health and weelbeing

You know her, you love her, and you grew up with her on Pretty Little Liars and rooted for her in You (I’m a Peach fan forever): Shay Mitchell is the relatable-but-stunningly-gorgeous queen we didn’t know we needed. Despite her unreal mansion, undeniable fame, and multi-million dollar company, she’s relatable enough to be our best friend (I mean, she posts herself eating pizza, so that’s something, right?). But there’s another superstar on her team who helps Shay be, well, Shay, and she’s becoming a celeb in her own right.
Kelsey Heenan is a celebrity trainer, media personality, keynote speaker, and fitness host. Most recently, she was featured on Shay Mitchell’s workout series (it’s like breaking a sweat with Shay for free and from the comfort of your own home). What impressed me so much about Kelsey is not only that she has a celebrity clientele as impressive as her biceps, but her whole mission is to help people love and accept their bodies through food, nutrition, and mindset shifts. So, being the wellness nerd I am, you know I had to grill Kelsey for all her best nutrition and fitness tips to achieve your healthiest body ever. Read on for nine of her best secrets to crush a workout, eat foods that nourish your body, and help you get toned (Shay-Mitchell approved):

Meet the expert
Kelsey Heenan
Celebrity Trainer, Nutrition Coach, and Co-Founder of HIIT BURN
Kelsey has been featured in publications like Shape, Women’s Health, Forbes, and Nike Training, and she works with clients to improve their relationship with food, exercise, and their bodies.

1. Focus on progressive overload
Between HIIT, yoga sculpt, or good old fashioned strength-training, there’s a lot of confusion over the best type of workout to get stronger, but Kelsey is a big believer that strengthening is as simple as increasing intensity overtime, whatever that looks like to you. Her #1 tip for clients looking to get stronger is progressive overload. “Over time, increase the amount of resistance and tension you are putting on your muscles. Simple examples of this are lifting heavier weights or increasing reps of challenging bodyweight strength movements like push-ups and pull-ups.”
In other words, be strategic about reps and weights. When you feel comfortable with one weight or rep count, increase slightly for a greater challenge and to strengthen muscles (but make sure it doesn’t sacrifice form so you don’t risk injury!). Also, be patient. Don’t start with 10 pounds and expect to get to 30 pounds by the end of the week. Take a couple weeks to feel comfortable with 10 pounds, increase to 12-15 pounds for a week or two, then move up to 20 pounds, etc. 

2. Aim for just five minutes
Spoiler alert: Even celebrity trainers can lack motivation. Whether it’s a busy day, a change in seasons that makes you feel lethargic, or just a period of life where you don’t feel like getting to the gym, Kelsey tells her clients that the most important thing is just to do five minutes of something. “During days and seasons where it feels impossible to stay motivated, commit to moving for just five minutes,” she said. “Stretch, walk, or do some squats and push-ups. Once you start moving, it’s often easier to keep going. If you still aren’t feeling it after five minutes, then be done for the day. Either way, you stayed true to your commitment and did what you said you’d do.” No, you don’t need to fit in a 60-minute intense workout every day to be fit. You just need to commit to five minutes when you’re lacking motivation.

3. Prioritize whole foods, but be flexible
I’m a huge fan of Kelsey because even though she’s a celeb trainer and a top expert in health, her approach is, well, approachable. You know I had to pick her brain for her best nutrition tips (because I refuse to believe that Shay Mitchell eats nothing except pizza, as her Instagram portrays). Her answer: Prioritize whole foods, but be flexible. “Prioritize one-ingredient foods for the majority of your meals like meat, veggies, avocado, nuts, rice, fruit, etc., but also enjoy your favorite foods periodically,” she suggested. Your diet should not feel restrictive (that’s just a recipe for failure), and food should not be separated into two different lists of ‘Eat This’ and ‘Don’t Eat This.’” 
Instead, a healthy diet is a series of mindful choices to nourish your body and mind as much as possible. Kelsey gave an example of being on vacation: If you know you’re hitting up a delicious pizza spot for lunch, choose a veggie omelet at breakfast instead of French toast or split the French toast with the table so you can have a few bites but can still prioritize nourishing protein and veggies. Bottom line: Make choices that make you feel good while still allowing yourself to eat your favorite foods. “If an approach to nutrition is too strict, it will always be a means to an end.”

4. Make sure you enjoy the workout
No matter what workout you heard is best for weight loss, toning, or strengthening, it doesn’t matter if you’re not enjoying it enough to want to do it consistently. When you’re busy or unmotivated, you’re not going to do a workout you dread or makes you bored. While Kelsey likes strength training and HIIT, she said the best type of workout is the one you enjoy most. “There are so many ways to work out; the best one is the one you’ll actually do.” You may have to experiment with various types of workouts, gyms, or even playlists for your daily walks, but try new things until you identify the perfect formula that you look forward to and enjoy, and adjust when you start to feel bored of the routine.

5. Find a balance of cardio and strengthening (that’s right for you)
As a wellness editor, I get asked all the time if strength-training or cardio is more important and if you really need both. For example, does a runner really need a day of weight-lifting, or does a gym rat really need to spend some time on the elliptical instead of just the weight floor? Naturally, I asked Kelsey, and she gave me all the tea. “Everyone should focus both on getting stronger and regularly getting their hearts pumping, but there are many ways you can do that,” she said.
Yes, everyone needs a healthy balance of both cardio and strengthening, but that balance will look different to everyone. For strength-training, Kelsey suggested lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, or carrying heavy groceries as ways you’re working the muscles. Likewise for cardio, whether you’re going for a run, walking, doing HIIT, dancing, spin, hill sprints, or chasing your kid around the playground, you’ll be improving cardiovascular fitness for longterm health. “There is no one type of workout that everyone has to do to be healthy. Personally, I don’t like going on long runs and would instead lift weights while getting in cardio with sprints. I enjoy these things and they align with my goals.”

6. Protein and carbohydrates are key before and after a workout
So you’ve already mastered the eating-whole-foods-with-flexibility thing? If you’re looking to get even more specific, veggie-filled meals with a balance of fats, protein, and carbohydrates are always important, but Kelsey recommended especially focusing on protein and carbohydrates before and after workouts for energy and recovery. “Before a workout, protein and carbohydrates can give energy, while after a workout, they both help refuel the muscles,” she said. But before you grab protein powders or processed bars, try to refuel using whole foods. Kelsey is a fan of eggs and fruit, chicken and sweet potatoes or rice, and a protein shake with some fruit. But more importantly, get to know what’s right for your body. “Everyone is different, so identifying what foods help you feel fueled well is really important,” she suggested.

7. Rest is crucial
Do you feel like you’re lazy or behind if you take a day off? FYI, you’re not lazy or behind, you’re healthy. We’ve talked a lot about why rest days are not only crucial for recovery, but taking time off also helps you be as fit as possible, and Kelsey totally agreed. “Rest is essential,” she stressed. “Rest days help the body and mind repair and recover as well as help avoid injury and burnout.” Take at least one or two days off every week to do light stretching, relaxing yoga flows, or gentle walks. Also, prioritize sleep (yes, that means even before that early morning workout) and never overdo it with your workouts. Listen to your body when it’s asking for a break, knowing that your body cannot be its fittest, strongest, or healthiest without it. 

8. Honor hunger and respect fullness
Being toned and healthy is not only about what you eat but also when and how. Kelsey knows that true health is freeing, so she doesn’t coach her clients to count calories, weigh their food, or have intense restrictions. Bottom line: If you’re hungry, eat. “A lot of people try to ignore hunger cues and eat a small meal or wait until the next meal because they feel like they ‘shouldn’t’ be hungry but then end up thinking about food all day, snacking more, or overeating later,” she said. “It’s not a bad thing to be hungrier on some days than others. Honor the body by feeding it when it’s hungry, pay attention to when you are starting to feel full, and slow down to evaluate if your hunger is satisfied.”  

9. Prioritize your relationship with your body
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Mindset is everything. You can work out every day and eat totally plant-based at every meal, but if you don’t have a healthy relationship with your body, you cannot be truly healthy. Even if you’re looking to lose weight, look more toned, or change the way your body looks in any other way, you can still accept your body for where it is now. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to make changes to how your body looks, but even in the midst of body changes, we have to practice respect for our bodies,” Kelsey said. “Most people struggle with body image, but no matter your jeans size, it’s crucial to learn to accept the body.” 
Why is body acceptance so important, besides that your mom used to tell you to love your body when you were in middle school? Negative language about our bodies can cut deep into our self-worth. We start working out and eating nutritious foods as a way to punish or change our bodies rather than because our bodies inherently deserve nourishment as they are. So how do we work on the relationship with our bodies? Kelsey recommended gratitude. “No one is going to love every part of their body every day, but practicing gratitude for what our bodies do for us will help us experience more grace and respect for our bodies.” Now that’s a fitness tip that I can get behind.

7 Secrets To Maximize Your Workouts From a Personal Trainer

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It’s currently month who-knows-what of working from home. After months of jumping from the couch to the desk to the kitchen table, I finally decided it was time to upgrade my WFH situation to a legit office setup (#adulting). But thanks to the countless hours I’ve logged hunched over a laptop, I’ve noticed my posture has gotten worse, my neck and shoulders are stiffer than ever, and my back is in knots. Sound familiar? I think all of our bodies could use a major mobility tune-up, but who has unlimited funds to have a masseuse on speed dial (a girl can dream)?
According to JustStand.org, the average person sits for 12 hours a day. If you’re like me and go from sitting at a desk to sitting on the couch after work, those hours are much longer. With endless to-do lists, back-to-back meetings, and unlimited binge-worthy Netflix shows, it’s easy for me to let hours pass without moving. So how do we be more mindful throughout the workday and feel our best? I asked my physical therapist Kayla Hamm, PT, DPT at Myodetox to share her top tips and tricks to giving your body all the TLC it needs. The best part? They won’t cost you a dime. Read on for Hamm’s expert advice and four at-home mobility movements that will have you saying “bye-bye” to your aches and pains and “hello” to a healthy bod. 

Meet the expert
Kayla Hamm, PT, DPT
Physical Therapist for Myodetox
Kayla Hamm is a licensed physical therapist and personal trainer in West Hollywood, California with a background in sports rehab and performance training. She has worked with a wide range of professional and college athletes as well as patients dealing with chronic pain and neurological dysfunction.

How to change up your routine for a healthier body

1. Build movement breaks into your schedule
We rely on our calendars to keep us on task and make sure we don’t miss a beat. If it’s not scheduled into our busy day, chances are, it won’t get done. Therefore, Hamm suggested adding a minimum of three to four 10-minute movement blocks into your schedule. The idea is to stop what you’re doing when that reminder pops up and get your blood pumping. These movement breaks will allow your mind and body to come up for air and, in turn, prevent burnout (yes, please!). Even just a 10-minute walk on your lunch break or a 10-minute yoga flow in between meetings can make a huge difference.

2. Switch things up
I don’t know about you, but I can work for hours straight without even realizing I haven’t moved once all day. As tempting as it might be to power through the workday at your desk, Hamm advised against it. “Changing positions every hour is ideal,” she said. For example, the change can be as simple as alternating between sitting and standing, moving from your desk to a couch so your body can sit in different positions, or heading to a nearby coffee shop to fit in a quick walk and change of scenery. And if you do like standing (we stan a standing desk!), “it’s OK to shift your weight from left to right. You don’t have to stand rigidly and distribute your weight evenly all the time,” Hamm explained. Whether you park it at home or turn your favorite coffee shop into your office, think of changing your position every hour.

3. Start your day on the right foot
Picture this: Your alarm goes off and you immediately reach for your phone to scroll through Instagram (after hitting snooze a few times). We all do it, but taking the opportunity to move your body instead of scroll through your phone is crucial. Hamm said to ditch the phone and get yourself moving first thing in the morning. “Whether it’s walking your dog, following a stretch video on YouTube, or jumping on your Peloton, making movement a priority sets the tone for the day,” Hamm said. Bonus points if you get your sweat on, but it doesn’t have to be long or rigorous in order to make a drastic difference in your body. “Do something intentional with your body every morning, even if it’s 15-20 minutes,” Hamm suggested. Your body will thank you.

Poses to try at home
Below, Hamm breaks down four easy-to-do mobility movements you can do at your workspace or at home. Spoiler alert: Not only will your posture improve and your stiffness dissipate, but Hamm said that these exercises have also been shown to decrease cortisol and increase work performance. Need I say more?  

1. Seated Cat-Cow
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Take a seat at the edge of your chair with your feet planted hip-width apart. Placing your hands over your chest, inhale and begin lifting your chest and eyes up toward the sky, lengthening through the back of the spine. As you exhale, turn your gaze down and bring your chin toward your chest. Continue to deepen the stretch by rounding the back until you’ve come to your end range. Alternate between these two movements about eight to 10 times as you inhale and exhale. 

2. Seated Figure Four
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Sit up tall in your chair with both feet planted hip-distance apart. Cross your right leg over your left thigh, then place the outside of your right ankle just above your left knee, creating a Figure “4.” Slowly hinge forward without rounding the spine until you feel a mild stretch on the outside of your right hip. Hold this for one to two deep breaths. Return to the starting position and repeat five times before switching sides. 

3. Standing Lateral Line Stretch
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Stand with the right side of your body next to a wall or chair with your feet shoulder-width apart. Step your right foot over your left and drive your hips away from the wall or chair. Next, raise your left hand up toward the sky and gently reach toward the wall or chair until you feel a stretch along the left side of your body. Return to the starting position and repeat six to eight times before switching sides.

4. Standing Posterior Chain Stretch 
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Stand behind the back of your chair and fully extend your arms forward, placing your hands about shoulder-width apart on the chair. Keeping the arms outstretched, slowly shift your hips back while softening the knees until you feel a light stretch in the back of the legs and arms. Hold this position for one to two deep breaths and then return to a tall standing position. Complete six to eight reps.

How to Improve Your Posture While Working From Home More

I’ve been writing about health for years and have coached dozens of women through their health journeys. In my experience, I’ve learned that nothing is as clickable or buzzworthy as weight loss tips. However, what makes headlines doesn’t usually pan out in everyday life, and the universal obsession with weight loss is not a sign that we’re prioritizing our health but rather that we don’t feel worthy as we are. If you clicked on this article expecting the usual “Eat less sugar” or “Do a HIIT workout” tips, know that that is not what this is. This is not your typical weight loss article you’ll read through and feel discouraged by at the end or forget to actually apply to your life. 
And that’s because Dr. Adrienne Youdim is not your typical weight loss specialist. She isn’t telling her patients to count calories or work out more as a solution. Instead, she focuses on the “why” behind both the desire to lose weight and the inability to lose weight to help each patient achieve self-love and lasting healthy habits. Dr. Youdim is an internist who specializes in weight loss and nutrition and served as the medical director of the Cedars-Sinai Center for Weight Loss before opening up her own private practice in Beverly Hills. Read: She’s helped a lot of patients achieve (and maintain) a healthy weight.
As if her long list of credentials and experience wasn’t enough, she’s also the author of the book Hungry For More, which explains how our emotions or life circumstances affect weight. While she’s a weight loss expert on paper, she’s not like any other weight loss expert. She not only changes her patients’ numbers on the scale but also changes their lives. Struggling with reaching the weight you want to be? Read on for Dr. Youdim’s best tips to achieving your best self. 

Meet the expert
Dr. Adrienne Youdim, MD, FACP
An internist who specializes in medical weight loss and nutrition
Dr. Youdim served as medical director of the Cedars-Sinai Weight Loss Center before opening her own practice in Beverly Hills. She wrote the book “Hungry For More,” an empowering memoir and how-to guide for women looking to reach their health goals and love their bodies.

1. Start with mindset
When you want to change your weight, what’s the first thing you do? Do you start cutting out sugars or processed carbs or increasing your workouts? Dr. Youdim suggested that before any tangible goal, habit, or action, you must work on mindset first if you want to achieve your goal weight (and then sustain it). “How we approach a habit is so critical to our ability to change in a durable or lasting way,” she said. “Without a proper mindset to address the process, the ups and downs, the waning motivation, the negative self-talk, and all the other mental barriers we create, we will not be able to maintain the necessary changes that result in healthy weight.” 
First, identify why you want to change your weight. Is it to feel best in your body, to live a long and happy life, or to get more energy? Coming back to this core motivation frequently will help you stay inspired and make changes based on self-love instead of self-consciousness (more on that below). But if your reasons have more to do with not feeling enough as you are, disliking your body, or because someone else told you you have to, you won’t achieve what you’re looking to feel, no matter what pant size you get to. 

2. Identify the “why” behind your eating patterns
If you feel disconnected from your eating habits, are unable to control yourself, or eat more than you know you need, the problem is not your “laziness” or “lack of willpower.” The problem is that you’re suppressing an emotional need that you’re subconsciously using food to attempt to soothe. In fact, Dr. Youdim wrote an entire book about the emotional reasons most of us eat a certain way or have certain cravings. “So many of us use food to soothe—this is actually hardwired in our neurobiology,” Dr. Youdim explained. You might think you’re craving a donut or absolutely need a slice of pizza, but your body is actually trying to tell you it needs something else, whether it’s a break, stress relief, emotional comfort, or something deeper. “Know what you are trying to soothe with food. We need to identify what is at the root of our ‘hunger.’ What are you truly hungry for?” 

We need to identify what is at the root of our ‘hunger.’ What are you truly hungry for?

3. Focus on your routine
Imagine this: You’ve (finally) reached your goal weight, so you become less conscious about keeping up those healthy habits and then are frustrated when your body goes back to its old ways. Or maybe you eat more plants, exercise more, and prioritize sleep for a week, and then you get annoyed and stop because you saw no changes after those seven days. Or you’ve tried diet after diets for years, always hop onto different workouts, and never stick to your meditation practice. Sound familiar? The key you might be missing is routine.
“Routine is critical. It allows us to show up for ourselves, even when we don’t feel like it. Every practice that helps us achieve a goal weight help us maintain healthy weight as well.” Be patient with your body. Know that physical changes take time, and you should find comfort instead of frustration in the practices you do for your body. Turn practices that make your body feel good into habits, and give your body some consistency. 

4. Stop restricting
In the past, you might have restricted calories or food groups in order to lose weight. You might have tracked macronutrients in an app or cut out dairy or sugar, all in the name of a few less pounds. Maybe your doctor or nutritionist even told you to restrict, so you were convinced it was a healthy way to lose weight rather than a detrimental practice that could cause weight gain or disordered eating. In reality, restricting and limiting might be stopping you from achieving your health goals. “Restriction invariably makes us want to do the very thing we are trying to restrict: It focuses attention on scarcity, which makes the body thinks it needs more of that food. Restriction also causes hunger, which is just not sustainable,” Dr. Youdim said.
So how do you eat for weight loss instead? “I tell my clients and patients to eat in terms of abundance. Eat so much of what serves you, so that you have less room for what doesn’t.” Yes, that means add more plants to every meal, and you’ll be subconsciously crowding out the foods that don’t make you feel good. Most importantly, eat intuitively rather than based on numbers or percentages.

5. Eat your protein
Between Keto Diet, low-carb, high-fiber, and everything in between, there’s a lot of confusion over the best type of diet and what percentage of macronutrients is best for reaching a goal weight. While the most important step for actually being healthy is to stop worrying so much about dieting and percentages (see #4), Dr. Youdim said that a common issue she sees with her patients is not enough protein. “Protein is the most satiating macronutrient and also helps preserve muscle mass, which then preserves a healthy metabolism,” she said. But before you pull out your macronutrient-tracking app and load up on protein powders, focus on adding more whole foods and nutrient-rich plants to your diet while also eating a balance of clean protein sources like fish, chicken, eggs, tofu, chickpeas, lentils, etc.

6. Improve your sleep and stress levels
If the only factors you’ve considered in your weight loss journey are nutrition and fitness, you’re missing out on key players that can make or break reaching (and keeping) your goal weight. Stress levels and sleep are just as important as food and exercise when it comes to being healthy and reaching a healthy weight. But don’t believe me: Ask Dr. Youdim. “Sleep is crucial. Countless studies show that sleep deprivation results in surging hunger hormones, greater appetite for calorie-dense foods, and weight gain. Stress is also a huge contributor, and it affects our hunger too, both physiologic and emotional.” Your health plan and wellness routine need to include a sleep-care routine and stress-relief plan (whether its daily meditation, weekly therapy, or all of the above). 

You don’t accept your body once when you reach certain health goals. You can reach health goals because you accept and love your body.

7. Love yourself as you are now (no, really)
While this might sound like some fluffy self-help advice your mom used to tell you in middle school, it is actually tangible, concrete advice to reach your goal weight. “We can want to change our bodies and still accept ourselves as we are in this moment,” Dr. Youdim explained. “This is critical because we’ll sabotage ourselves if we don’t accept ourselves. Picture this: You get on a scale and are disappointed at the results. If you accept yourself and hold that disappointment with compassion, you’ll be able to focus your attention on the habits you want to adopt. If you don’t accept yourself (i.e. you get mad at yourself, put yourself down, or feel hopeless), you’re more likely to throw in the towel.” 
In other words, you don’t accept your body once when you reach certain health goals; you can reach health goals because you accept and love your body as it is right now. Love yourself first, and then make changes or form habits because you know what your body deserves. For tips on where to start with self-love and body acceptance, click here for expert advice or here for 10 ways to love yourself more. 

This article is intended to provide inspiration to help you reach your health goals, not as treatment for an eating disorder. If you are struggling with an eating disorder or with disordered thoughts or behaviors regarding food and eating, please seek help. Call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237 for support, reach out to a qualified medical professional, or, for a 24-hour crisis line, text “NEDA” to 741741.

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