My clients all know that having a positive mindset is crucial to making physical progress. A negative mindset usually means we’re stressed and a stressed body is not a happy body. Does this mean we have to be happy and pretend like everything is okay when it’s really on fire? HELL NO. There are a few categories people fall into when it comes to having a negative mindset:

Okay, if you are like me, you may be asking yourself, “I don’t have a big kitchen and big yard to be able to do anything *meaningful* in regards to being more sustainable and help the earth”. Or maybe you’re not thinking that and that’s just me. But sometimes I find a small mental hang-up with what I can do in my little apartment in this big city to help the world around me.

I love this month’s topic. I think that a lot of us (myself included) can get better as making this world a more sustainable place. Sometimes I think to myself, “I am just one person, what does it REALLY matter?” - but that’s the problem right there. All of our small efforts actually add up to helping our environment and help create a more sustainable world in which we live. We want this place to place, so why not put the effort in, no matter how *insignificant* it might seem?

When most of us look to change our lifestyle to lose weight we often turn towards a healthy diet and exercise. Up at 4 am for our first workout, lots of fruits and veggies, and maybe an evening weightlifting session. By the end of the week we are exhausted, hungry, and wishing for an extra hour of sleep. Is it worth it to press the snooze button and get that extra hour of sleep? Will that really help you reach your goals? You better believe it….

Sleep. People aren’t getting enough. And that’s not an exaggeration. People are not sleeping nearly as long or as well as their bodies need. Our bodies NEED it to function, to recover, to fulfill our potential each day.

Deep sleep is a period of sleep when your brain waves are at their lowest frequency. This is when it is hardest to wake you up. Usually, people get spurts of it within the first couple of hours of the night. Some with genetic mutations are able to get more deep sleep, but studies are showing that around 20% of deep sleep for adults is optimal. This equates to around 1.5 hours a night or more. You can track deep sleep through tracking devices such as an Oura ring, Fitbit, Whoop, and other brands. You may be able to tell if you’re not getting enough deep sleep if you’re waking up a lot early on in the night, not feeling rested in the mornings, even with 8+ hours of consistent sleep every night.

There is a myriad of chemicals, amino acids, enzymes, nutrients, and hormones that work together to help regulate our sleep cycle and improve the quality of our sleep. These include, but aren’t limited to…

Excuse me while I get on my soapbox for a second… Why are we always so mean to ourselves? Why do we put so much stock in a piece of metal or glass THING on the floor of our bathroom?! Why does the scale have the power to ruin our entire day before it even begins?!

This challenge is meant for anyone who is interested in having a healthier understanding of themselves and their eating habits. Whether you are brand new to healthy eating practices or have years of practice, this is meant to be fun and experimental. By the end, you will have learned new things about yourself, and as a result, be closer to feeling like the best version of yourself.

Usually, my blog posts are like "self-love, be kind to yourself, you're amazing..." I'm a positive person and I feel like people are WAY too hard on themselves a lot of the time. But today, I'm doling out some tough love.

It’s beach season! For some people that means bikini’s, white sand, and those fruity drinks with the umbrellas! But what if you have fat loss goals? Can you still drink? How does it impact your body and what are the “best” ways we can fit drinking into our macros?! We’re not here to tell you what to do, we just want you to understand the physiology of what happens when you drink and let you make the best decision for you!

There are some mixed feelings on aesthetic-based goals; it is healthier to focus on self-love and not agonize over every little thing on our body that we can’t always control. Don’t get me wrong; I think for our mental health, we should focus most on internal health, such as what we put into our bodies and how we treat ourselves, as well as how we deal with stress. But sometimes we want to look good too, and that’s OK! It’s natural to want to look good. As long as we don’t give it too much focus on our health and have positive intentions behind it.

The warm months are coming (and if you are in the Northeast like me, THANK GOODNESS), but you know what that means for a LOT of people - that panic to *lose the winter layer of fat* and to lose it quickly.

Do you ever go out to happy hour with co-workers, and then you feel upset afterward because you feel like your choices pulled you away from your goals? Or, have you come home stressed from work, and immediately dove into your pantry? And then suddenly you're surrounded by empty food wrappers?

Hi. Can we talk willpower, motivation, whatever you want to call it? It's pretty common to see clients going ham on 400+ extra calories, not getting movement in, etc due to "no motivation." Listen... I get it. I really do. You're not alone, and not a single one of us is perfect.

Here is a little message I sent my clients about the holiday and some tips I try to live by during this time of year! Do not fear the holidays. How sad is that? I used to almost hate birthdays, Christmas, events because I felt like I was messing up. I didn’t want to see my family because I couldn’t control my food.

With Christmas approaching quickly, we know you’ll be attending a lot of parties, get-togethers, dinners, and more. Coach Manders has put together her best tips and advice for navigating the holiday parties. Because the last thing we want is for you to be nervous or anxious at this time of year. Hopefully, these tips will help you relax so you can truly enjoy yourself.

Ah, The Holidays! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s also when nutrition tends to become an afterthought for most folks for a few reasons…

This is a 30 day journaling & mindfulness project, designed to improve your relationship with food, abandon food guilt, & help you gain full control over your eating habits. Our goal is for you to come out of this more in tune with yourself, what is on your plate, & your eating behaviors. Your next 30 days with us are going to show you a lot about yourself, particularly your relationship with food. Each day, you will have a journaling prompt to complete, along with a mindfulness task to carry with you throughout the day.

New Year's resolutions are the traditions in which we commit to changing an undesired trait or behavior in ourselves, in order to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve our quality of life. Until I was 27 years old, my New Year’s Resolution was always weight loss related (along with 90% of the population) with the hope to get the holiday weight gain off. I set myself up for failure, year after year, starting in October, by throwing in the effort towel a little early. I would overindulge for nearly three months straight, only to waste a time meant for personal growth on superficial nonsense that was brought about by my own hand (and mouth).