the plan - january 2025

how I'm taking care of myself this month

I’m going to urge you to resist the typical January themes of “new year, new you!” or “start the year strong.”

Because you’re great as you are, and you’re pretty damn strong (you survived 2024, after all). And if you need a goal setting guide,

Layla Shaikley

wrote a superb one.

My theme for this month is ease. Rather than attempting new habits or setting immediate, lofty goals, I’m focused on maintaining the habits I’ve established this year, with imperfect consistency.

In an effort to help others do the same, I’ll be hosting a daily accountability check-in for paid subscribers. I’m extending the 50% discount for annual subscribers through the month - if this is something you find valuable, I’d be grateful for your upgrade!

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.

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Mindfulness

I’ve been practicing unguided meditations over the past couple of weeks, and I want to continue them this month. But there are some days when I need to be guided, and I’ll be revisiting these favorites:

• Aditi’s morning meditation

• Chelsea’s breathing meditation

A manifestation practice I did 6 years ago was to write the 3 things I was manifesting at the top of each planner page, before I wrote down anything else. A few days ago, I scribbled down some bullet points of what I wanted to manifest, and highlighted a few and wrote them out as “I am” statements, as if they’ve already happened.

I plan to start every morning pages with these statements, and have copied them into my Notes app to review when I need a reminder of what I’m working towards.

I also want to continue this general pattern for journaling:

• writing down what I was observing and feeling in that moment

• listing what I wanted to complete that day (or writing out how I wanted the day to go)

• a gratitude list

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 am very excited to get back to my usual workout routine. My goal is to lift 3 times a week, cardio 3 times a week (1 HIIT session, 2 endurance cardio sessions), and practice yoga once a week. I’m adding a core session to each workout this month.

Strength stack (plus warm up + stretch):

• Katie’s 30 minute full body strength

• Selena’s 30 minute full body strength

• Tunde’s 30 minute full body strength

I’ll be alternating between these core workouts:

• Katie’s 5 minute core

• Selena’s 5 minute core

I’ll be updating this section daily, sharing my progressive overload plan as I complete each workout.

Week #1

• Selena strength workout - 12 lbs medium, 17.5 lbs heavy (though I dropped down to 1 weight for the single leg lunge thrusters)

• Matty’s 20 minute Broadway walk (excellent, but the inclines will destroy your quads and glutes after the Selena workout the day before)

• Katie strength workout - 12 lbs medium, 20 lbs heavy (had to do the lower end of the rep range and modify my side plank)

• Kendall’s 20 minute & 10 minute low impact rides

• Tunde strength workout - 12 lbs medium, 20 lbs heavy (did the push ups on my knees)

Week #2

• Selena strength workout - 10 lbs medium, 15 lbs heavy (I was just getting over a stomach bug and the weights I used last week nearly killed me)

• Robin’s 30 minute low impact ride (this was basically a karaoke class, I loved it)

• Katie strength workout - 12 lbs medium, 20 & 22.5 lbs heavy

  • Block 1 - 4 rounds with 20 lbs, 3 rounds with 22.5 lbs

  • Block 2 - first round with 20 lbs & 12 reps, second & third rounds with 22.5 lbs and 10 reps

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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’ve wrapped up my health coaching with BBR (highly recommend, if you need some support to establish a routine!), but my husband and I share our logs with each other to help with accountability. I’ll also be sharing in the accountability group, for paid subscribers.

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

• After my workout, I drink a shake (2 scoops of protein powder, 1 scoop of AG1, 1 scoop of creatine) to refuel

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
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

I plan to use the Forest app more aggressively, all day, to stay off my phone and keep my brain off the dopamine roller coaster. Instead of scrolling, this is how I plan to spend my leisure time:

Reading

• The Nightfire Quartet by Nisha J. Tuli

• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Watching

• Lioness (Paramount+)

• The Way Home (Hallmark Channel)

• Mr. Plankton (Netflix)

Listening (more music, fewer podcasts)

• Vitamin String Quartet - specifically, these albums:

  • Fall Out Boy: A Brief History Of…Vol. 1

  • Paramore

  • Taylor Swift

• Superhuman activations - these audio activations combine gentle affirmations with music for whatever you’re doing or need (different moods, seated vs. anytime vs. walks). The more I listen to them, the better I am for it. You can get a 60 day free trial using code hitha (applicable when you sign up for an account directly, not through a 3rd party).