Winona Dimeo-Ediger

The side effects of weight loss are not—gasp!—all positive.

Dressing your age is much more complicated and personal than it might seem. Only you can decide if that “awkward” feeling about your revealing outfit came from a place within yourself or from outer pressure to look or dress a certain way.

Hopefully you say “I love you” to your partner as often as possible. But how often do you tell them you like them? Because as much as we might take loving each other for granted, liking each other isn’t always guaranteed, and it’s rarely vocalized.

Dear Winona,

The thing is, we soak in these body-judging lessons from a very young age, before we even know how damaging they are. Some of the messages are implicit, like when we see a fat girl getting made fun of on the playground (or, for many of us, when we are the fat girl getting made fun of on the playground) and learn that being fat is not just wrong, it’s a punishable offense.

If you’re feeling uneasy about your shopping habits, listen to your gut. There’s no downside to examining your habits and trying to get to a healthier, happier place.

Toss back half a bottle of merlot while watching “Daredevil.” Pause it for a pee break. Glance in bathroom mirror, notice bangs are getting slightly unruly.

Including: public transit inversion pose and heart-opening "shut up, mom" pose.

When you’re helping people zip up dresses and watching their reactions to certain items of clothing, you start noticing patterns. Here are four of the phrases I hear most often in the dressing room, and how I wish — oh, how I wish! — I could respond.

I regularly call upon personal saints for help. Really specific ones whose sainthood only exists in my own mind, but they’re very effective. Today I’d like to introduce you to a few of them; feel free to call on them as often as needed.