My #1 pick is probably Vegetarian Times. I'm not a vegetarian anymore, but I try to mostly eat a plant based diet and this magazine has fantastic recipes -- all with nutritional info. This month's issue has a recipe on p. 32 for butternut squash chickpea stew and it's unbelievable. I made it for dinner a couple nights ago and I'm going to make it tonight, too.

A new magazine that I've discovered is called Clean Eating. The first issue was mediocre, kind of bland -- but their second issue just came out and I really like it. Gunnar Peterson has some quick strength training exercises that I've been doing that I really, really like.

I used to adore a magazine called Healthy Cooking, but it seems to have disappeared. Does anyone remember it? Kind of a thin magazine, glossy photos? Can't find it in bookstores anymore, can't even find it online. Anyone know anything about that?

I also enjoy Cooking Light from time to time, (although I sometimes find their recipes to be a bit too fussy and high-cal for me). Still definitely a good resource and it's great that their recipes can all be found online.

So...

What magazines do you find helpful for weight loss/maintenance?

Cookling Light is my absolute favorite magazine. 90% of my recipes come from there. I like that they have nutrition info and even info on vacations where you can eat healthy and be active. I don't like when they have beauty tips (kind of alienates the male readers, doesn't it?) or other irrelevant stuff like interior design. Sometimes I find useful tips in the fitness section though.

While most of the time Martha Stewart Living has high-cal, high-fat, clog-your-arteries recipes, it does have a section each month of low-cal healthy recipes. They tend to be extra fussy to make though.

Those are the only magazines I'm subscribed to.

Oh, I forgot -- sometimes I pick up Real Simple at the supermarket, they tend to have healthy and quick recipes.

Ahhh, I like Real Simple, too. Good magazine. The recipes always look appealing to me, but usually too high cal. However, I'm sure you could modify them. Also, they do good food reviews and have sensible nutrition advice from time to time.

Martha Stewart Living is beautiful to look through, but like you said, way, waaaaaay too fussy. I have no idea who actually cooks like that.

I love reading Cooks Illustrated, but their recipes are not low-cal. I get ideas though. They are a little over the top on tweaking recipes to get them perfect though. Like Jessica I love Cooking Light. It's the only cooking mag I subscribe to.

I subscribe to Prevention, Self, and O. I rarely cook, so I don't use the recipes, but I think the most helpful thing for me is the weight loss stories in them. Sometimes I'll also pick up new workouts and routines that are featured.

haha, I guess I'm the odd one out here; the only cooking mag I subscribe to is Bon Appetit. Yes, most of the recipes are generally too unhealthy, but when I actually use them I look for ways to cut out fat/sugar/calories (omitting the puff pastry, or using just the egg whites, etc.) ~ but I like that their recipes are at the right degree of difficult for me and usually a little offbeat/eclectic to encourage me to try new things.

I just picked up a copy of Clean Eating myself. I have to say that for the most part I like the looks of the recipes.

I've been a subscriber to Vegetarian Times for years and I was just thinking of getting the ingredients to make the butternut squash chickpea stew. It looks divine! Now that I've heard it's good, I must make it.

My only complaint with most of these magazines is that they don't always take seasonality in to account. I've seen several recipes that combine veggies that don't grow at the same time of year! Grrr... kind of annoying when you are trying to eat with the seasons or when you can't find certain things organic. Sorry about the off topic rant.

Oh, I've run into that. Like assuming everyone has access to asparagus all year round!

Prevention is a very good magazine, as is there website. I also get Self, Fitness and Vegetarian Times. Although I wouldn't call them FANTASTIC, I do like to surround myself with health oriented items. It's just another way to keep my health and therefore my food intake at the top of the heap.

I used to get Cooking Light years ago, when I was in fact cooking HEAVY. Now that I think about it, I just signed up for a 2 copy free subscription from them on line last week. Oh yay!

Real Simple is a nice magazine. I used to get it. My subscription has run out and I never reordered.

Vegetarian times is awesome and I'm also not a vegetarian. I love the recipes and the pictures, however!

Other than that one and a few computer mags, I'm not really a magazine person - magazines will eventually go bye bye like a lot of newspapers IMO.

Oh, I am a magazine ADDICT. I can't wait to start my new job(Monday!!) and start up my subscriptions again.


Cooking Light- I start subscribing there...last Christmas? Yes, the recipes are hard to make! But I have found a few. I doubt I'll renew that one since I can just use myrecipes.com to find recipes. I just don't care for the additional stuff in it.

I used to subscribe to Self and enjoyed it. However, I think I'll subscribe to Shape next. I pick it up at the store a lot.

Every so often, I'll look at Health. I interned for the publishers of Health and Cooking Light and received free copies of the magazines each month. I'm out of Health's demo, but I liked browsing through it.

Occasionally I'll read Fitness and I agree, Real Simple is a very pretty magazine!

I'm not in maintenance yet, and I don't follow the Weight Watchers program in my efforts to lose weight, but I subscribe to their magazine. It's published every other month and has some excellent recipes, success stories (help keep me motivated), exercise tips, etc. Don't have to be a member of WW to subscribe to the magazine.

I like magazines like Runner's World and Triathlete to keep me motivated. I subscribe to Cooking Light, and get ideas from it, but almost never use the recipes, since DH hates pretty much everything with any flavor at all.

Anne

Tell us what you really think, Anne.

I subscribe to Oxygen, which is a women's weight lifting magazine. I used to subscribe to Shape, but I felt it was a little too superficial for my tastes, and their skinny models annoyed me. Plus I never thought their recipes had enough protein, and I know that if I tried to follow any of their diet plans (many about 1200 cal/day) I would keel over from hunger. Maybe I'm just remembering the bad ones... of course, in Oxygen all the ads for weight loss pills also drive me crazy, but I think that's just a matter of them needing advertising $$. I occasionally read Fitness or Health, which I find marginally better than Shape or Self.

I've never tried subscribing to Cooking Light or other cooking magazines because I'm pretty sure they'd just make me obsess about food even more! I used to love the Food Network but can hardly watch it any more b/c it just makes me think about food... want to eat food... even if I'm not hungry at all!

I'll have to check out Prevention one of these days.