Coming back from the holidays and getting sick 3 times too many, my main goal was to stay healthy. I also wanted to make sure I completed every single workout Eric scheduled for me and started getting back to healthy eating habits, including more vegetables and meal-prepping every weekend.
First up, meal-prep. Over the past few months, I've noticed I've gotten lazy and started reverting back to easy things such as pasta instead of fresh vegetables and protein. So to start getting back into that green life, I introduced a side salad to each lunch and dinner. I took a huge bunch of arugula, added half of an avocado and a sprinkle of shredded parmesan cheese, mixed in a homemade lemon vinaigrette (1 part olive oil, 3/4 part lemon juice, dash of salt and pepper) and boom, done. I kept it simple so it didn't take me a lot of time to prepare as that was what was ruining my eating habits previously. After maintaining that successfully, I started incorporating more vegetables to my main meal – tossing in green beans with my turkey meatballs instead of pasta and fresh veggies and hummus for snacks instead of a granola bar. These tiny changes had a huge impact on how I felt on a daily basis. And when I was craving those carbs, I would make them but ensure veggies were also somehow incorporated aka the pizza I've made for the past two weeks (homemade dough topped with pesto, fresh mozzarella, arugula & spinach, artichoke, onion and green pepper).
This fuel I was giving my body helped me to maintain my energy throughout the day and keep it going so I could have a strong workout. There were even a couple days I did a little extra because I was feeling so great. I've lost a lot of muscle since leaving Enrgi but over the past month, I've been able to up my weights and am starting to see the tiniest of changes in my body that are pushing me to keep going. While I haven't gotten to yoga as much as I would have liked this past month, that is something I want to ensure I work on in February!
While I'm pretty pumped I didn't miss any workouts and successfully meal-prepped every week, I am the most excited that I've stayed healthy the entire month of January!! I am determined to ride this wave through the Wisconsin Marathon (and hopefully beyond). I started taking Vital Proteins on the reg at the beginning of the month and while I can't say this for certain, I think it's had a huge impact on my health and overall fitness performance. They also just released a new post-workout dark chocolate, plant based protein that I'm dying to try (aka I'm buying it tomorrow). Has anyone else seen these results after taking Vital Proteins? TBH, I wasn't sure what to expect when I started taking them and was really doing it for the beauty benefits (I'm sorry! So vain but it's true ) so I'd love to hear what you guys think!
Moving into February, I already stated I want to make sure I attend yoga more often but I also want to work on increasing my endurance. I have been working with Eric to increase my pace while keeping my heart rate in Z2 (guys, I know. Fail. I promise that explanation will get up. Another February goal? 😉 ). I've noticed I'm making progress but want to make some giant strides this month. I also want to continue the healthy eating and meal-prep, incorporating more leafy greens throughout the day and coming up with some new recipes to keep things interesting. Lastly, I want to be more mindful and present this month. While a lot of good came out of January, I also felt lost for a majority of it. Life seemed to be flying by and I couldn't keep up. With February being the month of love, I figure it's the perfect time to really focus on being present in the moment and enjoying all that life has to offer.
What have you got planned for the month of February?