Today’s health and fitness apps offer a lot of options.

Depending on the app (and its free and paid versions) you can:

• See your daily step count.
• Log your workouts, including the type and duration.
• Record nutrition information. Calorie and water intake at least, and some apps record fat, sodium, sugar, carbs, and more.
• Enable location tracking and record details about your walks or runs.
• Set personal goals, whether you want to lose or gain weight or hit a certain number of runs per week.

Too, many of today’s health and fitness apps offer social components, no doubt with the idea in mind that people are more likely to really use the apps — to really strive toward their fitness and health goals — if they can engage with other like-minded folk.

Now, research out of Flinders University in Australia shows that’s true.

The study, led by Flinders University PhD candidate Jasmine Petersen and co-authored by Dr. Ivanka Prichard, shows that engaging with other users in the apps’ communities and social network platforms provides people with encouragement to both engage more with their apps and increase their physical activity.

Researchers examined nearly 1,300 adults between the ages of 18 and 83 years old for the study. Of those, 88% were female and over half of participants used a commercial health and fitness app. Results showed that the people who were more competitive responded the best to the apps; they would engage in significantly higher levels of physical activity because of the “game-like” incentives and rewards the apps offered. Because of this, Dr. Prichard noted that people with competitive spirits might benefit the most from these apps. Additionally, these results didn’t vary among the different age groups.

However, Dr. Prichard also noted that there were negative effects if the participants used the social components to make comparisons:

Engagement in comparisons was associated with lower self-efficacy and higher external regulation, and in turn, lower physical activity.

Over all, this seems like great news, especially given that so many of us have “lost” our in-person workout buddies to social distancing! In fact, the researchers are currently following up with the study participants to see how these apps could support physical activity amid the coronavirus restrictions.

How about you all?

Do you use a health and fitness app? Which one? Does it have options for social engagement and if so, do you use them? Do they help keep you motivated, or do you find that the potential competitive nature or opportunity to get sucked into comparing yourself to others isn’t worth it?

Photo: Viktor on picjumbo.

Sleep has been on my mind a lot in recent months (no doubt because I’m not getting much!). Even though my son is so, so close to sleeping through the night, this mama still wakes up at pretty regular intervals.

Fortunately, my husband and I both are able to take turns taking naps or sleeping in, and that’s helped a lot. Still, though, nothing beats regular solid sleep!

Sleeplessness, insomnia, lack of sleep — however you crumble the cookie, the state of not getting enough shuteye can wreak havoc on your body, contributing to problems like:

• Out-of-control food cravings.
• Weight gain.
• Poor immune systems.
• Concentration problems.
• Blah physical traits (think sallow skin, dark circles, red eyes).

Additionally, poor sleep can cause more serious health complications including high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

You’re probably nodding your head and thinking, “Yes, Alicia — now tell us something we don’t know.”

Alright, then. Here are three little factoids about sleep and your physical and mental health that you might not be familiar with!

1. Sleep Helps Keep Your Memories Safe.

Researchers out of University of California — San Diego report that sleep might play a big role in continuously learning throughout our lives. Sleep does this by encoding our new memories while also protecting our old memories. The researchers predict that both our old and our new memories are spontaneously replayed during sleep, which not only helps prevent us from forgetting them but also increases recall performance.

Maksim Bazhenov, PhD, lead author of the study and professor of medicine at UC San Diego gives us a simple example:

When you play tennis, you have a certain muscle memory. If you then learn how to play golf, you have to learn how to move the same muscles in a different way. Sleep makes sure that learning golf does not erase how to play tennis and makes it possible for different memories to coexist in the brain.

Bazhenov also says the study results could lead to developing tools to improve memory and learning, which is especially important for people with learning disabilities and older adults.

2. Sleep Prevents Your Brain From Eating Itself.

That’s right — your brain might be cast as the newest character on The Walking Dead if you deprive it of enough sleep.

So, here’s how it works. Our brains change states when we’re asleep and clean up the toxic byproducts that neural activity leaves behind during the day. That part’s normal and perfectly healthy. However, when we have persistently crappy sleep, then our brains start clearing out A LOT of stuff — important stuff like neurons and synaptic connections — and extra sleep might not reverse the damage.

ScienceAlert puts it like so:

Think of it like the garbage being cleared out while you’re asleep, versus someone coming into your house after several sleepless nights and indiscriminately tossing out your television, fridge, and family dog.

Yikes.

3. Sleep Can Make You a More Positive Person.

If you’re not worried about losing memories or developing a zombie brain, then at least strive to get more and better sleep for the pleasant demeanor.

No doubt you’re aware that sleeplessness can cause crankiness. You might even know that past research has suggested a lack of sleep can affect your emotional state.

Now, we know from a recent study published in the Journal of Sleep Research that this is the real deal.

During the study, participants were shown “pleasant and neutral images” after five nights of regular sleep and after five nights of restricted sleep (five hours a night). Researchers found that participants were more likely to have negative responses to the “pleasant and neutral images” after the periods of restricted sleep than after the periods of normal sleep.

This also suggests that sleep-deprived people are more likely to perceive personal events and interactions in their daily lives as worse than they are.

Pretty sure I’ve experienced that before!

P.S. Want a little extra? As I was writing this post, I ran into a new study on how sleep problems might help nudge you in the direction of your entrepreneurial goals.

Photo by Gregory Pappas on Unsplash.

New research out of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has found that we can increase our appreciation of our bodies by paying better attention to our internal body sensations — such as our gut feelings.

Nope, we’re not talking about the kind of instinct or intuition that tells you something is amiss or guides you to make certain decisions. We’re talking about your actual gut feelings, also known as gastric interoception — the feelings of fullness or hunger that originate in your gut.

Researchers had 191 adults from the UK and Malaysia fast and then consume water. They measured:

• The amount of water the participants drank in relation to their stomach capacity.
• How the participants felt and what they experienced while drinking the water, which included having the participants complete questionnaires that examined different aspects of body image including appreciation of the body and the body’s functionality.

When it was all said and done, the researchers found an association between:

• A greater change in the intensity of the gut feelings after drinking water and,
• Significantly increased levels of appreciation of the body and the body’s functionality.

This was true for both the adults in the UK and the adults in Malaysia.

Jennifer Todd, a Psychology PhD student ARU and the study’s lead author, says:

Our study shows a clear link between bodily awareness, in this case the feeling of fullness, and body image. In other words, people who are more in tune with their body’s internal workings have a greater appreciation of their body in general.

So, why is this potentially the number one reason to trust your gut? At least, in my opinion?

It’s an almost immediate way to begin fostering a positive body image.

As concisely defined by PsychAlive, body image is “the perception that a person has of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings that result from that perception.”

Many people with body image issues — or negative body images — because of things they can’t change overnight or perhaps at all. For example:

• They think they’re too tall or too short.
• They believe they weigh too much or too little.
• They have a visible and distracting birthmark or scar.
• They have body parts they think are too big or too small.
• They think they’re too pale or too dark.
• They think they have too many freckles, their teeth are crooked, or their ears aren’t even.

Again, these aren’t things a person can change overnight (and I’m not suggesting they need to change them; I’m just acknowledging that for some people, removing a distracting birthmark or having their teeth straightened provides a big self-confidence boost and there’s nothing wrong with that) and in some cases it’s not something they can change at all.

However, you can pay attention to your body’s internal workings right now. You can tune in and feel your gut when it’s full of water, your lungs when they’re full of air, your muscles after a good stretch and start loving, respecting, and appreciating your body right now.

You can start working toward a positive body image at this moment. Forget the reasons you think your body looks wrong and tune into all the functions your body is doing right.

Photo by Frank Flores on Unsplash.

It might make for a quirky hashtag, but the #Quarantine15 itself might not be that fun.

The Quarantine 15 — similar to the Freshman 15 — is what people are calling the 15 or so pounds they’ve gained during the coronavirus quarantine. For some people, gaining 10 or 15 pounds isn’t that huge of a deal, or that difficult to shed, but we need to address the reason for gaining weight, what it could mean for your current state of health, and how to get back on track.

1. Stress Eating Didn’t Reduce Your Stress.

…at least, not for long.

People tend to stress eat because they’re stressed (shocker) and people get stressed because they’re dealing with situations that cause them anxiety and depression.

So, the simple way to look at it is: You can stop stress eating by actually dealing with what’s causing you stress, anxiety, and depression. This can mean different things for different people. Maybe you’ll benefit from simple stress-reducing activities like exercise, meditation, or self-care moments like a hot bubble bath or giving yourself a mani/pedi. Or, maybe it’s time to take advantage of your doctor’s telehealth services — or, if you don’t have a doctor and aren’t comfortable getting out in public just yet, maybe it’s time to look into the many online counseling services available today. Psych Central’s John M. Grohol, Psy.D. provides a review of several online therapy services.

2. Extra Food Probably Wasn’t the Only Culprit.

For many, stress eating wasn’t the only thing that contributed to quarantine-related weight gain.

First, quarantining led a lot of us down the path of least resistance when it came to exercising. I know, I know — there seemed to be a major boom in working out at home. Personally, I couldn’t get on Instagram without seeing at least five stories about someone’s at-home workout that day. Yet, people do lose motivation, or can’t workout at home while also working at home and taking care of kids at home, or…well, you get the idea.

Second, the extra calories weren’t just from extra food — for some people, they were from extra alcohol. I mean, I’d be willing to bet that during the first half of quarantine, getting drunk and making TikTok videos was just as popular as bingeing Tiger King. People found it an entertaining way to pass the time, but really all that drinking was a means of coping with stress, confusion, fear, and plain ol’ boredom. Just as people stress eat, they stress drink, and then you’ve got all those extra and empty calories.

Tack on the fact that drinking can seriously mess with your sleep — making you too tired to exercise or care about eating healthy foods the next day — and just blah.

3. The Extra Weight Could Be Dangerous.

Healthy weight ranges vary based on all sorts of things (think height to weight ratio, activity levels and muscle mass, age, etc.) and often they offer some wiggle room.

For example, I’m five feet, seven inches tall and according to the CDC my healthy weight range is from 118 to 159 pounds. Granted, that doesn’t take into consideration anything but my height, but that’s a pretty wide range. Let’s say I weigh 118 pounds; then probably I could afford to gain an extra 10 or 15 and still be healthy. However, if I weigh 159 pounds, adding an extra 10 or 15 pounds might not be that cool — especially if I wasn’t an active person — and it definitely wouldn’t be that cool if I also had other health issues such as heart disease or diabetes or high blood pressure.

Some people can afford to pack on an extra 10 or 15 pounds; others can’t.

Additionally, the extra weight can cause problems specific to the whole reason we’re quarantining: COVID 19. According to Dr. John Morton, medical director of bariatric surgery at Yale New Haven Health System, not only is obesity a risk factor for contracting the coronavirus but also it could impact the severity of the symptoms and even the effectiveness of a vaccine:

We’ve learned over the years that traditional flu vaccines do not work as well in people with obesity. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that the immune response is altered because of the weight and the inflammatory changes that occur. I think as we develop a vaccine, we need to make sure that patients with obesity are over-represented in the trial, because they are at high risk, and we need to have a vaccine that is going to work for them.

So, while the whole #Quarantine15 and #CovidCurves hashtags might get some likes, for some people there’s really not much to like about it.

Quick Tips for Getting Back On Track

Now, the good news: all is not lost! You can get back on track, and fairly quickly if you set your mind to it:

• Daily Routines: Set a daily routine that includes everything from simply waking up and going to bed to work and exercise.
• Self-Care: Take time to take care of yourself. Have you ever tried a meditation walk?
• Hobbies: Diving into a hobby can distract you from the stress and boredom that drives you to binge eat or drink. Here are some quick tips on getting a hobby as an adult.
• Exercise: Get your body moving! Even if it’s tough finding a set time to workout (and it is), there are ways to get in exercise throughout the day — and it adds up!
• Better Rest: Set up a bedtime routine to help you get the most of your shuteye. For example, research shows there’s an ideal time and temperature for your shower!

Have you fallen victim to the Quarantine 15? Or, better put, all the things that lead to the Quarantine 15? Share some tips on how you got back on track!

Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash.

Last week I shared some research regarding wealthy people and how active leisure activities play a role in their lives.

You’re more than welcome (and encouraged!) to go check it out: The 3 Types of Active Leisure (& How They Can Help Your Mental Health). I discuss the study and talk about the three types of active leisure and give some examples of each.

To catch up those of you who don’t have time to take in another post, active leisure activities:

• Involve engaging your physical or mental energy, tend to overlap with recreational activities, and most often happen outside your home and with other people (like volunteering, hobbies, and exercise).
• Are different from passive leisure activities, which involve little or no mental or physical energy and are usually done alone (like watching television).
• Are comprised of three types: social, physical, and cognitive.

Then, I gave some examples of those three types.

One reader, Karen, questioned whether the article was written pre-pandemic; specifically, the social active leisure activity suggestions as most of them involved physically being around other people or in establishments. It wasn’t; most of these suggestions are things my area has opened back up (with social distancing and masks, of course).

Still, it’s definitely my bad for not considering that other states maybe haven’t opened up as much as we have yet, or that some people are still quarantining regardless of what their states are doing.

So for Karen and other readers who might not be able to — or want to — take advantage of some of those examples during the global pandemic, let’s come up with some different ideas for social active leisure activities!

Social Active Leisure During the COVID-19 Pandemic Nightmare

Up front, let’s be real: a lot of these are going to involved Zoom, Facetime, Google Duo, or whatever face-to-face calling platform.

However, there still are some social activities that respect social distancing*! Let’s look at those first:

• I stand by looking for volunteer opportunities. If your local animal shelter is open and allowing people to volunteer for tasks like walking the dogs, go for it! Hey, socializing with a pooch counts.
• Check your local city and state parks. Many are opening back up and a nice easy hike (you don’t want to get too out of breath while wearing a mask!) is perfect for you and your partner and, if you have them, your kids, to get outside while maintaining a safe distance from others. Who says socializing with your family doesn’t count? Not I.
• Organize a neighborhood cleanup. Or, if you’re not feeling that ambitious (that would definitely take time), a block cleanup. You can contact your neighbors via phone or email, everyone can provide their own masks, gloves, and trash bags (I mean, it’s only a block — not the whole city), and all agree on a Saturday morning to beautify your block while staying six feet apart.

* Remember to follow CDC guidelines, which involve wearing a mask and staying six feet apart.

You can easily get involved — and get your friends and distant family involved — in the following activities using Zoom, FaceTime, Google Duo, or other platform:

• The obvious group hangout. Think dinner dates, happy hours, and even virtual game nights. Thrillist lists a ton of virtual games you can play with a group using Apple or Android platforms.
• Host book club meetings. If you don’t have a book club, start one!
• Go live on Instagram or Facebook. During quarantine, you might have noticed a lot of celebrities started doing going live on social media, whether it was just conversations with fellow celebs or talking to fans. Why can’t you do the same? My hubs went live a few weeks ago with just his guitar and set list of around half an hour. Lots of our friends tuned in and it was fun! You could play an instrument, sing, dabble in slam poetry, reenact the cold open from The Office‘s “Stress Relief” episode — sky’s the limit here.
• Use Zoom or Facebook or Instagram live to teach something. What are you good at?
• Challenge your squad to see who can create the funniest TikTok. Come on, you knew I’d go there.

Once again, shout out to Karen for the nudge to come up with more social distant social leisure!

Anything else? Chime in below with your ideas!

Photo by Edward Jenner from Pexels.

How do you spend most of your free time?

About a year ago, researchers in the Netherlands were interested in:

• How wealthy people spend their free time (aren’t we all) and if the ways they spend their time is related to their well-being.
• The autonomy wealthy people have over their time at work and whether that autonomy led to greater satisfaction.

Turns out, rich people kindasorta spend their time the same ways the rest of the general population does, but when it comes to “down time” the wealthy tend to engage in more active leisure activities while average-income folks tend to lean toward passive leisure activities.

• Active Leisure: Active leisure activities involve using physical or mental energy, often overlap with recreational activities, and usually happen outside your home and with other people (like volunteering, hobbies, and exercise).
• Passive Leisure: Passive leisure activities involve using little or no physical or mental energy and are usually done alone (think vegging out in front of the television until bedtime).

Also turns out, wealthy people tend to have greater work autonomy than the general population has and have more independence when it comes to managing their work hours.

(You’ve probably guessed that, yes, these active leisure activities and this greater control in managing their working hours both lead to greater life satisfaction and overall happiness.)

So what can we average-income folks take away from this?

Well, depending on your job, you may or (most likely) may not have that much control over how you spend your work hours. I mean, if you’re an administrative assistant or a nurse or a dog groomer or a teacher, the bulk of your work day is set in stone. Sure, there’s some wiggle room in how you do what you have to do, but overall you’re not that in control of how your work hours play out.

However, people of all walks of life have a lot more wiggle room with how they spend their leisure time. Yes, some leisure activities require a few extra dollars in the bank (hitting the links at a private country club, for example, or, I don’t know, yacht racing), but you absolutely don’t have to be wealthy to engage in more active leisure activities than passive leisure activities.

You have a lot of choices, too. Generally, active leisure is divided into three categories: social, cognitive, and physical. Let’s dive in!

1. Social Leisure

The primary focus of social leisure is socializing with family and friends. So, you might:

• Get a few parents together and organize a day trip to a local museum. Great for the adults and the kids!
• Attend a concert with friends. Sometimes tickets (and travel) can get expensive, so look around for local shows or even free concert events. For example, my city has an outdoor summer concert series each year from May until September (with the exception of this year’s coronavirus nightmare, of course). Attending is free (though you might want to bring a few dollars for the vendors!).
• Look for volunteering opportunities. Many animal shelters regularly seek volunteers for dog walking. Some nursing home accept volunteers to spend time reading to or playing games with residents.

2. Cognitive Leisure

With cognitive leisure, the focus is on mentally stimulating activities.

• Have a friend teach you chess. Or, if you know how to play, volunteer to teach someone else chess.
• Start journaling. Work on poems, or short story ideas, or simply unload your day on the pages before bed.
• Learn a new language.

Fun Fact: Some research has shown cognitive leisure activities can help with keeping dementia at bay.

3. Physical Leisure

Physical leisure activities involve exercise and sport.

• Download the free Couch to 5K (C25K) app and get moving.
• Join a community soccer or softball league.
• Take a yoga class. Some yoga studios can get a little pricey, but some have the occasional donation-based class. Also, you could opt for just one class a week and spend the rest of the week practicing what you learned in that week’s class.

Alright YBYM readers! What social, cognitive, or physical active leisure activity are you going to take up this weekend? Or, if you’re already into something, share with us what it is and your favorite thing about it!

Photo: Viktor Hanacek

Perhaps.

I was taking a longer than usual walk with my doggo last week, squeezing in the extra exercise, when I found myself in the middle of a walking meditation.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with walking meditation, the simplest explanation is that it’s meditation…while walking. I went on my first meditation walk several years ago and shared details and tips. Check out Walking Meditation: Mindfulness On the Move for quick information on walking meditation vs. still meditation as well as how to understand, prepare for, plan for, and reflect on a general walking meditation.

Here, let’s talk about how walking meditation for dealing with the stress and anxiety of this coronavirus pandemic.

Understand Your Mindfulness Meditation Walk

People engage in walking meditation for a number of reasons.

For our purposes, your reason is related to COVID-19. Maybe you’re worried about your job (or lack thereof), stressed about trying to work from home with your family quarantined, or anxious about you or a family member contracting the coronavirus.

Be clear on your reason so you’ll know what to meditate on during your walk.

Prepare for Your Walking Meditation

Some general ways to prepare for your meditation walk include:

• Wearing comfortable and weather-appropriate clothes and shoes.
• Choosing a time when you have enough time. You don’t want to feel rushed.

Preparing for a walking meditation during the coronavirus pandemic means you’ll also need to pay special attention to:

• Choosing and planning your course. Big, open spaces where you can practice social distancing (or, better yet, not run into anyone) are better than city sidewalks.
• Wearing personal protective equipment. Wear or carry with you a mask and bring some gloves. Maybe bring a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

Plan Your Mindfulness Walk

During my first meditation walk, my coach divided the walk into three parts and instructed us to meditate on something specific during each part. For example, during the first part we focused on our breath; during the second part, our senses. During the third part, we focused on the charity we were supporting.

You can organize your coronavirus mindfulness walk into different parts, too. For example:

• First Part: Meditate on how life was before this global pandemic. Think about things that made you happy, people you enjoyed spending time with, places where you liked to hang out. Remind yourself times were good once, and they will be good again.
• Second Part: Pay attention as your lungs expand with air, as your arms and legs swing with each step, as your skin reacts to the sun (or lack of). Feel how it feels to be healthy and not sick with a terrible virus. Meditate on how grateful you are for that.
• Third Part: Meditate on how you want life to be once the coronavirus pandemic is over. Are there any parts you want to leave behind? Are there any new parts you want to bring along? Do you want to do anything a little (or a lot) differently?

That’s just one suggestion, of course. You can meditate on anything you want; it’s your mindfulness walk.

Reflect On Your Mindfulness Walk

When your mindfulness walk is over, don’t rush to get home (or, if you’re already home, don’t rush to start some new activity). Don’t let everything you gained from your meditation walk slip away; take a few minutes to reflect:

• What did you learn on your mindfulness walk? Did you come to any realizations? Reach any conclusions?
• Did you enjoy meditating while walking? Did that aspect of it bring you any more benefits than sitting while meditating?
• Was there anything you’d change about the walk so that you’re next one was better?

Maybe you’d like to journal these things.

Remember, walking meditation probably isn’t your best option if:

• You don’t have access to a safe place to walk. Nature you’re familiar with (say, a mountain trail) or even a sleepy suburban sidewalk are better options than downtown in a crowded city. You must still be able to keep six feet or more away from others.
• You don’t have someone at home to watch your children while you’re out. Unless your child is still in a stroller and you can plan the walk around nap time, chances are bringing your kid would be too distracting for a meditation walk.
• Leaving your home during quarantine causes you more stress, anxiety, and panic than it’s worth. Obviously, a meditation walk is supposed to help ground and center you, not make you even more upset.

How’s the weather look in your hometown this weekend? Maybe you’ll want to take a meditation walk! Be sure to come back and let us know how it goes.

Photo by Tobi from Pexels.

What if you could add 30 minutes of exercise to your day?

As a new mom — and a new mom who’s starting back to work — it’s crucial I make the absolute most out of every minute of the day. Gone are the days when I had the luxury of wasting time.

There’s just no time to waste these days.

Amid this coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), you might be thinking you have nothing but time. So many of us are quarantined at home in states with stay-at-home orders — why wouldn’t you have an abundance of time?!

Well, because for some of you, you’re not the only person stuck at home. Your spouse is home, too, as are your kids — and you’re probably having to home school. All that coupled with regular everyday responsibilities (cooking, cleaning, etc. and so forth), and things could start to feel pretty overwhelming…

…at which point, you don’t even want to think about trying to find some time to workout.

Well, you don’t have to. I’ve found the time for you!

1. Devote 5 or 10 minutes to some good, thorough stretching first thing out of bed.
2. Do 3 sets of 15 squats while you’re brushing your teeth.
3. Do 25 jumping jacks while waiting on your coffee pot or tea kettle.
4. Add a couple extra blocks onto your dog’s walk. Or, add an extra walk to the schedule.
5. Do 20 toe raises while you wash your hands; one for each CDC-recommended second.
6. Trade your desk chair for a stability ball.
7. Pace your house while talking on work calls.
8. Spend the first few minutes of your lunch break planking. Try 3 sets at 30 seconds each and move up to 45 seconds and then a whole minute.
9. Grab your dumbbells and do 3 sets of 15 bicep curls at your desk. No weights? No problem; use bottles of water or soup cans. Just increase your reps!
10. Dance for 10 minutes with your family or while you’re cooking dinner.
11. Climb your stairs while FaceTiming with friends.
12. Do 10 push ups during each commercial break.
13. Every time you pick up your phone to start mindlessly scrolling Instagram, put it down and do 10 crunches.
14. Do 4 sets of 20-second wall sits while you brush your teeth.
15. Devote 5 or 10 minutes to some good, thorough stretching right before bed.

Keep those bodies and minds moving!

Tell me: What are your tricks for squeezing in exercise when it seems like there’s no time?

Image: Kaboompics.

It’s easy to put your health in the back burner when something as scary as COVID-19 takes up so much of your senses.

Don’t.

1. Mindfully Nourish Yourself

Both your body and your mind will benefit from smart food choices.

A few months ago, Real Simple published “Food for Thought, Happiness, and Harmony,” explaining that to:

• Feel Happy: Take a look at your macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, also known as “macros”). Not only does it make you feel fuller and help prevent weight gain, but keeping your macros balanced also boosts your mood and energizes you. No need to join CrossFit to get started; Real Simple suggests just making sure your plate is half full of fruits and veggies, a quarter of protein, and a quarter of whole grain carbs.
• Stay Focused: Get a handle on when — and why — you’re eating sugar. We tend to crave sugary treats when we need a pick me up or when we’re under stress. However, some evidence suggests that sugar can cause an inflammatory response in the body and brain. Not to mention, diets high in sugar have been linked to depression.
• Keep Calm: Check out probiotics. You probably know that pobiotics can help relieve negative gastrointestinal symptoms, but emerging research shows that probiotics might also help release symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as reduce stress, mental fatigue, and low moods.

Additionally, many of us are located in states that have issued state-at-home orders. A stay-at-home order further underscores just how serious a situation we are in; so, while you can still go to the grocery store with a stay-at-home order in effect, you probably don’t want to; at least, no more than absolutely necessary.

So, you can keep your body safe and your mind active by avoiding unnecessary grocery store trips and coming up with fun meal ideas based on the ingredients already in your kitchen! There are tons of websites and apps out there that tell you what kind of dishes you can make based on what’s already in your pantry and refrigerator.

Some cool examples are:

• SuperCook: Website and app. Enter your ingredients; get meal recommendations.
• Cookpad: Website and app. Part recipe helper; part social platform. (Two birds!)
• BigOven: Website and app. Get ideas on using up leftovers.

2. Keep Yourself Fit

By now you’re no longer hitting up the gym or your favorite workout class (at least, I hope). It sucks, but there are tons of ways to keep moving without them — and you don’t even have to completely give up your workout buddies, either.

For digital options, look into:

• Workout Apps: There are tons — free and paid. For a free option, give FitOn a look; Aaptiv is a popular paid option.
• Website & YouTube Channels: There’s something for every yogi at Yoga Girl; popular YouTube channels like FIT by Larie give you so many instructional videos.
• Virtual Classes: Two wellness studios in my city are offering their classes virtually during COVID-19 pandemic, as are several individual instructors. Ask around!

Of course, you can also go for a walk or run outside if your environment allows it. Just make sure to keep practicing social distancing and stay six feet or more away from anyone you pass!

Keep up with your mental fitness, too. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with anxiety, stress, and depression. Add to that the fact that our daily routines have been seriously shaken and we have to keep our physical distance from our friends and most family, and you have an easy recipe for a spiral.

Many mental health providers are offering telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s also no shortage of online communities for mental health and well-being (Psych Central has many online forums and support groups) or therapy and wellness apps. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) has reviews of mental health apps to help you choose.

3. Stay Social

With today’s technology, there’s absolutely no reason you can’t stay social and still keep safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Phone calls and text messages. Online messageboards, group chats, FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangout — you get the picture.

My girlfriends and I have an ongoing group chat and we have fun video chatting with Snapchat filters. My husband, son, and I have FaceTime visits with our family members.

Check in with your family and friends, and check on your family and friends.

How about you guys? What have you been doing to stay physically and mentally healthy since the coronavirus outbreak? Share some more tips and ideas with us in the comments below. We’re all in this together!

Photo by Valeria Ushakova from Pexels.

Chances are high you’re familiar with — and guilty of — each of these blunders, but that’s okay. You can learn from them.

1. Unreal Expectations

So, you want to:

• Lose 50 pounds?
• Become a vegan?
• Finish the Boston Marathon?

Go you! Those are some admirable goals!

They’re also pretty lofty, and will no doubt take some time.

The problem lies in the “take some time” part. Sometimes it’s difficult to practice patience when your goals are so big.

What if, after a month, you:

• Weigh yourself and see you’ve only lost five pounds?
• Couldn’t resist that hamburger at your company’s holiday cookout?
• Haven’t ran farther than two miles without stopping to walk?

You’d probably feel pretty discouraged, yeah?

Well, what if you felt proud? What if you lost a whole five pounds, ate only one hamburger, built up enough endurance to go two miles without giving up?

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Because your goal is so big, it’s easier to see each of these as a defeat rather than a victory. You can avoid this feeling of defeat by breaking your big goal into several small goals. For example:

• You weigh 200 pounds and want to weigh 150 pounds. Set goal weights of 185, then 170, and so on.
• You eat a lot of meat and want to become a vegan. Set a goal of eating only chicken and fish, then only fish, then no meat at all.
• You aren’t a runner but want to enter and finish the Boston Marathon. Set a goal of training for and completing a local 5k, then a 10k, then a half marathon.

Boost your chances of reaching that one big goal by setting — and reaching — several small goals.

2. Unsustainable Momentum

Ever wake up bright and early New Year’s Day ready to absolutely crush your fitness goal?

Sure you have. If not New Year’s Day, some other day — that detail doesn’t matter.

What matters is you wake up pumped and throw yourself into your workout or improved diet or training. You do it again the next day…and then again the next day…and then again…and again…

…until one day you’re not doing it anymore because you’ve burnt out.

You started off with an unsustainable momentum.

You went from not workout out ever to working out every single day in a matter of hours, from making less-than-stellar food choices to eating a strict vegan diet, from watching TV and scrolling Instagram to running five miles twice a day.

What if you started by working out three days a week? Replacing your mid-day candy bar snack with some baby carrots and hummus? Downloaded Couch to 5K?

Boost your chances of sustaining the momentum and reaching your goal by making smaller, slower changes. Give your body and your mind time to adjust to the new way of doing things!

3. Unproductive Self Talk

Christ — WHY are we so brutal with ourselves? Would you say these things to your mom, your sister, your best friend?

• “How did you get this heavy? You’ve gained too much; you’ll never lose it. You’re such a pathetic fat ass.”
• “How are you going to become vegan? You love ice cream too much. You have no will power; you might make it a month.”
• “You can’t even make it a whole 5k without walking some of it. How are you going to run a full marathon? You’re going to embarrass yourself.”

No, you wouldn’t (if you’re any kind of offspring, sibling, or friend). Odds are, you’re more likely to say:

• “You didn’t gain it overnight; you won’t lose it overnight. Focus on your small goals and in time you’ll reach your big goal!”
• “OMG ice cream is delicious. I’m so glad there are so many non-dairy options!”
• “Can you believe just a few months ago you didn’t even own running shoes, and now you’ve completed a 5k!?”

Which string of words is most likely to keep you going?

Listen, there are plenty of people in the world to judge you, make fun of you, belittle you, insult you, and doubt you. You can’t control what they say; you can, however, control what you say. Exercise that control.

Boost your chances of success by talking to yourself with the same kindness and grace you’d use to talk to a family member or friend — and if you don’t talk so kindly to them, then go ahead and work on that, too.

Photo by Jose Silva from Burst.