Happy Friday, friends! Why do short weeks sometimes feel so long? I've been feeling REALLY tired this week. Mr. Hungry says it's because I'm up reading every night. I went to bed by 9 PM last night, and I have to say that I am definitely feeling better today. Thankfully, Mr. Hungry got up with a baby girl, who was up three times, thanks to those last four front teeth, who finally made an appearance. God bless that man, he knew I needed sleep really bad I was dragging.

Despite dragging, I put everything else on hold this week to work on something very special. I poured every piece of knowledge I've learned in the last decade about metabolism and nutrition and put it into a course. Everything I learned about wrecking and recovering my own metabolism. I've always been so resistant to making a "course." But, for years, I've had this YouTube short that gets daily comments that demonstrate over and over again that this information is needed. I found a format I thought people would actually enjoy, so I poured into the course the things I teach my clients over and over again in six-month coaching programs. I'm really excited about it. I sent the course slides over to my design team, and I can't wait to get them back and start recording. So that's why there were no new posts here at HH this week; I spent every second working on that.

Don't forget a new meal plan is live for FREE in the Library of Resources:

On social this week:

Wearing This Week

In other news, thanks to Stitch Fix for sending this cute new cropped sweater and workout shirt. And I'm obsessed with this no-seam (read no camel toe) Amazon leggings. I can't speak to their longevity, but they look cute on, aren't see-through, and have no camel toe for the win!

And for the millennials judging my crew socks, they are warmer, and I'm not used to the cold here in Dallas. Plus, I kind of like wearing something different than the no-show socks I've been wearing for 25 years. However, if I wear them with sweatpants or shorts, I can't help but feel like I look like my Grandpa. Leggings are super cute, everything else not so much, and I'm back to no-show socks. Ha ha

Reading

Well, obviously, for all fantasy readers, Onyx Storm is out. But before it was released, I listened to this recap podcast, which was helpful.

No spoilers here! I'm about 100 pages into Onyx Storm, and it's finally picking up, but I wouldn't say it's like I can't put it down. A lot of people are saying this is a bridge book, we shall see I guess. If you don't know, Onyx Storm is the third book in the Fourth Wing series. The first two books are in my top 3 book series favorites (ACOTAR, then Wolf Hotel Series, and Fourth Wing/Iron Flame.) I don't know anyone who doesn't love the first two books. I have to be honest, though. This is the first time I've been on the side of waiting for another book to come out, and that's very different from reading a series straight through. Like if I had been following ACOTAR when it came out, A Court of Frost and Starlight would have pissed me off on its release date. But I didn't mind because I just kept reading to the next book.

So, after scouring Reddit looking for my next read, I came across The Lady of Darkness. Luckily, I read enough of the thread to know that the first book is not very spicy, but I started the next book, and it definitely picks up. This series has a lot of Throne of Glass feels: The trained main female character who doesn't know her own power finds out she does, in fact, have power and a claim to the throne. Another one that doesn't keep me up at night, but I'll keep reading after Onyx Storm is finished.

Costco Finds - Simple Mills Pops

Okay, these are so delicious! The kids don't like them, but I think it's the perfect salt and crunchy snack!

And a dinner win from Costco this week was this simple meal.

Amazon Wins

These mmagic swim trunks are the best! They aren't too long and have compression instead of mesh underwear!

And for those of you who need Valentine's Day cards, I ordered these Ninja Turtles ones for the boys to give out in their classrooms. They didn't have a lot of reviews, so I wasn't sure about them, but they came yesterday, and they are perfect!

Gabby's Dollhouse Kitty Toast

My niece got KK into Gabby's Dollhouse. He watches it every so often, and this week, we made the toast they made on it with fruit for the face! I'm not crafty, but we had fun!

Random Lunchboxes This Week

We will call this perfect bar week. Preschool lunches are in metal tins; green and red tins are KJ's kindergarten lunches. It's funny. In some ways, KJ is my most adventurous eater, with octopus, salmon, shrimp, lobster, steak, and burgers among his favorites. But, in some ways, he is my pickiest eater as he doesn't like a ton of carbs like bread, rice, snacks, veggies, or fresh fruit. It can be challenging to pack his lunches, so this week was the perfect bar week. KK eats peanut butter and jelly every day with random other stuff. I cut the jerky sticks because they are a choking hazard.

Fitness

I shared my SI joint program rehab I was doing last week! So I'm starting on week 3 of that, it takes forever, but it's helping! So that's good. I do the circuit before each workout, so it adds 25-30 minutes to each workout. Yes, I'm spending forever in the gym right now, but I know it's a temporary time sacrifice for long-term results.

This week, my workouts looked like this:

Friday - 2 Mile Run (terrible run through hernia pain and SI joint pain)
Saturday - Lower Body
Sunday - Upper Body
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Lower Body
Wednesday - Upper Body
Thursday - Run + HIIT Workout 30 work/30 rest x 6 rounds
- ice skaters
- Mountain climbers
- jump squats or broad jumps
- plank shoulder taps

Plus, I averaged 6-10K steps a day.

As far as weight goals. I lost 3-5 lbs from Thanksgiving to the first week of January. Meaning I've lost a total of 50lbs from this pregnancy. I was pretty excited. I lost about 1 body fat and maintained muscle mass in the last six weeks. But, after a couple of hormone tests (I go over this in my metabolism course), it showed increased stress on the body and hormonal downregulation (a fancy way of saying the prolonged calorie deficit is starting to take a toll on my body). I decided to bring my calories up to maintenance for the next 4-8 weeks. I've never found it hard to maintain my weight after pregnancy weight loss, but since my goal is to build muscle, I'm monitoring my calories for the first time ever to make sure I get enough calories and protein. First, I want to build muscle, but second, I want to ensure the metabolism and hormonal reset I'm after actually happens.

This is why I decided to take a Metabolism 101 course. To explain how to protect your metabolism and get the best results. Sometimes, instead of dropping your calories even lower and exercising more, you need to bring calories up and monitor total stress on the body. When you do this, you allow your metabolism to come back to a set point, and then you get better results when you drop the calories again. It's so fascinating and so fun to teach! Anyway, it's a pretty neat experience to track at maintenance and one I think everyone should do at least once.