the plan - december 2024
how I'm taking care of myself this month
The theme of this month is survival.
I’m not aiming for thriving. Rather, I want to get through this month with some level of ease and enjoyment, which means I’m aiming for consistency with a ‘less is more’ approach that can be sustained through the end of year frenzy, holiday celebrations, and weeks of travel.
Note - most of the meditations and workouts I link to are on the Peloton app. Here’s a 60 day free pass, if you’d like to try the app out for yourself.
Mindfulness
Rather than a longer meditation in the morning, I’ll be practicing these 5 minute meditations several times a day:
I’m continuing last month’s goal of writing one page a day, with the following general outline:
5 things I’m grateful for
4 people I’m thinking about (and who I will text/email/DM to reconnect)
3 things I need to get done today
2 meals I’m going to eat today
1 thing I’m going to do to take care of myself today
I do my daily planning in the mornings (versus the night before), and fill out the daily plan with the things I journaled (especially the work tasks). These are the journals I use (use HITHA25 to get 25% off), and this is my daily planner.
If you find your day got derailed, steal my ‘reset the day’ routine:
Workouts
For the first half of the month, I’m going to continue to ramp up November’s strength stack (reps):
Strength stack (plus warm up + stretch):
Week #1
Katie #1 - 22.5 lbs heavy, 12 lbs medium
Block 2 - 2 rounds of weighted side plank, 1 round of renegade rows
A frozen shoulder relief stack: Rebecca’s 5 minute neck mobility, Aditi’s 20 minute focus flow: shoulders
Katie #2 - 20 lbs heavy, 12 lbs medium
While we’re traveling, my goal is to hit 10K steps a day. If I’m able to, I’ll add this quick yoga flow and some of these bodyweight strength workouts:
Meals
I continue to log all of my meals in MyFitnessPal (the free one - no need for the paid subscription) with the same macro goals of protein (100 g) and fiber (25 g) daily.
I’m a creature of habit for breakfast:
two oat milk lattes
a Chobani less sugar fruit yogurt or Wegman’s egg bites with a bowl of Rice Krispies + 2% milk, OR
my favorite yogurt bowl (1 cup of plain Greek yogurt, 1 AFAR savory bar, and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds) - this is also a quick lunch on days I don’t have dinner leftovers
After my workout, I drink a shake (2 scoops of protein powder, 1 scoop of AG1, 1 scoop of creatine) to refuel
I tend to have last night’s dinner leftovers for lunch. This is our loose schedule (TBD are the days I bring the kids home from their activities at 5 pm, and throw together what I’m craving or whatever’s fastest):
Monday - Indian
Tuesday - TBD
Wednesday - pizza (we usually get Banza frozen pizzas, or I’ll order in from Williamsburg Pizza)
Thursday - TBD
Friday - burgers
Saturday - TBD
Sunday - pasta
Here are the recipes I’ve been making lately:
Italian skillet - 1 packet of Banza rice, 1 package of frozen riced cauliflower (cooked in microwave), 1 package of frozen broccoli florets (cooked in air fryer), 1 package of Abbot’s plant-based chicken, 1/2 cup of Carbone spicy vodka sauce
brown the ‘chicken’ and remove from pan, cook the rice in the same pan (I do 1 pack of rice in 2 cups of water or bone broth). Once rice is cooked, add the chicken and cauliflower into the pan with the sauce and season to your taste(I did salt, pepper, a lot of Calabrian chili flakes, and Indian chili powder). Add the air fried broccoli and stir, top with shredded mozzarella and put the lid on until melted.
Enchilada quinoa with Beyond fiery crumbles, served with Greek yogurt
“Chicken” tikka masala with frozen peas and carrots (I use Abbott’s plant based chicken and serve with Banza rice)
Juicy Lucy burgers with a chopped kale salad (half a bag of chopped kale, 4 chopped pickles, 1 Beecher’s cheese stick crumbled up and a dressing made with pickle juice, mayo, honey mustard, and dill, topped with Kettle chips)
What I’m listening to, reading, & watching
(coming soon!)