Until recently, Joy-Anna Duggar was not one of the most high-profile members of her famous family, for no rhyme or reason.

In a clan the size of the Duggars, there are bound to be certain siblings who receive more attention from fans and producers.

That's changed in a big way, though.

These days, however, Joy-Anna is engaged toAustin Forsyth and fans are loving the flurry of activity leading up to her wedding.

Buta new photo of the 19-year-old has sparked concerns about how well Joy-Anna is handling the pressure of living in the limelight.

The image of Joy-Anna with her younger sister Josie shows that the bride-to-be - who will marry Forsyth in October - has lost a considerable amount of weight in recent weeks.

Is that cause for alarm?

Many card-carrying members of DuggarNation have congratulated Joy-Anna and commented favorably on her new appearance.

Others, however, have expressed concern - and reached their own conclusions - about how quickly she seems to be shedding the pounds.

The above photo of Joy-Anna and Josie was posted on the Duggarsofficial Facebook page over the weekend, and the comments section was a testimonyto the strangely mixed reaction from fans.

"Wow. So beautiful!!! wrote one awe-struck follower.

I couldnt believe that was Joy!! She lost weight!!"

I didnt even recognize Joy until I noticed Josie, another commented, gushing over the picture of the siblings and adding:

Joy must have lost weight she looks so great.

Would-be brides slimming down before their wedding day is hardly a foreign concept, but some fans believe that Joy-Anna is slimming down much too rapidly.

She looks good but she is not a naturally thin person," one critic said. "Shes probably starving herself. She wont keep the weight off."

"She will gain again after the wedding, wrote the fan.

Others among theDuggar faithful hypothesized as to exactlywhy Joy-Anna and her sisters all maintain such svelte figures.

Could it be due to their strict religious beliefs?

Why it is important that the Duggar girls become underweight? It is not fair for the young ladies in the Gothard IBLP to be under so much pressure to be thin," wrote one concerned observer.

Yes, many believe that as with every other aspect of their lives, it's the Duggars' religious beliefs that guide their diet and exercise routines.

Indeed, the teaching materials for the controversial Institute of Basic Life Principles, which forms the religious basis for much of the Duggars' belief system, have much to say on the topics of diet and nutrition.

God is concerned about overeating and being over-weight, one passage reads.

Weight control requires consistent conformity to Gods principles of living.

In a 2014 interview with People magazine, family matriarch Michelle Duggarrevealed that she had battled bulimia as a child.

She credited her husband Jim Bob and the IBLP with helping her overcome her eating disorder and body image issues.

In the recent memoir Growing Up Duggar, the ladies of the Duggar clan shared their own weight loss struggles with fans:

When we were younger, most of us could eat about anything we wanted to and not gain weight," the text reads.

"But those times have changed. Weve found that most of us older Duggars have a tendency to gain weight."

Whatever they're doing, it appears to be effective.

That doesn't mean, of course, that their chosen method of shedding pounds is necessarily healthy. What do you think?

Is this something to worry about? Or are the fans once again picking apart photos a little too obsessively here?

Joy-Anna Duggar: 13 Things to Know About Me!

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Originally posted here:
Joy-Anna Duggar Weight Loss Photo Stirs Controversy - The Hollywood Gossip

Washington Nationals center fielder Adam Eaton tore a ligament in his left knee and his season is likely over, the team confirmed Sunday.

General manager Mike Rizzo said Eaton has a full thickness ACL tear, plus a meniscus tear and a high ankle sprain.

In Fridays 7-5 loss to the visiting New York Mets, the 28-year-old Eaton stepped awkwardly on the bag when he beat out a throw to first in the ninth inning. He fell down and then needed assistance leaving the field, keeping weight off his left leg.

Its probably the worst pain Ive ever felt in my life, Eaton said. When I heard it pop I thought it was my ankle, and it was my ACL, it wasnt my ankle. I looked down to basically see if I saw any bones and make sure that everythings still there.

Eaton, who went on the 10-day disabled list Saturday, was Washingtons biggest offseason acquisition, arriving from the Chicago White Sox in a trade that included the Nationals top two pitching prospects plus a 2016 first-round draft choice.

He was hitting .297 with two homers and 13 RBIs, reaching base safely in 20 of 23 games for the NL East leaders.

Pirates Kuhl injured Pittsburgh Pirates righthander Chad Kuhl left his teams game at Miami in the fifth inning Sunday after he was hit in the leg by Dee Gordons sharp one-hopper.

The ball caromed off the inside of Kuhls right leg near his knee, and he collapsed in pain as Gordon reached on a single. Kuhl was examined by a trainer, rose and threw several warmup pitches but then left the game, walking to the dugout accompanied by manager Clint Hurdle.

Brewers Braun leaves Ryan Braun left the Milwaukee Brewers game against Atlanta because of arm soreness and tightness in his right trapezius, a large muscle that extends from the shoulder into the upper back. Braun was removed after the sixth inning, but said he didnt expect to go on the disabled list.

Rangers claim Kozma The Texas Rangers claimed infielder Pete Kozma off waivers from the New York Yankees and made room for him by sending utility man Jurickson Profar to Triple-A Round Rock.

Kozma was designated for assignment by the Yankees on Friday when shortstop Didi Gregorius was activated from the 10-day disabled list after recovering from a right shoulder strain sustained while playing for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic.

The 29-year-old Kozma was one for nine in 11 games with the Yankees. He made three starts at shortstop.

A first-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2007, Kozma is a career .221 hitter in 286 games. His first five big league seasons were with the Cardinals. Kozma spent 2016 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the Yankees system.

Davis is ailing Orioles first baseman Chris Davis was removed from the starting lineup about an hour before game time because of a sore right elbow he was 0 for 7 with five strikeouts since he was hit on the elbow Friday by a pitch from New Yorks CC Sabathia. Davis played first base late in the game.

Rangers donating proceeds The Rangers are donating the proceeds from Sundays Texas 2 Split drawing to the relief and recovery efforts after the violent tornadoes and storms in East Texas on Saturday. Four people were killed during the storms near Canton.

The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the Texas Rangers organization are with the families who are mourning the loss of loved ones and with everyone who was affected by these massive storms, said Texas Rangers Foundation chairman Neil Leibman in a release.

The Rangers Foundation conducts the Texas 2 Split Raffle for every home game at Globe Life Park. One fan has the opportunity to win half of the net proceeds raised each game, with the remaining proceeds benefiting the Rangers Foundation and its many community initiatives and programs.

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MLB notes: Nationals confirm Eaton has torn ACL - STLtoday.com

Losing weight is hard when it seems like youll spend every day of the rest of your life deprived, poking at oatmeal and steamed broccoli. So, in the past few years, fasting diets have become popular. You eat very little one day, sure, but the next day you can eat all the burritos and burgers you desire. Then, not only do you lose weight more quickly, it makes it psychologically easy to hold on in the long run.

This makes intuitive sense. But a new study published today in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine suggests this might not be the case for a specific type of fasting diet called alternate-day fasting. The researchers randomly assigned 100 obese participants to either fast every other day, go on a more traditional diet, or do nothing at all. After a year, the people in the fasting group didnt lose more weight, or have more health benefits, compared to the normal weight-loss group and more people dropped out of the fasting group.

People in the fasting group ended up both over and undereating

That doesnt mean that alternate-day fasting doesnt work, says study co-author Krista Varady, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It just means that its not necessarily much more effective than normal dieting. Varady has led the research on alternate-day fasting, and has even written a book promoting it. (This information is included in the papers conflict of interest disclosure.) Her previous studies suggested that this regimen helped people lose weight more quickly, was easier to stick to (once you got over the first two weeks, which are challenging), and had good effects for other health indicators like cholesterol. But those studies only followed the participants for two or three months. Todays study is the first long-term and randomized study weve had on alternate-day fasting, following participants for an entire year. Some people might be disappointed if youre pro-intermittent fasting, but its just exciting to have this type of high-quality data out there, says Grant Tinsley, a Texas Tech University professor who has studied intermittent fasting and was not involved in the study.

For todays study, the people in the alternate-day fasting group were told to eat about 25 percent of their normal daily calories on their fast days and 125 percent on their feast days. The people in the normal dieting group just cut about 25 percent of their calories every day. Nobody was allowed to join a gym. At the end of the year, both groups had lost about 6 percent of their body weight, and there werent a lot of differences when it came to things like cholesterol, insulin resistance, and blood pressure.

When it comes to the lack of other health benefits, Tinsley says this may be because alternate-day fasting is not exactly a true fasting diet. Individuals usually take their one meal in the middle of the day, so that breaks up the fasting period in half, whereas some other programs have the goal of prolonging that fasting period because of the various metabolic changes, he says. In some ways, its really just a very low-calorie intake one day, so its possible that could play a role.

Its important to note that about 30 people dropped out of the study, which always skews the data, especially when there are only 100 people to begin with. Plus, more people dropped out of the alternate-day fasting group, and the people who remained had trouble sticking to instructions. I was pretty shocked to find out that people had a harder time sticking to alternate-day fasting than they did daily calorie restriction, says Varady. They were eating more calories than prescribed on the fast day and also eating less calories than prescribed on the feast days than what we thought, whereas daily calorie restriction was pretty good at sticking to their calorie goals.

This means that, in the end, the fasting and normal dieting groups ended up eating much more similar amounts of food. It also suggests that sticking to the diet is challenging in the long run. Jason Fung, a doctor who runs an intermittent fasting clinic and was not involved in the study, says that trying to restrict to 500 calories might be harder than not eating at all. People have to understand that if you start eating, youre going to want to continue eating, he says. Its like when you have to go to the bathroom when you start peeing you gotta pee out the whole thing and it takes a lot of willpower to stop. In his clinic, he frequently counsels people to fast for an entire day or more and just plan their schedule around that, instead of rummaging in the cupboards and trying to control themselves. He also works to create more individualized plans, though he acknowledges that there are high dropout rates there, too.

Fasting research has only picked up in the past couple of decades, so we still dont know a lot about why some people might find it easier than others. Ultimately, says Fung, the data suggests that both calorie restriction and fasting are viable options for weight loss.

Ive done alternate-day fasting for years, on and off, along with regular dieting. I always liked the idea of fasting more, especially since Im not a snacker and have always had erratic eating patterns anyway. I liked not feeling deprived all the time, and knowing I could have a proper meal in 12 hours helped with the fast days. But over time, it became too hard to stick to.

For now, Fung says, fastings effectiveness might depend on preference. I dont think that theres one approach that really works for everybody and you really have to find what people like, some people like chocolate and some people like vanilla, you cant say one is wrong and ones right, he adds. Its a personal thing, but in a randomized trial like this, youre taking people and saying you are getting chocolate, do you like it? and might be shoehorning them into a dietary method which doesnt work.

Fung has a point: it really is incredibly easy to go over the fast day allotment, which for someone of my size is 500 calories basically two Clif bars. But I also run and just cant go entire days without eating. The schedule was hard on my social schedule, since people unfortunately dont invite you out to dinner on neatly alternating days.

Alternate-day fasting isnt the only type of fasting diet, Tinsley, the Texas Tech professor, points out. Theres the 5:2 diet, where you fast for only two days a week, or various types of intermittent fasting where you only eat within a certain time interval. Theres even a fasting-mimicking diet where you fast for five days a month thats been shown to have good results, though that version of fasting hasnt been used enough to have a lot to compare it to. Varady adds that todays results shouldnt be generalized too broadly. Next, her team is doing research on the effects of alternate-day fasting on diabetics.

In the end, the diet made me too irritable on my fast days and even the promise of a large meal in the future didnt make me less prone to yelling at everyone. I still go back to ADF every so often, but Ive become more realistic about what I can handle.

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Fasting every other day isn't as good of a weight loss method as you think - The Verge

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Diet Doc's Cutting-Edge Medical Solutions Promote Long-term Weight Loss Beyond the 3-Day Military Diet - Marketwired (press release)