Aaahhhh, what trip down memory lane!!! Wow, forgot all about Deal a Meal. Never ordered it myself but boy do I remember the commerical, moving the cards from one slot to the other. And Richard Simmons is still around. I'm convinced he has not one piece of 'normal' clothing cause he's still in those little shorts and tank tops. LOL

Suzanne Sommers gadget was the Thigh Master. Oh please, the name just cracks me up. Remember her sitting on the edge of the sofa or bed, squeezing away? I think I remember the guys liking the commerical though. Naturally!

AIDS diet candies -- OMG, I remember my mom had these. Totally forgot about them! Jane Fonda tape? Eeeek, I had a Jane Fonda exercise record. OY!! On the cover she was in her leotard and stripped leg warmers. Leg warmers lol -- like we were all dancers or something.

Everytime I see the latest and greatest 'gadget' or whatever, I always think that this is it, they will never be able to come up w/anything else to top it. Amazingly, they always do. Maybe they work for some folks but most of them always seem 'gimmicky' to me.

Oh yes! I ordered the meal a deal set. It came with the cards and a little holder, two cookbooks and two of the Sweatin' to the Oldies VHS tapes. I got rid of the cards years and years ago, but I still have the two cookbooks. I still use some of the recipes!

My mom used to have the Ayds (Aids?) candies. I remember my sister and I dressing up my younger brother and my (male) cousin in wigs and makeup and having my cousin hold a sign which read "Before Ayds" and my brother - who was thinner - having a sign reading "After Ayds". Somewhere there are still pictures of them around.

I also had an aerobics record album with 1970s songs. Not a Jane Fonda one, but probably similar. It had a paper insert that showed pictures of the moves, and the instructor would tell you what to move next. I had the Jane Fonda book too!

Memories!!

what on earth are aids candies?? was this so long ago that a candy could share a name with a horrific virus??

But oh i LOVED my thighmaster!! I also loved when it snapped in half mid-squeeze -- my thighs were THAT strong (or the product was that cheap)! Who's the Thighmaster NOW??

And, while I may be exposing my youth (27 -- not that young!), while my mom was Sweatin' to the Oldies, I had a Mousercise tape...

S

Ayds candies dated from the 60s and 70s and were individually wrapped caramel candies. You were supposed to have two with a hot drink before a meal and supposedly they would curb your appetite, you'd eat less and -- voila! -- be thin. They worked about as well as any two candies before a meal would work, i.e. not at all.

Ayds candies obviously didn't survive the AIDS epidemic.

Who remembers Metrecal, the first liquid diet in a can?

I had that Jane Fonda record too! I did it faithfully and credit her and Charlene Prickett (I think it was called It Figures on PBS) with getting me into exercise.

I never did Deal a Meal but I really do think it was a great program. I did WW (when it was exchange-based) at that time and still believe exchanges to be the best approach to weight loss when calorie counting. That way your diet doesn't get too heavy or light in some areas (i.e. not enough fruits, too many starches, etc.).

Actually Deal A Meal is not a bad idea. It is all about planning and staying with your plan , similar to calorie counting or exchanges. Ayds candy was around many years before the Aids epidemic.

OMG . . . I think my Deal a Meal wallet is still around the house somewhere, although I haven't seen it in years -- and Bargoo is correct; it was a good plan. I still dig out Richard's Sweatin tapes on occasion.

Have to say I also agree with Madriver about exchange-based programs (I'm diabetic and really need to track everything).

I never did the Ayds thing.

Anybody remember the Susan Powter craze -- It's Fat; your Fat (get the connection). I liked her for a while; during my totally fat-phobic phase.

What ever happened to Susan Powter , haven't seen her in years ?

Apparently she's still in business as a motivational speaker and personal trainer. She has her own website @ susanpowteronline.com.

I remember the Ayds candy too when I was in high school. Couldn't believe my mom even bought them. I think maybe it gave me a placebo effect of not being hungry.

Ayds contained a substance that was supposed to reduce the sense of taste and therefore appetitie (although anyone with a cold knows that numbing the sense of taste doesn't always reduce appetite). Since you were supposed to take them with a full hot cup of liquid (like tea or coffee or even hot water), before eating, the liquid no doubt helped to curb appetite more than the candy itself.

When I was about 5, I got into my grandmother's box, and had eaten half dozen of them or more before I was found. My mother called the doctor and she was told there was nothing to worry about. When I used them the "right way" as a teenager that was always in the back of my mind - if they were safe for a child to eat in bulk, how effective could they be.

Hey . . . Susan Powter has hair now . . .

I was going to mention that. Precursor to SlimFast. I remember my mother bought them by the case. She also had Ayds candy, Metrecal cookies -- for a while there we used to get her sugarfree treats for presents. Ick. Those cookies were like rocks, most of them.

When AIDS came to be known in the late 70s, the name being the same as those weight loss candies, seemed a particularly cruel irony. Most people had never heard of the candies, though.

When I was Sweatin' to the Oldies and doing Jane Fonda tapes, I had an exercise tape for my DD that was very cute and came from a children's clothing mfr, Hanna Andersson. Something to do with "Swenson the Pig"; it was fun for an adult to do with a small child.

I loved Sweatin to the Oldies. I think Richard Simmons is great. All is videos were just released in a DVD collection. However, I have a postage stamp size living room so I couldn't do them at home.

Sorry to start the Aids/Ayds confusion.. totally my fault.. Was Susan Powter the Stop the Insanity lady ???