Happy Friday everyone!! Can you guys believe we’re almost halfway through August?! I feel like it was June and then all of a sudden summer was basically over. What happened?! Although, fall is my favorite season so I’m not too upset about it. Bring on the cooler weather, pumpkin everything, and changing leaves!!
BUT we still have a few more weeks of summer left and this week’s faves post to get through! Keep reading to see some of my favorite things over the past 2 weeks!
Favorite Health/Fitness Articles
Eating Too Much? You Can Blame Your Brain by Brian St. Pierre for Precision Nutrition
The Most Effective Way to Blast Belly Fat by Ryan Wood
The Problem with “Female Specific” Training by Tony Gentilcore
3 Deadbug Variations to Challenge Your Abs by Kevin Fulton
5 Healthiest Foods (That Are Actually Making You Fat) by Jordan Syatt
The Power of Sleep by Brian St. Pierre for Precision Nutrition
“Girls” Gone Wrong by Jen Sinkler for Girls Gone Strong
Addressing the Fear of Failing at Weight Loss by Justin Kompf for Dr. Spencer
Stress: The Most Misjudged Threat to Your Health by Jade Teta for Metabolic Effect
Step Up Your Golf Game With These 8 Exercises by Chrissy Giorgetti (me!!)
Favorite Exercise
The Weighted Knee Raise ab exercise. My gym doesn’t have a captain’s chair, which you would normally do knee raises on. Instead, I set this up using the assisted chin-up/dip machine. I hold a dumbbell with my feet. I started just doing these bodyweight, and am now up to 10 lbs. My abs are one of the weakest parts of my body. It’s part of the reason I have so much lower back pain! I’ve been focusing a lot of strengthening my abs recently, and this is a great exercise to do that!!
Favorite Recipe
I sometimes don’t get home from work until close to 10pm. And all I want to do is inhale food, usually ice cream (since it’s been so hot), or something sweet. I’ve been trying to kick this habit, but I usually just end up lying in bed with my stomach growling and being hangry AF. So I decided to experiment a little bit with having a protein ice cream shake before bed. I figured this would satisfy my sweet tooth and keep me cool in my brutally hot apartment!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Wink Desserts cake batter ice cream
1 scoop About Time chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp. Hershey’s special dark cocoa
Water/ice
Enjoy Life mini dark chocolate chips
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Top with mini choco chips and enjoy!
I’m still working on tweaking this recipe. I used water in mine, and it was a little too watered down so I might try coconut water next. I like experimenting with what I can put in my nutribullet! Also, definitely check out Wink Desserts ice cream if you’re an ice cream freak like I am. It’s definitely not good enough to just spoon out of the container, but works perfectly for blended protein shakes!
Favorite Activities
Two weeks ago, I went up to my roommate Jenny’s lake house in Rindge, NH to celebrate her birthday! It was the first time I’ve been able to go in the 2ish years we’ve lived together and I had such a good time! It’s so nice to get out of the sweltering city on the weekends and relax. We swam in the lake, took a boat ride, ate a lot of great food, played lots of games, drank lots of Spiked Seltzer (my fave!), and ended the night with a bonfire. The sunset was absolutely beautiful!
Last weekend I was on the Cape with my family. Tim had been down there for the whole week before with his family, and I got to see them before they left on Saturday. And I got to see Sophie too!! It ended up being a beautiful weekend, even though the weather was predicting rain! We spent both Saturday and Sunday relaxing on the beach.
Currently Reading
So I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child twice! I spent most of Sunday, July 31 (HBD Harry) finishing my first read-through, then I read it again, slower, over the next few days. That’s how I always read the HP books when they first came out….once in one day and then again slower. I have to say I was slightly disappointed! I think it would have been much better as a novel, rather than a copy of the script. If you haven’t read it yet and are thinking about reading it, definitely go in with an open mind. It’s NOTHING like the books we know and love. I do think anyone who’s a HP fan should read it! It’s cool to see where all the characters ended up. Side note: I couldn’t wait to get a physical copy so I ordered the digital one to my kindle so I could read it RIGHT AWAY lmao!
Currently Watching
Obviously I’ve been super into the Summer Olympics! I’m obsessed with the USA Women’s Gymnastics Team!! They are so amazing.
Bachelor in Paradise has also started and so far it’s been….meh. Hopefully it picks up soon! I can’t wait to see who couples up and ends up engaged!
I also FINALLY started Scandal on Netflix and while I’m only like 8 episodes in, I’m already obsessed. No idea why it took me so long to start watching it!!
Client Spotlight
My amazing client Jill has seriously been killing it! I got this message from her last weekend:
I love getting messages like this. With online clients, I sometimes feel so out of the loop, even though we talk very often. When I train someone in person, I’m actually seeing them do the work, and I’m seeing their results much more than I am with online clients. It’s hard sometimes, because I always want to be so involved! I know Jill has been working so hard and getting her workouts in each week while working a full time job, planning her wedding, taking care of her 2 dogs, and enjoying time with her fiancé on their boat! Her diet has been on point and she still gets to enjoy food that she loves and we were even able to fit alcohol into her plan! We don’t use any supplements besides protein powder. She’s not on any crash diet. She’s not doing any cleanses. She’s putting in REAL, HARD work and the results speak for themselves. She hit and then passed her goal weight, has been dropping fat like crazy, and getting stronger every week. I always tell my clients not to worry too much about the scale, and to use things like progress pictures and clothing to determine results. This message proves that-she’s wearing an outfit that was too small for her last year! So amazing!! Keep up the great work, Jill, and I can’t wait to see you next weekend!!
My Own Progress Photos
Keeping up the tradition of taking progress pics of myself every 2 months. I don’t post these anywhere else, so the only people that get to see these are my blog readers!
So from left to right on each photo, it goes April –> June –> August. Ironically, summertime is usually when my body looks the worst (in my opinion). This is often due to the fact that I am MUCH more lenient with my diet during the summer. I indulge in things like froyo and alcohol a lot more often than usual. And there’s always BBQs and dinner outings with family and friends. So, while my weight has stayed pretty much the same, fluctuating between 113-115, I’m definitely feeling and looking a little “fluffier”. I will say, though, that my glutes and quads have grown significantly which I am THRILLED about!!
I am competing this fall, probably in November. I have been toying around with dropping to the 105 class. Last year, I weighed 108 on the platform, and that was without doing a cut at all. So, I think if I start cutting in September, I should be able to hit 105 easily. But, we’ll see. If I find that my strength is dropping too much I won’t do it and will just compete 114 as usual. I’m planning on testing my maxes in the last week of August, so keep an eye out for those numbers!
Have a great weekend everyone! Check back in 2 weeks for another life update 🙂
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