Macauley out with his brother, Kieran, on 8-18-10. The photos we are referring to are on ETOnline

We haven’t heard about former child actor Macaulay Culkin, 31, in some time, but from the looks of these pictures (see them on ET online and E!) he’s in a bad way. I have to admit that I sometimes get him confused with the kid from Star Wars, Hayden Christensen, in that I falsely remember that he used to be engaged to Rachel Bilson. That’s not him, obviously, he used to be engaged to Mila Kunis and they split up in early 2011. (I also sometimes confuse Bilson and Kunis, which I know is unforgivable to some of you, but it all makes sense to me now.)

Anyway Culkin was seen holding a Red Bull and looking super emaciated. He’s Demi Moore levels of thin, and he’s clutching her drink of choice too. ET Online reports that he may be up for a role in a movie called Service Man, “an uplifting military action flick,” which makes you hope that his extreme weight loss is for a role. Culkin’s rep denies that he’s set to star in the film, although producers say they’ve spoken to his people about it. The rep also claims that his client is super healthy. Of course he is. Here are the reports, which I’ve pieced together from a couple different sources:

After pictures of a gaunt Macaulay Culkin emerged exclusively on ET this morning, speculation as to whether or not this extreme weight loss was for a new movie project, titled Service Man, began to crop up.

And while TVGuide.com reports his rep as saying, “Mr. Culkin is NOT starring in Service Man, don’t take for face value everything you read on IMDb,” Entertainment Tonight has spoken with Goliath Studios, the UK-based production company behind Service Man and they confirm correspondence with Culkin’s manager about his possible cooperation in the project.

Although the film is currently on hold while the script is being rewritten, if Culkin chooses to participate in the project, the uplifting military action-comedy-drama would be his first big-screen role since 2007′s Sex and Breakfast. -ETOnline

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“Macaulay Culkin is in perfectly good health,” his rep tells E! News. “For Entertainment Tonight—or any other media outlet —to speculate otherwise is reckless, irresponsible and destructive. We implore them to discontinue the rumor.” – E! Online

[From ETOnline and E! Online]

What kind of old-timey denial is that “We implore them to discontinue the rumor“? It’s so formal. I do hope that Macauley is ok, and that he’s not subsisting on Red Bull and ADHD drugs like Demi. I also hope he’s not sick at all. The Red Bull seems to suggest this is a deliberate weight loss, but you can’t judge from one drink I guess.

I didn’t realize that Macauley hasn’t been in a movie since 2007. According to IMDB he was in a TV series in 2009 called Kings, which I never heard of and was on NBC. (Go figure.) He did voice work on “Robot Chicken” from 2005 – 2010. I also vaguely remember that he put out a book. That was Junior in 2007 and it received mixed reviews. It must be hard to recover from child stardom and extreme family dysfunction and regain some sense of self, but it’s not like Culkin is destitute. His net worth is estimated at $15 million dollars.

McCaulay at the Oscars in 2010. He has such a baby face!

Photo credit: Optic Photos PacificCoastNews.com and WENN.com

Do you know how hot I used to be for Russell Crowe? This was back before Gladiator even came out. I was hot for Russell when I saw LA Confidential. BUD WHITE!!! God, I love that movie. And Big Russ was super-hot in it, in a man’s man kind of way, but he was also vulnerable and interesting, like a young Marlon Brando. Then of course came Gladiator, and every lady in the world wanted to ride his jock. And then he gained some weight and barely worked, and when he did work, his girth (and not the good girth) was always a topic of conversation.

Well, Russell has lost the weight – these are new photos of Not-So-Big Russ at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards on Friday, in LA. I haven’t seen new photos of Crowe in months and months, it feels like. He looks… good? But maybe not? I don’t know, I can’t decide. I had gotten so used to seeing the bigger Russell, to the point where I kind of liked the extra meat on him. Plus, I think his skin looks weird, like he overdid the foundation. Basically, I’m glad that he’s trying out a maybe healthier lifestyle/diet, but he also looks a bit sickly to me now.

So, here are the questions: would you still hit it? Would you have ever hit it? Would you be more likely to hit it now, or back when he was in the midst of a love affair with ice cream?

Oh, and in case you miss seeing a random, beefy, hairy Australian, I threw in a photo of Joel Edgerton at the same event. He’s been hit with Russell Crowe Syndrome – hard. I hope it’s for a role?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, WENN.

There are plenty of Demi Moore stories to cover as she seems to be dominating the headlines for once. I’d like to start with this one, from Radar, which seems to best explain Demi’s issues. A couple of days ago People Magazine reported that prior to her hospitalization Demi had been acting the fool on nights out with her 23 year-old daughter, Rumer. On one night, Demi was seen downing a dozen energy drinks. That much caffeine and stimulants can cause serious health problems, especially in a woman as frail as Demi who refuses to eat. Well massive amounts of Red Bull aren’t the only stimulants Demi has been on. Radar Online reports that Demi’s stay-thin secret is none other than ADHD drug Adderall, a stimulant which is often abused for weight loss.

“Demi has been taking Adderall and drinking energy drinks and starving herself and those are some of the serious causes that led her to collapse on Monday night,” a source close to the actress said.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Demi had an epileptic seizure before being rushed to the hospital and she is currently seeking treatment for anorexia.

“The pills and starvation destroyed Demi and this has been a problem for about a year,” the source said about her tragic situation.

“She’s constantly jacked up on Adderall and combining that with not eating accounts for her loopy behavior and anorexic body frame. She literally refuses to eat any food…

“She’s depressed over her career and coupled with the stress and heartbreak over the split, all of this emotional turmoil in totality has taken a serious physical toll on her body.”

[From Radar]

Prescription drugs can really screw a person up and change their personality. So which came first, Demi’s issues with prescription drug abuse or the demise of her marriage? Ashton’s camp is busy painting Demi as a total mess whom Ashton took care of for the past year. X17 has details from the print edition of People, in which a “source” states that Ashton tried to help Demi with her issues. “‘It was over the last year her friends saw a change. She wasn’t sleeping as well, didn’t seem to be eating and looked really gaunt.’ Sources close to the ex-pair also tell People that Moore’s prescription drug use was a huge turn-off to the Two and a Half Men star. ‘It was a sticking point for Ashton. He wanted her to take care of herself and get a hold of things, and she wouldn’t.‘” The first time Ashton was busted cheating on Demi was in early September, 2010. I’m not saying that it’s Ashton’s fault that Demi was drowning her sorrows in Red Bull and Adderall, but it’s not like things were going great in their relationship until Demi got hopped up on pills.

In other Demi news, we might never know if the “whip-its” overdose story is bogus or not, because when the 911 call is released to the public all references to drugs Demi was on at the time will be redacted. I guess this is standard practice due to HIPAA privacy laws, and it definitely works in Demi’s favor. It’s possible that the whip-its were the last straw that caused her to have a seizure, or that it was just a cover up story for what was really going on.

Demi has been released from the hospital, just as Ashton has returned from Brazil, where he was shooting a commercial and hooking up with randoms. Ashton hasn’t yet publicly commented on Demi’s issues, but he has deigned to let a source say a few nice words about her to People. The source said “Ashton is deeply concerned for Demi. He still cares about her and wants the best for her. But their marriage is ending and they are both moving on with their lives.” So is Ashton also the “source” behind the story that he tried to help Demi but couldn’t, so he just had to stick his dick in a bunch of party girls?

In other Demi news, a new video has surfaced of her from 1982, when she was just 19, kissing a 15 year-old boy at a cast party for General Hospital, where she worked at the time. You can watch the video here and while I don’t see Demi “making out” with the kid, she keeps going in to kiss him aggressively and you can tell he’s uncomfortable with it. She’s obviously drunk and is seen swilling wine in the video. The drinking age across the US was raised to 21 in 1984, although in California the drinking age was 21 prior to that.

As for Demi’s concerns that her career is on the wane, like Lindsay Lohan she’s only making it so much worse by abusing drugs. After her hospitalization it was announced that Demi had “dropped out” of the role of Gloria Steinem in the Linda Lovelace biopic and would be replaced by Chloe Sevigny.

The last movie I saw Jessica Alba in (and sadly, Joel McHale) was the interminable Spy Kids 4D. It was so bad that we actually left the theater less than an hour in. That was the only movie Alba was in last year, which is understandable since she was pregnant. According to IMDB, she has nothing lined up except for a voice role. So she’s got to hustle if she wants to regain her career in very bad adult films instead of just very bad kids films.

So here is Jessica Alba, who is constantly getting papped in LA, conveniently being photographed hard-bodied while on vacation with her family in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Alba had her second daughter, Haven, with her husband Cash Warren just four and a half months ago and you could never tell. Look at how perfectly posed she is in this photo above. At least she arranged for the photographer to be sufficiently far away.

This woman in the background must be Alba’s nanny, She’s admitted to having one, and I like that she’s letting the help be in the frame while she’s posing her little butt off.

Alba revealed her weight loss plan to Lucky prior to giving birth. She said “I have a hard time with portion control, so I have 1,200 calorie meals delivered. But I also work out, so basically I’m starving—it sucks. I drink a lot of water.” It looks like she didn’t have too much trouble sticking to it.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures

Ali Lohan turns 18 years old on the 22nd. That’s apparently “the reason” for Lindsay Lohan and Ali’s cracked-out jaunt to Hawaii for a week – they were celebrating Ali’s birthday early. And, as we found out in Ali’s Page Six Magazine interview, they were probably also celebrating Ali’s “graduation” from “high school.” She doesn’t go to high school – she’s “home schooled” in between following her crackhead sister and her boozehound mother around like a lost soul. If Ali had been raised by wolves, she probably would have been better off than being raised by this pack of crackies.

Anyway, just minutes after arriving at LAX from Hawaii, LL and Ali celebrated their return by going to a Jay-Z concert. Ali was photographed leaving the event – these are the photos. Radar’s crack team of experts looked at these photos and they decided that Ali is starving herself. It’s not the most outlandish theory:

As Lindsay Lohan spent yet another week flaking on work obligations, frolicking on the beach and appearing in court, her little sister Ali has sparked concern again by losing even more weight, and RadarOnline.com has photos of her downward spiral.

The teenage model appeared to be literally wasting away when she attended the Jay-Z concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with the troubled Mean Girls star on Tuesday night, and experts worry that she is putting her health at serious risk.

“She looks like a death camp survivor,” nutritionist Majid Ali (who has not treated the star) told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview. “It appears as if she is wasting away as her body chews up muscle looking for fuel.”

At 5’8 1/2″, Majid thinks that Ali is severely malnourished and estimates her weight to be 90 lbs at the most.

“It seems more like a starvation diet than binging and purging,” he explained.

The younger Lohan turns 18 on December 22, but her gaunt face, sunken cheeks and ashy complexion make her look much older than her years.

“Malnutrition will prematurely age her,” the nutritionist revealed. “It tears down tissue collagen and leads to wrinkles, poor skin, limp hair and bad nail quality.”

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the sisters hit the beach in Hawaii last week to attend the Pipeline Masters surfing competition, and while Lindsay showed off her ample curves in a bikini, Ali’s baggy shorts barely clung to her bony hips.

[From Radar]

Well… I do think she’s gotten really thin. I don’t know if she’s starving herself, I don’t know if she has some kind of eating disorder, I don’t know if she’s on her big sister’s old diet of Adderall and booze, I don’t know if she just had some kind of huge growth spurt and her metabolism is all out of whack… your guess is as good as mine. Whatever is happening, my guess is that it’s partially a cry for help. She probably doesn’t even know that, she probably doesn’t even recognize that in herself. But I feel like Ali’s gaunt appearance is saying to the world, “Look at me. I’m here too.” It’s sad. And she’s going to be pimped out by her mother too.

PS… Ali’s stopped messing with her lips, right? Look at her upper lip – it’s deflated. Thank God.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.

British “socialite” Peaches Geldof (daughter to Sir Bob) rarely does anything truly interesting, so she has to settle for making the news with chronic engagements, shoplifting scandals and allegedly having heroin and Xenu-fueled one-night stands to keep the British tabloids well entertained. It was all quite contrived but not terribly surprising coming from a celebuspawn. In recent months, however, Peaches has gone something relatively unexpected; that is, she dropped a bunch of weight, which automatically caused suspicions of drug use.

For most of her young adult life (and granted, it hasn’t been long because she’s only 22), Peaches seemed proud to sport a rather “healthy” figure. She wasn’t in great shape from a fitness standpoint, but she certainly wasn’t fat by any stretch. The girl didn’t starve herself and seemed to eat three square meals per day like any normal person would. So it seems strange that she’s suddenly gone on an anorexic kick, but if I had to put a finger on why her weight has suddenly become a major issue for her, it would be the existence of her relatively new fey boyfriend/fiance, Thomas Cohen, who looks to weigh all of 110 pounds himself. It’s probably pretty difficult to get undressed next to this guy and not feel like a whale no matter what:

At any rate, Peaches responded to weight loss criticism in the same way that any girl with an eating disorder would do. She claimed that her new figure was due a bout with avian flu, which was followed by a new habit of eating healthily. Also, she expressed a newfound appreciation for miso soup and would reportedly take an hour to eat just one bowl. However, it’s become clear from Peaches’ appearance at the recent Girl With the Dragon Tattoo premiere that the weight loss has gone too far. Now, Peaches has revealed to The Sun that she’s put herself on a strict liquid diet and doesn’t eat solids for up to a month at a time:

Skinny Peaches Geldof has been slammed for raving about a dangerous fad diet – eating no solid food for a month at a time.

The telly host has come under scrutiny recently for her extreme weight loss.

And she was snapped at the London premiere of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo on Monday night looking even more gaunt.

Now Sir Bob Geldof’s daughter has claimed that she starves herself for several weeks in order to look this thin.

It was feared that the OMG! With Peaches Geldof host’s new tiny frame may have been down to drug use after she was photographed in September with dark bruises close to veins on her left arm.

But Peaches – whose mum Paula Yates died of a heroin overdose in 2000 – has now claimed that her weight loss is down to a fad diet which consists of just liquefied vegetables.

Peaches has told how she can drop ten pounds on the dangerous slimming plan.

She said: “I do juicing. You juice vegetables and then you drink it three times a day. It’s gross. I do it usually for about a month. I have no willpower but with the juicing I’m like, ‘I have to do it because I have to lose this extra ten pounds.’

“I will lose it then I’m back going mental for the chips.

“I’ll juice and then I eat chips.”

Peaches was estimated to have lost one-and-a-half stone between March and July this year, slimming from 10st to just 8 1/2st.

But in August she reassured worried fans by tweeting: “To those telling me I look skinny and to eat something, I can assure you I’ve just cut out eating crap. I still eat like a horse.”

However, Peaches, who is often pictured in celebrity magazines, has now said that she felt pressured by fashion mags to be thin.

She said: “Sometimes it’s hard. If you open any high-fashion magazine, the girls in it are stick-thin and then they’ve been airbrushed down to the point where it’s just ludicrousness.

“I have days when I wake up and think, ‘I’m so fat.’ ”

Cath Collins, a spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, said: “Peaches joins a long line of celebs who are braindead when it comes to nutrition. Surviving on fruit is a very dangerous diet. Peaches is at high risk of electrolyte abnormalities which could lead to acute cardiac arrest. Rapid dieting like this not only makes you lose muscle strength but wastes away your internal organs. It is what kills anorexics. It is a stupid approach and it is irresponsible to promote this sort of disordered eating. It’s worrying that somebody who has money and access to contacts would pick such a ridiculous way to diet.”

[From The Sun]

Can you imagine eating absolutely nothing an only subsisting upon liquified vegetables? Ugh. Talk about unsatisfying, and you know that Peaches isn’t bright enough to take on a liquid diet under the supervision of a nutritionist like a certain Victoria’s Secret model.

For comparison’s sake, here’s some photos of Peaches in May and August of 2010 while she was dating Eli Roth, who seemed to embrace Peaches’ figure in his very own way. However, her wardrobe choices during their relationship, including a bathmat dress, did her no favors:

Here are more photos of Peaches’ new slimline look over the past few months. While this new physique isn’t necessarily anything different that we see from Hollywood starlets, it’s certainly a red flag that Peaches has lost so much weight in such a short period of time and that she continues to want to lose more weight. She should stop dieting now and just concentrate on maintaining with exercise and a proper daily menu. Those liquid diets will kill her metabolism in the long run, and she’ll be heavier than when she started.

Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN

Last year, CB did a lot of coverage on Kristie Alley’s “weight loss program” called Organic Liaison. According to CB and an overwhelming majority of people who can read, Organic Liaison is pretty much a Church of Scientology front in which people are overcharged for what amounts to vitamin supplements, and then the “program” attempts to indoctrinate the people in the cult of Scientology. The evidence is pretty straight-forward – Organic Liaison’s billing address is the same Florida address of CoS’s accountant, and the language used on the Organic Liaison website is pretty much the language of Xenu. You too can lose weight if you don’t mind being audited by someone holding a pair of lifts and a tin can. But although it’s a pretty straight-forward connection, Kirstie Alley still denied it and when questioned about the connection, she claimed her interrogators were “bigots.”

Anyway, Organic Liaison has a new spokeswoman, and it’s Xenu’s favorite beard, Kelly Preston. Kelly credits Organic Liaison for helping her shed the weight she gained while pregnant with her son Ben. Xenu’s vitamin supplements… and tennis.

When Kelly Preston gave birth to her son Benjamin Travolta a year ago, she knew losing the baby weight wouldn’t be easy.

“When I got pregnant at 48, I didn’t know if my body would bounce back,” the actress tells PEOPLE.

Turns out, Preston had no need to worry. Not only did she shed the baby weight, but over the past year she’s dipped below her pre-pregnancy weight – and is relishing a new figure and renewed vitality as she approaches the mid-century mark.

“I lost 39 lbs., have more energy than I had 20 years ago – and I feel amazing,” Preston says. “I’m going to be turning 50 next year – holy s–––! Hey, 50 is the new 30.”

So besides tennis and keeping up with an active baby, what’s her secret? The Organic Liaison weight-loss program created by Preston and John Travolta’s close friend Kirstie Alley, who cleared her own hurdle this summer when she dropped 100 lbs.

“I was so excited when my best friend created Rescue Me,” says Preston of the diet plan’s organic supplement system that targets cravings and “boosts natural energy,” according to the Organic Liaison website.

“It’s pretty much the most genius thing ever,” says Preston, who recently signed on as the weight-loss system’s spokesperson.

But a rocking a new body is not the only cause for joy in the Travolta household.

“We just celebrated Ben’s first birthday,” she says. “I can’t believe it’s already been a year.”

[From People]

Vitamins and Xenu = “pretty much the most genius thing ever”??? I give up. I mean, good for Kelly Preston for losing the weight and doing it in a somewhat healthy way – I guess. Vitamins, tennis and Xenu is healthier than coke, cigarettes and an eating disorder, right? RIGHT?!? But… considering Kirstie is so delusional about her size and her weight, what does any of this even matter? Kirstie can’t even get any of her numbers right. Who’s to say Kelly has gotten her “39 pounds” number correct?

I can’t wait for Kirstie to come up with a line of Xenu-approved wiglets so John Travolta can become the spokesman for something.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.

Before Jessica Simpson actually got inseminated by her K-Fed, there were rumors for months that she was possibly knocked up. Such is the cross to bear for every large-breasted girl who gains weight in her mid-section – people always think we’re pregnant when really we’ve just been eating potato chips and watching The Closer all weekend (cough). What was my point? Ah, yes: Jessica was a bit heavier before she even got pregnant. I think she still looked lovely, and what I always say about her is that people wouldn’t even notice when she gains weight if she just consistently dressed for her body type, which is a short, petite hourglass. Jessica always stuffs herself into unflattering, too-small dresses OR wears oversized, unflattering muumuus. Now that Jess is preggo, not much has changed, honestly. She’s still wearing clothes she shouldn’t, but no one is yelling about it because hey, she’s pregnant and maybe she’s just trying to be comfortable.

So Jessica is already thinking about what happens after she gives birth. She’s apparently thinking about how hard it’s going to be for her to lose the baby weight – so as a potential stop-gap for endless postpartum tabloid covers (“Jessica’s baby weight gain ends engagement!” etc), Jess is in negotiations to get a Weight Watchers endorsement deal.

Jessica Simpson won’t give birth until next spring, but she’s already planning her postbaby slimdown!

The mom-to-be, 31, is in talks with Weight Watchers for a $4 million deal to shed pregnancy pounds, Us Weekly has exclusively learned.

Simpson — engaged to ex-NFL star Eric Johnson — had initially intended to sign with the company to lose weight she had gained over the past few years.

“But then she got pregnant,” says the source. “So this was the perfect compromise.”

Under the contract, Simpson would have one year to use the point-counting program to “lose a signficant amount of weight,” says the insider.

She’s then show off her results in ads for the company — much like current spokeswoman Jennifer Hudson.

Despite the deal, Simpson isn’t letting her weight gain get her down. “I’m bigger than I’ve ever been,” she recently told Us. “But I want to show off my bump!”

[From Us Weekly]

Part of me thinks that this is a good idea, and that Jessica is the kind of person that needs outside motivation, someone looking over her shoulder to help her out. Another part of me thinks it’s gross to negotiate a contract for weight loss while you’re still pregnant – it speaks to screwed up priorities, I think. Just chill out at home, enjoy being a first-time mom, enjoy the baby and don’t get all stressed out about the weight loss, for the love of God.

Also: does anyone think this is an implicit renunciation of The Tracy Anderson Method? You know Jessica was training with Anderson for months before she got pregnant, and she hardly lost any weight (she might have been more toned, though). It’s like Jessica is acknowledging that she shouldn’t do the fancy, expensive trainer, she should do the more “middle of the road” Weight Watchers.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

Say what you want about Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s somewhat questionable writing skills, but it’s a non-debatable fact that writing is an occupation that demands many consecutive sedentary hours behind a keyboard. While I’m obviously no best-selling author, I can certainly identify with having to force myself to go to the gym on an almost daily basis to counteract this very same occupational hazard. So when a much slimmed-down Meyer showed up at the recent Breaking Dawn Part I premiere as well as the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre handprinting ceremony, it was impossible not to acknowledge how good she looked (even standing next to the naturally skinny Kristen Stewart):

As you can see from the comparison header photo at the top of this post, Meyer’s new silhouette differs dramatically from her 2009 and 2010 red-carpet photos. However, there was reportedly no magic pill or trendy diet for Meyer — just the boring (yet highly effective) old-fashioned combination of diet and exercise:

Twilight book author Stephenie Meyer is adored by fans for the vampire romance phenomenon she penned, but for weeks the Ministry has been admiring her new figure.

In early November, the author showed up at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for a handprint and footprint ceremony starring Twilight Saga trio Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner — and wound up turning a few heads herself with a slimmed-down silhouette.

So how did she do it?

“Honestly, watching what she eats, and exercise,” franchise screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg told us at Monday’s Breaking Dawn premiere. “Diet and exercise. And she looks fantastic.

“You know, she had lost some weight when we filmed the wedding scene together,” Rosenberg recalled of the on-screen matrimony of Stewart and Pattinson, “but then I saw her at the Breaking Dawn junket and just thought, holy smoke.”

[From LA Times]

Good for her. Meyer probably felt a ton of pressure (as a relative civilian) to look good on the red carpet, and I do hope that she really did achieve her weight loss in the healthiest manner possible. She probably feels a lot better and has more energy now — the byproduct of which means that she’ll have more energy to write now too. That last aspect could be good or bad, but I’ll just leave that detail wide open for interpretation.

Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN

Do you know how much I hate talking about diets? I really do. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the kind of willpower to follow Atkins or The Zone or whatever juice craze or whatever, or maybe it’s just because I think it’s a stupid subject to discuss in detail. I’m just not one of those girls who can talk about diets endlessly. But I’m not Mariah Carey. Mariah can talk about diets for a really long time. Now. She couldn’t before, because she was on fertility treatments and she had gained weight and kept it on for more than a year before she got pregnant with twins Roc & Roe. Now that she’s given birth and spent the last six months getting back into shape, and she wants to tell us all about it. She covers the new issue of Us Weekly, plus she appeared on yesterday’s Rosie O’Donnell show. There’s some mixed messaging happening here, but first, here’s Us Weekly’s cover excerpt:

“Shake It Off,” indeed! Six months after welcoming twins Moroccan and Monroe, Mariah Carey has lost 30 pounds — and shows off her toned legs and flat stomach in size-6 short-shorts on the stunning new cover of Us Weekly, out now.

“I gained an enormous amount of weight,” the Grammy-winner superstar tells Us of welcoming her son and daughter April 30 with hubby Nick Cannon. How’d she slim down? Beginning in July, Carey buckled down with a nutritionist and a workout plan from Jenny (formerly Jenny Craig), keeping to a 1,500-calorie-a-day menu and thrice-weekly workouts.

“I feel incredible,” the “Fly Like a Bird” singer tells Us, three months after her body transformation began. She and Cannon, 31, famously struggled to conceive their twins (born via C-section at 35 weeks) after a heartbreaking miscarriage.

“It was a huge blessing to be able to have the babies,” Carey says, “But I felt trapped in my body because I couldn’t move.”

Adds the once-again svelte star: “I’m proud of how hard I worked to get my body back…I had to do this for me.”

[From Us Weekly]

30 pounds? I love Mariah, but bitch please. She’s lost a lot more than 30 pounds, because I remember how heavy she was before and during her pregnancy. Mariah kind of knows it too, because she changed the number when she was on Rosie’s show, although she has a good reason – she had edema, and she claims she had 40 pounds of water weight.

Mariah Carey wasn’t shy about showing off her baby bump when she was pregnant with now-6-month-old twins Moroccan and Monroe Cannon. And now, she’s positively ecstatic about unveiling her hot new post-baby body after losing, she says, a full 70 lbs.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Rosie Show on OWN, Carey, 42, was lowered diva-style onto the stage riding on a crescent moon and wearing a skin-tight black mini-skirt and cleavage-baring leather jacket. She then explained her new physique was courtesy of a strict diet and exercise – along with the loss of what she says is about 40 lbs. of water due to a difficult pregnancy.

“In the beginning, when I first had the babies, I had so much edema … water and swelling. Most pregnant woman have that just in their feet,” Carey says. “One day I was doing my thank-you notes and I noticed it started rising up the leg, so I had edema. … I didn’t think I would ever be the same person.”

Diet Plan Spokeswoman
Once she’d shed the water weight, Carey embarked on the Jenny diet plan (formerly Jenny Craig), for which she now serves as a spokeswoman.

“The first week, I lost 40 lbs. … of just water,” Carey says. “It was just water, initially. When I started with the program, I lost at least 30 lbs. of weight that needed to be lost.”

And, says Carey, it wasn’t all about appearance. Carrying so much extra weight made everyday tasks, including going to the bathroom, a challenge.

“I had a really tough pregnancy,” she says. “I was supposed to be on bed rest, but it was so bad that even bed hurt. … I learned a lot being pregnant, watching my body change.” She adds, “The whole point of this is not just like: ‘Oh, hey, look at me and my weight loss, I’m fantastic.’ It’s really health. Like I said, I learned it when I became helpless and felt so vulnerable like never before in my life.”

How She Did It
Because she had a Cesarean section, Carey says exercise wasn’t an option early on. So, she says, “The diet is 90 percent of it.” Remembering to eat was one of her biggest challenges because, she says, she believes if she goes too long without refueling, “You slow down your metabolism.”

For her, it was important “being able to just grab something. I like the soups a lot. It’s 50 calories. I gotta say I like the snacks too.”

Carey also regained her fitness by exercising with her dogs and doing workouts in the ocean. One thing she won’t stick with once she meets her goal.

“I never weighed myself,” she explains. “People will think I’m a liar but it’s true. This is another cliché phrase, I’m a big boned girl … I’m tall and so I always weigh more.”

Instead of weighing herself, she says, “I would tend to go, ‘Does this size dress fit me that I wore three years ago? I’m good, let’s go.’ I would go by what it looked like, how I felt.”

[From People]

OK, she sounds healthy. I like that Mariah’s not too fancy to do Jenny Craig, but I still think there are some funny numbers going on with the actual weight loss versus water retention. Also: you know how I hate to talk about medical stuff because I can actually feel that stuff happening to me because I’m such a crazy hypochondriac and an easy mark for the power of medical persuasion? Well, I looked up Edema (here) and it sounds way more serious than what Mariah is talking about. It’s a serious medical condition, not just something you pee out in a week. In any case, I think Mariah probably has lost close to 70 pounds in total, but I don’t buy her breakdown of regular weight to water weight. And I love that she doesn’t weight herself either – neither do I, because, in my mind, my mega-boobs always skew the number. Shut up.

Here are some pics of Mariah before and during her pregnancy.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame & Dembabies.com.