Plus Size Dresses

If you are looking to buy an awesome plus-size dress online check out the Monif C. website. This company specializes in high fashion style for plus-size women.

On her website Monif Clarke says "Who says plus size can't be sexy, luxurious and feminine?"

Her own frustration with the plus size clothing market led her to design her own line of clothing in 2004. Her designs are inspired by her love of the Caribbean, the glamour of New York City nightlife and European style.

The clothes on this website are rather high-end and relatively expensive. But if you can afford to buy one special item, the price may be worth it. The dress shown here costs $235.00. It has kimono-style sleeves and is made of rayon lycra jersey and stretch silk charmeuse. It's available in three sizes 14/16, 18/20 and 22/24.

American Idol's Mandisa Comments on Weight Loss

Mandisa Hundley is the only overweight American Idol contestant remaining in the final twenty selected. Mandisa is likely obese by BMI standards but I don't know how much she weighs. Does anyone have this info?

She says she wants to represent the "Fabulous And Thick" (FAT) sisters. The plus-size singer says the battle with weight loss has been the biggest struggle in her life but she is determined to be victorious.

Mandisa is very religious and the first person she'll thank if she wins will be Jesus because "he saved my life". She is a regular worship leader at Beth Moore's Living Proof Live conferences throughout the U.S.




Here's a brief video of Mandisa on the American Idol TV show.

Mandisa recently showed her compassionate nature during the program. One of the judges, Simon Cowell, had earlier cracked a juvenile comment "Do we have a bigger stage this year?" just after she had walked off the stage, during an earlier portion of the show and before she became one of the 24 finalists.

Mandisa responded when she first had a chance to speak in front of the judges recently;

"What I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I've forgiven you and that you don't need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody". and "I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you."

Update March 21st: Mandisa sang a powerful version of "I don't hurt anymore" tonight. Does anyone know where I can get a video clip?

Biggest Loser Fiona Falkiner

Fiona is one of the people participating on the Biggest Loser TV show in Australia. She weighed 101 kilograms (223 pounds) at the beginning of the contest and her goal is to lose 35 kilos (77 pounds) and fit into a size 12 dress. (Her height is 175cm - five feet nine inches.)

Just before starting on Biggest Loser, Fiona was a size 16-18 top and an 18-20 bottom.

Fiona gained most of her excess weight when she was sixteen. She is now 23 and the youngest contestant on this show. She's getting more than her fair share of attention compared to the other 11 contestants and has lost an amazing six kilos (13 pounds) during the first week of the program.

She seems to have natural star appeal and if she can hang in there she could be Australia's next big celebrity.

I'll update this post as more news comes in.

Update: March 28th: After a few weeks of relative stalling, Fiona had a great week. She weighs 86 kilograms in week six of the program. (That's 190 pounds.)

Update: April 19th: Fiona is now one of the last four finalists. At the end of week eight she weighed 87 kilograms.

April 27th Update: The final results are in. Ardo (Adriano Sarnelli), won this year's biggest loser in Australia. He lost 51 kilograms (37% of his body weight) in just four months. He has been obese all his life and still can't believe this rapid transformation when he sees himself in the mirror. This kind of incredibly fast weight loss required working out four hours a day.

What an incredibly beautiful dress. This photo was taken by Fiona Hamilton for the Herald Sun.

Fiona Falkiner lost an amazing 29.5 kilo (65 pounds) in four months. That's 29% of her initial body weight! A huge congrats to Fiona!

Update: October 3rd: Fiona has just been the first contestant eliminated from the Dancing with Stars competition in Australia. She was battling blisters but will be back for the finale. No doubt we'll see her in lots of other TV events in the near future.

Losing 50 Pounds in One Year

One of the more entertaining personal stories of weight loss online is the Hopeful Loser site. She had hoped to lose 90 pounds in one year when she first started her online diary a year ago, and has gone on to actually lose fifty pounds over the first year.

HL has achieved this with regular workouts on her elliptical trainer and by reducing her daily calories consumed.

The before picture shown here was taken in late February 2005. At that point she weighed 209 pounds and had a body mass index (BMI) of 37. (Her height is 5'3".) The after picture was taken about a week ago in February 2006. She now weighs 160 pounds and her goal is to lose 30 more pounds.

HL has a really entertaining writing style. Here's an example; an entry from when she first started her online weight-loss records;

"I was in the maternity store buying clothes (this might be my fault) with my daughter (almost 14 months) and I was chatting it up (as per usual) with the sales clerk when she asked me "When are you due?" I pointed to my daughter and said, "Oh, you're looking at her. Yup, I have no excuse." She apologized profusely as she tried to convince me that she (maybe a size 4) shops there too.

It was a maternity store after all, so maybe that led to the misunderstanding? Unless she just started working there, though, how could that not have happened to her before? Had no other non-pregnant, simply, just heavy person ever shopped there before? How could she not have asked them too and learned her lesson?"

Check out her very funny and inspiring site at Hopeful Loser.