Blog Posts by Woman s Day

"I lost 170 Pounds!"
Alicia Franklin-Edwards, age 43
Laurel, Maryland

FOOD AS THE FOCUS
When I was growing up, every Sunday was like a Thanksgiving dinner and the rest of the week, meals were always at least three courses. One entire meal would include meat loaf, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and of course, dessert. Most of my immediate and extended family members were overweight and struggling with heart disease and diabetes. I was over 200 pounds by the time I reached sixth grade. Photo Credit: Rob Howard

FAITH-INSPIRED MOTIVATION
I had what I call a divine revelation in my 20s: I glanced at a picture of myself and was disgusted. I thought about how my father was an insulin-dependent diabetic who died of a heart attack at age 56. In that moment, I realized that I would follow in his footsteps if things didn't change. I was a little over 300 pounds, had lower back pain and couldn't fit in an airplane seat. I was taking

Nachos By Karen Ansel, RD

To burn it off, you'll have to:

Walk for 5 hours and 40 minutes at a moderate pace.
Climb stairs for 3 hours and 4 minutes.
Ballroom dance for 8 hours and 7 minutes.
Shovel snow for 4 hours and 4 minutes.
Play the piano for 8 hours and 54 minutes. Photo credit: Kat Teutsch

Next time, make it healthier:

CHIPS
Bake your own tortilla chips to cut calories and fat. Spray 100% corn tortillas with nonstick cooking spray; sprinkle with chili powder, garlic powder, sea salt and pepper; and bake in a 400°F oven for 7 to 8 minutes or until golden. Then break into pieces. No time to DIY? Look for baked chips or ones with just a few ingredients like ground corn, oil and salt. Many of these are higher in fiber, which will keep you fuller longer.
Save: 92 Calories!

Learn 5 things you didn't know about carbs.

CHEESE
Go with 2% shredded cheese instead of regular. Don't worry, your taste buds won't know the difference.
Save: 300

Friends By Brynn Mannino

Every woman has done it, and every woman has had it done to her-the minute you start a new relationship, your girlfriends are pushed to the back burner. But no matter how wonderful the man, it's unlikely he'll ever replace that much-needed time with friends, whether it's bonding over the season finale of The Bachelorette or a heart-to-heart over coffee. After all, says Carmen Renee Berry, MSW, coauthor of Girlfriends: Invisible Bonds, Enduring Ties, women (much like men) speak their own language. But more than that, our girlfriends are the family we choose for ourselves. Below, a few reasons-some silly, some serious-why we'll always need one another. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.

1. Shopping
If you want to share the experience of shopping with someone, says Berry, rather than have someone follow you around, bring a girlfriend. Plus, no matter how wonderful your partner is, he will never grasp why the choice between red alligator and red patent

chocolateBy Kathleen Davis

Get in the mood for love with interesting facts about the sweetest holiday by Kathleen Davis Why are red roses so popular? How many candy hearts are produced every year? And most important, how many single men are actually out there? Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Whether you're steadfastly single or joyfully coupled up, chances are you have a thing or two to learn about love. Read on for surprising stats and unexpected info about the holiday. Photo credit: iStockphoto

1. Valentine's Day started with the Romans.

There are two theories about the origin of Valentine's Day. The first is that the day derives from Lupercalia, a raucous Roman festival on February 15 where men stripped naked and spanked young maidens in hopes of upping their fertility. The second theory is that while the Roman Emperor Claudius II was trying to bolster his army, he forbade young men to marry (apparently single men make better soldiers). In

SalespersonBy Woman's Day Staff

1. Dress for the service you want.
"If you want me to take your word for something-say, you don't have a receipt-looking presentable goes a long way," says Sara, a former retail manager in St. Louis, Missouri. "You can tell a lot about the customer by how she's dressed, and I'll be more likely to believe a customer who's dressed like she shops in my store."Photo credit: Thinkstock

2. Learn my name, and use it often.
"Treat me like a human being, and I'm more apt to act like one," says Tom, a sales associate in Huntington, New York. Celia Moncholi, senior vice president of TD Bank's call center, agrees: "It personalizes your interaction, which helps the rep feel more accountable for the outcome because you're using her name," she says.

Find out what retail clerks won't tell you.

3. Call midweek.
"The average customer service agent talks to 65 to 85 customers in an 8-hour period," says Bill Gessert, volunteer president of the

kimberly truesdellBy Abigail Cuffey

"I lost 115 pounds!"
Kimberly Truesdell, age 30
Fort Wayne, Indiana

A Shocking Wakeup Call
My mom was only 50 years old when she died in 2009. The cause: brain damage due to oxygen deprivation, which was a direct result of her morbid obesity. She was too heavy to get on a scale, but her doctors estimated she weighed 600 pounds. At times, she had good intentions when it came to losing weight (joining a gym or buying exercise DVDs), but her efforts always seemed short-lived and became fewer and farther between as the years went by. We only discussed weight when she brought up the subject. If I expressed any concern, she immediately shut me down. After one heated discussion, we didn't talk for weeks. When she died, I was absolutely devastated but furious: How could she let herself get that big? But then I realized I was on the same path. I was obese and needed a major lifestyle overhaul. Photo credit: Rob Howard

Small Steps
For years I

By Lisa Collier Cool

As Maggie Barth, 26, sat on her couch watching TV one night last year, a sudden noise outside made her bolt upright. "My heart began beating so fast I thought my chest might explode," she says. Deep down, Maggie knew the noise was nothing, but she couldn't shake the fear. Her entire body clenched as she gasped for breath. Within seconds, Maggie's hound mix, Battle, jumped on the couch and started licking her face. She wrapped her arms around him and soon the panic attack passed. It wasn't the first time Battle had calmed Maggie's nerves, and it won't be the last. Photo credit: Todd Galley

Six years ago, Maggie, an Army sergeant and combat nurse, was deployed to Iraq for two harrowing tours of duty. All the horror she witnessed there followed her home to Jacksonville, FL. "The injuries were so awful," she says. And when a soldier lost his life, it was almost unbearable. "You never forget any of it." Like nearly 20% of troops who have served in Iraq and

By Rebecca Webber
gold charm bracelet

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Sylvana Joseph, 42, was sitting on a runway at JFK International Airport in New York, watching in horror from her airplane window as planes crashed into the Twin Towers. "I think everyone who was on a plane that day felt it could have been them," says Sylvana. But she had a particularly good reason to think so. Her original ticket-which she'd changed just days earlier-had been on the 8:01 a.m. United Airlines flight from Newark to San Francisco that crashed in a Pennsylvania field. As the details emerged, "I thought, 'Oh my God, I was supposed to be on that flight!'" she says. Photo by Kat Teutsch/Woman's Day.

Through sheer circumstance, the stars aligned in her favor. If she hadn't been determined to see old friends in New Orleans before heading to the West Coast for a business conference, she would have been on that fateful flight. Clearly, it was the luckiest day of her life.

Check out more perks to girlfriend