'It was my mom's dying wish': Man, 23, loses almost half 459lbs body weight in just a YEAR

By FIONA ROBERTS

Half the size: Alex Respess reveals his astonishing weight loss next to a cardboard cut-out showing him at his heaviest, when he weighed 459lbs


When Alex Respess's mother died after a battle with cancer, she made one last request - for her son to be happy and healthy.

And now, four years later, the 23-year-old can proudly say he fulfilled his mother's dying wish after he lost almost half his body weight in just 12 months.

He showed off his astonishing transformation on ABC's Good Morning America today, where he revealed his new 243lbs figure next to a cardboard cut-out showing him at his heaviest, 459lbs.



Before and after: Alex Respess, left, at his first weigh-in a year ago, and right, today on Good Morning America after he lost an astonishing 216lbs


The audience gasped as he held up one of his old shirts, and showed how he could now fit his whole body into one leg of a pair of shorts he wore before he shed the pounds.

Mr Respess, of Duluth, Georgia, said: 'The one thing I think [my mom] would say is she's proud of the man I've become.

'Because I'm not that kid that was overweight that she remembers - now I'm grown up.'
He added: 'Now in her memory I am happy and healthy and helping my brothers get that way too.'


Inspiration: Alex Respess pictured with his mother, Kim, who died four years ago. She told him she wanted him to be happy and healthy


Last year he was literally double the size. After a lifetime of unhealthy eating, Mr Respess, an ardent baseball fan, was too big to play, and was too mortified to go out to eat after once breaking a chair at a restaurant.

He said:' I was very introverted, I just didn't get out there, now I have the confidence to talk to anyone, to do anything.'

So, in desperation, Mr Respess wrote to personal trainer Chris Powell, who agreed to help him on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.

At the beginning Mr Respess was so big he had to be weighed on a freight-scale, and could only enter his bathroom door sideways.


Morbidly obese: At the beginning of the programme, Alex Respess was 459lbs, and had to be weighed using a pair of freight scales


First he travelled to Los Angeles, where he began his training - and learned how to make a healthier turkey version of his favourite bacon cheeseburger.

For the next 90 days Mr Powell lived with Mr Respess at his Duluth home, staying with him for 24 hours a day to help him meet his initial target, of losing 100lbs in just three months.

At his first weigh-in, he missed his goal - and the prize of a season ticket to his favourite baseball team, the Atlanta Braves - by just three pounds.


Astonishing transformation: Alex Respess demonstrates how he can fit inside one leg of his old shorts, left, and disappears behind an old shirt, right


Strict regime: Alex Respess meets Chris Powell, who spent the last year training him. Mr Powell even moved into his Georgia house for three months


But after Mr Powell moved out Mr Respess began to struggle, and worked out less and less. He said it gave him too much time to think about his mother's death, and he was angry about his father's impending marriage to his new fiancée.

The turning point came three days after the wedding, when Mr Powell took Mr Respess to an Army base in Georgia for a 24-hour boot camp.

He said the encouragement from the other soldiers as he trained alongside them spurred him on, and he went away with a coin to symbolise his goal: 'Get to it and fulfill your mission!'


Desperate measures: Alex Respess even let the Army shave his hair off so he could attend a 24-hour boot camp. He described it as a turning point


By January, he had lost a whopping 195lbs, and was able to undergo skin removal surgery to complete the transformation.

The end of the programme shows Mr Respess attending a ceremony with all his family and friends at a baseball field where he used to play little league - the last time he thought he made his mother proud.

He officially renamed a corner of the field Kim's Corner in her honour, and as he celebrated his 216lbs weight loss said: 'That number means a new life.'







sourc: dailymail

A face in the life of Kate Moss: The coarsening effect of drink, drugs and non-stop partying

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Serene, poised and with the hint of a shy smile — Kate Moss was barely recognisable when the Mail published pictures of her yesterday as a sweet 17-year-old posing for a bridal magazine.

Twenty years on, and the wear and tear of her notorious lifestyle has taken its toll.

Here, we look back at Kate’s 20-year career and chart the decline of a once-great beauty.











2011: Looking 37 going on 47, Kate is now busy preparing for her July wedding to Jamie Hince.


How she is dressed on the big day will be a surprise, but one thing is certain: she’ll be almost unrecognisable from the fresh-faced 17-year-old that she was 20 years ago when she posed in that early shoot for Brides magazine.


source: dailymail

Cindy Crawford treats her mirror image daughter Kaia to a night out in Hollywood

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Lookalikes: Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Jordan, left, was the mirror image of her supermodel mother, right, as they stepped out for dinner at Katsuya restaurant, last night


Cindy Crawford's daughter is looking more and more like her genetically blessed mother everyday.

Kaia Jordan, 10, was the mirror image of the 45-year-old supermodel, as they stepped out for dinner to the star-studded Katsuya restaurant in Hollywood, last night.

The mother and daughter duo were there for a family dinner and were joined by one of Kaia's friends.


Stunning: Cindy first became famous in the 80s alongside Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Helena Christensen


Dressed in jeans and a white singlet top, Kaia certainly bears a striking resemblance to Cindy, with the same signature brunette hair, facial features and tanned skin.

Her mother also slipped on a similar outfit of skinny jeans, a white top and a leather cropped jacket.

Both girls also wore near-identical flats.

Cindy is one of the most photographed women in the world, and first became famous in the 80s alongside Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Helena Christensen.


Model behaviour: Also bonding with her daughter was fellow super Christy Turlington, who took Grace for a frozen yoghurt in New York


In her mid-forties, the mother-of-two looks nowhere near her age and still models in various fashion and beauty campaigns, and was recently on the cover of Vogue Mexico in May.

But Cindy has admitted to using a little help from a plastic surgeon in the past to help maintain her looks.

In a magazine interview in 2006, she admitted that she first saw a plastic surgeon at the age of 29.

She said: 'I'm not going to lie to myself: Past a certain age, creams work on the texture of your skin but, in order to restore elasticity, all I can really count on is vitamin injections, Botox and collagen,' she told Gala magazine.



Genetically blessed: Cindy is seen here this month with her gorgeous family, husband Rande Gerber, left, son Presley, far left, and daughter Kaia, right


Cindy had once claimed that a 'miracle mixture' of ground coffee and olive oil kept her skin in its enviable condition.

Yet with refreshing honesty, she came clean and admitted to a little help.

'I have a very simple, healthy life, which works miracles,' she says. 'I drink a lot of water, watch what I eat and exercise. But I owe the quality of my skin to my cosmetic surgeon.'

Then last year she told Piers Morgan in the Mail on Sunday: 'There's a doctor here in London who I've gone to for Botox.'

In 2005, Crawford created a line of beauty products with Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh called Meaningful Beauty for Guthy-Renker

Married to club owner Rande since 1998, the couple also have a son, Presely, 11.
Cindy was also famously married to actor Richard Gere for four years.

source: dailymail

Fighting fit: Michael Douglas healthier and stronger as he walks daughter Carys to school

Healthy: Michael Douglas looked happy and fit as he walked daughter Carys to school this week


He was given the all-clear from his throat cancer battle in January.

And slowly and surely, over the last few months, Michael Douglas has been gaining weight, getting some colour back in his cheeks and looking himself again.

All of which was apparent when he walked daughter Carys to school on Wednesday morning.

They looked happy and relaxed in each other's company as they strolled in the warm sun through Manhattan.

Michael, 66, was dressed casually in baggy grey trousers and a light blue shirt and kept his face out of the sun under a baseball cap.

He looked proudly at his eight-year-old daughter as she skipped along and chatted to him.




All-clear: Michael has put on weight and is recovering well after his bout with cancer


The Wall Street star often walks his daughter to school from their New York apartment.

And he looked as though the trials, tribulations and heartache of the last year are finally starting to ease for the Oscar-winning star.

In April last year, his son Cameron was sentenced to five years in prison for possessing heroin and dealing large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine out of a New York hotel room.


Like mother like daughter: Carys, already the spitting image of Catherine, sings and dances her way along the street


Then last August, Michael was diagnosed with throat cancer which was at an advanced stage but after undergoing gruelling radiation and chemotherapy treatment, he has been given the all-clear.

But last month, his actress wife Catherine Zeta-Jones checked herself into Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut to seek treatment for bipolar II disorder.


Caring: Michael carries Carys's bag and takes her hand as he leads her across the road


Earlier this month, Michael was a guest on US chat show The View and spoke about his wife's treatment.

He said: 'It's like her 30,000 mile oil and lube check up. She had some issues, I joke about it but in the last year-and-a-half my oldest son got incarcerated, sent to federal prison, my ex-wife sued me, I got cancer.

'It's hard for your wife to say "I'm depressed", you know.'


In the clear: Michael and Catherine pose on the red carpet at the Golden Globes in Hollywood in January, shortly after Michael had been given the news that he had beaten throat cancer

source: dailymail