I'm a slumper. Bad. I blame it on my "girls" (*which, if you've met me, it makes for a grand excuse), but it's there. I do it. And I don't realize how it makes me *look*, it's just a lazy way of walking. Even tho I KNOW better. Mom always said, "Stand up straight. It'll make you look slimmer." Yeah, of course, she was right.

Charla Krupp knows it, too. In fact, she wrote a book about how to look slimmer, "How to Never Look Fat Again: Over 1,000 Ways to Dress Thinner--Without Dieting!", which has mulitiple sections adressing specific areas of the body, in additon to bullet-point lists and even a "High-Fat/No-Fat" way of dressing to your strong points, and I was lucky enough to get to interview her this week.

Let me tell you right off the bat, just like Charla does in her introduction, if you are more than 100lbs overweight you will NOT get the full benefit of all of the advice in this book. But, that doesn't mean that you can not get a ton of helpful advice from it - you can. Here are a few things I picked up:

1. Wide Feet & Ankles: I should never wear shoe with an ankle strap; it looks better to wear a shoe with a bit of a heel & that a d'Orsay pump is actually the best style, because of it's open sides. (*hell, i didn't even know the NAME of those kind of shoes, let alone that they would be the best style for me to wear.)
2. Heavy Calves: It is okay to wear a skirt, I just need to make sure it hits the "sweet spot" - which is at the back of the knee where the thigh connects with the calf and curves inward.
3. Big Bust: While I know it is nescessary to get a properly fitted bra, you actually need a variety of these, as you will fluctuate. And by properly fitted, I mean, no bulges over and around & lifting your bust off of your ribcage & being positioned equally between your shoulder and your elbow. That's the "sweet spot" for your boobs.

A couple of other things that we discussed that help you look slimmer is when your skin is soft & moisturized and using some self-tanner or bronzer. The need to moisturize should be easy to figure out, soft skin feels good and helps your body, but did you realize that it can also change the perception of how old you look? According to a survey (*sponsored by P&G Beauty), one of the things they found was that "When judged independently from the face, body skin, if maintained, is perceived up to 10 years younger and adds to the overall perception of youthfulness." These findings led to a conclusion of:

“The study indicates that body skin around the neck and chest, arms, and hands are important areas for women in terms of age perception,” said Dr. Bernhard Fink, Senior Scientist, Institute for Zoology and Anthropology at the University of Göettingen. “Keeping your skin moisturized is one of the most basic things you can do to prevent visible signs of aging on the skin. Using products that go beyond basic moisturization to provide additional anti-aging benefits can be a further help.”

As for the self-tanner/bronzer, it has the ability to hide veins and bruises. Now, I'm not a whiz at self-tanning, I am such a fair-skinned girl, I'd rather laze in the nice air conditioning, but I DO know that to get a good application, you need to have smooth skin. I'm not even going to try to think that there are some of you out there trying to put it on over some stubbley legs.

Well, Charla has a coupla ideas to help with both of these things and they are both drugstore buys, which you know I love. First, she says to use the new Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 Advanced Anti-Aging Body Wash, with its ability to fight "the 7 signs of body skin aging for radiant, younger looking skin. So, not only are you clean, you are also helping to improve your skins elasticity and improve how it looks - (*sugg. price $5.99 or $7.99, depending on size). And for smooth legs, she suggests the first disposable razor with 5 blades, the Venus Embrace Disposables. It gives you the same close shave as with the other razors, just without the need to change blades. (*3 to a pack. sugg. price $9.99 to $13.99).

Let me know if you pick up this book and if you take any of the tips to heart. I know we are all different and have diff things we try to adjust for, so, I may have skipped one that you found super helpful. I'd like to know about it.

(*Big thanks to Charla for her time and the teams that made it happen. I really appreciate it.)