12/15: Meals and fitness for the week

Hi friends <3 Happy Sunday! Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend.

For us, it’s been a nice mix of events and low-key time with the family:

hanging out at nana’s house; squadron Christmas party; nutcracker with my mom, aunt, cousins, Meg, Mik and nana; and the kid’s squadron party later today. I took an amazing yoga class and am just trying to get back in the swing of things.

I’m also excited to prep some food for the week using our farm box ingredients. After a bit of a hiatus, I figured the farm box would be an easy way for us to get more veggies and for Livi to try some new things. She always has a way of surprising me… some of the things I think she’ll love, she spits out, and others (like limes and beets) she can’t get enough. It’s fun to see her personal tastes develop. I let her try everything- if she likes it, great, if she doesn’t, at least she got the chance to try it.

Here’s what we got this week:

-Sweet potatoes

-Grapes

-Red potatoes

-Beets

-Chard (my fave!!! especially in this salad)

-Apples

-Pomegranate

I don’t know why I don’t get the farm box more often, because I always feel more motivated to make dinner (instead of going to hot bar… again), and try new recipes.

Here’s what’s on the tentative dinner plan this week:

-Pan fried white fish with lemon and pomegranate, roasted potatoes, salad

-Homemade pho (any tips??)

–Slow cooker turkey meatballs with zucchini pasta

–Chicken, butternut squash and quinoa stew

Prep:

-Wash and chop fruits and veggies

-Make Paleo bread

-Make cranberry amazeballs

-Make quinoa muffins for Liv (freeze)

I’ve been strong on the salad bandwagon for about a week now, and am having a lot of fun including mixes of the usual suspects: some kind of squash, dried fruit, nuts, goat cheese and balsamic is always a winning combo 😉

As far as the fitness plan goes, I finally found out what is going on with my knee. My MRI was last Thursday, and Friday the flight doc called to go over the results. She said that my muscles, ligaments, everything looked good. However, there’s something called the “Hoffa’s fat pad” (aka infapatellar fat pad) which is located under and behind the patella bone. Mine was swollen. She wasn’t sure what that meant and said she’d research it and call me back.. Sooooo I consulted Doctor Google as well, and this fat pad is not necessary -it can be surgically removed if it’s becoming pinched or swollen- but complications from that usually occur from trauma to the knee (when I fell down the stairs) and/or overuse (when I was running 8+ miles on Saturday and then teaching all day). 

From this website:

“Treatment of this condition is normally by conservative methods such as:

• Rest and avoiding aggravating activities – stop running.
• Ice or cryotherapy to reduce pain and inflammation.
• Physiotherapy modalities such as ultrasound and TENS.
• Muscle strengthening exercises to maintain the strength and fitness of the surrounding muscle groups
• Taping the patella may help. One method involves taping the upper surface of the patella to allow more space for the structures beneath the lower surfaces i.e. the fat pad.  This leads to less stress and impingement on the fat pad.

If conservative treatment does not work then surgery may be advised. This may involve the complete or partial removal of the fat pad itself.”

It’s interesting because taping my knee with KT tape has helped immensely, and it also explains why running is the only thing that has felt painful and has become worse since the fall. Even though the decision to drop out of my half marathon was a tough one, I’m positive now that I made the right choice. Hopefully the doc will get me referred out to a sports ortho doctor and physical therapy. Fingers crossed that will help <3

Tentative fitness plan:

Sunday: HIIT & Steady

Monday: Total body circuit + easy spin

Tuesday: OFF

Wednesday: Yoga

Thursday: Spin and strength

Friday: Steady state

Saturday: Yoga

If you’re looking for some fitness ideas this week, be sure to check your email tomorrow morning if you’re a newsletter subscriber. I put together a week of workouts for you, along with some of my favorite healthy holiday cocktails 🙂 If you’re not subscribed yet, all you have to do is leave a comment and click the box below the comment box indicating you’d like to subscribe.

Are you planning and prepping today? What’s on the menu?

Anyone who has had issues with their Hoffa’s fat pad? (<–sounds like the weirdest thing ever haha)

xoxo

Gina

Ps. Congrats to all of the winners for week two of 10 Days of Giveaways!

I sent out all of the winners’ emails last night, so please check your email if you think you’re a winner 🙂 I messed up the Stitch Fix end time -accidentally put in tonight at midnight- so those winners will be announced tomorrow am.

My Yoga Pro

Anna S. 

Evolution

Kelley

Mason Bar

Michelle A.

Lea

 

For Two

Megan S.