This is the twelfth installment of my monthly classic actress beauty tips that I have tested. I apologize that May’s beauty tip is several days late. Exams, graduation and moving home have been pretty hectic!
Since it’s summer and swim suit season, several of us have weight loss on the brain. Looking at thin actresses such as Hedy Lamarr and Claudette Colbert makes losing weight seem impossible. They are so tiny and perfect! Who actually has a 20 inch waist?
But not all classic actresses were perpetually thin and had to work hard to keep their weight off.
Jean Harlow thin and fit due to strict dieting
In between films, Harlow would eat whatever she wanted and gain some weight. When it came time for filming a new movie, Harlow would have to put herself on a strict diet of salads and vegetables to get back to her thin movie weight, according to IMDB and Steal Their Style. Towards the end of her nine-year career, she wasn’t as thin due to the illness that took her life.
Other actresses had weight issues such as Clara Bow, Joan Blondell and Shelley Winters. Bow’s weight-along with fear of talking pictures-contributed to the end of her career.
I know eating healthy seems like a no brainer for losing weight but it is harder for some of us than others. I can sympathize with Jean Harlow about struggling to lose weight. When I want to shed some pounds, I have to be very strict with myself. I’m not someone who can work out for an hour and then go eat a piece of pie and still look great.
Like Jean Harlow, to lose weight I have to eat very light meals. Last summer I lost a good bit of weight by eating carrots, rice cakes and blueberries for lunch. I would eat normal dinners of chicken and broccoli and breakfasts of cereal or toast. I also have to cut out sweets completely or only eat them on rare occasions. For those of you that know me, you know this is a battle. I have a major sweet tooth and have a hard time practicing self control. For example, if my mom makes cookies I smuggle out 4 or 5.
Once I got back to school, I was on a steady diet of Popeye’s chicken and Burger Studio from Winthrop’s food court and free Papa John’s pizza every Monday night during newspaper layout. Needless to say I gained some weight and this was even while I was taking Yoga and Aerobic Walking.
To review: Some of us, like Jean Harlow and me, have to be very strict when we want to lose weight. Eating lots of vegetables, fruit and meat and cutting out cake, cookies and pie helped me shed several pounds. Happy summer and swim suit season!
***I know this review was pretty common sense, but stay tuned for June! June has an exciting, creative beauty tip that cost me some money for the one year anniversary of Comet’s beauty tips!**
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I always wonder how stars back then stayed so thin because it didn’t seem like society was as exercise and diet crazed as it is today. It’s interesting to learn about what they did do, though.
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Yeh, it doesn’t seem liek there was as much of a fitness craze as there is now.
I think alot of them dieted like crazy. I know Claudette Colbert did.
I think alot of it was the lifestyle of walking places alot and the types of food that was sold.
I think alot of them also played sports and danced.
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for one thing they did not eat all the processed junk today. They walked more everywhere , had to stand up to change the TV channel. etc. things were different.
There skin was also flawless and I think it is because of those same reasons. And of course ballroom dance was the craze so they did not have to work at it . things happened naturally, also there were no breast implants like today which look artificial anyway, woman and physiques were more natural which looked better.
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I agree with you 100%! One thing I say alot is that we could solve the problem of pollution and obesity if we went back to smaller towns where we had to walk everywhere! (of course that is easier said than done haha)
I do think it’s funny how we talk about how unhealthy everyone was back then because they didn’t eat all this organic food, etc. Sure they smoked and drank coffee, but their food was probably healthier than any of our ‘health foods’ now. I loved the more natural way they all lived. I would like to live back then just for that reason!
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