Self Care Simplified

It’s January and everyone is embarking on a new health and fitness routine. Motivation levels are the highest they’ll be all year, and everywhere you look - on TV, social media, or magazines - people are making dramatic fitness goals and lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, at the same time, I’m witnessing a lot of mistakes being made with these new routines. Mistakes that can easily lead to frustrat...

It’s estimated that about 1 in 4 people will develop hip osteoarthritis in their lifetime. This happens when the cartilage in your hip joint gradually wears away over time, exposing the bone surfaces and causing them to rub against each other. Not fun. Listener Heidi struggles with this very condition, and asks: “I have moderate hip osteoarthritis, and my biggest problem is going from that sitting...

As I coach women with their fitness and nutrition, I see a lot of anxiety, depression and lowered moods, and even toxic thoughts that begin to creep in and affect women’s overall health and outlook. Sound familiar? Many of us women have a silent mess going on inside of our minds. This mental chaos can have a dramatic impact on our daily mood, and how we show up to take care of ourselves and others...

Looking to mix up your exercise routine in the new year? Maybe you want to try something different to add a little variety - but you want to make sure it’s helping you meet your goals. Listener Emily came to me with this question: “Hi, Megan. So what about sprinting? Is this going to increase my muscle mass, my fitness, my power? Or is this just a really hard waste of my time? Thanks so much.” Ha!...

It’s a brand new year! And everything that did or did not get accomplished for your body in 2023 is water under the bridge. Time to pivot and look forward. Time to create a good game plan to feel physically better than you’ve felt in a long time. In fact, what if we implemented something that would help you feel younger, stronger, more energetic and significantly healthier in 2024… would you be up...

We are in that bizarre time of the year - the strange limbo between Christmas and New Year’s where most of the parties are behind us, but our “real life” routine hasn’t started back up again. And maybe we’re facing the reality that we’d like to make some healthy changes for the new year - dial in our nutrition, create a do-able fitness plan, get more active - but we just can’t seem to get off the...

Special holiday episode for you! As this year draws to a close and your plans are beginning to materialize for 2024, you’re probably thinking of what you want to “try and do better” next year: “I want to try to exercise more.” “I want to try to eat better and clean up my nutrition.” “I want to try to improve my balance and core strength and bone density and muscle mass and overall health!” All gre...

We’ve been talking a LOT about strength training on the show recently. Tuesday we had a great episode about how to get started with strength training A few weeks ago, I had Lesley McShane on the show talking about the 6 Big Lies about Weightlifting Back on episode 303, I broke down how to know how much weight you should lift But there are still so many questions out there about putting all this ad...

You know you probably need to strength train - you may have even been encouraged to do it by your doctor. But how in the world do you get started? With weights? With bands? It’s all so overwhelming! Well, you have come to the right place! Grab a pen and paper, because I’m about to show you exactly where and how to start in the simplest, easiest ways possible. We’ll dive into: Why you should streng...

Sometimes our individual body structure can make certain exercises more challenging - and we need a little expert advice to help us make some adjustments. Listener Hannah came to me with questions about this very thing: “Hi, Megan. I just have a simple question for you. I am bow legged, and so sometimes it makes it harder for me to do balancing exercises. Any tips? I try to dig my toes in the grou...

Making healthy food choices is infinitely harder when you don’t have a plan. Just a little preparation and planning can set you up for mealtime success. But online meal prep experts, with their matching containers and and a full week’s worth of healthy dishes, can make the task feel completely overwhelming and unattainable! That’s where Laurie Palau comes in! Laurie is the author of the book Hot M...

From smart watches to heart rate monitors to sleep trackers, there is a world of fitness gadgets on the market to help you deep dive into your healthy habits and metrics. In recent months, glucose monitors are cropping up everywhere - but are they really helpful? Listener Naomi asked that very question: “I'd like to ask a question about a glucose monitor. They seem to be popping up everywhere...

It is that time of year! The season of joy, magic, and wonder. It’s also the season of parties, snacks and treats. So how to we fully enjoy the holiday season and still feel good on January 1st? Just in time for the holiday party season, I have a 4-step Holiday Splurging Plan that will help you navigate all the potential pitfalls of the month ahead. Grab some paper and a pen - you’re going to want...

Pursuing a healthy relationship with food and exercise for ourselves is hard enough. So how do you encourage your family to get on board with the same choices - especially when they’re resistant? One listener finds herself in this tricky situation: “How can parents help and encourage their teens to eat healthy and exercise, especially if the teens are slightly overweight and aren’t very interested...

Weightlifting - it’s either your favorite way to workout, or you avoid it like the plague. But maybe your reasons for avoiding it are actually myths. There’s a lot of conflicting information - and frankly, flat out WRONG information - out there in the world of fitness and nutrition. And none more persistent than some of the false narrative around weightlifting - especially for women. If you’ve bee...

The world of supplements can be wildly confusing. With fitness gurus touting the benefits of a seeming alphabet soup of powders, drinks, and shakes things can get overwhelming fast. Take EAAs and BCAAs - what are they? Do I need them? Am I missing out if I don’t take them? Listener Gay had this very question: “Closing in on age 60 and it’s becoming more difficult to maintain my muscle mass/fat rat...

Elastic eating. I bet you’ve NEVER heard of this. But this concept and mindset shift is exactly how you should eat to consistently stay healthy without getting obsessed about food or having it dominate your thoughts. And with the holidays upon us, this is the perfect time to swap your “all or nothing” thinking for something more flexible. Today, I am going to teach you all about how to become an “...

Lots of great fitness programs - including mine - encourage women to lift heavy weights. But have you ever been stumped by what exactly constitutes “heavy weights”? And how much weight it too much or not enough? Listener Lisa had the same question: “I’m wondering what you consider ‘heavy weights’. I’ve noticed you mention that you lift heavy weights 2 times a week. How much do you lift?” In this s...

Fascia. This buzzword has been making the rounds in the fitness industry, but it still seems to be a mystery. What is it? Where is it? How does it impact my health and fitness? If you’re always dealing with pain, tension, body stress, maybe even headaches, learning more about your fascia might be a great place to start. And who better to help you out than the fascia queen! This week on the podcast...

Have you ever looked in the mirror or pulled on a pair of jeans and felt good about your progress, only to have all that confidence evaporate when you step on the scale? At what point do you become satisfied with how you feel instead of chasing a specific number on the scale? Listener Kristi finds herself in this very spot: “I’ve been trying for some time now to get off 10-15 pounds, and it seems...

It’s easy to jump into a new habit or lifestyle change with excitement and motivation. This is the time I’m going to stick with it and things are really going to change! But we get a few weeks down the road, and all that enthusiasm starts to fade. I mean, making a lifestyle change is HARD. And progress feels soooooo slooooooow. So what’s the real and honest timeline for results and what are realis...

Did you know that 63% of Americans start their day off with coffee? And many of them enjoy their morning hit of caffeine light and sweet. But could that delicious coffee habit be derailing your healthy choices? Listener Dondi asks: “I would like to know a good substitute for coffee creamer. I love my morning coffee, sweet and creamy, and I'm just looking for healthy alternatives and just curio...

Too many women live with some form of chronic pain, and have just written it off as “normal”. They deal with it, work around it, try to medicate it, and ultimately believe that this is how their body is now. But what if I told you it didn’t have to be this way? This week I sit down with Dr. Jen Fraboni, an internationally-renown physical therapist who specializes in helping people overcome chronic...

We often spend a lot of time building our strength or improving our cardiovascular health - but what about our balance? Balance is one of the 6 important aspects of fitness, but it’s often completely overlooked and not intentionally trained, until you realize how bad it is! Crystal trains with me, and asks: “I started Jumpstart30 at the beginning of the year, then Jumpstart60, and now I’m in GetSt...

Life is a full-contact sport. And many professions can take an even greater physical toll on your entire body. Being a nurse, teacher, doctor, dental hygienist, holding a desk job, even being a mom can begin to cause chronic pain and affect your quality of life. This week I’m sitting down with MaryEllen Kiser, a 49-year-old teacher and mother of two, who struggled with excruciating back and hip pa...