Don't you mean "lower 56" explosion?
Obama said there are 57 states, so there are 57 states!
My take based on first-hand experience: No on the dieting -- diets don't work; only fat people go on diets, and those who diet guarandamteed will be on another diet in a few years. Rush is living proof that diets don't work, though the poor guy thinks they do (too bad he doesn't apply the same conservative principles to his personal fitness/eating habits as he does to politics!). Palin probably simply has the good, basic, essential healthy eating habits which, combined with love of being fit, means never having to concern oneself much with what one eats from a figure-conscious viewpoint or motivation. If things like French fries, chips, soda, and junk foods are treat-time exceptions rather than daily habits, and if one sticks pretty much to ONE starch per meal as opposed to two or three (corn OR rice OR beans OR pasta OR bread OR potatoes, instead of two or three or four of the above as part of a "normal" meal) except for special occasions, and if you get even moderate exercise, like walking half an hour three or four days a week, you're not going to have a weight problem.
Yep on the exercising because it's very likely in this woman's nature to stay fit NOT for vanity's sake, but for "normal" living's sake. People who don't exercise often think that anyone who exercises does it "by force," or with ulterior motives. I bet that Palin is like many generations of women in my family (yours truly included), who exercises for the same reason that Irish Setters love to go for walks -- it feels good. The benefits of a good fitness habit, whether it's playing tennis, swimming, running, gym classses, whatever, are only superficially to create a good figure. The REAL benefits are that you just plain feel better in just about every way. You're a happier person, you are less "stressed" by stress, and you're a healthier person. Having a youthful, attractive figure becomes and IS actually just a nice side perk.
In other words, Palin isn't working at being trim and slim -- being trim and slim is the consequence of her way of life.