I am 5'9" and a size ten is as low as I am willing to go. Being very fit with plenty of muscle poundage, I weigh more that you would guess by looking at me. This takes a lot of 5 am gym trips, but I do not deny myself when I get a hankering for something "bad". Life ain't worth it if you can't indulge once in a while.

Buffie is young (I'm a young, white grandma) and therefore taut and relatively healthy without even trying. In a few years time tho, she will be extremely obese if she keeps up this lifestyle, and she won't get to enjoy her grandkids, as I am doing. Young lady, get on a stair steeper- believe me, your ass AND your heart will thank you.

A fit woman I knew with a big butt had to stop the stair machine because it made her butt bigger. I tried it and it didn't do it for me. If you have the genetically big butt, it likes to stay big, whereas no-butt women like me can't make it happen to save our lives.

But that was my point! She likes her big butt, her men like her big butt, so why shouldn't she not only keep it, but keep it riding way up high and tight for years to come? Good heart health being a beneficial side effect, she can have it all!

This is an emotionally loaded subject, to say the least.

And bound to bring out defenseive over reactions. Some people have no problem with viciously attacking celebs and others for perceived anorexia, even though it is obviously a dangerously unhealthy disease. But point out that some women in the black community are deliberately cultivating their naturally big asses by living unhealthy lifestyles, and all hell breaks loose.

On the other hand,I made it plain that I'm kinda thick (5'9",size 10)and have no problem with maintaining my womanly figure, albeit in a healthy way. I suggested Buffie get on a Stairmaster, and people thought I recommended such to help her lose her ass, amd told me that it wouldn't work. I know! It will, however, lift up that big ass and keep it tight, AND her heart will thank her.There is absolutely no reason any woman, including myself, has to sacrifice curves to be healthy. It's called balance.

Do what I do. Eat healthy and exercise all week,(at least 20 minutes of cardio a day, three or four days a week. Throw in some weight training for all-over muscle tone.) Then, designate yourself a "free day" on the weekend or whenever, to coincide with parties, events, or family day, during which you eat whatever you like, within reason. "Free Day" is beneficial in a couple of ways: 1)it gives you something to look forward to and helps you feel like you are not in an endless diet grind 2)believe it or not, it "resets" your metabolism, especially if you have severely restriced your calorie intake all week.3)for me at least, it means I don't have to mourn the loss of mac n' cheese for the rest of my life.:)

Members of the cast and creative team have remained scrupulously tight-lipped. But Steven Van Zandt, a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band before launching his acting career as Silvio on "The Sopranos," promises the ending will be anything but hum-drum.

"It's going to be controversial, it's going to be talked-about," Van Zandt, whose character ran the notorious Bada Bing strip club, told the Los Angeles Times this week.

From the LA Times:

Like most of the show's cast members, Van Zandt has known for months there were several bullets with his name on them. His pat answer, one he's been endlessly repeating, to the next question — what happens in the finale? — is: "Tune in and find out."

But he did add: "It's going to be controversial, it's going to be talked about."

Yes, we will be mad at first about whatever happens, but upon relfection, we will realize how brilliant it was. Here are some predictions:

1)AJ will play a pivotal part. He is all of us, the people who have become aware of and depressed and angry about the problems of the world. Will he step up and do something truly good and remarkable to try and turn things around? What AJ does will tell us what Chase thinks of us, his audience, and what we are capable of.

2)Melfi's story arc is done.

3)Paulie won't be a rat-he's too cunning.He knows NY could never trust a guy who would rat out somebody who is "like a son" to him.He would be worthless to Phil. Whether he survives and how he does it remains a mystery until Sunday.

4)Meadow will land on her feet. She personifies the ambitious, shallow youth of today.

5)Sil will survive-he is the personification of a cold, loyal, beuracratic company man. Beuracrats never die-they just get transferred.

7)Carmella is the other "us"- those self-deluded fools among us who refuse to see reality, who have facilitated and enabled the whole mess. She should be punished accordingly.

7)Tony is the "Democrat" of the piece. Just as corrupt as the "Republicans"/NY crew yet posssessing some redeeming qualities, he will, finally and shamelessly, surrenderto them whatever power he has and sell out the people who have cared for him or supported him, for the cold comfort of living another day-not to fight or truly live, but to continue to eat.

David Chase is a nihilist. All will be destroyed with no chance whatsoever of a Sopranos movie.