Week 2 of a Plan to Break the Holiday Cycle and End 2020 Healthy and Fit

Catching up on the Jingle

If you are brand new to my blog or this Holiday posting series, welcome! This post series is the final leg in a series about breaking the Holiday Cycle of adding pounds and inches to our waist from October- January 1, and making a New Year’s resolution to essentially undo the damage. If we are not careful, this can be an annual occurrence. For more information on this topic and ideas to make your own plan, please see my previous post.

Week 2 of my plan has been very successful when it comes to meeting guidelines and milestones I have set for a happy and healthy Holiday Season!

Challenges This Week

Well, we had a snow storm Thursday, which slightly threw off my perfect plan of the 5 day report to work week and the nutrition and exercise routine which accompanies. Thursday turned into remote work, clean up snow, and daddy day care. This added a slight bit of stress, and also some temptation related to having some nice dark beers after snow clean up, which is not part of my usual Thursday nutrition routine. I met this challenge by counting snow clean up as exercise Thursday (subbing out my planned weight training), and getting right back on plan Friday morning with my planned cardio and intermittent fasting. Unexpected changes in routine will come up, and it is very important that we think on our feet and make good decisions that support our goals when life happens.

Tip of the Week

Plan to exercise the day before, the day of, and the day after your Holiday! Making an exercise plan, and sticking to it will help affirm your commitment to your Health and Wellbeing. Even if it is going out for a walk the morning after your Holiday, the accountability and continuation of your fitness routine will go a long way towards ending 2020 on a high note. The trick is, make a specific plan. In your plan, include what you will do for exercise, and when you will do it…if you leave it open ended “I will do some type of exercise the day after Christmas”, you are much less likely to follow through as compared to making a specific plan. I will share my specific plans for next week at the end of the post, I hope you will consider making a plan of your own!

Daily Journals

*A word about my daily journals and routine. The main reasons I include my daily journals in this series are as follows:

1. To show an example of what a daily journal can look like and hopefully spark some creative thinking and ideas for readers.
2. To hold myself accountable…writing down my food intake and exercise/activity on the internet is a big motivating factor for me to follow through on my goals.

My daily journals are not intended to be a prescriptive program for readers to follow, this is simply what works for me. Whether it be my exercise routine, what I eat, or when I eat…it falls under the umbrella of “this is what works for me”. If you are interested in any of my rationale behind my meal timing and planning, I would invite you to take a look at my Thanksgiving post, sub heading of “Dietary Strategies I Use“.

Sunday

Exercise: Active rest (stretch and foam roll)

Food and Drink

Morning: Black coffee, water.

Around 9 am: Green tea.

Around 12:30 pm: Leftover greek salad with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Afternoon: 1 stout beer, 2 scotches.

Around 6 pm: Beef tenderloin, crab cakes, side of potatoes with cheese.

Monday

Exercise: Nordic Track, 60 minutes, 3.70 miles (no “ski poles)

Food and Drink:

Morning: Coffee, water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During work day: Plenty of water, 2 green teas.

Around 4:30 pm: Spicy coleslaw made with slaw mix, olives, chopped garlic, hot pepper, dressed with salt, pepper, avocado mayo, apple cider vinegar, sriracha sauce; 1 can sardines; 1 sliced avocado; 1 cup air dried kale chips.

Tuesday

Exercise: Weight training. Pull up 6,7,6,6; Dip 7,8,9,8; Push up 10,10,8,7; Total Gym row 12,12,12,12; Ab wheel roll 10,10,10,10; Kettlebell Swing 53 lbs 12,12,12,12

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.

Food and Drink:

Morning: Coffee, water.

Around 7:30 am: Bulletproof coffee.

During work day: 2 green teas , plenty of water.

Around 4:30 pm: Spicy coleslaw made with slaw mix, olives, chopped garlic, hot pepper, dressed with salt, pepper, avocado mayo, apple cider vinegar, sriracha sauce; left over crab cakes; 1 sliced avocado; 1 cup air dried kale chips.

Wednesday

Exercise: Nordic Track, 60 minutes, 3.83 miles (no “ski poles)

Food and Drink:

Morning: Coffee, water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During work day: Plenty of water, 2 green teas.

Around 4:30 pm: Spicy coleslaw made with slaw mix, olives, chopped garlic, hot pepper, dressed with salt, pepper, avocado mayo, apple cider vinegar, sriracha sauce; 1 can sardines; 1 sliced avocado.

Thursday

Exercise: Snow clean up, probably around 2.5 hours total time. Yes, physical activity counts as exercise!

Food and Drink:

Morning: Coffee, water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During work at home day: Black iced coffee, green tea, some water.

Around 5:00 pm: 2 Stout beers.

Around 5:30 pm: Spicy coleslaw made with slaw mix, olives, chopped garlic, hot pepper, dressed with salt, pepper, avocado mayo, apple cider vinegar, sriracha sauce; 1 can sardines; 1 sliced avocado; 1 humus and pretzel.

Friday

Exercise: Nordic Track, 60 minutes, 3.92 miles (no “ski poles)

Food and Drink:

Morning: Coffee, water.

Around 7:30 am: Black coffee.

During work day: Plenty of water, 2 green teas.

Around 5:30 pm: Parmesan cheese crisps, humus and pretzels, guacamole and chips. *Not my usual spread, plans fell through for take out so needed to improvise.

Throughout evening: 1 stout beer, 2 scotches.

*Saturday is blog posting day.

My Weekly Progress Report

This is an update to see how I did on my goals/focus areas for the week, here is my check in for week 2:

1. Sugar, Grain were treats only, had a little bit more alcohol than my standard week…not going to beat myself up, just staying accountable.
2. Weight on Friday was 193.8 pounds, which is about a pound less than last Friday. Of note, there are a lot of factors that can influence weight on the scale. For my example this week, I may have been down some fluid (dehydrated) after the time spent clearing snow/ probably not enough water, 2 beers, and 60 minutes of cardio the next morning. Also 5th belt loop, so waist circumference is staying steady.
3. I met my goal of three 60 minute cardio sessions this week! I will make sure to replicate this next week heading into the Holidays.
4. I assured that each weight training day featured a kettlebells, and/or a barbell exercise…although I needed to sub out my planned Thursday weight training.
5. I wore blue light glasses every light at least 1 hour before bed, I had 1 great night of sleep, over 7 hours. I had a few poor nights of sleep due to kid interruptions, so need to pay attention to his routine as well. Overall, kept a routine bed time of around 9 pm.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

Next week has 2 holidays! Yes, for me Christmas Eve counts as a Holiday. I will not include food journals for Thursday and Friday next week because they will be full of delicious treats, but will have exercise logged for those days and my fasting window. Here are some specific plans I have to set myself up for success, leading into the Holidays next week:

• Continue nutrition and exercise plan through Wednesday.
• A slightly longer period of fasting Wednesday going into Thursday, and also Thursday going in to Friday.
• Morning Exercise Thursday, with slightly higher volume (weight training). This will be a themed workout, Ring those Bells! Featuring Barbell Deadlifts, Kettlebell Swings, and Kettlebell Push Presses.
• Exercise on Friday, cardio. This will be a themed workout, the Jingle all the Way Holiday Trot! AKA, going for a run in the cold.
• Morning exercise on Saturday (Kettlebell Swings, Push Ups). This will be a themed workout, Answer the Bell post Holiday Jingle.

I am so excited to enjoy some family time in the upcoming week, and also staying accountable to my plan! Thanks for following along with me, see you soon!