How To Win Your Group Chat This Week

Chrissy’s confession, good sex vs good skin, fizzy protein, the yellow card I cheered for, and more.

Liz in the wild: soccer mom edition.

One of my favorite weekend activities is cheering for my children from the sidelines as they compete in soccer, baseball, tennis and fencing matches. (This is especially true when it’s not raining, which it has been a lot this spring.) Watching my kiddos grow stronger emotionally, mentally, and physically in real time as they dart across fields and courts fully lights me up.

I promise I’m not a nightmare on the sidelines. I firmly believe in letting the coaches do the coaching.

My 10-year-old son George loves playing keeper for his soccer team and he protects the goal with a steady calm that both puzzles and amazes me. I was a striker back in the day…full speed ahead while bursting with emotion toward the net and all of its glory. George? He waits. He watches. His role requires the courage to stand alone as the last line of defense.

On the days his team loses, I’m prepared after the final whistle with my measured mama-balm: Remember, the ball passed every other player before reaching you. But the truth is, I rarely need these words. George understands the calculus of teamwork in a way that feels well beyond his years.

What astonishes me is his resilience—the way he picks himself up off the turf, brushes off the collective sigh of disappointment from his teammates and spectators, and dials back in. There must be storms brewing beneath that composed exterior and elfin smile of his, but he leverages them to his advantage for the next chance to make a save.

An old pic from 2023 of George (left) with his older brother Charlie that gives you a sense of that epic Pier 5 field vibe.

On Saturday, he subbed for another team in his club at NYC’s most iconic field: Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which jutted into the East River as the late afternoon light glinted off the skyscrapers of Manhattan in one direction and the Statue of Liberty rose from New York harbor in the other.

With this team’s regular goalkeeper already in position, George played the field instead—and I enjoyed a reprieve from my usual game day anxiety. (Goalie moms get it!) For the first half he played left back…pretty comfortable territory for a kid who spends most matches directing the defensive line from goal. But because the team had a lead and the clock was winding down, coach Diego offered him a choice of position.

He picked striker!

My composed little keeper transformed into a blur of motion, charging into space with newfound freedom, fearlessly inserting himself into the mix. After an entanglement with an opposing player (and, let’s be honest, a theatrical flop) the referee stood in front of George and dramatically pulled out the infamous yellow card.

Can you imagine giving #10 a yellow card?

No one was hurt—that’s what is paramount. (Also, if you know this kid, then I don’t have to tell you…he’s sweet and kind with a heart of gold.) And so, above all, I felt proud. That kiddo pushed himself outside of his comfort zone without flinching, even when the other kids were a year older and taller. He left it all on the field.

May we all get after whatever needs getting after in our lives like my little G-Force, with a spark that doesn’t quit and a smile on our faces…never dirty, but with confident determination and child-like exuberance.

While you dig deep to channel that energy this week, here’s my Monday roundup of the buzziest health, nutrition and fitness news and whispers. I hope it makes ya feel like the most interesting person in your group chat, around the office, or at a dinner party this week. And if you’re into the stuff above and/or below, I’d love it if you’d level-up to a Gold Star subscription.

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Across The Wellness World…

• Okay okay, NYMag! The glossy goes all-in with a just-pubbed multi-story fitness package, with articles like Does My Pilates Teacher Hate Me? The editor in me wants to apply that clicky construction to so many stories.

• The queen of yogurt brands, Chobani, buys smoothie and meal prep powerhouse Daily Harvest.

• TikTok begins showing teen users guided meditations and slow breathing exercises after 10pm.

• Shopbop adds Sports to its nav bar, proving activewear is a booming category. Nike finally joins the party there.

• A new 52,000-square-foot private health club and wellness facility is set to open in the St. George Tower in Brooklyn Heights.

• Dick’s Sporting Goods will buy Foot Locker for 48 million pairs sneakers. Kidding! It was a $2.4 billion sale.

• Vox says teens are big fans of “dry texting,” or de-escalating a conflict in a passive aggressive way, like leaving a friend on “read” or giving a one word, non-committal reply. Also known as The Ostrich Method™️.

• Marc Jacobs is blending smoothies with Happier Grocer.

• Tech Week will host a Pitch And Run in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Tuesday, June 3. Eight-eight entrepreneurs and counting are lacing up.

• I bring you…protein soda. Don’t Quit launches fizzy beverages with 20g of everyone’s favorite macro.

• On the heels of my travel tips/Newark drama ‘stack, my friend Sima Sistani sent me Saturday’s SNL skit. Sima—former CEO of Weight Watchers and all-around badass human—just launched her Default Settings Substack; subscribe!

• A strong case for talking to your doctor about any supplements you’re taking: Zoe Dubno recounts her wild story in NY Mag about crashing into panic attacks and debilitating anxiety after stopping St. John’s Wort cold-turkey.

• The Brawny Man is back, and he’s been working out and drinking his protein shakes.

• AG1 gets a glow-up with its ”Next Gen” greens powder—now with five new probiotic strains and a focus on de-bloating. CEO Kat Cole says the upgrade is designed to better support gut health, energy, and nutrient absorption in the same daily scoop.

• In feel-good news, 9-month-old baby KJ becomes the first human to receive a wildly innovative CRISPR (gene-editing) treatment that swapped out a single faulty letter in his DNA to save his life.

• Overwhelmed by strength training? You’re not alone. But take heart! Even two, quick 30-minute sessions a week will help you build muscle, according to a new (small) study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

• Just make sure to lift before you run—it’s the key to gains like fat loss and muscle endurance, according to a new Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness study that basically confirms what we already knew. Training for a race? Flip it and run first. Fun fact: I wrote a feature on this exact topic for a Women’s Health feature when I was a wee 28-year-old.

• Sam Altman is better at building AI tools than he is at using olive oil.

~HALFTIME~
The Finnish word sisu translates to inner fire, quiet grit or stick-with-it-ness. Someone should use it as the name for their fitness app.

• In a cheeky nod to the launch of beauty brand Mienne’s “skincare for everyday eroticism,” Jessica DeFino plays a game of Would You Rather with her readers. The topic: Good skin or good sex? (I’m in the minority; interesting.)

• Serena Williams will executive produce a docuseries on female CEOs on Amazon Prime Video. Here’s hoping she’ll thoughtfully address the @#$&* that was pandemic take-downs.

• Brands like Vitamin Shoppe are looking for the upside of the GLP-1 explosion by offering support supplements, especially ones that address the Rx’s most unpleasant side effects.

• Researchers measured the “foot posture” of 2,750 Barbie dolls, and found that over 60% of new Barbies had flatter feet by mid-2024. Also, “working girl” (lol) Barbies tended to have less extreme angled arches. Lots of outlets picked this study up, including The New York Times.

• But I’m here for the comments, where a woman from Omaha schools fellow commenters on brands that make the comfiest heels at different price points, like Cole Haan, Nine West, and Schutz. Reader service journalism at its finest!

• A moment for KC-native and women’s sports super-fan, Jason Sudekis, who led KC Current fans in the pre-match cheer while wearing a WNBA hoodie. PS I wrote a feature about the Current’s stadium—the first one built for women—last spring for WH.

• Alix Earle has apparently cloned herself: She recently spoke (and sipped her canned margs) with students at Harvard Business School, and just became the face of Hawaiian Tropic.

• A very 2025 kind of road rage: Run Club haters.

• I’m just going to leave this new Vogue headline here: “ChatGPT Helped Me Get Pregnant.”

• How do we feel about these $300 Hampton Lights plane slippers that Harper’s Bazaar loves? You could also wear these Lululemon Restfeels like I do. (FYI: My most clicked link from that Travel post I referenced above!)

• Ren Beauty quietly sunsets after 25 years. And cult favorite Drunk Elephant’s tween superfans may be responsible its undoing.

• The ubiquitous-in-NYC High Sport trousers appear as a spring-y, limited-edition collab with Moda Operandi and I am obsessed. Ugh, there’s a matching bralette, too.

• Of course there’s a sassy subreddit on perimenopause.

• Roblox now allows brands to sell physical products directly to their 97.8m users. Fenty, for example, soon will integrate a $22 lip gloss into the game.

• The first blood test for an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis was approved by the FDA. It’s about $600, and safer than the previous tools (brain scans and spinal taps).

• Chrissy Teigen shares on her podcast that she’s been ashamed to admit she started drinking again after two+ years of sobriety. (And she wants to stop.) Courageous; this will help a lot of people feel less alone.

• Keds are baaaack, per Puck, which reports a 307% jump YOY sales.

• While I have ya! I’m launching a two-week ABS MAGIC playbook (focused on core strength) later this week. Gold Star subscribers will have access to the whole thing, just like you do with my Pull-Up Playbook and Mobility Guide.

Liz, Live!

• My ep of the ThERINpy with Erin Washington podcast went live today. Thank you for having me Erin! Listening to it, you’d think we’d been friends forever, but no, we met that day.

• I’m moderating a panel at Athletech’s ATN Innovation Summit in NYC on June 18. Get your tix to this two-day wellness-palooza before they’re gone!

• Last call to join me at the M/Power Canyon Ranch retreat where I’ll be guest lecturing May 28–31. The very amazing itinerary is here.

• The conversation I hosted with obesity medicine expert Dr. Holly Lofton, on weight and midlife, is now live over on YouTube. You don’t want to miss what she told me happens during the seventh hour of sleep.