wanting to go climbing, tobogganing, and riding bikes. She couldn't keep up with them, and she was embarrassed. Feeling like she was letting her children down, she resolved to lose weight and get in shape - and now she's 85 pounds lighter. She also found that she loves physical activities even more than they do, and she's now a keen skier!
There are a variety of reasons why the 'before' picture of this woman looks the way it does. She'd had two children, and gained weight during both pregnancies. The second pregnancy was difficult, and her child had medical problems at an early age, which took up all the free time she had. She was also self-employed, and had to devote a lot of time to her business. In short, she didn't feel like she had any time to go to the gym and work out. Then she found a solution.
There's no need to go to a gym if you can set up an equivalent in your own home - and she had a garage going spare. It was much easier to go in there and work out than it was to find the time to go to and from the gym, so she committed to doing that every day. Now 65 pounds lighter, she no longer has her old business - because she's started a new life as a personal trainer and fitness coach.
Of all the stories of triumph on our list, this one might be the most impressive - and heartbreaking. The man you see on the left has suffered losses that most of us would struggle to imagine. As a soldier, he was deployed to Iraq just as his wife miscarried their baby after six months. She was unable to cope with the trauma alone, and divorced him. While in Iraq, he was wounded in battle, and lost his right leg. Divorced, disabled, and grieving, he was confined to a wheelchair and eating himself to death. He was only 29.
He somehow found the courage and determination to start visiting a local gym, and turned his life around. He dropped 150 pounds, and felt like he'd regained control of his destiny. His advice to anyone who feels too shy to go to the gym because of their appearance is that they should look fear dead in the eyes, and push on. He did, and he's the best example of overcoming the odds that anyone could have hoped to have.
If you've decided you're going to lose weight, always keep the clothes that you had when you were at your worst - they make for excellent visual aids afterward! This woman is standing in almost the same pose, the same room, and the same clothes in both of these pictures - but the difference between the two is absolutely incredible.
All that's stayed the same about her appearance is her hair - and we don't blame her for keeping that; it's some seriously great hair! Thanks to her incredible diet and workout effort though, that pink top no longer even comes close to fitting her. With her new and improved body shape, you could probably fit two of her into it. The weight loss has made so much difference to her face too - it's no wonder that she's giving us such a warm smile in the 'after' image.
Before we get started with this one - there is absolutely nothing wrong with the way the girl on the left looks here. We think that's around the average body type, and the majority of people would be very happy to look that way. If you're not though - and this girl wasn't - then there's equally nothing wrong with changing the way you think about food and exercise to achieve a different result.
As you can tell from the outfit and the pose on the right, she's now a fitness model - and what an excellent model for fitness she makes! It looks like she's been working to put on some muscle as well as dropping those few extra pounds she was carrying, and there isn't an inch of her which isn't perfectly toned. Staying in this kind of shape is very demanding - but when looking this good is the reward, there's plenty of motivation to do so.
We know what you're thinking as you look at these pictures - but yes, that really is the same woman you see both on the left and the right. She's been through a huge transformation, and now she looks positively radiant. There's more to it than just the weight loss too - that smile is worth a million dollars, and it's the smile of someone who's worked very hard to look this good. With a little hair color, and the right outfit, she looks worlds away from how she appeared in the first image, taken a mere five years earlier.
She blames nobody but herself for carrying so much weight - she says she just ate unhealthily and knew she did, but didn't do anything about it. After a boyfriend left her, she thought the best way to get revenge was to show him what he was missing. We imagine he probably regrets his decision now. Too late!
The before and after pictures this man has taken are so dramatic, that we're wondering if you'll even spot what we think might be the most important detail. He struggled a little with being underweight when he was younger, so he started lifting weights. All the added bulk he's carrying now is muscle, and it looks great on him. He's also got the type of face that suits a beard, and it sets his look off nicely. He already had a winning smile - although we think those teeth may have been whitened a touch in the time between the photos.
None of those things are what we're referring to as 'the most important detail,' though. That would be the monobrow. It's there in the picture on the left, and it's not in the picture on the right. We live in a world where razors exist. If there's one thing we can all surely agree on, it's that none of us should be walking around with a monobrow. He made the right choice!
This is yet another case of weight loss done well. Every single case of weight loss we've highlighted on this list is a result of time, effort, and determination. The girl in the picture on the left seems happy enough, but at some point she decided she wanted to be lighter, and so she started paying more attention to her diet. As the weight disappeared, the outstanding natural features of her face were revealed.
She's done more than just lose weight to end up looking this good. The longer hair really suits her, and her sense of fashion has evolved with her changing figure. She definitely knows how to dress to suit her frame, and she's nailed this look. In fact, if we looked this good, we wouldn't be able to walk past a bathroom mirror without taking a selfie either.
In among the many undesirable effects of carrying too much weight on your body is the fact that it can distort or mask many of your natural features, which would otherwise be beautiful. Just by losing a little weight, you can accentuate features that you never even knew were there. When you do, you'll likely look as happy about it as this smiling woman does here!
It's not just your body that benefits from the dropped weight - it's your face, too. Losing some weight from her face has done wonders for this girl's chin, but more importantly than that it's really brought out her eyes. With her improved confidence, she's decided to embrace having flaming red hair and show it off. It suits her perfectly. The changes she's made are only subtle, but they combine together to give a drastic effect.
This one is almost a case of 'too much' - we want him to calm down a little! As you can tell from the image on the left, this gentleman is something of a cricket fan. If you know anything about cricket, then you'll know that going to watch cricket matches - which can last for days - involve sitting in the stands under a baking hot sun, drinking a lot of beer to keep yourself cool. Beer contains calories. Calories lead to weight gain. He doesn't look bad, but he's not in peak physical condition either.
Contrast that with the ultra-shredded torso you see on the right-hand side. We think it's fair to say that he's probably cut back on the drinking, and found a personal trainer who has no mercy whatsoever! He looks like he could run through a brick wall, and there isn't an ounce of fat on him anywhere. In fact, he looks terrifying!
This one is confusing us. Obviously, some time has passed between the taking of the picture on the left-hand side, and the taking of the picture on the right. She looks a little older, but she also looks a lot better. What we're struggling to put out finger on is the reason why. How can she look so dramatically different, and yet fundamentally the same?
We think she's lost a little bit of weight, although the difference is marginal. Her hairstyle is basically the same, although she's added a little color to it. She's a little thinner in the face, but that's probably just down to the loss of puppy fat. Could this all really just be down to makeup and lighting, or has she made such a subtle and yet successful change that we're missing it, even though it's right in front of us?
We may have given away this woman's method before we've even started talking about her, but it doesn't take anything away from her incredible body transformation. It's often said that part of the reason swimming is so good for you is that it's a 'complete' form of exercise - it involves all of your muscles and joints. That makes it a good bet for getting a good 'all over' exercise, and losing weight evenly.
The woman featured here doesn't know why she chose swimming as her preferred way to get in shape, but she's glad she did. She went from barely being able to complete more than a couple of lengths at her local pool to spending hours at a time in there, and the result is a body that she's proud of for the first time in her life. Naturally, she's chosen a swimming costume to show it off in!
Confusingly, one of these images has been flipped around, which explains why the tattoos on this woman's arm have moved from left to right as you compare the pictures. That's far from the only thing that's changed though. She was in pretty good shape in her 'before' picture, but now she looks incredible. What does she credit with her trimmer, firmer look? She's eased back a little on the excesses of her rock and roll lifestyle.
As a big music fan, she liked nothing better than going out to gigs, watching her favorite bands, and drinking while doing so. She'd then eat junk food on her way home. These days she still goes to watch the shows - but she stays sober while doing so. Not only does that improve her memory of the band's set, but it also helps her steer clear of takeaway food on the way home. As a result, she looks far healthier!
It's easy to see from these photos which process was used to help this woman shed the pounds. The image on the left was taken the first day she decided to do something about being so heavy. The photo on the right is as she is now. Needless to say, she can now cover much greater distances, and at greater speed! What the images don't show, though, or how she managed to keep herself motivated.
When she started running, she also started a diary. She charted every pound she lost, but also charted the way it made her feel. Little observations like "I feel stronger" and "I feel more attractive" gave her the motivation to hit the road on the days she didn't feel like it, and now she's reaping the benefits. After all, how you feel is just as important to body satisfaction as how you look on the outside.
In extreme cases, it's possible for people to reach such a size that it feels like there's no point in even trying to shake the weight off. Just the thought of doing exercise is enough to exhaust us, and being so large makes a lot of conventional exercises impossible. Adjust your diet to start dropping the weight and do whatever you can, though, and the results can be outstanding.
The pictures you see here were taken just three years apart - and this guy is half the man he used to be! He was approaching four hundred pounds at his maximum weight, but it was only when his doctor warned him that his life was in danger that he finally began to take the issue seriously. Now he's a whole new man, and he's got his life back. He may be smiling in both photos, but we bet he's a lot happier in the one on the right!
Being overweight because you eat too much is one of the most needlessly self-destructive things we can ever do to our own bodies, but weight that's caused by excess eating is also the easiest weight to shift. All you need to do is cut down to the right amount of calorie intake for your height, and the rest will take care of itself. In circumstances like this, weight loss can be rapid, and dramatic.
Even taking that into account, the 167-pound weight loss of this woman is remarkable - as is the fact that she managed to do it all within one year! As we've seen before, losing weight around the face can really help to draw attention to someone's eyes, and hers are sparkling now. That's the happy smile of someone who knows that they've gone head to head with their own weight - and won!
We've discussed numerous possible triggers for wanting to lose weight, but there's one we haven't come across yet, and so we've saved it for last. When a couple decides to get married, it's very common for both of them to lose weight and get in shape for their big day. Our wedding photos are likely to be on the walls of our homes for the rest of our lives - it's only natural that we want to look our absolute best in them.
Even with the best will in the world, most of us don't manage to look as dramatically different as this gentleman must have done when he tied the knot. A desire to shed a few pounds and fit into a smaller suit turned into an addiction to going to the gym - and as a result, his wife married a man who was 143 pounds lighter than the one who had proposed to her.
