Or 10, or however many it takes for fat to fill in those fine lines that have developed on your face, because eating is so much more fun than Botox. I know I’ve said this before (this post has been regenerated a few times), but it’s always nice to have an excuse to bag the New Year’s diet resolution and enjoy more holiday feasting…

January 1 is here and you’re stressing about the weight you’ve just vowed to lose, right? Well, stop. Turns out the 5 to 10 pounds many of us gained between Thanksgiving and New Year’s may be the greatest gift we could give ourselves. This pertains especially to women over 35, like me and Heidi Klum.

In a recent Self interview, Klum revealed this tip for aging gracefully: “The ultimate beauty secret for a woman getting older is, Don’t be too thin! It is always better to have a little meat on your bones.”

My best friend Sophie Patitz, another German top model who is both stunning and sensible, gave me the same advice a few years ago. At the time I was thrilled to have reached my old modeling fighting weight, only to be advised by her that my thin face made me look older.

After the initial sting, I launched into a hearty meal and have been grateful ever since. Heidi concurs, “When you are just muscle, you end up being gaunt in the face, and that makes you look older by 5 or 10 years.”

Which is why I’ve vowed to gain weight.

If you don’t believe it, check out these before and after celebrity pics:

Could it be Gwyneth Paltrow looks better now than in 2000? A touch of chipmunk, not chisel, suits her better.

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On the flipside…

How can it be that Angelina aged five to ten years in a little over a year? She lost weight. A bit of post-baby fat is a good thing.

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Calista Flockhart seemed borderline anorexic a decade ago. While still svelte, she weighs more than a feather now and has a fuller face. As a result, it hardly looks like these two photos span 11 years.

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Ten years ago, Nicole Kidman went through a thin phase. Now she’s looking more robust and, like Flockhart, possibly younger, not ten years older. Without the extra pounds, we would be talking gaunt or we wouldn’t be talking at all-Hollywood may have written her off as too old.

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Demi Moore must think thinner makes her look closer to her hubby’s age. Not so. A year ago she looked not a day over 40. With a slimmer, more severe look 12 months later, she could pass for her actual age of 48.

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Happy New Year ladies. Go forth and gorge!

Don’t forget to “like” your favorite Model of the Month by Jan. 15 (make sure you are signed into Facebook, so the “like” button appears). That’s when I will tally votes for the People’s Choice Award. A panel of industry experts also will pick their Modeling Mentor Model of the Year this month!

The show has a good mix of diva designers (one, a former male model, managed to offend all of the women on the panel by implying they didn’t know men’s fashion) and catty judges (Nicole especially), and the concept is pretty cool. BUT, I couldn’t focus on any of that because I was too distracted by host Elle Macpherson’s face. What has she done to it?

Elle Macpherson and Fashion Star Judges

I know the obvious answer: everything from plumping up her lips to Botoxing away any expression. Though she denies doing anything (except trying Botox in the past), I’m not sure I buy it. Who looks like that at almost 48?

I don’t think she’s given her gorgeous features a chance to see how they would settle into midlife on their own. Sure, Elle would not have looked like a cover girl forever, but the lines life draws on a face, the pulls of gravity on brows and jowls, suggest wisdom, experience, a relaxing of superficial priorities and a deeper sense of the stuff that matters, including sending a positive message to our youth.

I can’t say if I’ll feel the same way at 65, but at least at 40-something, I’m taking fading looks in stride. There are so many other places to look for beauty in life than in a mirror. Elle claims to feel the same way. What do you think?

Fashion Star's Elle Macpherson

A. She’s drinking from some artificial fountain of youth and not telling.

B. She’s blessed with age-defying genes.

C. The makeup and lighting on Fashion Star are making her look a little plastic.

As for Elle’s body, well, she continues to live up to her moniker “The Body” (she claims to have nabbed that nickname way before Heidi Klum did). No doctor can give you legs like that. Amazing. There’s some gossip that her voluminous breasts are perky for their age, but again she denies any plastic surgery. The six-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover model posed in a bikini for People magazine last week. Needless to say, most 30-year-olds who haven’t had kids yet would die to look like this!

Elle Posing for People Magazine at Age 48

See the video below, from five months ago, for a close up on Elle’s almost-50 porcelain-doll face…

January 1 is here and you’re stressing about the weight you’ve just vowed to lose, right? Well, stop. Turns out the 5 to 10 pounds many of us gained between Thanksgiving and New Year’s may be the greatest gift we could give ourselves. This pertains especially to women over 35, like me and Heidi Klum.

In a recent Self interview, Klum revealed this tip for aging gracefully: “The ultimate beauty secret for a woman getting older is, Don’t be too thin! It is always better to have a little meat on your bones.”

My best friend Sophie Patitz, another German top model who is both stunning and sensible, gave me the same advice a few years ago. At the time I was thrilled to have reached my old modeling fighting weight, only to be advised by her that my thin face made me look older.

After the initial sting, I launched into a hearty meal and have been grateful ever since. Heidi concurs, “When you are just muscle, you end up being gaunt in the face, and that makes you look older by 5 or 10 years.”

Which is why I’ve vowed to gain weight.

If you don’t believe it, check out these before and after celebrity pics:

Could it be Gwyneth Paltrow looks better now than in 2000? A touch of chipmunk, not chisel, suits her better.

Getty Images

On the flipside…

How can it be that Angelina aged five to ten years in a little over a year? She lost weight. A bit of post-baby fat is a good thing.

Getty Images

Calista Flockhart seemed borderline anorexic a decade ago. While still svelte, she weighs more than a feather now and has a fuller face. As a result, it hardly looks like these two photos span 11 years.

Getty Images

Ten years ago, Nicole Kidman went through a thin phase. Now she’s looking more robust and, like Flockhart, possibly younger, not ten years older. Without the extra pounds, we would be talking gaunt or we wouldn’t be talking at all-Hollywood may have written her off as too old.

Getty Images

Demi Moore must think thinner makes her look closer to her hubby’s age. Not so. A year ago she looked not a day over 40. With a slimmer, more severe look 12 months later, she could pass for her actual age of 48.

Getty Images

Happy New Year ladies. Go forth and gorge!