Here are some tips on how you can be more mindful. Whether it's mindful eating or other mindful aspects of your life such as working out, driving, or interacting with people. So, the number one is meditation. I can't say enough about it. It physically changes your brain. It helps regulate your emotions and your stress. It clears your head. You could think of meditation as an exercise in mindfulness.

So the more that you meditate, the more will help you be more mindful. Breath work and breathing is another great way to be more mindful. So even just counting your breaths, doing box breathing which is breathing in for four, pausing for four and breathing out for four, that could also help with mindfulness and really bringing down your stress levels and raising your awareness.

Then finally when it comes to mindful eating, you want to put your fort down and then count that number of chews. Especially if you're a fast eater and you find that you want to chew what's on your mouth before...

When it comes to eating mindfully, it's really about being self-aware. And so how do you carry that over into other aspects of your life? So in addition to eating mindfully, you'd want to workout mindfully. Maybe when you go outside for a walk, you want to take in the sounds, the smells, the sights. When you're working out, you really want to focus on your workout.

Again, not distracting yourself to ensure that you are focused and you are mindful and you are feeling all the feels right? I think a lot of times, people rush thru things or stay distracted and it's not really beneficial. Whether that's eating, working out, interacting with people, being mindful is so super important. And it's really important to use all of your senses, your sight, sound, smell, all of them. You want to carry that into other aspects of your life. I know, I'm sure you've gone through where you've driven somewhere and you don't even recollect how you got there because your mind just completely zones out....

Why is it important to eat mindfully? Well, there are a number of reasons. Obviously when you eat mindfully, it will help prevent emotional eating or stress eating. If you are mindful about the food that you're preparing and about to put into your body, you really think through. Am I hungry right now? What am I hungry for? When you're emotional or stress eating, think about if you want to have a bowl of broccoli or a bowl of potato chips. Obviously if you're not interested in eating fruits, vegetables, or something healthy, odds are that you're eating out of stress or boredom.

If you're emotional and stress eating, you'd want potato chips or pizza or ice cream or something that's going to be really satisfying and maybe not that healthy. So mindful eating is important to make good choices, right? Understand why you're eating because you should be truly hungry, plus eating slowly and mindfully will also help with your digestion. You're not going to rush through your meal. You're going...

When it comes to movement, one topic that I feel like isn't frequently covered is something called NEAT, which is Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. NEAT essentially means all the activity that you do throughout the day, separate from your dedicated workout. So if you're weight training, if you have a cardio session - the calories burned during NEAT are completely separate from those workouts.

The beauty of NEAT is that it actually burns a higher percentage of calories than those dedicated workouts. Best of all, it's one of those things that you could just fit in throughout your day. If you're wondering "How do I increase my NEAT?" The easiest way is by walking. You can grab 10 minutes before work, 10 minutes during lunch. It's fitting in little pieces of movement throughout the day. It could be taking an extra walk when you go to get the mail. It could be parking farther away. You always hear "Park further away!" or "Take the steps instead of the elevator". That's how you...

This month's theme is all about movement and the first topic I want to cover is cardio I know many people try to kill themselves with cardio in an effort to lose weight. But when it comes to losing weight and making sure that your metabolism is operating at the most optimal rate, it's really important to build muscle. So you want to prioritize weight training, which I'll talk more about in a separate video, but cardio should be used as a tool for weight loss. If your primary goal is heart health or you're marathoner or triathloner, then cardio is going to be your primary workout.

However, if you're just looking to lose weight, build muscle, and get lean (or a lot of people like to call it "get toned"), you really want to use cardio sparingly and for overall heart health. What does that mean? That means using cardio maybe one high intensity workout a week, maybe one steady-state workout. But it's really important to make sure that you rest enough. A lot of people like to focus...

Let's talk about the importance of protein in your overall nutrition. Protein is typically a macronutrient that is not eaten enough by most people. We typically focus on carbohydrates and fats, but protein is super important for a number of reasons.

First, protein helps you to feel full and satiated, so when you focus on having protein at meals and snacks, it will make you feel fuller throughout the day. Protein is also the building block of muscles. If you are trying to build muscle, and muscle at rest burns calories, you want to try to build as much muscle as you can. To do that, you need to prioritize protein.

And then there is also something called TEF - the Thermic Effect of Food. TEF means that certain foods take more calories and energy to break down, and protein is one of those. That's another reason why protein is important for your diet and should be the foundation of your meals and snacks. Make sure you have a good quality serving of protein. It could be 3-4 ounces of...

Let's talk about metabolism and movement.

When it comes to movement, there are different kinds. There's the movement you do throughout the day which is called N.E.A.T. - Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Then there's the activity you get from exercise. It's really super important to be very purposeful about your movement when it comes to your metabolism. What's interesting is that you burn a larger percentage of calories by the movement you take throughout the day. That means the errands, the laundry, the housework, the dishes, the fidgeting, the standing desk, all of those things actually burn a larger percentage of calories than your dedicated workout routine.

If you're working out for an hour, or even 30 minutes, you're doing weight training, cardio, all of the things. That NEAT is actually burning more calories than your workouts. But don't kill yourself everyday with workouts, be very purposeful and really focus on getting more NEAT. You want to have adequate weight...

How many times have you heard “There’s an app for that?” Gotta love technology. It’s simplified our lives in so many ways, including when it comes to staying in shape. With that, I’d like to share my top five favorite apps. These are the ones that I use every.single.day.

1. MyFitnessPal
   As a macro-tracking ninja, this app is my go-to for logging all of my food. Plus, I’m on a 1,050-day streak that I don’t want to break any time soon. The free version is perfect for most people, while I opted for the premium version at $49 per year. The paid version enables me to customize my macros, which makes my life soooo much easier. You can also customize and load your own recipes, save your favorite meals and so much more!
   
   
2. Fit Bit
   I’m currently on my third Fit Bit device. I am seriously addicted to it. In addition to having an app on your phone, I have the Fit Bit HR, which allows you to track your heart rate, see your total calories burned, steps...

4 Tips to Overcoming Intimidation at the Gym 

Going to the gym can be incredibly intimidating, especially if you’re unsure where to start. But getting into a regular gym regime is a key component to a healthy lifestyle. So how do you overcome your unfounded fear? Here are 5 tips to conquer your gym-phobia:

1. Take a tour.
   Half the battle is not knowing where anything is located. Get a thorough tour to look at all the equipment, class offerings, locker room and any other areas that you think you’ll be using. This could be the pool, steam room, sauna, spin class area, yoga room, etc.
   
   
2. Sign up with a friend or get a few training sessions.
   Isn’t everything easier to do with a buddy? If you can’t get a friend or significant other to join with you, sign up for some onsite training. After one or two sessions, you’ll get comfortable with the layout of the gym and get into a routine.
   
   
3. Find the right time for you.
   You may be intimidated when you first walk in. I...

When it comes to working out, you want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck with HIIT exercises. If you’re trying to burn fat and you’re short on time, incorporate some high intensity interval training or HIIT. During this kind of training, you’re going to spike your heart rate for a short period of time, recover and repeat.

Here’s an example: jog for one minute, then sprint as fast as you can for 30-45 seconds. Resume jogging for one minute and repeat. Do this for 10 to 15 minutes and you have a great HIIT workout. If you’re new to running, check out my 5 tips to get your running mojo.

What are some other great ways to incorporate HIIT workouts? Here are five HIIT exercises to maximize calorie burn:

1. Burpees
2. Sprints
3. Jumping jacks
4. Jump rope
5. Jump squats

The best way to recover from these exercises is to walk, jog or march in place. The key is to bring down your heart rate. You can also vary your ratio — 1 minute HIIT and 1 minute...