How about putting an okra and seafood gumbo in the thread--or have you already done so?

ARE YOU PSYCHIC??? How did you know that was what I was working on yesterday?? LOL I'm in the testing process right now, but coming soon though.

I also have one I'd like to try. The problem for Aint and his wife, both of whom work, is the time involved. They'd have to make it beforehand--(on the weekend?)--refrigerate part and freeze the rest.

There should be other fish stews that don't take 2+ hours to make.

Windy, it's two great minds, not psychic abilities. I'll worry when you start finishing my sentences for me--as my husband and I do.

If that reminds you, rejoice in the memory. It's a very special one.

Fish contains high levels of heavy metal. If you don't mind eating mercury, then have at the fish.

Everything we eat seems to have some level of 'bad stuff' in it. Antibiotics in beef, pesticides on fruit, etc. Look it up and post it on your refrigerator. Read labels. It is a most effective diet aid.

Exercise is good, but when you're feeling fat it's the last thing you want to do. I noticed that you said you eat a lot of fast food, that in itself isn't good for you. I do agree with the 5 small meals/snacks a day. My doctor put me on a diet eating 6 small meals a day, and I find that I'm never hungry. Eat only if you are hungry. Often we think we're hungry, but in reality we are thirsty. Get a nice big drink of water before eating, if it doesn't take away the hungry feeling, then by all means eat, but eat slowly. It takes a while for our stomachs to be able to get the message to our brains that we're full. Eating to quickly more often than not by the time that our brain has received the full signal we've actually over eaten.

Raising 5 kids and working I find that I don't have a lot of time for cooking either, and it's very tempting to just grab something on the way. Thank goodness for my slow cooker/crock pot. I get everything in the pot before going to work, and when I get in usually around 6:30 it's only a matter of cooking pasta or rice and making a salad.

Drink lots of water, and the use of ankle weights is a very good idea. I frequently use them just walking around in the house.

Aint, get up an hour early (go to bed an hour earlier if needed) and take a walk/bike ride or do one of those exercise videos before heading out to work. Take your own low cal snacks in a container, a few bottles of water, and some sugar free gum to keep you away from the snack machine. I think there are some simple exercises that you can do just by standing up beside your chair (not missing any work that way).

I think going to bed hungry and eating grapefruit in place of donut or something would certainly help. If you try and it works let me know and maybe I'll take your advice.

Getting up earlier and exercising sounds good but, there is no way I'm doing that. The roosters are still dreaming when I hit the road. It would be a fine idea if I were a 9-5 guy though.

I've got my bicycle fixed to where I like it now, the gears shift better and the handle bars are better adjusted. I ride almost daily now after work.

I'm also changing the number of times I eat a day and how much per sitting. I would eat breakfast, eat an early lunch, eat when I got home, eat when my wife got home and usually eat again sometime before bed. This was fine when I was younger and had a more physically demanding job. These were not always snacks. They were 4 small and one normal size meal. The goal now is a late breakfast at work, a snack when I get home and a meal with my wife.

As far as exercise goes, a co-worker who is a former US Marine and built like a pitt-bull gave me some good advice. Don't exercise for X number of minutes or do X amount of a certain exercise. Exercise until it feels like you've been exercising. Then, exercise some more. The Marine Corps theory, and it makes sense, is that all the exercise one does up to the point they really begin to feel it is all warm up. One has to hit that point where the body is really out-putting some work before it even starts to count. The most calorie burning, fat melting and muscle building kicks in after the warm up, so after that point is when one really has to push it. Not too much of course. If you go till you drop, that's too much.

Since my original post, I don't feel like I've gained any more weight. Hopefully, I'm leveling off and am about to start loosing weight.

So I took a company physical. We who are First Responders take one each year. For two years it's the 'small one' I took today. Every third year after the first year it's the 'big one'. The 'big one' has a treadmill stress test and hernia check.

My initial results are pretty good. Hearing, good. Vision, no worse and fine with my glasses. Sugar in the urine test, good. Blood pressure 110/70, good. Lung capacity, good for an ex smoker. I pulled the 50 pound weighted sled and did the 85 pound 75 foot carry just fine. Balance, good.

Personal body weight... 220 pounds at 5'7". I should weigh between 150-170 pounds for my height, age and frame. I count as medium frame.

This puts me at between 50-70 pounds overweight. The doc said that given the overall results of my physical, the weight is not hurting me, yet. He warned that if I don't loose the weight now, it will be harder later when I have to in order to stay healthy. He also said that 150 may be a bit light for me if I were replacing fat weight with muscle weight. He wants me under 200 pounds. 180 would be healthy so long as I'm active and don't feel physically stressed by the weight.

Most of my weight is in my gut. This, he said, is classic middle age weight gain compounded by a decrease in physical activity. If I were gaining all over my body, like I did once before a few years ago, and exercise with a diet more in tune with life didn't help, I'd be going to a urologist to check for kidney stones. Kidney stones caused me to gain weight all over once before and cutting grass 40 hours a week didn't phase it one pound.

So'k, 40 pounds to loose. Honestly, I haven't been skinny since my mid teens. Even when I did lawn care and worked offshore, both physically demanding jobs done outdoors, I wasn't skinny and it wasn't just the stones. I can do 40 pounds.