Want to get more results out of your regular fitness class? It's as simple as standing at the front of the class.

Recently, TV star Katherine Heigl raised a few eyebrows when she said, "I'm finished with the whole idea of having children of my own. It doesn't seem like any fun. I don't think it's necessary to go through all that." Isn't pregnancy supposed to be a gift? A miracle? More meaningful than just some tedious inconvenience?

But Heigel is not alone -- according to The Daily Mail, many women are choosing adoption over pregnancy. The reasons are many but a couple are especially common: To keep their career on track and maintain their figure. Says one adoptive mother: "I am quite slim, so yes, a lot of it is pure vanity. I don't like the thought of changing my body for a child. Giving birth and the idea of all that pain filled me with dread."

Is not giving birth because of vanity a selfish move? Or a practical one? In the end, it all comes down to personal choice, but I'm curious -- what do you think?

Source

There are certainly a million plus reasons to quit smoking: the smell, the cancer risks, the heart disease, etc ... But now there is a new one! If you want to have plastic surgery on your face (and if you've smoked for a long time ... you probably want to), your doctor may insist that you quit before she'll do the procedure. Smoking interferes with the healing process.

This article tells the tale of a woman who repeatedly tried to quit smoking with no success. Until! That is ... her purpose for quitting was vanity. Hooray for that! I don't honestly care what she does with her face, I'm just grateful to have one less smoker in the world. I'm also thrilled that doctors have found a legitimately convincing way to get people to stop.

Source

I spent an hour sitting and visiting with a neighbor the other night, a neighbor nearing the end of her life, thanks to stage IV breast cancer that has spread to both lungs. We talked about all sorts of things -- how she should have been more vigilant about mammograms, how it's nice for her to know exactly what it is that will take her life, and how she can eat just about anything she wants now. We also talked about exercise.

My neighbor, who is in her early 70s, said she was in the marching band in high school. But ever since that time in her life, she's never really exercised. In her day, she said, exercise was about vanity. Women worked out to achieve a certain figure, to look good. There was very little talk about the benefits of exercise on overall health. And since she didn't buy into the gotta-look-a-certain-way mentality, she'd didn't buy into exercise either. In hindsight, she wishes she would have.

This thread of our discussion really makes me think. It makes me mostly think how lucky the young people of today are to know the health merits of exercise, to realize that while it can make a body look good, it's also a life-saving venture. It makes me feel good that my kids, now seven and five, will likely always know of exercise as a health measure. I'm not even sure they realize it can be used to achieve a certain appearance. Lucky for them.

Clearly, exercise is about wellness. Now, in her unwell days, my neighbor knows this. There's just very little she can do about it now. Unlucky for her.

Miley Cyrus, photographed by famous photographer Annie Leibovitz, graces the cover of the new Vanity Fair magazine. Cyrus might consider this an honor, a privilege, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Mostly, though, the 15-year-old singing and acting sensation considers it an embarrassment.

Appearing to be topless, covered in only a blanket, Cyrus says of the photo: "I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."

Defending the star is The Disney Channel, home of Cyrus' Hannah Montana show. Disney folks say a situation was created to deliberately manipulate this young girl in order to sell magazines. Vanity Fair spokespeople say this isn't so and report that parents were on the set all day and everyone saw the digital photo before it was published. A source close to the Cyrus family says "nope," the parents left before the photograph was taken.

What's your take on the Cyrus cover shot?

Source

People magazine offers up a few secrets belonging to Heroes star Ali Larter. For one, it's revealed that Ali wasn't always as glamorous as she is now.

"I was a little tomboy, she says. "I played soccer and softball. I was one sock up and one sock down with dirty, scraped-up knees."

Larter's 2007 Emmy Awards secret is that she did her own hair -- no stylists involved -- as part of the Dove's Real Beauty campaign. And another secret: Larter likes her men with a potbelly.

"I don't like vain men," she shares. "I don't like guys that worry about what they're wearing or want to go shopping. I like guys that are dudes."

So don't worry, guys. Not all women want the perfect body. Some like you just the way you are.

Source

With our advances in medical technology many surgeries are no longer the dangerous and potentially life-threatening things they used to be, cosmetic procedures especially. And with the pressure to be thin and beautiful only increasing, people are going under the knife in record numbers for elective cosmetic procedures, with numbers up by 48% between the years 2000 and 2006.

So Forbes set out to find out which cities in America were "embracing" the trend the most, and they compiled their results into a top 10 list. Who do you think came out on top? My first thought was LA, but I was way off:

Source