Blog Posts by ForbesWoman

By Jenna Goudreau

The countdown to Memorial Day has begun. With just a month to get their beach bodies back, many resort to strict calorie-cutting, cleanses or bizarre fad diets. But usually participants are hungry, miserable and unsuccessful.

Wellness expert Kathy Freston, bestselling author of Veganist and Quantum Wellness, offers an easier way to tackle weight loss and keep the pounds off for good. New book The Lean: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight-Loss helps readers lean into weight loss with one small step a day for 30 days. If followed, she promises a permanent weight loss of 1 to 3 pounds a week, plus increased energy and improved digestion.

"When we dive head first into a really disciplined diet, we're miserable and we're not going to stick with it," says Freston. "But when we lean into really good, healthy eating habits, we'll be successful with our weight loss because we're going to feel fulfilled and happy and enjoy the foods we grew

Read More »from The Get Lean Diet: Baby Steps to Healthy Weight Loss

By J. Maureen Henderson

"Choose your husband carefully."

When Marie Claire asked Sallie Krawcheck, former head of Global Wealth and Investment Management at Bank of America, about work-life balance, that's the key piece of advice she says she doles out to young female professionals. It's a view echoed by A-list career advice blogger Penelope Trunk who recently penned a post entitled Your Biggest Career Decision Is Who You Marry.

Both Krawcheck and Trunk approach the issue from the perspective that if you plan to pursue your career with gusto, you need to pick a spouse whose attitude and ambition support that goal and whose own goals you can also support. But how realistic and reflective of reality are such words of wisdom for today's young workers? Is a supportive spouse really a key ingredient to career success for the next generation of female leaders? Here's what the numbers say:

20 Crucial Money Questions to Ask Before 'I Do'

Does getting married help women get ahead? Firstly, not only are both men and women getting

Read More »from Does Getting Married Help Women Get Ahead?

By Kathy Caprino

As a career coach and a career reinventer myself, I can confidently say that changing your career to something that is more suited to your values, needs, skills, and interests, is doable today, even in these tough economic times. But to switch careers effectively and achieve a positive outcome, you need four things: clarity, courage, confidence, and competence. Without these, you'll most likely struggle hard and fail. Further, there are core steps you must take to ensure you are emotionally, financially, and professionally ready for this next step and for the eight important stages that you'll undergo.

Step one to successful career change is to take off your rose-colored glasses, and get hip to your own trip about what you've created so far, and how you've potentially contributed to the challenges you face. Start to hold yourself more accountable than ever before for what's in front of you. If chucking your career is appealing, certainly explore career change, but

Read More »from The 5 Biggest Mistakes Career Changers Make

By Larissa Faw

Does your significant other park in handicapped spots if no other places are closer? Do they keep the wrong change given to them by a cashier? If so, you may be married to a tax cheater.

While only 7% of Americans admit to a survey taker that they lie on their income taxes, those that do fess up share other notable characteristics. They are primarily men (72%), under the age of 45 (55%), and live in households earning at least $50,000 (57%), according to DDB Worldwide Communications.

"These people really have an elevated sense of entitlement. They don't think it's a problem to lie, and they have the attitude that they will get away with it," says DDB Worldwide's Denise Kalfayan Delahorne. Tax cheaters are more likely than non-tax cheaters to feel they are smarter, better-looking, and better lovers than their neighbors.

Where Should I Go To Get My Last-Minute Taxes Done?

Selfishness is a common trait among tax cheaters. Most (51%) value their own happiness over the

Read More »from Are You Married to a Tax Cheater?

By Jenna Goudreau

Each year, 40 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies, when airborne irritants trigger an overreaction of the immune system, marked by itchy, watery eyes, violent sneezing, coughing, wheezing, severe nasal or sinus congestion and, in some cases, difficulty breathing.
According to research firm IBISWorld, the average allergy sufferer in the U.S. spends an estimated $83 a year on over-the-counter allergy medications, which works out to $3.3 billion annually nationwide.

It turns out that whether and how much you suffer may hinge on where you call home.

In Pictures: Top 10 Worst Cities For Allergies in 2012

How are your allergies? For the tenth consecutive year, non-profit patient organization the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) has released its list of the worst cities for allergies in the nation. Researchers analyzed the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. by three factors: pollen levels in each city, counted by Pollen.com; 2011 retail sales of prescription and

Read More »from The Worst Cities for Allergies in 2012

By Meghan Casserly

When it comes to getting paid, is it possible to quantify what's fair?

For women, who earn between 70 and 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, the gender pay gap makes earnings across the country unequal, and most definitely unfair. But a new look at the numbers shows that both their earning power-and its relative "fair"-factor-can be especially impacted by the place they call home.

To unearth the cities where the gender gap is at its widest (unfair) and narrowest (closer to fair?), ForbesWoman analyzed data from the 2010 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, using the mean earnings for full-time, year-round female workers in the largest metro areas in the country. When it comes to both ends of the fairness spectrum, there are both societal and economic factors at play.

Gallery: The Most Unfair and Fair Cities To Be A Working Woman

The gender gap in the workplaceFirst the bad news…

At No. 1, the most unfair city to be a working woman in America, or the city where women Read More »from The Most Unfair Cities to Be a Working Woman: Gender Pay Gap by the Numbers

By Matthew de Paula

Automakers need to rethink seat designs for child safety.

Anchors that secure child restraints are too difficult to reach in many vehicles and make installation unnecessarily complicated, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The IIHS released a new study it conducted with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute that found only 21 out of nearly 100 vehicles researchers looked at had rear seat designs that help parents use the Lower Anchor and Tethers for Children (LATCH) correctly. A common problem in many cars is that the rear-seat belt buckles obscure the anchor points. In some vehicles, they are so buried in the seat as to not be visible.

10 Best Cars For New Parents

Is your rear seat child-safe?

"Many parents see the tethers as optional, but they're key to getting the best protection out of a child restraint," says Anne McCartt, senior vice president of research at the IIHS. The video below shows how a child in an an improperly

Read More »from Rear Seats Impede Child Safety in Many Cars

By Deborah Sweeney

For Joan Holloway, a "fifth of something" for your desk, preferably rye, was recommended as the desk drawer purchase of choice for bright-eyed Peggy Olson, new hire at the ad agency Sterling Cooper. Obviously not for Peggy to drink while on the clock, the rye was meant for her boss, account executive Don Draper. The seasoned Holloway went on to suggest other necessary investments including "some aspirin, Band-Aids, and a needle and thread."

"Rye's Canadian, right?" Peggy hesitantly inquired.

"You'd better find out." Joan replied in a singsong voice while lighting up from a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

Top 10 Tricks To De-Clutter Your Office

The joys of a clean deskThis fictional conversation exchange took place on the AMC series Mad Men in its pilot episode. The year was 1960, the typewriter was "overwhelming" technology for the time, and women in the workplace were primarily occupying secretarial positions. Fast forward 50+ years later and the workplace is a different Read More »from 10 Essentials for Your Work Desk Drawer