24/Savvy Beauty and Health

I wonder how many of you in Savvy Land workout every day?  If you're like most of us, there's no challenge in conjuring up a plan for working out, but a slight difficulty arises in sticking to said plan.  Momentum, motivation, mojo, if any of those "mo" conditions start losing steam, the workout finds itself in serious jeopardy of being D.O.A.

If you're looking for savvy ways to sneak exercises into your day without stepping foot in a gym, swapping out your regular home office chair for an inexpensive exercise ball is a worthy investment.

Not only does sitting on a ball help strengthen your spine, improve your posture, engage your abs, and aid blood circulation, it's a pretty fun way to blow off steam.  Whenever you find yourself heating up over a slow computer and that dreaded spinning color wheel of death, give a few bounces on your ball chair.  You'll feel better instantly, guaranteed.

Being the super obsessed fitness & nutrition girlie that I am, I recently discovered an amazing FREE tool. Yes, FREE, ladies, one that really helps me stay on track with calories/fitness goals.

MyfitnessPal.com lets you enter brand name foods, restaurant, or homemade foods into the system and it calculates your calories/carbs/protein/sodium… the whole nine yards… which REALLY lets you know what you are putting in your body.  People don’t realize that nutrition is really more about balance than anything else.  Eating balanced---not just sticking to counting calories---and also realizing what things you eat that are empty calories and not nutritious is what it's all about.

So now that I am a fitness teacher, I am in search of super deals on workout wear that look cute & are affordable.

Enter Old Navy…. Yep, Old Navy.  It was the last stop on my search. I had been everywhere I usually go for a deal…. Loehmman’s, Marshall’s, TJ MAXX, and I just couldn’t find pants that I liked that fit.

As the holidays and New Year approach, instead of creating a list of goals that you may (or may not) follow through on, I want to encourage you instead to change the way you think about healthy living.

Often the New Year begins with goals to lose weight, eat better, refrain from excessive drinking, and hit the gym more, all in an attempt to start afresh with a healthier mindset. After reading a recent article by a well known New York advertising agency, Strawberry Frog, I was inspired to look at healthy living differently, and start a movement of my own, towards wellness.

Sometimes savvy is knowing not only which trend pieces offer the best value for your money, but knowing when to pass them up entirely.  We've been tempted by shaper shoes, fit flops and the entire lot of toning footwear (who wouldn't want a shoe that does your workout for you?) but we're hesitant about their claims.  Every time we’ve thought about sidling up to a cash register with that $150 pair we've had our eye on, we’ve been haunted by the same question: will these fugly things really help us look hot in our two-piece this summer?