Wrapping up a 2 week Pre-Summer Health and Fitness Reset!

Program Summary

This post is a summary of a 2 week experiment I am trying to help reset my health and fitness habits and routine before summer. Features of the program include daily exercise, a vegetarian keto eating plan, and intermittent fasting. For more details on my plan and also a list of foods I will be avoiding, please take a look at my previous blog post for the introduction and week 1 summary.

Video Summary

Here is a quick video to summarize this program, with special emphasis on how my multi day fast went.

Top Tips

I have some great tips to offer based on my experience with this plan! Take a look below:

1. If you are watching what you eat in any way shape or form, make a plan before you go out to eat. It is possible to find something for any dietary needs or choices, but you do need to make a plan in advance. Look at the menu of the restaurant you would like to go to, and also the nutrition facts if they are available. Do not be afraid to ask questions or make special requests when you order.
2. Choose real food. By eliminating 3 highly processed ingredients as part of my plan (sugar, processed oil, grain), I was left with more wholesome, real, unprocessed food options.
3. Exercise Outside! Doing some of your exercise outside, especially during summer just makes you feel better, it’s fun, plus you get some natural vitamin D production!

Week 2 Meals and Fasting

June 8

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 8 am: Bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and coconut oil)

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: Coleslaw made with veggie slaw mix, avocado mayo, sriracha sauce, salt and pepper, apple cider vinegar. Olives and sliced cheddar, mixed nuts.

Fasting Window: 14 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 9

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 2 fried eggs topped with cheddar cheese, coleslaw with sliced avocado on top. Mixed nut butter with coconut flakes and hemp hearts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

June 10

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 9 am: Bulletproof coffee

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 2 pm: Coleslaw with sliced avocado, 2 fried eggs with cheddar cheese and diced tomatoes. Mixed nut butter with coconut flakes and hemp hearts.

Fasting Window: 15 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 11

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 2 egg omelet with cheddar cheese, with sliced avocado and diced tomatoes on top. Mixed nut butter with coconut flakes and hemp hearts.

Fasting Window: 28 hours

June 12

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 12 noon: Chicken kabobs, steak, cheese, Coleslaw.

Around 6 pm: Chicken kabobs, marinated olive and cheese.

*did have meat, and 2 scotches today, so a little out of compliance for my plan.

Fasting window: 19 hours

June 13

Morning: Black Coffee, water

During the day: Water, iced coffee, “fasting margarita” (fresh lime juice, salt, water, ice).

Around 5:30 pm: Quick broth made with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder, water.

Fasting window: All day.

June 14

Morning: Black Coffee, water.

During the day: Water, green tea, ice coffee, fasting margaritas.

Around 5:30 pm: Quick broth made with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder, water.

Final Fasting window: 60 hours. Bulletproof Coffee Tuesday morning June 15.

Week 2 Exercise

June 8

Total Gym Row- 12,13,14

Ab Wheel Roll Out- 10,10,10

Reverse Crunch- 10,10,10

Pull Up- 5,7,7

Kettlebell Swing- 53 lb 14,15,15

Stretching and foam roll.

June 9

4.9 mile run, no stops, 48:00 minutes.

*note about my run loop, the distance is what my phone tells me. When I time, I know the distance is the same, even if my phone is not correct on the exact number.

Stretching and foam roll.

June 10

Deadlift- 135x 5, 155x 5, 205x 5, 225 x 3,3

Pushup- 14, 12, 13

Hang leg raise- 10,10,10

Dip- 5, 6, 7, 8

June 11

4.9 mile run, no stops, 48:06 minutes.

Stretching and foam roll.

June 12

Stretching, foam roll, active rest.

June 13

Morning run, around 3.5 miles.

Yard work, about an hour.

June 14

Morning walk, 50 minutes, about 2.5 miles. Stretching and foam roll.

I chose a walk for today to try and give myself the best chance to keep my fast going. For me, weight lifting tends to make me hungry soon after.

Program Before and After

Before (Photo)

After (Photo)

Weight Before: 207.2 pounds

*Weight before was taken immediately after a weekend away with lots of treats and little exercise. This being the case, the number is slightly higher than typical for me, baseline is more like 200 pounds.

Weight After: 196.0

*I did take a weight at the mid-point of my plan, as well as the end, mid-point was 200. I add this to point out that the majority of weight lost was before the multi-day fast, and likely due to cutting out the junk after a weekend away. A multi-day fast will likely result in some weight lost, but there are many other potential health benefits associated.

This is purely my opinion, but if weight loss is a primary goal, starting by keeping food journals is a more sustainable approach than jumping in to a multi-day fast. Someone accustomed to eating 3-5 (or more) times per day and/or consuming processed food will not have built the metabolic flexibility to be successful or have a pleasant/sustainable intermittent or multi-day fasting experience. Once again, check out Dr. Jason Fung for more information and science behind all things fasting.

Waist Circumference Before: 4th belt loop. This is my own measure, no tape needed. 3rd belt loop is not good, 4th belt loop is ok, 5th is better.

Waist Circumference After: 5th belt loop.

Program Compliance Grade

I’ll give myself a solid 90% grade for this 2 week program. Given I can count the days I slipped up on 2 fingers, I’d say I did very well. The multi day fast was a significant achievement, and a great learning experience.

What is Next??

Well, first I plan to enjoy family vacation! I am going to make myself a plan to include some intermittent fasting, body weight exercise, running, and stretching as part of the week. Of course, I will be having some treats, but I do feel coming off this plan will keep moderation.

I will be looking for inspiration for future experiments which I can turn into blog posts or series and share with you. Until next time!

My Plan for a Quick Pre-Summer Health tune up

Why a Pre-Summer tune up?

I am choosing to identify a block of time to lock in some healthy habits and patterns related to nutrition and exercise. Periodically, it can be beneficial to identify some time to do this, especially if you find that the business of life is starting to dictate some of your choices related to your health and fitness routine, rather than you choosing your own priorities. Why 2 weeks? For me, I have 2 weeks before our family vacation, and a want a little bit more flexibility to have some treats on the vacation, while still getting benefits of this plan. For me, 2 weeks is a manageable amount of time set some positive patterns.

Additionally, I have been noticing that my nutrition is not as dialed in as I would like it to be. Reaching for some snacks, maybe a weekday drink or two…we’ve all been there, right? There are a lot of excuses or potential reasons why I have seen some slippage in this area, for me I’d say mostly work has been very stressful. At the end of the day, I am responsible for my health and wellbeing regardless of any circumstances or excuses (valid or not), that I may have. I see this is a great opportunity to get my routines back on track before the summer.

What is the plan?

Based on some of my previous experiments with different nutrition plans, I am going to try to weeks of a vegetarian keto diet plan, with intermittent fasting. Vegetarian can still include eggs and full fat dairy, and I am interested in the challenge of not eating meat for a small window of time. The way I have done keto is moderate protein, so not eating meat might make this macro-nutrient number a little bit easier to reach. For those not familiar, keto diet plans mean very low carb, moderate protein, and high fat. Please see my previous blog post if you want to see how this plan went for me previously.

Will I be counting calories or macros? I will not. I am going to draw from my previous experience and “eye ball” portions, and macros. My main focus is going to be elimination of certain food groups during this 2 week period. Counting marco-nutrients and measuring portions can have its place, it is just not going to be part of my current plan. When eating real food and cutting grain and sugar, I’ve found portions to be more intuitive.

Dates will be June 1- June 15. At the time of posting, I have already completed one week.

For my fasting protocol, most days will include a 16-18 hour fasting window, some more, some less. Additionally, since I have been working on fasting for a while and have some experience, I want to include one 48 hour fasting period in my two week plan. Fasting is allowing for only black coffee, unsweet tea, water, and salt, nothing with significant calories (black coffee has a few calories, but does not break a fast). Please note, what I plan on doing is not a zero to hero guide to intermittent fasting. If you want to start at the beginning, do some research, and maybe try this:

1. Stop eating at 6 pm, have only water after 6 pm.
2. Do not eat a meal until 6 am the next morning, have only water or black coffee if you are up early.
3. You have just fasted 12 hours!

This may seem basic, but late night snacks, and caloric beverages at night will torpedo your intermittent fasting. What has worked for me is to try the approach above, and continue to push out the time of day to eat my first meal. Hydration (with water) and sometimes supplementing salt can be very important to success in this area. For more information about fasting, google search Dr. Jason Fung.

What is not allowed?

Aside from what I will be including in my plan (keto and intermittent fasting), I am going to give myself a strict list of food and drinks that are not allowed as part of my reset, to help break up any patterns I want to change.

Not allowed:

1. Meat (hence vegetarian)
2. Processed seed oils (vegetable oil)
3. Processed or added sugar
4. Grain
5. Artificial sweeteners
6. Alcohol

I find that creating categories of food or ingredients that are not allowed makes guidelines easier to follow. For example, grains and processed oils eliminate thousands of different junk snack foods. Rather than bullet listing all the different junk food I am not allowing, I can read the ingredients list to see if any of my food categories on the naughty list are contained. For more information on decoding food labels and finding problematic ingredients, please take a look at my previous post on the topic.

Exercise Plan

My plan for exercise is going to have some flexibility, but also some routine that I will hold myself to during this 2 week program. Here are some guidelines I will set for myself, while following training logs:

1. Weight training, at least twice per week.
2. Run/jog, twice per week.
3. Planned exercise, 5 times per week.
4. Days with no planed exercise, move or stretch.
5. Exercise outside, at least twice per week.
6. Daily stretching and/or foam roll.

Program Goals

Given that this is a very short program, I do not have any weight loss or fitness goals. My goals for the program are as follows:

1. As close to 100% compliance as possible to food guidelines.

2. Exercise or move daily.

This is a program about discipline every bit as much as it is health and fitness for me.

Stats to track

I will track certain markers to see any notable changes or progress during my two week plan. Here are before stats:

Photo

Waist circumference

4th belt loop (my own measurement, 3rd not good 4th ok, 5 ideal).

Weight

207.2 pounds, taken post morning walk. Also of note, at the time of the photo I was just coming off weekend away with lots of indulgence and little exercise.

Best Run

4.9 miles, 51 minutes total.

Week 1

Summary [Video]

Here is a video summary of the program outline, and how week 1 went for me.

Tip of the week

If you are going out to eat, make a plan. Look at the menu in advance and see what meets your personal dietary guidelines. Some restaurants have nutrition facts available online as well. My only deviation from my dietary guidelines was because I didn’t make a plan before going out to eat.

Meal Logs and Fasting

June 1

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 4 fried eggs topped with cheddar cheese, avocado 🥑 and diced tomatoes. Roasted seaweed. Macadamia nuts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

June 2

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 8 am: Bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and coconut oil)

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 4 scrambled eggs with cheese, diced tomatoes. Avocado with sliced olives. Seaweed snack. Coconut flakes.

Fasting Window: 14 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 3

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 4 fried eggs topped with cheddar cheese, avocado 🥑 and diced tomatoes. Roasted seaweed. Macadamia nuts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

June 4

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 8 am: Bulletproof coffee

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: Keto bowl with mixed nut butter, coconut oil, coconut flakes, hemp hearts, and salt. Macadamia nuts. Diced avocado. Roasted seaweed.

Fasting Window: 14 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 5

Morning: Coffee, green tea, water 💧

Around 12 noon: Bowl of tomato soup, wedge salad with blue cheese while dining out.

Note: I had a bit of a keto fail with the soup, because I definitely tasted sugar in it. Next time, I’ll ask, or look up nutrition facts online if available. Also, the salad came with bacon, so not vegetarian today.

Around 4 pm: Coconut flakes. Olives, pickle, cheddar cheese 🧀

Fasting window: 18 hours

June 6

Morning: Coffee, water.

Mid morning: Lots of water, ice coffee, seltzer.

Around 1 pm: Guacamole made with avocado, garlic, dice tomato, jalapeños, salt and pepper. Cheddar cheese, Olives, pickles. Macadamia nuts.

Around 5:00 pm: Sliced mozzarella cheese with tomato 🍅, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fasting window: 20 hours

June 7

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: Sliced mozzarella with tomato, avocado, and olives. Roasted seaweed. Mixed nuts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

Training Log

June 1

Morning: Foam roll, 50 minutes of walking, around 2.5 miles.

June 2

Pull up 5,7,8

Total Gym row 10, 12, 12

Lots of stretching and foam roll due to sore right hip flexor.

June 3

Morning: Foam roll, 50 minutes of walking, around 2.5 miles.

*Did not run due to tight hip flexor.

June 4

Push up- 13,14,13

Deadlift- 135×5, 155×5, 205×5

Dip- 6, 9, 7

Stretching and foam roll

June 5

30 minutes weed whacking outdoors, stretching.

June 6

Morning: Run, unknown distance, a little over 1 hour.

Mid morning: Mow lawn, around 1 hour. Stretching and foam roll.

June 7

Morning: Foam roll, 50 minutes of walking, around 2.5 miles.

Compliance Grade for Week 1

I’m going to give myself a solid 95% compliance to my plan, my only slip up being going out to eat with no plan on Saturday June 5. Other than that, all meals met my guidelines. Additionally, my fasting was on point, and I had variation to the fasting window over the week. I was able to exercise or move daily, and meet all exercise guidelines I set. This is very encouraging, I’m excited for one more week!

Looking Ahead to Week 2!

One more week to dial in before it is family vacation! I do want to stay motivated to finish my program strong, and also make myself a plan for vacation so I can keep some of the nutrition and exercise momentum strong on our get away. I want to come back from vacation feeling more relaxed and generally better than when I left, so I will need to make a plan to not overdo the treats, stay hydrated, and get plenty of sleep and rest.

Additionally, I will make a plan for my 48 hour fast during week 2. Initially, I am thinking about targeting the weekend, and complete my extended fast towards the end of the program. Cheers, see you next week!

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How to Make Coffee to Super Charge Your Day, Hold the Sugar

What is Bullet Proof Coffee?

It is important to note that Bulletproof Coffee is a brand, which manufactures and distributes coffee and other health focused products. This company/brand came up with the concept for the drink “Bulletproof Coffee”. Bulletproof Coffee (the drink) is a high fat, sugar free coffee drink which has become popular in some health and fitness circles for its potential benefits. The basic formula to make this drink yourself is to combine brewed coffee with grass fed butter, and medium chain triglyceride (MTC) oil.

Start with the Coffee

Any good Bulletproof coffee starts with, you guessed it, good coffee. I will be framing out this recipe the way I make it, but any coffee or brewing method can be used.

1. Grind your coffee beans. Grind yourself some whole coffee beans, either for a brewing pot or individual cup. Fresh ground coffee always tastes better, in my opinion.
2. Use clean water. The quality of your coffee beans and water will contribute to the quality and taste of your coffee. Some type of filtration for your water is necessary, do not just use tap water to make your coffee.
3. Prepare your grass fed butter and MCT oil. An easy and affordable source of MCT oil is Coconut oil. When purchasing Coconut oil, look for virgin, unrefined coconut oil. Refined coconut oils may have their structure altered due to heat used in processing, and you will find they do not have the same smell and taste of coconut. I use one tablespoon of each for 1 standard cup of coffee, placed in the cup so the drip coffee melts both during brewing.

4. Add sea salt. I like to add sea salt (a few pinches) for flavor and electrolytes. Optional at this step, you could add spices like cinnamon for flavor.

5. Combine all ingredients. For this step, use a milk frother (a few types pictured below) or a blender. This is important to whip the drink and combine the MCT oil and melted butter into the coffee. If you do not take this step, you will end up with a butter oil slick on top of your coffee, which is not very appetizing. I usually spend about a minute on this step.

Compare to other Coffee Drinks

Nutrition facts for the drink you just made are (approximately):

• 230 calories
• 0 grams protein
• 0 grams sugar
• 25 grams fat

Compare to nutrition facts of a coffee drink you may order from a chain:

• 410 calories
• 12 grams protein
• 49 grams sugar
• 13 grams fat

(The above sample is for a small)

Why Bulletproof Coffee?

Drinking a bulletproof coffee may provide you more sustained energy, and help you feel satiated (full) throughout the morning. This is due to the combination of good quality fats with coffee, and no sugar. The standard cappuccino drink or coffee with cream and sugar is going to trigger an increase in blood sugar and an insulin response, which will actually make you hungry in a few hours.

If you are going to try bulletproof coffee, based on my experience I recommend trying it as a stand alone drink. So, substitute this drink for your usual morning coffee, and don’t eat breakfast for a few hours. If you combine a bulletproof coffee with a meal containing carbohydrates, you will likely get a similar result to the sugar coffee drink.

Can I add Artificial Sweetener?

This is your discretion, there are pros and cons to adding artificial sweeteners. Personally, I prefer to make this a savory drink rather than a sweet one, but everyone’s taste preferences are different. The pro to artificial sweetener is it makes the drink more palatable for some. Potential cons include putting an artificial ingredient into your body, and also that artificial sweeteners can trigger an insulin response in your body.

Give it a try!

I hope this guide and recipe for Bulletproof coffee is helpful, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Week 3 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 Healthy Holiday plan, please see my previous post.

Challenges This Week

Idle time was a challenge this week. This came in the form of time off of work, unstructured time. I find that whenever I have time off, if I am not careful to plan my routine, treats tend find their way in to the daily routine. At the start of the week, I made a plan to continue my exercise routine, and did my usual meal prep as if it were a work week. I also took an inventory of some household tasks and errands that could be accomplished during my time off, to add additional structure to my days leading in to the Holidays.

Tip of the Week

Don’t forget to hydrate! Even during the winter months when it is cold, if you are exercising or clearing snow outside, you still need to hydrate. It may not seem intuitive to hydrate when it is cold outside, but you still sweat and lose fluid through breathing the same way you do during the summer. Build in hydration breaks, and also have some water after you finish your exercise or snow clean up.

Hydration is important with any nutrition plan, but especially with intermittent fasting. Your body will sometimes send signals that indicate hunger, when actually you are thirsty and just need some water. And when I say hydration, I mean pure, clean water…you can have other beverages during the day, but the majority of your fluid intake should be water. Here is a helpful previous post on Hydration.

My Strategies for Healthy Holidays

As a reminder from week 2, I made myself some specific plans and strategies to keep myself on track this week. Here they are:

• 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.

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: A few random sets of pull ups, push ups, dips (in between present wrapping and house chores), around 1 mile walk, stretch and foam roll.

Food and Drink

Morning: Black Coffee and water.

Around 8:30 am: Bulletproof Coffee.

During afternoon: 1 stout beer, 2 scotches.

Around 6:30 pm: Beef rib roast, mashed potatoes, roast vegetables.

Monday

Exercise: Nordic Track, 60 minutes, 3.53 miles, using “ski poles”.

Food and Drink

Morning: Black coffee, water.

Around 11 am: Black coffee.

Around 1 pm: Spicy Coleslaw Spicy coleslaw made with slaw mix, olives, chopped garlic, hot pepper, dressed with salt, pepper, avocado mayo, apple cider vinegar, sriracha sauce; pepperoni.

Around 5 pm: Ginger tea and water.

Tuesday

Exercise: Weight training. Pull up 6,7,7,6,5; Dip 7,8,9,8,7; Push up 10,9,8,8,7; Total Gym row 12,12,12,12,10; Ab wheel roll 10,10,10,10,10; Kettlebell Swing 53 lbs 12,15,15,15

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: Black coffee, water.

Around 9 am: Bulletproof coffee.

Around 1 pm: Spicy Coleslaw Spicy coleslaw made with slaw mix, olives, chopped garlic, hot pepper, dressed with salt, pepper, avocado mayo, apple cider vinegar, sriracha sauce; pork rinds; beef jerky stick.

Around 5 pm: Ginger tea and water.

Wednesday

Exercise: Nordic Track, 60 minutes, 3.60 miles, using “ski poles”.

Food and Drink

Morning: Black coffee, water.

Around 8 am: Black Iced coffee.

Around 9:30 am: Beef jerky stick, pork rinds, 10 olives, cheddar cheese 🧀.

Around 12:30 pm: Cold brew coffee, 2 spoons coconut oil.

Around 5:30 pm: Ginger tea.

Thursday

Exercise: “Ring the Bells!” Deadlifts-205: 3, 225: 3,3; Double Kettlebell Push Press 35s: 10, 44s: 6,7,7,7; 2 Hand Kettlebell Swing 72: 5,6,7,7,7; Hanging Leg Raise 10,10,10,10,10

*I performed the exercises in the order above after warming up on the Deadlift, taking very little rest in between exercises (a few minutes before each Deadlift set), probably about 40-45 minutes total time.

Friday

Exercise: “Jingle all the way Holiday Trot”, around 5 mile outdoor run, around an hour total time. The main challenge of this run was rain, rather than cold…it was in the 50’s and raining on Christmas Day.

*Saturday is posting day.

Included Saturday was a morning themed workout “Answer the Bell”. I needed to adjust this workout, I was a bit sore due to my run (I hadn’t run in over a month). I turned this “workout” into stretch, foam rolling, and walking.

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 3:

1. Sugar, Grain, Alcohol were treats only outside Holidays. I was particularly happy that I stuck to this plan Monday- Wednesday, especially being off work and having lots of access to snacks and drinks.
2. Weight on Thursday (due to Friday travel was) 193.2 pounds, which is about half a pound lighter than last week. I’m not counting calories, but I suspect I’ve been operating at a deficit on my intermittent fasting days. That, combined with limited treats and my exercise routine are logical contributing factors to lower scale weight. Also, 5th belt loop, so waist circumference is staying steady.
3. I met my goal of three 60 minute cardio sessions this week!
4. I assured that each weight training day featured a kettlebell, and/or a barbell exercise, and added themed workouts for extra motivation!
5. I wore blue light glasses every light at least 1 hour before bed, and was able to log 2 days of 7 hours of sleep. I also grabbed a few naps during the week due to time off.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

Next week has 1 Holiday, New Years Eve! I personally do not treat New Years day like a Holiday when it comes to eat, drink, and be merry…more like a day of reflection and planning for the upcoming year. It will be important for me to dial my nutrition plan back in after the recent Holidays to close 2020 on a high note!

Next week’s post will be a wrap up/summary of the entire Holiday season from November 9- January 1. This will be an opportunity to see how accountable I stayed to my plan, and also share my top tips for Healthy Holidays. For context, I’ll give you a window into my stats from January 1, 2020, when I did not make a plan.

Thanks for following along, see you in 2021!