7 Weight Loss Tips For When The Scale Won't Budge

Whether the scale hasn't budged for one week or six, it's always a frustrating experience -- especially when you feel you're doing everything "right" to get the weight off. But before you start beating yourself up or throw in the towel on your healthy eating plan, know that you're not alone.
“The first thing our research shows is that everything hits a plateau,” says Bob Sullivan, co-author of The Plateau Effect: Getting from Stuck to Success. “Every good idea, diet program, marriage and professional athlete eventually stops working,” says Sullivan. “This is the most confusing thing about any endeavor, and it's particularly frustrating for people trying

How This One Trick Could Transform Your Body

Reading about sports these days, we are constantly bombarded with news of top notch athletes being exposed for using illegal steroids.
Steroid use involves huge costs, legal issues, and above all, potential health problems. With such risks, you wonder why anyone would be tempted to go this route.
Fortunately, steroid use may eventually be a thing of the past.  That’s because medical researchers studying how the human body builds muscle and endurance are developing safe and legal substances which can increase the body's ability to build muscle, without the health risks associated with steroids.
One of the most interesting fields of research surrounds a naturally occurring chemical compound called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, which means it helps move oxygen to the muscles when they need it most. Increased nitric oxide in the blood stream signals the blood vessel walls to relax, which allows more blood to flow to the body's muscles, thus delivering more oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.
It’s been shown to lead to:

• Drastic Muscle Gains
• Increased Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery
• Boosted Strength, Endurance, and Power
• Support for Your Immune System
• Immediate Results
• Total Body Transformation

While the body naturally increases nitric oxide during workouts, it’s only a limited amount and researchers have been focused on artificially increasing your nitric oxide levels.
One of the most successful products that has emerged from this research is called Factor 2.  It uses "arginines," special amino acids specifically linked to nitric oxide production to significantly increase oxygen and nutrient flow to the muscles during workouts.  As a result, it can safely spark powerful muscle growth, muscle definition, and strength.
Factor 2 produces noticeable results by maximizing your muscle gains as you power through your workouts and within a few weeks, users are starting to notice additional muscle definition and strength.
Factor 2 is now the recognized leader in nitric oxide stimulation and legal, safe muscle and strength enhancement.  It was Bodybuilding.com’s Best New Brand of the Year (2011) and pro athletes are taking note.
Best of all, the company is currently conducting a marketing campaign where new customers can receive a two-week supply of the supplement to try for free. While the Factor 2 free trial offer is available only on ForceFactor.com, Factor 2 brand products are available in GNC stores nationwide.

3 High-Tech Diets That Work

In the past, only celebrities and the super wealthy could afford a personal trainer, private chef and inspirational guru. Now the rest of us can have diet coaches in our back pockets—literally. Otherwise known as health and fitness apps, these secret weapons are hot: There was a 19 percent increase in new apps in the last year alone, according to the mobile analytics platform Localytics. "Newer apps are far more engaging, motivating and user-friendly than the prior generation," notes Bonnie Spring, PhD, director of the Center for Behavior and Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. And they work. Experts say that dieters who include apps in their weight-loss efforts score greater success than those who don't. We asked three Health readers to each test a leading digital diet and report back. See how the tools helped them and what they can do for you.

Her diet history
"I was always able to stay at a healthy weight by working out regularly. But with my family and work obligations, it's more difficult to find time to exercise and eat properly."

How it works
The SparkPeople Diet and Fitness tracker app provides a full weekly meal plan and allows you to record what you eat, along with your physical activity. You get SparkPoints for following healthy habits, such as eating fruits and veggies. Bonus: The companion site offers meal plans, workout videos and message boards, which make it easy to share tips and find social support.

Tech triumphs
"The best thing is the menu with a grocery list, so everything is planned out. There's a nice variety of fresh food on the menu—not like the processed frozen meals I sometimes eat—and it's all easy to prepare. The 10- to 15-minute workouts are convenient: I can sneak in a kickboxing session before dinner. I also love the app's GPS tracker, which I use for walks and runs."

What bytes
"The app was a little glitchy: Sometimes when I logged on, I got a message that said I hadn't entered any food that day, even when I had, and my daily meal plans were missing! While I was able to stick to one or two SparkPeople meals a day, it's tough to stay on target when your partner isn't following your plan."

Expert weigh-in
"This is one of the most extensive programs for diet and exercise tools," says Sherry Pagoto, PhD, associate professor of medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. "The social support is a crucial way to get motivated." Social-media sharing can also be inspiring; in one study, dieters who tweeted about their weight-loss efforts were more successful than those who didn't. Every 10 tweets corresponded with a roughly 0.5 percent loss of body weight. 

Breakfast Huevos Rancheros

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. ground cumin
  
  


• 1 can (15 oz) no-salt-added pink beans, rinsed and drained
  
  


• 4 scallions, sliced
  
  


• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
  
  


• ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  
  


• 2 minced cloves garlic
  
  


• 4 eggs
  
  


• 1 cup sliced avocado
  
  


• 4 Tbsp. fat-free Greek yogurt
  
  


• 4 Tbsp. salsa
  
  


• 8 corn tortillas (6-inch diameter), toasted
  
  


• dash of hot-pepper sauce (optional)
  
  

Preparation:

• Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add cumin and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add beans, scallions, bell pepper, chicken broth and garlic. Bring to a boil then reduce heat so the mixture simmers. Cook until the vegetables are tender and most of the broth is evaporated, 8 minutes. Smash beans with back of a large spoon until lumpy.
  
  


• Use back of spoon to make 4 indentations in beans mixture. Working one at a time, break each egg into custard cup and pour in each indentation. Cover and until the eggs are cooked to the desired doneness (about 8 minutes).
  
  


• Scoop each portion of egg-topped bean mixture onto plate. Scatter avocado slices over and around beans. Top each serving with 1 Tbsp. of yogurt and 1 Tbsp. of salsa. Serve with tortillas and hot-pepper sauce, if desired.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving : 331 Calories, 16 g Protein, 42 g Carbohydrates, 10 g Dietary Fiber, 12 g Fat, 3 g Saturated Fat, 245 mg Sodium

Juice Fast, Spirulina & Chia Seeds

Please forgive my shoddy video quality. I decided last minute to vlog and I failed at making sure the background was right and that the lighting was pointing in the right direction OUT OF VIEW. If can you can ignore the obvious, I have some great links to look at! :)

Another Thought-Provoking Documentary

My cousin has been recommending these wonderful gems on NetFlix and I thought I'd share with you too! :) 

The information coorelates with my studies in Holistic Nutrition.  I like how they presented and explained nutrients and how they need to be the focus with disease, not medicine.  It's true, our society doesn't support this sort of thinking because, after all, there is no money to be made with health.

I've actually heard Charlotte Gerson speak before. She's amazing and so youthful, an excellent example of healthy living.  I'm always inspired after hearing her wisdom.

For me, I think the most difficult thing for me to work through is getting enough fruits and veggies on days where we aren't home.  I feel a differece when I am getting them, yet they aren't the easiest to grab when on the go.  (And apples wrapped in celophane at the golden arches isn't going to cut it.)

Official Site

Cranberry Pecan Scones

(makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  
  


• 1 cup chopped pecans
  
  


• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
  


• ½ teaspoon baking soda
  
  


• ½ teaspoon salt
  
  


• 1¼ cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
  
  


• 2 Tablespoon canola oil
  
  


• 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
  
  


• ⅔ cup dried sweetened cranberries
  
  


• Low-fat cooking spray
  
  

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9-inch round baking pan with cooking spray.
  
  


• In large-size bowl, whisk flour, pecans, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  
  


• In small-size bowl, whisk yogurt, oil and orange zest.
  
  


• Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add yogurt mixture and cranberries. Stir until blended.
  
  


• Press into prepared pan. Score dough with knife to form 8 triangles. Bake until lightly browned and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 20-25 minutes).
  
  

Make 8 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving : 308 Calories, 6 g Protein, 38 g Carbohydrates, 5 g Dietary Fiber, 15 g Fat, 1.5 g Saturated Fat, 350 mg Sodium