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Mahalia Barnes: How I dropped nine kilos in 10 weeks!

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Mahalia Barnes: How i dropped nine kilos in 10 weeks!

The Aussie rock princess tackles her first-ever weight-loss plan, with amazing results!

Mahalia Barnes, the beautiful daughter of rocker Jimmy Barnes, has a big voice, but she has decided she doesn’t want the body to match. The singer’s weight has ballooned over the past five years, often leaving her feeling listless and exhausted. “I’ve never owned scales in my life,” Mahalia happily admits. “But I’m unfit and I’m heavy. I notice it when I’m on stage. I can feel it.”

“I turned 30 this year, and I’ve noticed changes in my body over the past few years, which come with childbirth and age, and before it gets really out of control, I want to get a handle on it.” Mahalia turned to Weight Watchers to help with her weight-loss journey, becoming the company’s first celebrity ambassador in 10 years – and it’s already working, with the singer dropping an impressive 9kg in the first 10 weeks of the program.

“I’m doing Weight Watchers because I can still eat whatever I want – and it works!” she explains. “I’m a really big foodie and love to cook and love to eat. A big part of my family life is [being] around the dinner table. My whole family is into cooking and I’ve never even considered dieting. It’s not realistic for me to give up something I feel passionately about – and the beauty of Weight Watchers is, I don’t have to.”

Mahalia, a self-professed sweet-tooth, says she hasn’t given up anything she loves to eat during the 10 weeks she’s been secretly doing Weight Watchers, although she has learned the benefit of portion control, using the program’s points system. “I’ve eaten chocolate, I’ve eaten pavlova and I’ve had a burger,” confesses Mahalia, adding that the best tip she has discovered is frozen dates. “They don’t actually freeze, but they go chewy and taste like caramel. It’s just about being responsible with your choices and portion control, and that is something that really appealed to me.”

Read more about Mahalia’s amazing weight loss in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday January 7, 2013.

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Kim and Kanye’s $350 million baby!

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We can expect the entertainment power couple’s bank account to rocket up to a massive $350 million – just for successfully making a bub.

Her every move is documented by her TV show and a flock of paparazzi, so quite how Kim Kardashian managed to keep her pregnancy news secret is anyone’s guess. But at a concert in the US last week, her boyfriend of eight months, rapper Kanye West, let the cat out of the bag.

With the words, “Make noise for my baby mama right there,” Kanye told fans the happy news – while Kim beamed in the audience. “It’s true! Kanye and I are expecting a baby,” she confirmed on her blog afterwards. “We feel so blessed and lucky.” “Kimye”, as Kim and Kanye have been dubbed, stand to make a pretty penny to add to their combined net worth of $150 million.

“Kim’s baby will take her brand to the next level – and give her a licence to print money,” Hollywood showbiz consultant James Desborough tells Woman’s Day. “Kim’s appeal is now so broad that she could make over $200m in the next 18 years. In just hours after the announcement, Kim was bombarded with $100m worth of endorsement offers asking for mum and child to be the faces of everything from prams and diapers [nappies] to car seats and baby food, and that is growing by the day.”

The US magazine industry is already in a brutal bidding war for the first baby pictures, with offers reaching six figures, says James. “And this will continue for milestones like birthdays, christenings, holidays and school events,” he adds. Already 31-year-old Kim has started sharing details, telling E! News that pregnancy is “not fun” and she’s having “growing pains”.

Read more about Kim and Kanye’s baby plans in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday January 7, 2013.

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Kim Kardashian offered $250,000 for pregnancy website

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Kim Kardashian offered $250,000 for pregnancy website

Since news of her pregnancy broke, Kim Kardashian has been offered a number of lucrative deals to cash in on her baby.

Her latest has been an offer to run an exclusive website documenting her pregnancy.

But Kim’s mumager, and now grand-mumager it seems, Kris Jenner has politely declined the offer.

Movie producer David Dginguerian pitched the idea to launch the membership-only website named mypregnancy.com so fans can follow every detail of Kim’s countdown, Radar Online reports.

In the pitch letter, David suggests the site would generate around $100,000 per month and that Kim would be able to distribute the money to a Christian charity of her choice.

But Kim won’t walk away empty handed. He has offered her $250,000 as a “signing bonus”.

Kim, who is still married to her estranged husband Kris Humphries, is expecting her first child with boyfriend Kanye West in late June.

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Katie Holmes and Jake Gyllenhaal’s shock romance

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Katie Holmes and Jake Gyllenhaal's shock romance

No, we’re not Jakeing – things are heating up for GyllenHolmes.

Tom Cruise might be grabbing headlines around the world for romancing a hot restaurateur half his age – but Woman’s Day can reveal that his ex-wife Katie Holmes is quietly working on a new love of her own, with one of Hollywood’s hottest bachelors.

While Tom was reportedly openly kissing New Yorker Cynthia Jorge last week, Katie has been seeing none other than Brokeback Mountain hunk Jake Gyllenhaal, our sources say. The pair’s flirtation apparently dates back to September, when Jake invited Katie to see his stage debut in the off-Broadway play If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet. And his work must have impressed Katie, with friends telling us that they began texting and calling each other almost immediately.

“It started out as a lot of playful flirting – Katie was being coy because Jake has had a string of famous girlfriends in the last year or two,” says the close confidant. “And she wanted to make sure he was really interested in her and not just looking for a quick fling.” But now Jake’s exes, including Reese Witherspoon, Kirsten Dunst and Taylor Swift, are clearly the farthest thing from Katie’s mind.

At a telethon in November to support New York’s Hurricane Sandy relief, witnesses say Katie and Jake unintentionally took their secret flirting public. “Jake was standing very close to her and talking discreetly, whispering in her ear. I don’t know what he said but she quite clearly said, ‘Stop it… not here!’ ” an onlooker assisting with the event that night tells Woman’s Day. “She was blushing and they appeared to be very, very close friends.”

Read more about Katie and Jake’s new romance in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday January 7, 2013.

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Broke Aussie gran: My daughter took $300,000

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Broke Aussie gran: My daughter took $300,000

A distraught grandmother says her daughter has siphoned her bank accounts to build luxury villas in Fiji.

Queensland great-great gran Mary Douglas-Crandley cringes with embarrassment at the prospect of disclosing her family’s sordid secret. But heartbroken pensioner Mary, 82, is swallowing her pride to warn others of the perils of power of attorney privileges. Mary wants readers to know that even if a legally appointed “attorney” thinks they’re acting in your best interests, it may backfire with disastrous results.

She alleges that her estranged daughter Kim Wind, 60, abused her trust to the tune of $300,000 – and now she fears she won’t get a cent of it back. Mary had assigned emergency control of her finances to Kim years ago, then locked the paperwork away in her writing cabinet, not giving it any more thought.

In March last year, Mary’s second husband John – Kim’s stepfather – died, and Kim moved in with her mother. Their relationship soon broke down, and just a few weeks after John’s death, Mary underwent major heart surgery. It was only when a hospital social worker asked Mary if she had someone to handle her affairs that she remembered the legally binding document giving power of attorney to her daughter.

At that frightful moment, she realised just how vulnerable she was. Mary immediately tried to revoke Kim’s control of her cash – but it was already too late. She alleges that Kim stole the paperwork from her writing cabinet two days earlier and bolted to Fiji with Mary’s life-savings, including term deposits of $190,000, and a series of unauthorised ATM withdrawals from John’s bankcard. “When I asked Kim for the money back, she refused point-blank,” says Mary.

Read more about Mary’s difficult situation in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday January 7, 2013.

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Hard luck Harry! Prince’s former flame engaged

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Hard luck Harry! Prince's former flame engaged

Prince Harry and Florence Brudenell-Bruce

He’s one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, but Prince Harry has lost a love interest to another man for the second time in as many months.

Lingerie model Florence Brudenell-Bruce, 26, is now engaged Henry St George, the multi-millionaire she left Harry for.

Henry proposed during a New Year’s Eve holiday in New York, and the pair is reportedly planning to marry this year.

Related: Prince Harry’s love battle on the home front

Harry dated Florence for several months in 2011, but she quickly tired of life in the spotlight and went back to Henry, who she had previously dated for several years.

It’s not the first time the Prince has lost out to a love rival. Last month it was reported that his current girlfriend, aristocratic model Cressida Bonas, was considering ending their romance and reuniting with her ex-boyfriend, Harry Wentworth-Stanley.

Harry will end his tour of duty in Afghanistan this month and is expected to return to London within days.

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Blue Ivy’s lavish lifestyle

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At just a year old, little Blue Ivy enjoys the lavish lifestyle of the rich and famous. The tiny tot has a wardrobe full of designer clothes, a collection of unique designer shoes and a $21,000 crib. Now she can add her own $1 million-a-year private nursery to the list.

Her parents Beyonce Knowles and Jay Z, who are among the biggest earning couples in Hollywood, have rented Blue her own nursery at the Barclays Centre in New York, so the next time the pair take in a basketball game or Jay Z performs there, Blue will be well looked after.

The nursery, is “filled with toys” to keep the toddler entertained US Weekly reports, as well as a TV screen so she can also watch Dad perform.

Baby blue Ivy cuddles up to her mum Beyonce.

Baby Blue poses with her dad while holidaying on the couple’s super yacht.

Designer Ruthie Davis especially designed these shoes for the tiny tot.

Blue was given a custom made t-shirt from her dad’s recent tour.

Blue has a collection of designer clothes including a $290 Jean Paul Gaultier silk dress.

At five days old Blue received a $21,000 ‘fantasy crib’ made of solid cedar and birch.

The couple enjoy a basketball game while Blue stays in her $1 million nursery.

Beyonce has taken Blue to numerous places around the world.

Baby Blue was given a $4,700 Swarovski crystal-studded baby bath.

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Quit smoking Hollywood style

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Quit smoking Hollywood style

Can’t butt out? Here’s how the stars gave up smoking.

“In Asian studies, the quit rates are as high as 40 per cent for serious first-time quitters who go cold turkey,” says Professor Matthew Peters from the Australian Lung Foundation.

“However, if you continue to keep smoking after that, you need to try other strategies like the patch, or Varenicline (Champix). The bottom line is to keep trying.”

So, how can you make it work for you?

  • Put a photo of someone you love on your desk and think about how they’d cope if you weren’t here.

  • Particularly in the first few weeks, avoid places and situations where you’re likely to smoke. Plan meetings with friends at smoke-free venues like the movies.

  • Be committed. Set a date and tell at least three people. Call 137 848 for your free Quit pack or to speak to a counsellor, who will call you around your quit date.

Self-help

  • Imagine yourself breathing in nasty fumes as they poison your body, making your hair smell awful and your fingers yellow.

  • Take a tip from Ellen’s hypnotist, Paul McKenna, who told her to imagine cigarettes tasted like “spicy liquorice coated with hair from a barber shop floor.”

  • Now imagine breathing in pure air – how much more kissable you’ll be and how much better you’ll look and feel.

“If hypnosis makes somebody start thinking about quitting, that’s a good thing. It doesn’t work for everybody, but doing something is better than doing nothing,” says Professor Peters.

“Although you light them and breathe out what looks like smoke, it is actually water vapour and supposedly much less harmful than normal ciggies,” Katherine says. E-cigarettes are not sold in Australia, but can be bought online.

So how can they work for you?

While millions may swear by them, experts urge caution.

“On balance of early evidence,it’s likely e-cigarettes are safer than smoking [real ones],” says Professor Peters from the Australian Lung Foundation. “But they’re probably not safer than not smoking. One alsoexploded in a man’s face recently, taking out his teeth.”

A US Food and Drug Administration lab analysis of e-cigarettes found one brand contained a chemical toxic to humans.

Need help? Visit www.quitnow.gov.au or call the quit line: 13 78 48

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I drove away my only friend

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I drove away my only friend

My daughter Olivia was due to start school and I attended the parents information session to find out how best to prepare my baby girl for big school.

I walked into a full room of mother’s looking me up and down and I immediately knew what they were thinking. I had my daughter when I was 16 and was now only 21 so I did stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of middle-aged faces.

It was quite a formidable school with an excellent academic reputation and I knew that in an area like this having a baby in your teens was not the norm. I prided myself on having got my life together — since having my baby I’d met a wonderful older man, Steve who took on Olivia as his own, and provided me with life’s luxuries including a beautiful house and a nice car.

I’d gone back to college and enjoyed working part-time as a dental nurse, in fact the only thing I didn’t have was my own family and friends as they had turned their backs on me when I fell pregnant. Steve’s parents had passed and he had no siblings so it was pretty much just the three of us which was lonely and isolated at times.

When Olivia started school I volunteered in the canteen and joined the P&C and found parents beginning to slowly open up to me, it was then I met Joanne. Joanne was in her early thirties and was just so bubbly and easy going, she seemed to understand what I had been through and included me in working bees and encouraged me to help on class trips.

We became firm friends and conveniently lived close-by so saw each other a lot, she was my only friend and I was determined to keep her in my life. I suggested we should walk to get fit and walk the girls home from school together every afternoon which she too thought was a great idea. I also started cooking extra at dinner and dropping it around to her house on my way past.

I planned shopping trips and family outings together and was thrilled to have found a soul mate. I often rang Joanne in the evening to have a chat before I went to sleep and it was during one of our regular chats that Joanne dropped a bomb. Joanne said I was smothering her and she needed more family time but that she would still see me at school, I said I understood but I was deeply hurt and had no idea where this was coming from. I had thought everything was great.

I started to feel isolated again as Joanne withdrew further, so I began to follow her from school so we could run into each other shopping and changed my volunteer day in the canteen to the same as hers. I even took my daughter and enrolled her at the same dance school as Joanne’s child so that we could hang out during lessons, but Joanne wasn’t the same around me — the comfortable closeness we had shared had gone.

My hurt turned to irrational thinking and I felt sure some other mother had been jealous and tried to break up our friendship. It rapidly got to the stage where Joanne would see me and walk the other way. I drove to her house to find out why she turned her back on me and saw Sarah who was another mother from our school at her house. I was furious being convinced Sarah had been filling Joanne’s head with lies about me as she had always turned up her nose at me. I got out of the car and seeing red slapped Sarah across the face. Sarah had a complete look of shock on her face.

I wanted the driveway to swallow me up when I heard Sarah had gone to Joanne’s house to bring her daughter’s school bag back after Sarah’s daughter had picked it up by mistake. I left in a hurry embarrassed at what I had become, I was using Joanne to fill a void in my life. I arranged to see a therapist and would apologise to Joanne and Sarah on Monday.

Monday came and there was no sign of Joanne. I found out she had taken her daughter out of the school. I was completely distraught at what I had done. Everyone soon found out due to Sarah’s big mouth.

I needed a fresh start so have moved Olivia to a new school two suburbs away and have started to make new friends but have learnt a lot of important lessons, not the least about boundaries.

Your say: Have you had a similar experience? Share your stories and thoughts below.

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Pregnant Kim Kardashian keeps up the workouts

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Pregnant Kim Kardashian keeps up the workouts

Kim Kardashian confirmed her pregnancy this week, but that hasn’t stopped the reality star from keeping up her fitness routine.

Following the happy announcement by baby daddy Kanye West during his concert in Atlantic City on Sunday night, Kim revealed she is keen to keep as healthy as possible throughout her pregnancy, and appears to be staying true to her word.

The 32-year-old was spotted heading to the gym on Wednesday looking trim and radiant in an all-black ensemble, despite her admission that she’s suffering from “growing pains” and finding the early stages of pregnancy hard.

“I wouldn’t say that pregnancy has been easy but there’s been no morning sickness,” Kim said in an interview with E! News earlier this week. “When people say pregnancy is fun and they love it, I would disagree. I think from this stage on it does become easier and funner, but it’s just adjusting.

“Even my sister has made it look so easy and it’s not as easy as people think. It’s a little painful, there’s a lot of growing pains.

“But I’ve heard it’s all worth it so I’m looking forward to that.”

Despite the workouts, Kim says she is getting plenty of rest.

“I take lots of naps,” she reveals. “Actually I feel really good. This New Year is just about being happy and healthy, and that’s what I plan on doing.”

TheKeeping Up With The Kardashiansstar – who is still legally married to basketball star Kris Humphries despite them splitting up more than a year ago – also claimed to be longing for seafood, which is not recommended for pregnant women.

“I’m craving sushi, but I know I can’t really have it, so I’m eating a lot of carrots and celery with lots of ranch [dressing],” she told E! News.

Kim and Kanye, who began dating in April 2012, are reportedly keen to find out the sex of their first child as soon as they can.

As to whether she would like a boy or a girl, Kim says, “No preference. I just want a healthy baby.”

Related video: Kim Kardashian pregnant to Kanye West.

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