I get several of the Better Homes & Gardens special interest gardening magazines, Self, Better Homes & Gardens, the free Kraft Food & Family Magazine and all the free Lowe's magazines (Woodpost, Garden Club, home & decorating type that I can't remember the name).

I used to get a ton of mags as well. I don't have time to really set down & read them. I have to have my gardening magazines every now & then and really enjoy Self (although the gals in there often look like the gals KD was describing).

At one point in my 30s, I had subscriptions to 15 magazines, including Bicycling and Time. I realized how ridiculous that was - I couldn't read all 15 magazines in a month.

I also used to get Woman's Day, Family Circle and Goodhousekeeping every month. I got my exercise trying to make sure I had the latest magazine and ripped it to shreds to clip coupons, recipes, and hints.

My life is so much simpler and richer ($$$) since I started using the library to read the magazines that I really care about - Cooking Light and Bookmarks and Writer's.

Many of those recipes that I clipped have given me more exercise when I finally shucked them to the garbage or took the accumulation to the flea market and sold them for a nickel a piece.

Linda

I stick to National Geographic, Smart Money and Real Simple.

No more mags for me either, unless they are about healthy eating, cooking or living or stamping and paper crafts. I refuse to be told about every new disease that comes out, and that being a size 00 is the way to go. I won't read articles about surgical procedures to make me look young, I am a 50+ woman who has earned her wrinkles and some of her gray hairs. I love the idea that now I can speak my heart, and not worry that others may or may not agree with me. So I too, no longer subscribe to those magazines that perpetuate that lie.

Perhaps, KD you should be the one to start a magazine for healthier women who are pleasantly partially pleased with their looks. Include models who are real sizes, clothing designers who dress real women. It's a thought, because I know you have no other irons in the fire

catalogs are just as bad.... like I look like the models. ARG. I just placed an order yesterday (I hate store shopping) knowing that i will return half of it...

Even health mags like Prevention are a bit out of it...although better than some of the other ones.

I get Real Simple and Martha Stewart... (I'm a terrible organizer so those are like fantasy to me as well LOL!)

I love to go the library w/ DS...we sit in the magazine section and just browse for an hour or two.

You know what kills me about women's magazines? The cover formula: Lose Weight Fast! headline in big bold type over a picture of a cake. Talk about your mixed messages.

I get a variety of magazines that betray my inner hippy: National Geographic, Organic Gardening, Mother Jones; Plenty, Yoga Journal, Planner (trade publication for urban planners), and Bon Appetit, though I'm fairly certain I never actually subscribed to that last one--it just started showing up about three months ago.

alli

I spend a LOT of time in Barnes and Noble so if I am going to read a magazine it will probably be there. I used to always pick up a copy of Shape and look to see if there was anything from KD there but rarely ever found anything with her name on it. I sometimes browse the 8 or 10 racks they have and only occasionally find something I even want to look at much less pay for. They cost way too much. That said, I must admit I did pay $8 for Atlanta Magazine yesterday because Alton is on the cover and there is a major article about him in it, but I won't talk about that here .

I don't read or subscribe to any women's magazines. I leaf through them at the hairdresser's only to confirm what I already know: that they disgust me.

I subscribe to a feminist journal. It's intelligent enough, but due to a lot of things (I worked there pt last spring, and I had to put together a 60-page-issue virtually single-handed because the ed-in-chief was on sick leave for burnout - and I was working a ft job in the daytime!) I've totally lost interest in that one too.

Whatever the women's mags offer, it's old. Same jargon, same covers, same ideas - and no reality check.

I purchased a Cooking Light subscription through a school fundraiser, but haven't finished ordering it yet. (Knowing I am moving. I haven't had great luck in the past getting the address changed on magazines.)

Like someone else said, Sandy maybe, when I have down time, I'd rather read a great book.

I also think I get most of the information I used to get from magazines online now. Online too, I can target the exact topic I want to read about and not have to flip through all of the other stuff.

I could also be wrong, but I don't think there are any great magazines out there for 30-40+ somethings, single or married, with or without kids. Cosmo and Glamour are too young singles, and I still think Good Housekeeping and Redbook are too dowdy.

Dawn

I read Cooking Light... because my mil gives me her old copies. Once or twice a year I'll buy and Oprah Magazine, if it has an article I hear about on the boards. I’ll buy a weight watcher magazine a couple times a year.

I don't read any other magazines at all.

I don't really like the Oprah magazines because a LOT of it is advertising. There is something about her section of the “Things We LOVE!!!!!!” magazine that bothers me… It makes me unhappy with my life to see a $300 back washer and think… “OOOoooo!!!! I waaaant THAT!!!!” I didn’t want if for 49 years… and now all of a sudden I’m feeling sorry for myself because I don’t have one? Not good.

I also don’t need to read what Salma Hayak thinks about _______… I’m not sure why I should care what she and Oprah think about anything…

I used to by Prevention and WW magazine very regularly… but if I read one more article titled, Walk Away Your Belly Fat!!!!!!, I’m going to puke.

I knew it was bad when I was standing in the grocery store line and looking at the Prevention Cover and literally could not remember if I had read it or not… because every cover looks the same… Walk Away the Belly Fat!!! Be Swimsuit Ready in 8 Weeks!!! Get a Tighter Butt in 7 minutes a day!!!! 7 Foods You Should Eat More Of!!!! Are These 10 Foods Making YOU Fat?!?!?! I’ve read them ALL. I got it, already.

And you NEVER see a walking “program” that goes, “Put on jeans, sweatshirt and sneakers. Put $1.62 in your pocket. Find a commuter mug (or not…) Walk one mile to McDonald’s. Buy a cup of coffee with 3 creamers. Walk home.”

No adding intervals and walking 5 minutes and running for 3. No kicking it up a notch. No stopping every 50 steps and doing 10 jumping jacks and 10 pushups. No adding 5 minutes next week. No cute, specialized walking clothes or shoes. No adding exercises to condition your abs as you walk (because we all know that just walking is pathetic). But it works for me. And I’m just sick to death of hearing that it isn’t good enough.

I also don’t read any Fitness or Shape magazines because EVERY article is about IMPROVING. I’ve pretty much plateaued in a LOT of areas… I’m not losing pounds. I’ve basically been the same weight for 2.5 years. I’m not losing inches. I haven’t lost ANY inches in 2.5 years. I’m as fit as I’m going to be. I’m getting a little stronger… but I’m starting to max out…

But you NEVER read that ANYPLACE. That I’m not going to get stronger until I’m lifting more than the weight lifters in the Olympics.

And you NEVER read ANYPLACE that you may NOT lose inches or dress sizes. I’ve been lifting weights for 2 years and have lost NO inches or sizes. I think that it is healthy. I do it. But I can’t believe I’m the only human being to experience this. But EVERY magazine leads me to believe that there is something “wrong” and “everybody” loses inches…

There is nothing in any magazine that says, “Hey!!!! YAY FOR YOU!!!! This is as good as it gets!!!!”

I’ve NEVER seen a picture of an average person in a bathing suit in ANY magazine.

I’ll buy a magazine to read on the beach during the summer… but that is about it. Last summer, I bought one WW magazine and one Backpacker Magazine.

I get Cooking Light, Newsweek, and Martha Stewart Living. I also pick up Real Simple once in a while--and I have noticed in Real Simple's "fashion" columns, they frequently have advice for pear, apple, and hourglass shapes, and have used healthy-looking (and even plus sized!) models. Oh, and Allure. I love makeup, and that magazine is more about makeup than anything else.

Where are the magazines for non-promiscuous, career-minded, non-mom single women? Or just for any woman somewhere between 22 and 40 who isn't wholly involved in being the perfect mother with perfect children and a perfectly decorated house that has frequent, perfect dinner parties? (Says the woman who subscribes to Martha. Heh. I realize how contradictory that might sound...)

I used to subscribe to Fitness magazine, which is mostly good information. But after a year, I began to realize that I'd read all this stuff before. Then I also noticed that the word "whopping" showed up at least once an issue to describe the calorie count in something. And the final straw was the December issue having a cover model in a bikini. So wrong!

Now I pilfer DH's Running World magazine, which is a more balanced look at exercise than you might expect. And I got a copy of More at the airport a few weeks ago. Gotta love a magazine that recognizes women over 40 are still vital, beautiful, healthy and intelligent. I haven't subscribed, but the next time I buy a magazine, it will probably be that one.

I find the physical fitness magazines to be the worst offenders, especially since their covers started showing very fit females in barely there clothing. This is not the point to physical fitness, and I'm tired of being bombarded by "sex" and "you need to be like this to be fit" magazines.

I get my grandma's old prevention magazines when she's done with them. They're practical and for the most part, realistic. I read people magazine only to keep up with popular culture. I find most of their photographs and ads offensive and also sending the wrong message about looks and fashion.

I no longer get any magazines at all. I get Cooking Light at the library just to see if there are any unique recipes that catch my eye.

I seriously doubt that there is a solution, because sex has always sold better than reality.

I am not big into fashion magazines. It is not that I take offense, I just can't relate too much to a lot of what is in them. I do read them when I have lots of downtime -- like on an airplane or at the pool. Even then, I prefer to read a great book.

My Mom bought be a subscription to Self. I read most of them because they are delovered to my door.