Week 2 of A Healthy Plan to Tackle Thanksgiving

Catching Up on the Blitz

If you are just joining me for this Blog Series, this is about making a healthy plan to tackle Thanksgiving and the other Holidays. The idea being to end the year on a high note, and not gain pounds and inches on your waist from October through January. My previous blog post includes my goals, an outline of my plan, and week 1 summary. Please take a look at my week 1/introduction post if you have not had a chance.

Tips of the Week

1. Keep in mind when you are trying to peak for training. This is in particular of you are have exercise goals as part of your Holiday plan. I am trying to have my highest volume week Thanksgiving week, so I am revving my metabolism for the big day. This week, I felt like I had 2 great days of weight training with more volume than last week, but I did not push the limit. Typically, if you go for a PR (personal record) or otherwise smoke your body with a workout, you are going to need to take a step back the next day, or next week to recover. Since I want my peak intensity to be Thanksgiving week, I left a little bit of energy in the tank this week.
2. Be kind to yourself. Even if you do not set the world on fire related to your goals and program, celebrate your wins and be kind to yourself. If you are trying to cut out soda and you drink a soda 1 day out of 7 during the week, celebrate the win! Sure, maybe you want that to be 0, and you can make a plan to work towards 0, but celebrate your win first!
3. Stick to your plan. You made a plan to be healthy during the holidays, make sure you stick with it! No late night snacks on Tuesday, no drinks and delivery Pizza on Wednesday (for example). If your plan is to dial in your nutrition every day except Thanksgiving, stick to your plan!
4. Exercise on the Holiday! Even if you are going to have your favorite treats on the Holiday, make it a point to move and exercise. Do something that is fun and meaningful for you; walk, run, push up, pull up, lift weights. Make exercise and movement part of your celebration, you will feel great, and rev up that metabolism before your big day!

Challenges this Week

A challenge for me, which can be typical around the holidays, was busy times at work. Work was mentally demanding, and also required extra time this week. The demands at work made it especially critical to adhere to my plan and routine, because there could have been a lot of tempting excuses to sleep in and miss a workout.

Daily Journals

Sunday

Exercise: Mowing and yard work, 1 hour.

Food and Drink:

Morning: Coffee and water.

Around 8 am: Bulletproof Coffee.

Around 1:30 pm: 1 serving humus and pretzels.

Between 3-5 pm: 3 IPA beers (helps yard work 😉

Around 5:30: Chicken taco bowl with sautéed pepper and onions, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, taco sauce (homemade and favored with orange, garlic, and Chipotle peppers) with a little bit of rice…I also had a refill on everything but the rice.

Monday

Exercise: Walking before work, around 50 minutes, 2.5 miles.

Food and Drink:

Morning: Black coffee ☕, water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During the day: 2 Green teas, plenty of water.

Around 4:30 pm: Bowl of coleslaw with cheese cubes and greens powder; 10 olives with 8 cheese cubes; 1 can herring with sriracha sauce.

Tuesday

Exercise: before work, weight training. Pull up 6,6,6,6; Dip 8,8,7,6; Push up 10,10,8,7; Total Gym row 12,12,12,10; Ab wheel roll 10,10,10,10; Kettlebell Swing 53 lbs 10,10,10,10

For the above exercises, what I did is go through each exercise in the order listed, with very little rest in between each exercise, and then take a few minutes rest after Kettlebell swings before starting with Pull up again.

*Managed to add a little bit of volume by way of reps in a few areas, but I also left room for improvement for the big week next week!

Food and Drink:

Morning: Black coffee, water.

Around 7:30 am: Bulletproof coffee (see previous post for recipe)

During the work day, 2 green teas  (unsweetened), plenty of water.

Around 4:30 pm: Coleslaw with greens powder and an avocado; 1 cup kale chips; 1 humus and pretzels; 6 olives.

Wednesday

Exercise: Nordic Track Ski machine, 47 minutes, 3.07 miles.

*The Nordic Track is my way of maintaining my frequency of cardio, which is one of my goals. I’m not dedicated enough to run outside when it is 20 degrees, so I need an alternative for cardio.

Food and Drink:

Morning: Black coffee ☕, water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During the work day, 2 green teas  (unsweetened), plenty of water.

Around 4:30 pm: Coleslaw with greens powder and an avocado; 1 cup kale chips; 1 humus and pretzels; 6 olives.

Thursday

Exercise: Deadlift 205- 5, 5, 225- 5, 4; Kettlebell push press 35s- 10, 44s- 8, 8, 7, 7; Hanging leg raise 10,10,10,10, 8

Food and Drink:

Morning: Black coffee and water.

Around 7:30 am: Bulletproof Coffee.

During the work day, 2 green teas  (unsweetened), plenty of water.

Around 4:30 pm: 4 Spoons of 10% Milkfat Greek Yogurt; bowl of coleslaw with greens powder and avocado; can of sardines; 8 olives.

Friday

Exercise: before work, 2.5 mile walk, around 50 minutes.

Food and Drink

Morning: Black coffee and water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During the work day, 2 green teas  (unsweetened), plenty of water.

Around 4:30 pm: 3 spoons mixed nut butter; mixed bowl with avocado, chickpeas, cheddar cheese, greens powder, olives, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Evening: 1 glass red wine, 1 glass scotch.

Saturday

Morning: Black coffee and water.

The rest of Saturday is TBA due to posting, but will include a family meal with a Beef roast, and probably a few drinks.

Favorite Meal of the Week

My Weekly Progress Report

1. Sugar, Grain, and Alcohol were treats only.
2. Weight on Friday, 196.4! and 5th belt loop. Weight is an improvement, and sets me up well going in to next week.
3. I maintained my frequency of Cardio exercise, I am starting to transition indoors and use my Nordic Track…I do not run outside under 40 degrees, sorry, not sorry.
4. I maintained my routine and volume of my goal upper body exercises. I added a small amount of volume to both weight lifting days, and I feel like I can push for a big week Thanksgiving week.
5. I wore blue light glasses every light at least 1 hour before bed, and logged 2 nights of 7 hours uninterrupted sleep during the week. I did stay up later Friday night, but overall kept a routine bed time of around 9 pm.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

This is the big week! I need to focus and make a fitness and meal plan that is dialed in leading up to Thursday. Here is what I am planning:

• Continue nutrition plan through Wednesday.
• Longer period of fasting Wednesday going into Thursday, eat my one larger meal earlier in the day on Wednesday.
• Morning Exercise Thursday, with slightly higher volume (weight training).
• Breaking my fast with a small plate of food before the big meal Thursday. This is a strategy to help not over stuff yourself after a longer fast.
• Morning exercise Friday, cardio.
• Longer period of fasting from Thursday going in to Friday.

I plan to completely enjoy myself on Thursday, so I will not log my specific food and drink items. I will log my exercise and fasting periods and let you know how that seems to go.

Home stretch everyone, lets go!!!