Healthy for the Holidays Fitness Plan: Abs, Back + Stability

Welcome to Day 3: Healthy for the Holidays! Your Day 3 workout is a core strength session that doesn’t require any equipment (though you might want to use a mat or a towel for the floor work). This routine is easy to do in a small space in your hotel or at home and can be adapted for most fitness levels. In our workout video below, we’ll perform exercises designed to help build balance, stability...

Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti Squash

It’s squash season! For the sake of convenience, here’s a squash recipe you don’t need to bake. Quick-cooked spaghetti squash is topped with sautéed onions, mushrooms and tomatoes for a simple, healthy and fiber-rich dinner entree.     Print     Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti Squash Ingredients 1 medium (505 grams) spaghetti squash (about 1 1/2–2 pounds) 1 1/2...

7 Signs You Need a Midrun Snack

Many long-distance runners experience symptoms of underfueling but never attempt to fix them because they think that’s just the way their body works. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. Take your running game to a whole new level with a few minor tweaks to your eating plan. WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF UNDERFUELING? Regular runners know that all runs are different. Some fill you with blissful...

Give the Gift of Fitness: Gear For the Most Active People on Your List

It’s the gift that keeps on giving — and keeps them going. Help the people on your list stay motivated to achieve their 2017 fitness goals with high-performance gear they’ll wear beyond the holiday season. Using their in-depth knowledge of the gear, Under Armour’s Official Outfitters put together this group of favorites so you can check everyone off of your list. For Her ‘Tis the season to make...

Exercises That’ll Help You Get More Done in Less Time

Doing compound exercises can take your workout from good to great. What exactly does that mean? Well, compound movements are ones that put multiple muscle groups and two or more joints to work, explains Noam Tamir, C.S.C.S., founder of TS Fitness. They can help you gain lean muscle mass and burn more calories, all while saving you time at the gym. “The more muscles working, the more energy output...

Healthy for the Holidays Fitness Plan: Total-Body Training

Welcome to Day 2: Healthy for the Holidays! Your Day 2 workout is a total-body strength-training session that uses one of my favorite pieces of portable, inexpensive gym equipment — a resistance band!  If you’re traveling for the holidays, toss your band in your suitcase. This routine is tailor-made for a small space in your hotel or at home. If you don’t have a band, feel free to use dumbbells...

10 Feast-Worthy Holiday Sides

The holidays are just around the corner and if you’re like us your meal-prep wheels are spinning! This year we’ve put together a list of delish side dishes featuring seasonal vegetables and old time favorites.  Our list of sides is guaranteed to be proper holiday sidekicks for these tasty main entrees. To help you realize a  weight neutral holiday we’ve picked sides...

5 Ways to Keep Your Brain Young (Not Including Exercise)

Research has long proven that regular exercise does a brain good as much as the body. Breaking a sweat helps reduce insulin resistance and inflammation while simultaneously promoting and protecting brain cell growth. New scientific evidence, however, suggests that not just any workout helps fight against cognitive decline. You’ve got to really work it to see the best results as you age. A study...

Healthy for the Holidays Fitness Plan: Cardio

Welcome to Day 1: Healthy for the Holidays! Today’s workout is an indoor cardio session that doesn’t require any equipment, making it easy to do in a small space at home or in your hotel if you are traveling for the season. In our workout video below, we’ll alternate periods of higher intensity with moderate effort to help you maximize your workout time without burning out. I’ll show you both high-...

Join Our Healthy for the Holidays Fitness Plan

Good news! You can meet all of your commitments from now until New Year’s and still squeeze in your workouts. In fact, working out might help you survive the holiday season. Best of all, we’re here to help! Instead of tossing your healthy lifestyle aside, we’re challenging you to join us for our Healthy for the Holidays plan, designed to help you maintain your healthy habits (without deprivation...

Chicken Panini with Butternut Squash

Got some leftover chicken? Try your hand at this chicken panini with butternut squash spread by Healthy Nibbles & Bits. A panini makes the perfect brown bag lunch item–crispy bread on the outside and melted cheese, chicken and spinach on the inside. The butternut squash spread is high in vitamin A and just enough moisture for this pack-and-go meal.     Print     Chicken...

6 Healthy Eating Tricks Registered Dietitians Use to Stay on Track All Day Long

Finding a healthy eating plan that works for you is no easy feat. That’s because, despite what you may have been led to believe, healthy eating isn’t all salads and smoothies, and it can look very different from one person to the next. Some prefer to ditch ingredients like dairy, gluten, or meat. Others don’t have any dietary restrictions, but are very strict about calorie counting. What’s clear...

MyFitnessPal’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for the Fit Fan

From the hottest apparel to the latest workout trends, your jock’s wish list is likely a mile long this holiday season. But how are you to know what’s worth the money and what will end up in the back of the closet? Lucky for you, we’re here to help. Make the holidays more active for your favorite athlete or outdoors enthusiast this year. These gifts are sure to help the recipient...

Banana Nut Pancakes

Fluffy, healthy and tasty, these banana nut pancakes from Cook Smarts leave no room for disappointment. They’re packed with bananas inside and out — and topped with crunchy walnuts and tangy, honey-sweetened yogurt. Celebrate your morning with a plate of these hot flapjacks!     Print     Banana Nut Pancakes Ingredients 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour 1 1/2...

MyFitnessPal’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for the Techie

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and your favorite techie is dreaming of the latest and hottest gadgets. But with all the options out there (and your busy schedule), how are you to know what’s worth the money and what’ll need a gift receipt? Don’t worry, we took care of the research for you. We compiled a list of the coolest devices we could find to help your tech-obsessed friend or family...

How to Stay Healthy When Literally Everyone Around You Is Sick

Welcome to cold and flu season, the time of year where not only do you have to drag yourself out of bed while it’s dark and foreboding outside, but you also have to sit in an office listening to a chorus of coughing and sneezing all day long. It’s only a matter of time until you catch that bug making its way from one end of your workplace to the other. But luckily, whether or not you get sick doesn’t...

How Getting out in Nature Can Improve Your Health

The best way to boost your health beyond exercising regularly is to do it in the great outdoors. In fact, a new 2016 study of the UK’s first monthlong nature challenge found that after spending time in nature every day for a month, people were 30% more likely to rate their health as “excellent.” “Researchers are currently proving what clinicians have been observing for years: That spending time...

Does Caffeine Actually Boost Your Metabolism?

I am a creature of habit. When my alarm goes off, I get out of bed (after at least one snooze sesh) and head out the door for my morning workout. What gets me through those early morning workouts? The promise of a hot cup of joe when I get back home. It’s part of my daily ritual that starts at home and trickles into my morning work routine. Whether it’s a cup of black coffee, a soy latte or a fancy...

These Sports Nutritionists Say It’s OK to Eat Pie

It’s that time of year: Pie season. Almost 20% of all pie eating in the U.S. occurs during the holidays, according to one report. That adds up to approximately 50 million pumpkin pies just at Thanksgiving, according to Nestle. But if you’re training for a race or event, is it OK to indulge? Just this once? (Or twice?) We asked a few sports nutritionists who say stop fooling yourself but stop worrying...