Yes, my friends, that’s our favorite (formerly) plus-size gal Melissa McCarthy standing right next to me at the Critics Choice Awards, and, like you, I’m amazed to see how positively petite she looks. I absolutely dwarf her, and I’m about a size 8 on most days.  That makes her look like maybe a size 4? What, you may ask, is Melissa McCarthy’s weight loss secret?

In November the weekly tabloids and infotainment shows like People and Life & Style made a big deal of McCarthy losing around 45 pounds, and in their red carpet photos she was indeed looking great, but nothing like this photo of us taken on Thursday, January 15th, at the Hollywood Palladium where McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, were celebrating her nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy.

Yes, that’s right after the calorie laden holiday season. And yet, in this photo, she appears to have gone through such a dramatic change that you’d think Melissa McCarthy’s weight loss secret must be something revolutionary, right? I mean, the more you look at this photo, the more you see her as a slightly more mature version of that pert, pixie-ish girl in high school who drove all the guys crazy. AND, the 44-year-old mother of two looks like she could well be in her 20’s. That perceived kind of stunning weight loss often makes people look drawn, haggard and unhealthy.

Never fear, however. Don’t dismay that she may have gone over to the Hollywood dark side and eschewed the belief that big is beautiful. She has not blithely abandoned those of us who weigh in at the average American size. And no, her svelte status, at least in this photo, has nothing to do with the Lap Band, crash diets, extreme medication or excruciating workouts.

Melissa McCarthy’s weight loss secret in this case has less to do with what she puts in her body than the way she carries it. My bet is that it was completely unintentional, because the photographer squished us together in the blink of an eye, but he caught her when she was holding her chin at just the right angle, so her lovely neck looks longer and shadowed. The photographer also happened to catch us positioned with me in the foreground, with part of her body behind mine. And finally, while the 5’2″ actress was wearing sexy yet sensible heels, I was wearing towering stilettos–taking my 5’7″ frame to about  6 feet. I tower over her, making her appear even smaller.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to keep all this in mind next time I have my photo taken. It beats the hell out of starving myself and being cranky 24/7. Melissa McCarthy, we love you just the way you are, however you chose to be!