Photo: Walter Chin for GLAMOUR

This photo of a model in skimpy underwear was published recently in Glamour magazine. Nothing new, models show skin on glossy pages all the time. But there is something different about this woman -- she has a soft tummy, thick thighs, and, well, she's a size 12. Pretty normal considering that many women look like this, but since when do magazines feature 'real' women? Since now. And CafeMom wants to know, what took so long?

Glamour is being applauded for publishing the model who's become known as "the woman on pg. 19" -- 20-year-old Lizzi Miller, an avid softball player, belly dancer and plus-size model. CafeKim is thrilled by this photo, but she is even happier knowing that CafeMom features real women all day long. She says:

"And here the term 'real woman' means so much more than size (because, technically, real women come in all shapes and sizes). Rather, the women on CafeMom are 'real' because we're classy, confident, beautiful, and have integrity. We love our kids and our families and would do anything for them. And, yes, we struggle with our imperfections, but we are open about it, honest when we fall short, and just try to take one day at at time."

Female self-esteem has long been affected by impossibly-perfect magazine models. But did you know that magazines are harmful to male body image, too.

Caught up in yourself lately? Your food, your weight, your exercise, your body image? It's hard not to be, what with all the attention paid to these issues on a daily basis and all. Margarita over at Glamour.com knows what it's like to get all wrapped up in herself. She also knows what it's like to help someone else -- which happens to be amazingly liberating. And slimming too.

Out to dinner recently with a friend whose arm was in a sling, Margarita was the go-to girl. She cut steak and buttered bread and all but forgot about her own issues. "My objective wasn't to self-medicate with food, or use this delicious-looking comfort meal to escape or reduce my anxiety or comfort me or any of the other million and one reasons I'd used food before," she says. "It wasn't about ME at all; it was about taking care of someone else. That was so satisfying to me that I didn't need to devour."

Let Margarita's story be your light-bulb moment. Let it guide you to service. Instead of cozying up to Oprah and a bag of chips in the afternoon, get to your local Humane Society and walk dogs -- not only will you soothe needy animals, you'll avoid snacking and get some exercise too. Got kids? Get inside their classrooms and cut paper, trace hands and play on the playground. Want to appreciate how lucky you are to even have food in your life? Start plating meals at a homeless shelter. Consider it the art of distraction. When you're busy being busy, there's less time for grazing all day or fretting about your figure. And the bonus: You get make the world a better place.

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Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

As a three-time Sports Illustrated cover model and world famous supermodel, Cheryl Tiegs knows quite a bit about being beautiful. I suppose this makes her a perfect fit for her role as judge on ABC's new reality show True Beauty, which debuts this Monday, January 5 at 10 PM. Instead of really judging the unsuspecting contestants on their physical beauty, though, Cheryl and her cohorts will be removing folks who act really ugly. That should be fun to watch.

In the gallery below, you'll find more about the show and Cheryl's beauty tricks. You just might learn something new about Cheryl Tiegs -- for example, did you know she once gained a good deal of weight? Click below for more!

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Your last social engagement before Christmas is tonight -- thank goodness. Order up a couple of Glamour magazine's 5 Best Low-Calorie Cocktails and you'll transform that fattening 1,000-calorie buzz into a 200-calorie slim 'n trim evening:

Nice

• Bubbly -- four ounces of champagne -- not the champagne tower -- has only 85 calories, less than a beer or that four-ounce glass of red wine you'll probably spill on your host's white carpet. If you've got light carpet, Wine Away works wonders.
  
• Sour Apple Martini -- sour mix shaken with vodka and sour apple liqueur for only 160 calories.
• Vodka 'n Diet Lime Soda -- pour in a fancy glass with a wedge of lime to spice up this under 100-calorie beauty.
• A Small Mudslide -- this super-sweet 184 calorie dream is a much better choice than a white Russian (338 calories).
• Gin and Tonic -- refreshingly sexy, any host can mix up this 103 calorie-combo. Diet tonic means even less cals.

Here's the gross-factor behind those naughty cocktails -- a Long Island Ice Tea, Mai Tai or Margarita all have more calories than a Big Mac (540 calories). Gulp.

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Gabriel Olds is a Hollywood actor. He's appeared on CSI, Law & Order: SVU and Six Feet Under, and his most recent film is Life of the Party. Usually the bad guy on TV, Olds is really a pretty good guy. Why? Because when it comes to women, it isn't fake boobs or fixed noses he prefers. Forget puffy lips and implanted buttocks. This guy like the real thing.

It took this guy a string of unsuccessful dates to figure out exactly what he wanted: Real bodies. He suspects other guys feel the same way.

"This is the part I think women don't understand," says Olds in a Glamour magazine interview. "When a guy falls in love, his lover's body parts become bewitching. I'm not going to tell you that our heads don't turn when we see a stacked blond walking down the street. But when we fall for you -- really, really fall for you -- you hijack our sense of beautiful. What's sexy to us? You -- in the "before" picture."

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I've been an occasional watcher of Days of our Lives ever since my grandmother used to blare it in the afternoons when she looked after me as a child, so I've seen Alison Sweeney's weight yo-yo as much as her character Sami's love interests have over the years. But now, as the host of the Biggest Loser alongside her Days gig, she seems to be healthy and happy ... and she looks great! She recently spoke to Glamour Magazine about her weight. Here are some of the highlights:

• "When I stopped obsessing about being skinny, and set my goal at being "healthy'" the results started showing immediately. I felt better cutting out breads, pastas, and sweets. I hit the gym wanting to get back into shape, and it wasn't such a chore because I was doing it for the right reasons. At least for me."
• "Weight loss is an ongoing issue. It's not a 'diet' that can be over, then you forget about it. You have to be willing to make the change for the rest of your life. Which sounds a little overwhelming, but really, for me it makes it easier for me. A healthy 'lifestyle' means mental as well as physical, and sometimes, for my 'mental' health, I need a treat, or a glass of wine, or whatever. and you have to allow for those days. "

She seems to have a good grasp of what's healthy and what's not. Don't you think?

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Off all the women's magazines out there, I've always thought that Glamour was one of the more reputable ones. They seem to tackle issues of global importance and, at least in most of the issues I've read, were quick to emphasize healthy lifestyles over looking good at any cost.

But regardless of where they stand on such issues, they're still joining countless other magazines who crop images of their cover models to make them look impossibly thin. The latest victim is Ugly Betty star America Ferrera. I think there's no question that they cropped the image of her -- just look at those arms. They are certainly not proportional to the rest of the body.

I understand that thin sells more magazines than frumpy, but Ferrera is the furthest thing from frumpy -- she's gorgeous and talented and fully deserving of a spot on the cover as is. Don't you agree?

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The mystery of Star Jones Reynolds and how she lost all that weight is soon to be common knowledge in the upcoming September issue of Glamour magazine (available Aug 7th). Star says she chose to do an article versus an interview because she wanted to go "as in depth as possible" about how she's changed over the years.

Star has a lot going for her right now as she also has a new talk show scheduled to premier on August 20th on Court TV. And when asked if she has trouble looking at past, heavier, photos of herself Star says it doesn't bother her -- instead it reminds her not to let herself get to that place again.

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There are two trains of thoughts out there. One that says to stay completely focused on every moment of your workouts to get the best out of it, and then there is mine. Mine says do whatever it is you need to do to accomplish your goal, make the time fly by, and allow your training to remain as enjoyable as possible so you continue to go back to it.

For example. I love exercise! In fact, I've made my career out of it. I'm also human. Sometimes my four mile jog just becomes freaking dull and if I don't have anything to take my mind off of the constant 'left, right, left, right' in my mind I would just be one more quitter in the world. So this is what little Miss Fitzness does to pursue her amazing goal of ultimate fitness. I get on the treadmill, stepper, gauntlet, rower, etc, completely armed. I bring an mp3 player, cell phone with ear piece, magazine, and then I usually set up in front of a T.V. At that point I set my magazine with many pretty pictures (think Cosmo or Glamour) on the machine and start to run. Then I choose my noise. Sometimes I chat, and sometimes I listen to music. Sometimes I talk on the phone, while looking at pictures and then check out the scroll on FOX News.

Does any of that make my workout suffer? Heck no! It allows me to complete it. All of these nonsensical distractions allow me to avoid any silly chatter in my head that would talk me out of finishing. In fact, usually I end up going harder than I planned, because I'm not bored to death! On the flip side, when I'm training for my sport, Full-contact Kickboxing, I'm 100% without interference. Fully focused. Ready for everything. If you are an athlete, I encourage you to do the same.

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