the plan - october 2024

my workouts, go-to meals, and mindfulness practices

It’s hard to stay on top of the most basic of health habits these days - eat enough protein and fiber, lift weights, sleep enough, manage your stress.

Here’s what I’m doing this month - my strength workouts and the progressive overload I’m planning for, the quick meals I’m whipping up, and the meditations and journal prompts that help me start and end my day well.

Note - many 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

Most days, I meditate quietly for 10-15 minutes (no guide, no mantra - I usually count each inhale and exhale, and start again once I hit 10). There are two guided meditations I’ve been really enjoying this month, from Chelsea Jackson Roberts - this happiness meditation, and this morning meditation.

I do my morning pages (3 pages filled with whatever comes to my mind). When the words aren’t flowing, I write one of these questions at the top of my page and use the space to answer them:

• How do you want today to go? Tell me everything, in detail.

• What do you see? What do you smell? What do you feel?

I know this sounds woo woo, but sometimes I’ll just sit with my pen to the paper and ask my gut “what are you telling me that I’ve been ignoring?” The words end up flowing out, and they’re often exactly what I need to read.

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Workouts

I start nearly every workout with my favorite 20ish minute flow from Neeti Narula (it’s grounding and the perfect warm up for any workout):

neeti.narula

A post shared by @neeti.narula

I aim for 3 full body strength workouts a week. If I’m up for it, I add an upper body workout - and I really should be doing more core work, but I digress. Here’s this month’s stack (I’ll update this to share the progressive overload I’m doing each week):

• 20 min full body strength

  • Week 1 - 10 lbs for medium, 17.5 lbs for heavy, hit the upper limit of reps

  • Week 2 - 10 lbs for medium, 20 lbs for heavy, hit the upper limit of reps

• 20 min arms & shoulders strength

  • Week 1 - 7 lbs for light, 10 lbs for medium (16 reps in block 1 and alternated arms in the lateral curls)

  • Week 2 - 7 lbs for light, 10 lbs for medium (maxed out my reps to 20 in block 1, and managed 2 2/3 rounds for the final AMRAP)

• 20 min 2000s full body strength

  • Week 1 - 10 lbs for medium, 17.5 lbs for heavy

  • Week 2 - skipped

  • Week 3 -

• 20 min Olivia Rodrigo full body strength

  • Week 1 - 10 lbs for medium, 15 lbs for heavy (I switched to my heavy weights for the second half of block 1)

  • Week 2 - skipped

  • Week 3 -

I try to hit 7,000 steps a day. This month, I want to get in a long yoga flow and an outdoor run once a week.

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Meals

I log all of my meals in MyFitnessPal (the free one - no need for the paid subscription), and my health coach and I review the data during our weekly calls. I focus on hitting my recommended protein (100 g) and fiber (25 g) daily, and the rest of my macros tends to settle where they need to when I hit those goals.

I’m a creature of habit for breakfast:

• two oat milk lattes

• a Chobani less sugar fruit yogurt 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).

• 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:

• One-pot cheeseburger fusilli

• Copycat zuppa toscana (I use Greek yogurt thinned out with milk instead of heavy cream)

• Egg roll in a bowl (I pair it with some white rice)

• Channa saag

• Red curry dumpling soup (I add in a pack of plant-based chicken and some rice to thicken it up)

• Tofu tikka masala

• Black bean kimchi quesadillas

• Juicy Lucy burger plates (I serve it with the bun, burger sauce, and pickles on the side to assemble the perfect bite, every time)

sunday pasta