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When you go out to eat, there's a good chance your meal will have something to do with whoever is on the other side of the table, and not just in terms of what appetizer you might share. According to new research from Duke University, people who ate with overweight companions consumed even less than they did with thinner counterparts.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research, focused on how people's food consumption is affected by the company they keep. Researchers recruited 210 college students and monitored their intake of M&Ms or granola when they were eating with either an overweight or thin individual.

Researchers found that the college students' portions were adjusted according to the body type of the person they were eating with. If their companion was overweight, the college student consumed a significantly smaller portion, while they mimicked how much the thinner person ate.

That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader. We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other. That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Adidas is giving gorgeous gym bags to each featured member. To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions, with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Emily Wisely

Age: 20

Occupation: Student

How often do you exercise? Not often enough, but I'm determined to improve.

What type of exercise do you do? I lift weights a couple times a week. I ran throughout high school on my cross country team, but I've slacked since I've been in college. Determined to change that, though!

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? I go online and look at health websites! The articles and tips charge me up with energy!

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Scarlett Johansson is probably as well known for her curvaceous figure as for her body of work. In fact, just last month she was quoted in "In Touch" as saying she'd never dieted and or set foot inside a gym. It's not like she always sat around eating cookies -- she has simply made a point to eat well and walk a lot, at least, until now.

Suddenly, ScarJo (who was recently named as the first celeb ambassador to Moet champagne -- bet she's not drinking much of that!) is noticeably slimmer, and was overheard talking to fellow actress Thandie Newton about the rigid diet she's currently following, apparently in order to get ready for "Iron Man 2." I don't know about you, but I have a hard time imagining any director asking Scarlett to lose weight.

Truthfully, the right bra and makeup can make a pretty big difference, but I don't think there's any denying that there's now less of Scarlett to love. She doesn't look unhealthy, but she definitely looks different, as is pretty evident above (the picture on left is from this past December while the one on the right was taken last week).

What do you think about Scarlett's new body?

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Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Our fitness expert Fitz sits down with the stars and digs out their great and not-so-great methods for staying healthy.

Megan Mullally is costarring in ABC's new sitcom "In the Motherhood" airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. and is totally fulfilling the role as a MILF. At 50 years old, she sounds happier in her skin than she's ever been, and you'll be amazed by her response to reaching this milestone. During this interview, Megan revealed her strange workout addiction, the meanest thing anyone has ever said about her body and her fun advice for looking and feeling your best.

Fitz: You look great, Megan! What have you been up to?

Megan: I've been doing pilates three to four times a week for about two years now and I love it.

Fitz: Mat or reformer?

Megan: I do it all! I use the Reformer, the Cadillac, the chair and mat. I like a little bit of everything. I remember hearing about pilates over 20 years ago, as it was used to help dancers rehab from injuries. I don't know why I never tried it before now, though. I wish I had.

Fitz: Do you have a great pilates wardrobe?

Megan: I think I looked like an old housewife with a button-down shirt the first time I took a class. I hadn't worked out in over 10 years while I was doing "Will & Grace," so I literally had no gym clothes. Now I have the perfect wardrobe from LuLuLemon.

Fitz: What's the strangest thing you've ever done to stay fit?

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Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and author of 12 fitness bestsellers. She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider.

For those of us who live in lower Manhattan, Whole Foods is the only game in town. Not that I'm complaining; I'm certainly grateful for the first real supermarket in the neighborhood. After a decade of shopping in cramped, dirty delis where a carton of juice costs double the national average and there aren't any of the good kinds of cereal, Whole Foods is Mecca.

I was pondering these facts as I was grocery shopping the other day. Blueberries were "on sale" for $2.99 a pint. For that same $3, I thought, I could have walked the six steps to the nearest McDonald's (rather than the 10 blocks to Whole Foods) and ordered up a double cheese burger, medium fries and a small Coke. That's three large for two small handfuls of fruit -- or a meal fit for, well, a Burger King.

Late last year, Martha wrote that Lindsay Lohan was looking frighteningly thin, and that many of Lindsay's pals were blaming Samantha Ronson for the severe weight loss. In fact, many media outlets reported that the couple was in a sort of dieting competition, and that Lindsay was going to extreme measures to keep up with Sam's naturally thin frame.

With Lindsay looking scarily skinny again, speculation as to why is running rampant, but Lindsay told a reporter from US magazine why she's dropped a few pounds. Basically, she said, it's due to stress and lack of sleep when she travels.

She told him, "I eat. I had my Big Mac yesterday from McDonald's. I eat just as much as I always have." She then admits she that, while she's down a few pounds, she has no idea how much weight she's lost because she's never weighed herself in her life. Ummm, right. One Big Mac does not a healthy diet make -- I don't believe for a second that she's eating well or taking care of herself. Do you?

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I have to admit that I'm a skeptic when it comes to any exercise that promises rapid change. However, while I haven't done this move that promises thinner thighs in three weeks for the full three weeks, I can promise that it works all the right muscles.

• Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width. If you have a body bar, great -- hold it across your shoulders with a wide grip. I don't have a body bar, so I held five pounds weights in each hand (with my hands held at my sides).
• Bend your left knee and squat down on your left side, keeping your right leg straight until you feel a stretch in your right inner thigh.
• Tighten your butt and push up with your left thigh muscle until you reach a standing position.
• Repeat with your right leg. Do 10 reps on each side.

Check out AOL Health for more leg exercises.

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Katie Holmes' "bony breastplate," "rapidly thinning frame" and "almost non-existent cleavage" are all that's being talked about over at the Daily Mail, and when you look at the photos of her pencil-thin arms as well as her exposed sternum, one can't help being a bit alarmed by her gaunt appearance. Or at least I can't -- what about you?

Yes, the 30-year-old actress has been working hard lately, appearing six nights a week on Broadway and rushing to her husband's side for the Golden Globes. But either this is a really bad angle or it seems she's taken her Scientology detox diet to an extreme -- then again, bad angles usually make you look bigger, not skeletal, right?

Your thoughts?


(via PopEater)

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Naturally thin. Ugh. An awful lot of rail-thin celebrities claim to have this naturally thin condition and, frankly, it gets a bit wearing because it doesn't ring true. But celebrity chef Bethenny Frankel believes the naturally thin hype. In fact, Frankel believes that we're all naturally thin.

Frankel, The Real Housewives of New York City star, says "I'm naturally thin, too, but I didn't come preprogrammed that way. Dieting was always in the forefront of my mind. I can't believe how much of my life I wasted feeling fat, obsessing about what to order on a date, or figuring out how to pass up an invitation to a restaurant I perceived as serving fattening food. Back when I was ingrained in the diet mentality, I never really thought I could escape. But I did."

Now Frankel has stopped the negative self talk and she's developed a healthy relationship with food. Check out the gallery for Frankel's seven secrets to being naturally thin.

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There are five really great reasons to be incredibly skinny. I think you'll agree with these.

• You are a contortionist.
• You're in jail and want to avoid all the effort it takes to create a master escape plan and just slide out through the bars of your cell.
• You want to hide behind small tress.
• You are part of an ice skating team with some dude spinning you around over his head.
• You are starring in a movie in which your character was lost at sea and has been stranded on an island for a long time.
  

Yep. These are the best reasons I can think of. Skinny or trim (which is the word I prefer) is fine if that's what you naturally are, as long as the term suits you in a healthy way. But "skinny" is not something I would hope people would strive for. Healthy and fit are far more important concerns than "skinny."

The secret to thin legs. How to plump up the appearance of a flat fanny. How to stay trim. What exercise does and doesn't count. Carol Burnett shared superb advice on all these topics.

I just saw the legendary funny woman last night and was fortunate enough to ask her a couple of questions. At 73 years young, she really does have a body most women would dream of at that age (including me). In fact, she's always had an amazing physique; just check out her old pics from The Carol Burnett Show!

Burnett is starring in Laughter and Reflection with Carol Burnett: A Conversation with Carol Where the Audience Asks the Questions and besides answering my questions, she answered some from the audience as well.

On the topic of how she keeps her legs so thin: "I shave off loads of excess hair each day."

-The ape woman population will benefit greatly from doing this.

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In a world where so many Hollywood starlets cave in to the insurmountable pressure to be thin, it's nice when someone young, impressionable and promising goes against the grain. Take Harry Potter's Emma Watson, for instance. The pretty and talented actress recently admitted that she doesn't think thin is beautiful, saying "I don't think it's very pretty to be really, really skinny. It's not inspirational at all for me."

Still, it's easy for her to say -- she's 18 and naturally slim, after all. "I'm lucky and I'm this size naturally," she concedes, adding, "I don't diet and I don't aspire to be super skinny. I just don't think it's very pretty. Even if I wanted to be that skinny, I love food and I love cooking and I love sitting down and having nice meals, so it just wouldn't be possible for me."

Good for her -- now let's hope that a slowing metabolism in 10 years time doesn't change her healthy body image.

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That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Name: Chuck Marshall

Age: 44

Occupation: Programmer

How often do you exercise? Five to six days a week .

What type of exercise do you do? Body weight strength training and cardio. I like to do intervals, elliptical, rowing, and running (when I'm not injured).

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No ... I'm not asking if you're painfully bright, wealthy and generous. I'm referring to the Oprah Syndrome as: Having lost and regained enormous amounts of weight more times than you can count. If you've lost a bunch of weight through dieting or just plain old great fitness habits, yet at some point just broke down and regained it all back, you're suffering from Oprah Syndrome.

I've been teaching fitness for 20 years now, and I've dealt with many people suffering the same condition. It's extremely painful to watch, and it's really frustrating for both those going through it and those who love them. I call it Oprah Syndrome because Oprah has made this agonizing situation famous. She has all the means, tools and professionals around to help keep her on track but at some point, she mentally just can't take it.

Gaining five pounds back can be accidental. Gaining 60 to 80+ pounds back is oddly deliberate. She could have hit the breaks when she gained 10, 20 or 30, but she didn't. I believe her issue is emotional, and she simply won't allow herself the life and/or perks that go along with being fit and trim. I'm no psychiatrist, but after doing this about a bazillion times, it's hard not to know the trends.

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The secret to becoming fit and trim is painfully simple, and I know you can follow these easy instructions. No diets, pills or programs necessary!

Changing your post-workout routine, tools to "un-Gumby-fy" your yoga routine, and other neat fitness training tips can be found at ...

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