the plan - february 2025

how I'm taking care of myself this month

I lost my momentum in the second half of January Rather than pause and re-evaluate, I beat myself up over it, spiraled into an anxiety spell, and have started the slow climb back to a steady state.

As I reset my habits and routines, my steady state also needs to be reset for where I am right now, and not to a standard that I can’t sustain. That means shorter meditations, journaling just one page, and reverting to 20 minute strength workouts and lots of walks (even if they’re just on my treadmill while I watch a brain candy show).

In an effort to help others do the same, I’ll be hosting a daily accountability check-in for paid subscribers. If this is something you find valuable, I’d be grateful for your upgrade!

Note - the 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.

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Mindfulness

I’m continuing unguided meditations, counting my breaths (inhale on 1, exhale on 2) until I get to 10, and starting back at 1. I repeat as many times as feels right to me.

I’m continuing my manifestation journaling (writing down 6 goals or mindsets as if they’ve already happened, like “I am living my most fulfilled life. I flow through my days with focus and ease”). If time and energy permits, I’ll keep going and write what feels good - a stream-of-consciousness, an ideal day, a gratitude list, or a combination of all three.

After I finish journaling, I add the tasks of the day to my planner and adjust the various work blocks on my calendar app. These are the journals I use (use HITHA25 to get 25% off), and this is my daily planner.

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Workouts

I might have been overly ambitious when I selected 30 minute strength workouts last month. I’m paring them back to 20 minute workouts and adding an extra day of strength.

Strength stack (plus warm up + stretch):

• Katie’s 20 minute full body strength

• Selena’s 20 minute arms & shoulders strength

• Callie’s 20 minute full body strength

• Katie’s 20 minute pop punk arms & shoulders

• Bonus workout - Selena’s Fourth Wing-inspired bootcamp

Week #1

• Katie’s full body workout - 12 lbs for my medium weights, 22.5 lbs for my heavy weights

• Selena’s arm & shoulders - 10 lb weights, got through 4 rounds on the AMRAP

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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 still a stickler for my usual breakfast, with a small tweak:

• an oat milk latte and an oat milk matcha

• 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

• I take two creatine gummies before and after my workout (a total of 4), and drink water with aminos during. After my workout, I drink a shake (2 scoops of protein powder, 1 scoop of AG1)

I used to spend a few hours on Sunday prepping all our meals for the week. I want to bring back these sessions on Sunday afternoons, with the goal of prepping the following for easy-to-assemble lunches - a grain, a protein, and veggies. I also want to have 2 dinners ready to be cooked, and 2 fully cooked.

My husband selects the menu on our Skylight calendar and handles the grocery shopping from this menu (checking what we have on hand and ordering what we need). This is our general dinner schedule:

Monday - Indian
Tuesday - a precooked meal (I prep it during my lunch break)
Wednesday - pizza (either naan pizzas or Banza frozen pizzas, or ordering in)
Thursday - another precooked meal
Friday - burgers
Saturday - dining out or takeout
Sunday - pasta

Here are our go-to recipes (I take out a portion for the kids after seasoning the meal lightly)

• Indian:

  • “Chicken” tikka masala with frozen peas and carrots (I use Abbott’s plant based chicken and serve with Banza rice)

  • Channa saag (I serve with mini naan or rice)

  • Kitchari (a great Instant Pot recipe, serve with Greek yogurt for extra protein)

• Pre-cooked meals:

  • Italian skillet

  • Enchilada quinoa with Beyond fiery crumbles, served with Greek yogurt

  • Tofu pad krapow

• Ready-to-cook meals:

  • Broccoli cottage cheese pancakes

  • Kimchi black bean quesadillas (our kids have bean & cheese quesadillas instead)

  • One-skillet sausage and mushroom cassoulet (I use Beyond Meat sausage)

• 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)

sunday pasta

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Fun Things

Here’s what I’ve been enjoying lately:

Treating myself to a weekly flower delivery from Botanical Brothers - $45 for long lasting blooms that brighten up my space (and super flexible to skip or cancel).

Reading

I’m in my comfort re-reads era, and have been revisiting Alexa Martin’s Playbook series, Nisha Sharma’s Shakespeare Aunties trilogy, and basically everything Abby Jimenez has written (I loved her newest short story!)

Watching

• Ghosts (absolutely delightful)

• The Big Bang Theory

Listening

I’ve had frequency playlists playing nonstop lately. Here are some of my favorites:

• 417 Hz - for focus & concentration

• Vagus Nerve Stimulation 528 Hz

• 528 Hz - sleep & DNA repair