rosiequilts, I lost 50 pounds last year by calorie counting, which is just another way of saying "eating-loads-of-fruits-&-veggies-so-you-can-eat-the-most-food-with-the-fewest-calories". I learned to love vegetables! A pile of eggplant, onions, mushrooms & peppers with a little spaghetti sauce on just 2 oz. of pasta & 1/4 cup grated mozzarella is delicious & filling. Spaghetti squash can be substituted for the pasta (just put the spaghetti squash whole in a crock pot & it's done in 4-6 hours). For salads, I love to mix spinach, lettuce, diced raw green beans, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes and use 1/3 cup dried cranberries for dressing, or sometimes green olives and a little of the olive juice in the jar. If fresh produce isn't on hand, then combining frozen veggies & cooking in the microwave is tasty: kale, lima beans & cauliflower, for example. Veggies in combination taste much better than just plain. In winter I enjoy turnip greens & squashes. Cabbage is a versatile veggie, good for filler in soups & stews, sauteed, microwaved, or sliced for low-fat cole slaw made with Splenda. For munchies, I love to microwave a tub of Brussels sprouts or cauliflower & keep it in the fridge for mindless snacking (you know, when you get those urges to eat but you're not really hungry). A little butter or oil won't hurt you and, in fact, makes the vegetables more nutritious. Your body absorbs the nutrients better when a little fat is present with the veggies. Sometimes I like to make a green sauce of chopped fresh spinach & French parsley in a little cream & parmesan cheese, heated in a sauce pot. I serve this over a big plate of broccoli & cauliflower, and it's delicious. There are so few calories in the veggies that you can afford to indulge in the cream sauce. But then, that's dinner -- no bread, no side dishes, no heavy meats. Anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thread. Just wanted to pass on some good veggie food ideas. When you walk through the cookie/cracker aisle with indifference, but your mouth starts watering when you get to the produce section, you know you've made a good change!

Very thought-provoking podcast awm, thanks! I was wondering about interval training. Has anyone tried Body for Life's 12-week program? It sounds very efficient. Cardio Warm up the first 2 minutes at Intensity Level 5 Minutes 2-3 move from Intensity Level 5 to 6 Minutes 4-5, 6-10 and 11-14 work your way from Intensity Level 6 to Level 9, maintain for one minute. Minutes 15-19 work your way from Intensity Level 6 to Level 10 (High Point at Level 10), maintain for one minute. Minute 20 cool down to Intensity Level 5 for one minute. Alternate weight-training and cardio workouts for six consecutive days and rest on the seventh day. Weight Training * Weight train intensely, three times per week on alternating days with aerobic * Workout exercise three times per week. Make sure to hit your "high points" during your workout. * Alternate training the major muscles of the upper and lower body. * Perform two exercises for each major muscle group of the upper body. * Select one exercise and conduct five sets with it, starting with a set of 12 reps, then increasing the weight and doing 10 reps, adding more weight and doing 8 reps, adding more weight for 6 reps. Then reduce the weight and do 12 reps. Immediately perform another set of 12 reps for that muscle group using the second selected exercise. * For each muscle group, rest for one minute between the first four sets. Then complete the final two sets with no rest in between, wait two minutes before moving on to your next muscle group, complete this pattern five times for the upper body training experience and four times for the lower body training experience. -Lena

I'm going to chime in here. I don't read fashion magazines either. For one reason, I don't think they are indicative of what is in style at our "tier", if that's what you want to call it. Perhaps it has to do with where you live also. For instance, I won't say that nude hose are outdated. Yes, in years past I have seen alot of black hose (which is what I try to wear if I absolutely MUST wear hose), tights (which you can't wear with every type dress), and my favorite - pants. LOL!! I still see alot of nude hose on ladies in this area - ladies who are fashionably dressed. I also think we've heard so much about Katherine and Pippa and their nude hose, that we will see more of them. What's in-style or current, etc. in NYC is not what is the look here in Tennessee. I have to say re jeans, I see many more women here wearing the slightly flared leg than the skinny jeans. You may remember that I work at a college, and I do see girls there in the skinnies. The skinnies that are tight enough to look like leggings LOL. IMO, that is who they look best on, the younger girls. I don't think at my age (staring 50 in the face!), that skinnies are the look for me. Another trend - we talked about maxi dresses earlier on this forum, well after that conversation, I started looking more closely at what people were wearing. Again, I saw many more under 30 gals with the maxi dresses. Most were younger than that. They were popular with the college set. I really think they are cute, but I am too short to carry that look off, plus I don't think I could stand all that fabric around my legs. Things like that bug me. Age wise - I'm not so sure. I want to have an updated, current look but I really prefer to have my own style and don't worry about having/wearing what everyone else is wearing or what someone says is the style. Some trends, I like and are favorable on me, some I don't and they're not LOL. I like classic seperates that continue to look current through the years, and update them with trendy jackets, sweaters, accessories, etc. That's just me. While I don't read fasion mags, I will admit to being slightly adicted to home deco mags. LOL Recently downloaded two trial subscriptions to my nook. It IS cheaper!! Just my two cents worth on fasion! tina

cheerful1, is your husband a health minded person, or is he obsessive about looks and body? It sounds pretty unreasonable (to me) for him to get angry over 5 pounds of weight gain. Are there other things about you that he criticizes, or is it just the weight? Is he at all interested in what is going on inside your heart and your head? If he is genuinely concerned about you and your health, that could be positive. If, otoh, you are overly sensitive about his criticism, and you don't feel good about yourself, it could just be that you are feeling particularly sensitive. I know I have that tendency myself. I have a habit of expecting perfection out of myself, and I tend to over-react to anything I perceive as negative from DH (or anybody else for that matter). I have worked really hard at correcting this, and it is somewhat better, but that old habit tries to creep back in with persistence. Is the weight really an issue with you, or is it just bringing other stuff to the surface? I'm truly sorry you have having to deal with this, and I wish I could do or say something to help. Just go ahead and express all the frustration you need to here. We're all in this at the same time, and we are happy to listen :) Mrs H