Your jeans feel tighter, your doctor’s scoldings are becoming increasingly stern and your self-image has slowly retired to the basement. Your role as a mother, daughter, employee, boss and more has siphoned your time and energy away from your own health. As a result, your imbalances of stress/recovery, eating/exercise and yourself/others has manifested in an unwanted layer of body fat.

An analysis of large population medical-assessment data comparing body mass index and percentage of body fat suggests the average American female now has about 40% body fat. Female body-fat percentages over about 30% start to carry with them increased risks for morbidity and mortality.

Negative emotions tied to accumulating excess body weight and fat make women easy prey for gurus, gadgets and gimmicks promising “overnight” results with little-to-no effort. While some find short-term success with these diet and exercise fads, most are unable to sustain the novelty of the “hot” new trend in their life. Body fat and frustration repeatedly return with a vengeance.

While the recommended interventions for fat loss for both men and women are fairly similar, it’s important to understand a few unique aspects of female physiology and how to overcome the commonly accepted mistruths and misunderstandings associated with fat loss and women.

No gym? No problem! A hectic travel schedule or no access to a gym are not sound reasons for neglecting your workout. After all, you can get in a strength-training workout just about anywhere at anytime. If you have 20 to 30 minutes and the physical ability to move, you can get in a workout.

This is a great time of year to take your workouts outside. And sure, it’s pretty easy to target the lower-body with activities like running, biking, squats, lunges and plyometrics, but you’ll have to be a little creative to make sure you target the upper body and core as well.  

The following upper-body and core body-weight workouts can be done anywhere—the only equipment you need is a bench. But even if you don’t have a bench, don’t worry—there are alternatives provided below.

Webster’s dictionary defines “stress” as “a state of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium.”In other words, when things aren’t simple and predictable, the body’s physiological and psychological systems sound the alarm. This alarm places both your body and brain on alert for whatever might come. We associate this state with uneasiness, fear and general discomfort. Your heart and mind races and you’re forced to think and act in unfamiliar ways to overcome challenges.

For decades, research has suggested that frequent exposure to stress is inherently bad, increasing one’s likelihood for morbidity and mortality.As a society, we’re willing to go to great lengths to avoid this unpleasantness.We turn to medication, meditation and long vacations to try to dampen our natural stress “alarm” to uncertainty and change.Despite these large-scale attempts to “avoid stress,” it’s estimated that workplace stress costs companies between $200 and $300 billion per year. We’re running, but apparently we can’t hide from this life-consuming monster.

Whether it’s a new year or you’re looking to get back to an exercise program, beginning can be a challenging prospect. Your mind may remember the movements of your past fitness regimens, but your body’s muscles and joints may have lost the strength and flexibility that it takes to complete those workouts. If you experience deep muscle soreness or an injury, you may abandon your efforts after just a few days. That’s why it’s so important to ease back into exercise so you can avoid these pitfalls and stick with it for the long haul. Here’s a workout that will help you get back on the right track.

But first, some good news: If you are new to exercise or you’ve been on an extended break, you will experience pretty significant gains—and at a rapid pace—at the start of your new program. The key to your success is proper progression and intensity.

As registered dietitians, one of our most important goals is to help people to get more nutrients from food to help them achieve optimal health. We encourage our clients to stay away from processed snacks, sugary sweets, hydrogenated fats and other foods that do more harm than good. Yet even when they do their best to follow these guidelines, many people still purchase snack foods they perceive to be healthy (but really aren’t). You can avoid this common pitfall by making these four popular snacks at home, which are not only more nutritious, but also a lot more economical.

For years we were told that eating fat would make us fat and increase our risk for heart disease. But now we’re told that the old recommendations were incorrect and we should be eating fat with every meal. So, who’s right? Well, it’s not a cut-and-dry answer. Let’s separate the fat facts from fiction to figure out how much each of us really should be eating.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. While there are some risk factors for heart disease that we can’t control, such as age, gender and family history, there are a number of things we can do to reduce our risk for heart disease. Regular physical activity is one of the best things you can do to keep your heart healthy. Read on for 10 ways exercise helps to protect your heart.

If only we all had a typical bride’s motivation to get in shape. All eyes on her, photographs that last a lifetime and a deeply felt desire to look amazing for her groom all contribute to creating a motivated fitness mindset. Mix it up and make it fun for the beautiful bride with these basic exercises, each of which has a hidden agenda. Most brides want toned arms, abs and, depending on dress choice, legs. A well-rounded workout is always a smart idea, but make sure to hit the hot spots so she’s satisfied. Each description below includes reasoning behind why that area is so important to tone and ways to make the exercise more effective.

Water is the most abundant substance in the human body (equivalent to 50-70% of total body weight). Our joints require it for lubrication, nutrients need it for transport and absorption, and our organs need it for protection. Simply put, water is essential for human life.

Which comes first: shampoo or conditioner? Easy. It's always shampoo. If only exercise were that simple. No matter how good we get at understanding exercise science, there are still some topics that seem forever debatable. One of those topics is the order of cardio and weight training. Which one comes first? We'd like the answer to be simple, but it’s a bit complicated. The good news? I’ll explain how it can be simple for you. It's only a complicated and difficult question if we are after an answer that applies to everyone. The answer for you is likely simple.