HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!! I apologize for the 3-week hiatus, I had last Thursday and Friday off and spent it doing fun activities, and didn’t have time to write a post. But this will be my last “Friday Faves” post of 2016 and it’s gonna be a good one! Keep reading for tons of great fitness reads, great recipes, life updates, and my own personal progress photos!
Favorite Health and Fitness Articles
4 Tips for Unconventional Fat Loss by Mike Robertson
Meal Planning Strategy by Dr. John Berardi
Fat Loss for Busy People by Ryan Wood
Why You May Need To Rethink Your “Ideal Weight” by Dr. Kara Mohr
Tips to Combat Hunger Without Ruining Everything by Dr. Melissa Davis & Nick Shaw
Metabolic Damage by Brian St. Pierre
5 Effective Strategies for Handling Food Pushers by Jen Comas
Coach vs. Charlatan: The Shoulds and Shouldn’ts of a Good Personal Trainer by Brit Rand
A Few Quick Tips to Manage Back Pain by Gage Reid
Weekly Meal Prep: Mastered by Dr. John Berardi
The Missing Link: Changing Body Positions Could Spark Your Gains by Tony Gentilcore
8 Things People Need to Stop Saying to Athletic Women, STAT by Gina Florio
The Truth About Holiday Weight Gain by Chrissy Giorgetti (me!)
My Best Articles of 2016
The following articles were my most popular this year. Take a look if you haven’t read them yet!
Meal Prep 101
Cutting for Powerlifting: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Gluten-Free Does Not Equal Guilt-Free
Alcohol and Exercise: Don’t Derail Your Progress
My Favorite Butt-Building Exercises
Three Health and Fitness Fads to Avoid
Strength Training for Ballet Dancers
Why I Don’t Follow “Fitspo” Accounts and You Shouldn’t Either
The Dark Side of Calorie Counting
Favorite Exercise
I added split-stance DLs to my programming once a week on deadlift day after seeing a few people doing them on instagram. Let. Me. Tell. You. This exercise blows up my glutes and hammies SO much more than regular RDLs! These will definitely be a staple moving forward. I use a kettlebell, but you could also use a dumbbell if you don’t have access to KBs!
Favorite Recipe
It’s no secret that chocolate is delicious. It’s one of my favorite treats, tbh. Last winter, I was making 3-ingredient chocolate fudge bites that were so delish! I recently made them again for the first time in MONTHS. I seriously forgot how yummy they were! And yeah, this isn’t really a healthy recipe, but if you’re craving chocolate, this will definitely curb that and won’t leave you feeling guilty!
Ingredients
-1 bag (3 cups) chocolate chips-I use Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate
-2 tbsp. coconut oil
-3/4 cup coconut milk
1. Place chocolate chips in a large bowl
2. Combine coconut milk and oil in a small pan and bring to a boil. Stir continuously to make sure the oil melts fully and the milk warms evenly
3. Pour the coconut milk/oil mixture over the chips and let sit for 2 min. Whisk until totally smooth
4. Line a mini muffin pan with liners and fill each to the top!
5. Refrigerate or freeze until set. Enjoy!
Currently Reading
….nothing! Send me book recommendations please!!!!
Currently Netflixing
I finally finished Gilmore Girls, and also finished the revival series. I liked it, although I didn’t really like the ending at all. I hope they don’t leave it on a cliffhanger like that!
I also finished Fuller House season 2…Full House was one of my favorite shows growing up and I love the reboot!
Since then, I’ve started 2 new Netflix shows. The Crown-which I’ve been dying to start, and The OA-which is going to be mine and Tim’s new show (if he can stay awake!). Luckily, I have 10 days off after today, so lots of time to cozy up watching my shows!
Favorite Activities
I mentioned earlier that I had 2 days off last week. I took these to prepare for my annual cookie swap, but I really only needed one day for that, so I spent most of Thursday cooking, cleaning, and decorating my apartment! On Friday, Tim surprised me by taking the day off to, and we had an amazing day doing winter activities around Boston! We went to Boston Winter on City Hall Plaza, where we ice skated and drank hot chocolate in a make-shift ski lodge. It was very cool-and since it was the middle of the day, we had the ice rink to ourselves….which was a good thing because I cannot ice skate and had to hold onto the railing the entire time! LOL! After that, we walked around Fanueil Hall, did some Christmas shopping, and had lunch in the North End. That night, we went to his company holiday party. It was a great time!
My annual cookie swap was last Sunday. If you’ve never heard of or been to a cookie swap before, they’re a super fun way to not only accumulate TONS of Christmas cookies, but also to try new recipes! Basically, everyone bakes a favorite cookie and packages them in 12 bags of 6 cookies. At the end of the party, everyone takes 12 different bags home. The bags have the recipe attached, so if you really love a certain cookie, you’ll have the recipe! My mom has been having a cookie swap for as long as I can remember, and last year I started the tradition for myself. It’s such a fun way to connect with friends before the holidays!
Favorite Outfits
Ooooh a new section! Gonna start doing this more regularly in the new year. I don’t get to wear anything other than gym clothes that often, so I’m trying to be more adventurous with my fashion when I do get to dress up! Here are 2 looks from the past few weeks that I absolutely loved:
I wore the outfit on the left to my baby cousin’s first birthday party. I layered an oversized sweater over a spring dress and over-the-knee boots. I loved this look, and it was so cozy but cute at the same time! I wore the outfit on the right to Tim’s company holiday party. It was casual, but I still wanted to dress up a little. This shirt is so cute and flattering-it has longer layered peplums in the back! And I’ve been looking for a place to wear those shoes again-I bought them to wear with my bridesmaid’s dress for the wedding I was in in October. Although I was the most dressed up person at the party, I loved this outfit and am planning on wearing it again on Christmas!
My Personal Progress Photos
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that I take progress pics every other month, and that I only share them here on my blog. I don’t believe in flaunting these on facebook or instagram! Here are my most recent set of pics, alongside my previous two:
Out of the three, I look my best look is my current one. At the end of the summer/beginning of fall, I put on some fluff that is mostly gone now. I think it’s important to note, I’m about the same weight in all these pictures. In August, I was 113 the morning of the pictures, in October, I was 116, and I am currently sitting at 115. So even though my body composition is constantly changing and improving, my actual weight is staying pretty consistent. This has been one of my goals this past year-there is an article coming on that though so I won’t say anymore here! 😉 I’m happy that my stomach area is slowly leaning out-that’s my most problematic area. I always hold fat there! I know it looks like I’ve lost some size in my glutes, but I actually haven’t. Def wanna keep building those though! If you remember the last time I posted these, I was dealing with some digestion issues that was causing a lot of bloating all the time. This is mostly under control now, thanks to the addition of a daily probiotic, but in January I am going to be tightening up my diet a little more. I’ve gotten lax with my FODMAPs, and it definitely affects me! I’m excited to see what my next pictures will look like- I have big plans for 2017! 🙂
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