Often when people think about getting in shape, they turn to cardio fitness. They think - if I run more, I'll lose weight. This strategy falls short in several ways - the most common cardio activities, such as running or jogging, are pretty tough on the joints, and upping your cardio leads to fat loss, but no muscle gain. Muscle is the Midas gold of exercise - the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn (even when you're not working out). 

Over the past few years, you  may have heard "sitting is the new smoking". And what makes sitting even worse? Poor posture. Staring at your phone or computer can give you tech neck, leads to rounding of the upper back and shoulders, and weakened abdominal and back muscles. The answer? Core strengthening! 

Whether you have a exercise regime in place and are looking for new activities to spice it up, or want to jump right in, we'll talk about several activities that are not only great to strengthen your torso muscles, but fun, too. 

Active learning techniques utilize different brain pathways to consolidate information efficiently and effectively. 

I often talk about studying for the RD exam, and I'll use it as an example in this post, but active learning techniques can be used at every stage of school and life.

The figure below shows the movement of information from resources like textbooks and study guides, to your typical type of notes, but then we go a step further with active learning. I talk about these in my post Study Tips for the RD Exam so head over there for a more in-depth description. But for now, we're going to talk about these active learning techniques in the context of studying overall. 

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile, as most of my workouts are outdoors, at a local park, with my dog! 

Jogging, walking, and hiking are great cardio activities and combine the beauty of the outdoors with improving your heart health. (Did you know even 10 minutes of continuous aerobic activity can improve your cardiovascular fitness? So get that lunchtime walk in!) 

Colleagues often talk about how bad they feel about staying indoors, working, on a beautiful day. Not only does enjoying the fresh air and being in the moment make you feel centered, but pining away looking out the window can do the opposite. 

Photo by Alison Marras on Unsplash

Disclaimer: This review was written in exchange for a free 1 week trial of GreenBlender, a service that provides home-delivery smoothie ingredients. The links in this post are "affiliate links", which means if you subscribe to GreenBlender via one of my links, or use one of my coupons, I will receive a small amount of compensation. If you have any questions, please let me know! Affiliate links in this post are "GreenBlender" and are bolded. 

Hey there! I hope you had a very happy holiday season. With the New Year upon us, many will be making New Years Resolutions about their health - whether joining a gym, starting a new diet plan like Paleo, raw, or Whole30, or starting an at-home fitness regimen like P90x. 

Some people poo-poo on New Years Resolutions, but some are the jumpstart you need to launch yourself into a healthier you. This post isn't about New Years Resolutions or goal setting - it's about my experience with Diet-to-Go. 

If you're thinking up some goals come January 1st, I encourage you to read up on my previous post regarding setting SMART goals and the stages of change. 

This post isn't about a particular food tracker. I was using a mobile app and was actually a huge fan. This post is about my experience with food tracking overall. 

Everyone is different in their eating habits, and not surprisingly, people respond differently to getting a grip on their eating habits. 

Note that I said eating habits and not preferences. When I say eating habits I mean:

• Doesn't like to eat in the morning 
• Tends to be hungrier certain times of day
• Forgets to eat when stressed
• Overeats when stressed
• Feels better/worse when eating mostly carbohydrates
• Feels better/worse when eating mostly protein
• Specific food rules
• etc.

This long list is one of the many reasons there are so many "dieting" options out there, but also why so many one-size-fits-most don't always work. For example, I have more than a few friends who's stomach would really prefer they stay away from meat. But I exclaim, that's how I feel about carbohydrates! Others can't stomach the idea of eating first thing in the morning. For me, it's a must! And then I'm usually done with the whole eating thing around 4pm. 

Alright, so I want to tell you guys about a kickstarter I've consulted with a bit in the past few months (gratis, no worries, not a shareholder). 

Their idea is so simple it's genius, and as a dietitian I'm going to tell you, that estimating portion sizes just doesn't work (remember my blog post on simple changes to make in the kitchen?)

From a husband and wife dynamic duo, a marathon running nurse and a guy who dropped some serious pesos, I present to you: MugDiet. ​

Their rationale? Those lean cuisine type meals typically come in around 300 calories. That's barely enough for me, let alone a bigger dude trying to lose weight as well. 

You plug in your stats and you get a different mug size then Joe Schmo next to you on the subway. What about when you lose weight? How do you keep on with MugDiet and your goals? No worries - you can trade in your MugDiet for your new size. ​

Check out their site for more info. I've worked with them to make the science easy to understand with easy flow. 2 pages on their site is all you need before you click over to their Kickstarter page. www.mugdiet.com 

I'd love to answer any questions you have. Hit me up in the comments!

​Bailey

Did my title hook you in? Good! Now don't worry...this post is in fact about running for beginners, but more of a tell-all of my experience (second time around!) and my tips and tricks. I'll link you up to some great programs that I have used and highly recommend, as well as some products I've found to be super helpful.

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item through my link, I get a small compensation, which supports the fitness and health messages I love sharing. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

I'm not a big fan of the dreadmill, but no judgment if that's your gig. My go-to necessities are geared towards outdoor runners, and my program and app recommendations are geared towards beginners. 

Every method out there to help you eat healthy serves a certain purpose. However, your approach to eating and fitness dictates which purposes you need to employ in the first place. 

Methods for an "eat to live" person will be very different than those for a "live to eat" person. Similarly, if you struggle with cravings, your best approach likely won't work well for someone who struggles with feeling hungry all of the time. 

Today I'd like to share with you 3 simple changes I have made in the kitchen.