Hello and Happy Friday!!! It’s been a few weeks since my last update…I skipped last week due to Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great and relaxing holiday weekend with family and friends. I have so much to be thankful for, especially everyone who reads this blog! A very big thank you to all of you! I couldn’t do it without ya 🙂
I have lots of exciting updates so keep reading!
Favorite Health and Fitness Articles
The Fit Person Who’s “Got It All Together”….Doesn’t by Krista Scott-Dixon
Stop Telling Women to Embrace Their Flaws by Nia Shanks
Women’s Powerlifting Roundtable: Building a 300lb Deadlift by Tony Bonvechio
Settling the Great Grain Debate by Brian St. Pierre
Changing Your Life is Not a 45 Day Challenge by Pete Hitzeman
Complete Guide to Training the Female Athlete by Tony Gentilcore
6 Reasons You Should Care About Your Poop Health by MC Schraefel and Krista Scott-Dixon
101 Silver Strength Bullets to Burn Fat Fast by Jordan Syatt
How To Quit Weekend Overeating by Krista Scott-Dixon
Keeping Holiday Stress Under Wraps by Chrissy Giorgetti (me!)
Favorite Exercise
Weighted Planks. I know there is some disagreement between fitness professionals about these, but I have been loving them lately. The past few months I’ve been doing some sort of plank variation 2-3 times per week. One of my goals is to have a strong core, because I have back issues and I know increasing strength in my core will help. This month I wanted to add weighted planks since I had been doing long-lever low-tension planks for 2 months prior. It was a whole new challenge and I am a big fan! Check out the video linked above for how I set-up the weighted plank! I usually do 3 reps of 20 seconds each with 25lbs.
Favorite Recipe
For Thanksgiving, my mom made a new squash side dish. Instead of doing mashed squash like we usually have, she did cubed squash with spinach and dried cranberries. It was really good, so I wanted to try to make it myself for dinner this week. I changed it up a bit-I added quinoa and kale so I could get some protein in there. I basically steamed the spinach and kale with olive oil, salt, and pepper, cooked the quinoa per instructions on the box, and cooked the squash in the oven. Mixed it all together and it was great! It’s a quick and easy evening meal that can be made. I bet you could even add chicken or turkey to it! Definitely going to be on repeat…I unfortunately don’t have a picture, but next time I make it I will be sure to post one!
Also, this isn’t a recipe but check out the cute cheese plate turkey I made for Thanksgiving!
Currently Reading
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Original Screenplay. My dad bought this for me before I went to the movie last week…but I didn’t want to read it until after I saw the movie! Since it’s the screenplay, I didn’t want any surprises ruined. I’m about halfway through! I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of screenplay-style writing, but it definitely helps that I’ve already seen the movie. Unlike with the Cursed Child play, I can picture the scenes and the characters that are being described.
Currently Netflixing
Still working through Gilmore Girls…I want to watch the revival so badly! But I need to finish the originals first. I’m about halfway through season 6, so just one and a half more to go! I have been avidly avoiding spoilers, so hopefully I can keep that up until I finish.
I also mentioned that I saw Fantastic Beasts last week. It. Was. Amazing. I was seriously so impressed! I can’t wait for the next ones. I’m just so happy to be back in the Harry Potter universe!
Favorite Activities
Thanksgiving weekend is always packed full of activities for me! While I love enjoying spending time with my family, I often feel like I didn’t get a chance to relax at all-and it was the same this year! My parents host Thanksgiving every year, so Thursday was spent at home hanging with my family and eating.
Friday I unfortunately had to work at 6am, so no Black Friday shopping for me! Saturday we saw my mom’s side of the family for my cousins birthday celebration, which always happens the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend and I love it! Otherwise, I wouldn’t get to see that side of the family until Christmas.
Saturday night, I went out with my brother, boyfriend, and cousins to celebrate my cousin Lisa’s boyfriend, Mark’s, birthday. It was so fun to have everyone together!
And then on Sunday, my family and I went to cut down our Christmas tree. Whew! So many activities!!
I’m looking forward to the holiday season and all the Christmas-y stuff I have planned over the next few weeks!
December Challenge
I already posted this over on my Facebook page, but since this will be starting “officially” next week (first full week of December), I figured I could put it here too!
This month I want everyone to focus on keeping stress levels low. I posted an article this week (linked above under articles) about how stress tends to increase around the holidays.
Your challenge is this: every week, do one de-stressing activity. This can be anything you want! A massage, trip to the mall, say off from work, taking a yoga class…whatever you typically do to de-stress, I want you to do it every week this month. You should have a minimum of 4 activities (the more the better!) Send me proof of these activities or how you de-stressed this month, and you’ll be entered into a raffle to win a FREE month of online coaching with me!
Good luck, have fun, and don’t stress!
My next set of progress pictures will be in my next update, so keep an eye out for that!! See ya in 2 weeks!
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