Losing weight requires a little help from friends

(Photo:prom dresses) But it turns out that being accountable to someone else is not only important; it’s crucial to losing weight.
Researchers at the University of Illinois in the States have found that receiving social support may be vital in motivating women to lose weight and keep it off. For some women, it was the critical factor in their success.
The study looked at not just the ability to achieve diet goals, but the participants' abilities to keep the weight off. The women who maintained their weight loss had a high levels of social support.
Catherine Metzgar, a research assistant in food science and human nutrition and one of the paper's authors, told Health Canal, "Our women didn't find that accountability to themselves was so important, but having support from others was – just having that social support from someone who was going through the same experience.
"What this study shows is that if you can find that one friend who has the same goals or can just hold you accountable, it is really helpful."
Women who succeeded at keeping the weight off did the following things: they exercised regularly; they "listened to an inner voice" that reminded them to control their portion sizes; and they also took a "fresh-slate mentality" where they would return to eating well after a "slip up" or "bad day" rather than letting one lapse trigger a downward spiral, according to Health Canal.

The study also looked at the power of life transitions in women's weight fluctuations. Events like graduation, starting a sedentary job, getting married, pregnancy and childbirth, were all pitfalls for many of the women, triggering "continual bouts of weight gain, weight loss, maintenance and prevention of weight regain," the study says.Also read here:celebrity style dresses

3 tips to a healthier you

(Image:SheinDress backless prom dresses) Do you have a healthy relationship with yourself? We value maintaining our bonds with others far more than nurturing our own health and well-being. This became apparent to me after a long work day a few years back. I was driving home – one hand being used to ravenously stuff a Styrofoam packaged dinner down my throat, the other to give unladylike gestures to passing drivers. I lazily parked my car half on the curb, half on my neighbor’s cat, and was so consumed by the stresses of my day that it wasn’t until the next morning that I realized I forgot to close the garage door behind me. Thanks ADT Security; you came to the rescue again.
I had spent the majority of my day promoting living a healthy life through exercise and eating well, meanwhile the majority of my day was the complete antithesis of that. Sound familiar? If you have been coasting through life on bald tires, with the engine light on, it is time to put yourself in the driver’s seat and take control of your self-worth and esteem. How though? It’s easier than you think. Check out these three simple adjustments that will promote a healthier, saner you:
Exercise. Set aside one hour each day to focus on your physical health. You live in your body, and you have the choice to reside in a mansion, or a dilapidated shack with an overgrown lawn and garden gnomes you refer to as “family.”
Everyone has one hour to dedicate toward their health. Find a time that has no distractions or obligations, and write down in your agenda book that you have a date with yourself. It’s time to give you the same priority allotted to a friend, family member or boss. Exercise tends to be a chore; therefore most people pass on adding another “to-do” item to their already extensive list. Trick your brain out of boredom by promoting exercises that don’t seem like exercise at all.
Walk your dog for an hour – he will love you for it, and canines make for great partners in that they listen and don’t respond. Or sign up for recreational sports – they are called recreational for a reason. Not to mention, throwing a dodge ball at someone’s head makes for a great stress reliever. Playing ball with your child is also a great opportunity to bond and exercise.
Meditate. Whether you want to get all sexy about it by turning down the lights, firing up a few scented candles and letting loose to the latest Enya CD, or you want to simply sit in a quiet room, meditation is one of the best ways to promote mental health. Feeling good is only achieved when there is a balance between mental and physical health.
My favorite exercise for achieving mental calmness is venturing out for a long walk before or after work. Take the time to practice your breathing technique. For every few steps inhale, and have an equal amount of steps on held breath and on the exhale. Visualize something peaceful, whether it is sitting on a hammock by the lake, or watching the ocean tide roll in and out from the shore line. Focus your attention on being in the moment, and don’t be frustrated if your brain begins to wander. Simply refocus and begin again.
Eat Well. Just as the mind and body work together to achieve a balanced state, so does nutrition and the body. Exercise alone will not achieve a healthy physique if you are littering your body with junk, alcohol or over-indulging/skipping meals. When you are feeling stressed, it is easy to turn to food for comfort. Unfortunately, it only tastes good momentarily, and takes much longer to burn off.

Eating our emotions becomes a vicious cycle. As a certain larger-than-life villain from Austin Powers stated so perfectly, “I eat because I am unhappy, and I am unhappy because I eat.” Break this sick cycle. Stock your refrigerator with healthy options that will fill and satisfy. Your plate should be filled with many colors, like a rainbow – not a Skittle’s bag.Also read here:plus size prom dresses

3 Month Preparation for Brides-to-be

(Photo:SheinDress graduation dresses) For brides-to-be, it takes several weeks of planning to look stellar on the big day. Here is a guide to which beauty preparations to plan and when.
Three months before the wedding: Hair
What type of hairstyle will you wear down the aisle? Though you don't have to lock into a specific style three months out, this is the time to decide if you want to grow your hair long for an elaborate up-do. Likewise, if you plan to go with a shorter style, now is the time to try it on for size. For those with brittle or damaged hair, there is still time to start taking vitamins to ensure healthy and lustrous locks on the big day.
One month before: Skin
According to Chanel makeup artist Claire Blavet, a deep facial cleanse can sometimes bring out impurities and cause temporary blemishes. So this step should be carried out around 30 days before the wedding, allowing the skin time to heal. More importantly, during these final weeks, take especially good care of your skin. This means washing your face once or twice a day with a gentle cleanser and an exfoliating cloth for a smooth, clear complexion, always following with a moisturizer adapted to your skin type. Brides-to-be may also consider buying a thermal water spray, which can be applied to the face to keep the skin fresh and hydrated at all times.
One week before: Waxing and hands
Since you will have to raise your arms to throw the bouquet, and since you'll want to flash your legs on the dance floor, book your waxing appointment one week before walking down the aisle. Why so early? This gives the skin time to heal from any irritation or red spots.
Also, since your hands will be in the spotlight on the big day, it is important to make sure they are as soft and smooth as possible. If you don't have time to book a hand treatment at a spa, at least make sure to apply hand moisturizer regularly, at least once a day.
One day before: Nails and skin
Now that your hands are fully moisturized, it's time to think about your nails. All eyes will be on your hands during the exchange of the rings, so it's best to avoid chipped nail polish by waiting until the last minute to get your manicure.

This is also a crucial moment when it comes to the skin. Claire Blavet advises against using heavy, oily moisturizers near the eye area the day before the wedding, as this may cause puffiness. For the lips, however, don't hesitate to apply a thick, ultra-moisturizing balm to ensure your pout is healthy and plump when you wake up in the morning. And of course, hydrate the rest of your face liberally with your favorite lightweight moisturizer.Also read here:black prom dresses london

5 ways to make fish healthier

(Image:sheindress.co.uk vintage prom dresses) Eating fish has been tied with lower rates of heart disease, stroke, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. But how it you eat may be the real key to reaping its benefits. Recent research from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine concluded that study volunteers who regularly ate fish had larger brain volumes in regions associated with memory and cognition, but only if the fish baked or broiled, not fried.
Baking and broiling are also better for your waistline. For example, a dozen fried shrimp can pack 280 calories, versus a mere 85 calories for 12 shrimp that have been steamed or broiled. To make up the difference you’d have to spend about 25 minutes on the elliptical. So if fish and chips is your usual go-to, try lightening it up.
Here are five tips for making baked and broiled seafood taste fantastic.
Use good fat
Before cooking, brush fish filets with extra virgin olive or coconut oil, or slather with a jarred sauce, such as sundried tomato, roasted red pepper, or basil pesto. Or after cooking, top with sliced or chopped avocado, finely chopped nuts, or a dollop of olive tapenade or drizzle of tahini.
Add herbs and spices
There are numerous ways to season seafood, from a simple combo of garlic and Italian herbs to a fiery layer of blackened seasonings. Some of my favorite combinations include: fresh squeezed lime juice, lime zest, cilantro, and black pepper; minced garlic, fresh grated ginger, ground turmeric, and crushed red pepper; fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon peel, minced garlic, parsley, and black pepper; fresh dill, minced garlic, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
Layer it
After baking or broiling, stack fish with layers of other delicious healthy foods, such as hummus, sautéed spinach, roasted tomatoes, seasoned lentils, sauteed mushrooms, wild rice, mashed sweet potato, spaghetti squash, mango salsa, or slaw.
Chill it
In addition to chilled shrimp cocktail, nearly any fish can be served cold after it’s cooked. Top an entrée salad with chilled fish; add it to a cold salad made with veggies and either whole grain pasta, wild rice, or quinoa; add it to a classic chilled veggie dish like a marinated cucumber salad; or spoon it into lettuce boats made from outer romaine leaves.
Add it to other dishes

After simply baking or boiling, add seafood to another flavorful dish, such as a soup, stew, stir fry or veggie “pasta” dish. Or spoon it into corn tortillas and top with pico de gallo and guacamole for a healthy version of healthy fish tacos.Also read here:sheindress.co.uk black prom dresses

The False Promise of Celebrity Fashion Lines

(Photo:mermaid prom dresses belfast) Perhaps you heard that an up and coming musician named Beyoncé is going to create an athletic line with Topshop. (It’s a partnership, not a collaboration so don’t get it twisted.) That means that the gravitational force that brings superfans as well as people who aren’t even creaming their jeggings for Beyoncé to the Barclays Center will also line up at Topshop for these clothes.
When I heard the news, it was exciting. I love her aesthetic and she dresses for a different kind of body than your typical style maven. (Only in fashion, does a woman with discernable hips count as groundbreaking size diversity.) It’s exciting, but it’s truly strange how we heap such huge expectations onto a partnership like this as though a pair of parachute pants are a piece of her. Part of the problem is that people see these clothes as way to capture her aesthetic. Deservedly, everything she touches turns to gold. But whether you call it collaborating, curating, or designing, this deal operates under the assumption that everything a famous person touches turns to quality.
Take for example Cara Delevingne’s recent DKNY designs. It’s a solid capsule collection, but I take issue with the yellow beanie. I actually feel allergic to it. Obviously a Cara-branded beanie doesn’t negate all the signs that the woman wearing it is a unique snowflake. I know the public isn’t gullible enough to think that by spending $70 on a very special sock hat will instantly help you know how it feels to have someone create a portrait of you with breadcrumbs. But wearing it is a sign of both thoughtlessness and a surplus of money. Its wearer’s sin isn’t being unoriginal. It’s overpaying. Even if the provocateur gave beanie input, it’s mostly skilled Rumpelstiltskins spinning up the most palatable staples.
There’s no denying that the person wearing that vintage backward DKNY hat you see everywhere might simply be the person who has more time to shop for vintage than the one in the Cara hat. But there’s something to be said for finding something that truly feels right. These things look good on her because they are what feels right to her. The fact that we justify a $70 beanie with her name on it means that our capacity, as consumers, for romanticizing famous people beats that of the average nine-year-old fanboy or fangirl. Telling women they’re followers for liking a hat is not what I’m saying. But I feel that it would brand me as the equivalent of a maniacal groupie who loses her shit over the sign of her favorite boy band.
Miley Cyrus’s candi jewelry for Jeremy Scott is really just fodder, mostly because it was either rave or bong-themed. But when designers like Karl Lagerfeld embrace Pharrell as the genius of the year, or when Kanye West insists the fashion world owes him opportunities even when his designs are torn apart, I feel like we’re just being spoon-fed every fashion fanboy or fangirl’s ego-yanking project. Other than being famous, there’s not really anything to warrant Pharrell’s involvement in anything I wear. I know. I know. So stop whining and just talk about stuff you like right? Actually, Pharrell’s death grip on macarons, trains and everything in the world is unavoidable on the internet.
Before I had a sense of who I was (and I’m still an awkward dork who tries desperately to cover up a New York accent,) I tirelessly tried to convince myself I was Claudia Cardinale with peasant tops. What can I say. This was my childhood dream, (not the one where the kid from The Wonder Years orders me a pizza.) Having a license that said I was from Queens wasn’t even a drawback. But now I know better, and I see her as more of a muse.
When I discover an aesthetic I love, I’m more impressionable than the average cult follower. But that doesn’t stop me from despising the “Get Her Look,” editorials I only read in nail salons. They encourage readers to buy things that look exactly like what famous people wear, so that you’ll emerge from the store a fully blown doppelganger. I prefer to think of the famous and the stylish as my inspiration, because everyone needs inspiration. Even your most original friend in those wide-leg jeans which mysteriously fell into her lap from a gypsy hot air balloon. Even she has people she follows.
It has to be about you actually shaking out what it is about an inspirational aesthetic that grabs you, and wearing the stuff that makes you feel good. Buying the unmistakably Rita Ora adidas rose jumpsuit, which Beyoncé has already worn, doesn’t erase your character, but it’s overdone already. Beyoncé’s Topshop collection might be stunning, but in the meantime, finding something that simply echoes that floral pattern is a much is the better move.

Celebrity-driven collections are nothing new. It’s about putting everything cool in a batter and create more content to consume. Victoria Beckham and L.A.M.B. have had lasting commercial success because of the distinctive aesthetics behind their poster girls. They feel authentic. You can count me among the fangirls of The Row and Elizabeth and James. But not everyone can be the Olsens, who seem to intuitively understand how to flatter women with contemporary things. The silhouettes are impeccable. I didn’t buy an Elizabeth and James romper because I don’t want to live in a world without that video of them going apeshit over pizza. I did it because the clothes are good.Also read here:SheinDress prom dresses uk

Couple combines historic and new-age elements into their York wedding ceremony and reception

(Image:SheinDress mermaid prom dresses) Family and friends packed into the historical Quaker Meeting House Saturday afternoon for a somewhat nontraditional wedding ceremony.
Megan Donley, owner of Lotus Moon Yoga and Creative Healing Arts Center in downtown York, and Jeff Hewitt, a maintenance and set-up employee at the York County Heritage Trust, combined both historic and new-age elements into their ceremony and reception.
Megan Donley's father, Tom, a former president of the county Chamber of Commerce, said the meeting house was the perfect choice for the couple.
"Megan grew up in the Presbyterian church," Tom Donley said after the roughly 30-minute ceremony. "She's taken the concept of love from different religions. The meeting house is a unique, historical place in York. It represents tolerance in faith."
But the location of the ceremony also provided a unique glimpse into York for out-of-town family members, some of whom came all the way from California, Washington and Puerto Rico.
Ben Stephens, who lives and works in Seattle, arrived in York Friday night and has been staying in downtown for the weekend. Stephens, who was born in Korea and moved to the United States when he was three months old, has been to Pennsylvania before. He would spend some summers at the Donley's home in the Poconos.
Stephens said he "attempted" yoga Saturday morning at Megan's studio, and then got lunch at Central Market with his family.
"York has a nice, small hometown feel," Stephens said. "I like the small boutique shops."
Others who came from outside York got a chance to stroll through city streets after the ceremony as the wedding crowd meandered to the Agriculture and Industrial Museum on West Princes Street. Once inside, guests could walk with their beers and learn about York's history.
"I'm a history buff," said Andrew Kennedy (a cousin of the bride), as he walked slowly among historical industrial equipment including old hydraulic pumps and Conestoga wagons.
Kennedy, 39, works in finance in New York City and drove four hours for the wedding.
"This doesn't happen where I'm from. You wouldn't get to have a wedding at the Met," he said, referring to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.
The Rev. Diane Finlayson, an interfaith minister from the Baltimore area, officiated the wedding ceremony.
Sunlight poured in through the windows of the 18th century-era building, which sits on East Philadelphia Street on the outer edge of York.
The meeting house has two smaller rooms split in the middle with a waist-high partition. Megan and Jeff Hewitt stood in the center of one room with about 150 people seated around them, mostly on old wooden benches.
Toward the end of the ceremony, Finlayson had the room speak in unison, stating that the married couple was united as one.
Guest Teresa Vitz, of Red Lion, said the wedding was unique.
"It called upon all sensibilities," she said at the reception. "Jeff has always been a spiritual, earthy person. I think for the two, (the ceremony) matches their personalities."
Megan Donley's friend and yoga mentor, John Protopapas, was also in attendance Saturday.
"It's been wonderful to see Megan flower into the woman she is," Protopapas, 57, said. "Watching these two souls grow together has been wonderful to see."

The historical elements of the day were just an added bonus.Also read here:yellow prom dresses london

Fashion takes on artistic slant

(Photo:white prom dresses london) Every autumn for the past seven years, Wilmington’s “Style Girl” Jess James has organized a runway show previewing the trends of the upcoming fall fashion season.
This year, however, James is trying a new approach in presenting the apparel she feels will be hip and relevant through 2014 and into 2015. James is theming her “Seventh Annual Fall Fashion Preview” around selected artworks featured in the Cameron Art Museum’s “State of the Art, Art of the State” exhibition.
“I think a lot of people agree that fashion is an art itself,” James said. “There is just a natural synergy between the two.”
The event kicks off 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cameron Art Museum. As the models strut the runway, the CAM will project photographs by Ben Minor of the models posing alongside the artwork that inspired their ensemble. Attending fashionistas will also have the opportunity to see the artworks up close in “State of the Art/Art of the State,” an extensive collection of North Carolina art featuring 678 works in just about every style and medium by 678 North Carolina artists.
The show’s diversity gave James and her colleagues plenty to work with while scoping out connections between “State of the Art/Art of the State” and the world of fashion.
“We just started on one wall and worked our way around,” James said. “We were here for quite a while.”
Representational artworks translate easily into a fashion show. Raleigh artist Ann Marie Kennedy’s handmade abaca paper work “Shelter” features pressed flowers surrounding an embossed impression of a dress that almost looks Victorian. James plans on complementing “Shelter” with a model in similar garb, with Beauty Bar Boutique adorning the model’s hair with pressed flowers.

Other connections are more abstract: outfits inspired by textures, color schemes and the overall mood of an artwork. When James saw Raleigh artist Leatha Koefler’s “Comfort Quilt; My Life on Slides,” she thought, “Oh, we have to use this.” The piece is a patterned collage of sorts that makes use of thread, colorful buttons and slide film positives. James paired it with a dress that uses a similar pattern and colors, with the word “peace” patterned on the fabric.Also read here:sheindress.co.uk yellow prom dresses