be healthy

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats – The Recipe

| The Bee Life

Happy Friday! Today I am sharing with you my first pass at Overnight Oats. Yes, I finally bit the bullet and tried this craze.  I was hoping to share two recipes with you, but I didn’t love the one – and why share stuff with you all that I don’t love?! The best part about this recipe is, it tastes delicious, it’s a little sweet, it’s dairy free, and easy for on the go! Overnight Oats - the bee lifeWhat You’ll Need:
– 1/2 cup of rolled oats
– 3/4 cup of almond milk
– 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon
– 3 tbsp. of grated carrot
– 1 tbsp. of maple syrup
– 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract
– Shredded coconut for topping

Step-by-Step:
1. Place all dry ingredients into a small, air tight container (mason jars seem to be the most popular!) then stir the dry ingredients together.
2. Next, add the almond milk and stir so that it’s mixed well.
3. Seal with lid, and place in fridge overnight (or at least 2-3 hours)
4. Top oats with coconut topping, as much or as little as you’d like!
5. Enjoy!

I’m still curious about these overnight oats, so I’m sure I’ll be trying a few other recipes! Not to mention I am a horrible planner in the mornings for breakfast, so this is good for morning workout days.  What are your favorite overnight oat recipes? Please leave a comment below!

Friday Fitness 01.17

| The Bee Life

This year I have full intentions of focusing on being healthy – inside and out, because to me being healthy is being happy.  And being happy touches every single part of my life, but the part I am most concerned about is my life at home and being happy and content, being the best me.
healthy-2017Being healthy is more than eating right and working out, being healthy is pausing, turning off the noise, taking a few extra deep breaths, a break from ‘reality’ … from the office, it’s focusing time on the important things, the things that makes you whole and happy.

Here are some ways you can achieve healthy too! 

  1. See It – Broken record Bee again; but if you write it down and see it, you will be/do it. Write down those things that are important to you, the things you want to focus on or spend more time doing. Make it colorful, or write it on some nice paper and make it into art, post it in the bathroom or kitchen so you see it every day!
  2. Workout – For me, this is going to be boot camp. This is my workout that challenges me, makes me stronger, pushes me, and gets me into the shape I want to be and keeps me engaged and doesn’t make me bored. Set your workout goals and stick to them – but even before that figure out what works for YOU.
  3. Mental Breaks – Whether it’s the weekend or a 20-minute walk in the middle of the afternoon, take the mental breaks. Know when it’s time to stop and say time-out. Mental breaks could also include time with friends, family or your sig-o, laughing and sharing moments with these important people in life, can just be what the doctor ordered.
  4. Spa Day – This takes that mental break one step further. And helps with a mental and physical break. Taking care of your body inside and out is just as important as anything else on your list.  Be sure to take a break and plan these out so you won’t forget!
  5. Give Back – One thing B and I have talked about doing more of is volunteering and giving back, this is definitely something we are going to work and carve into our regularly scheduled lives – we definitely have a few afternoons to spare and help out those in need. Wanting to give back more? Look for local organizations or a local parish and reach out to see how you might be able to get involved!
  6. Time for Hobbies – This can tie into that mental break category, a great way to give that brain a break is to spend time on things you love to do. For me it’s scrap-booking, DIY-ing and writing. Even if it’s one Sunday a month, make time to spend an afternoon focusing on the things you love to do!
  7. Balance – Work to find your balance this year – whether it’s balancing your burger to salad ratio or life to work, start figuring out those stresses that trigger or conquer these battles in real time. Say no, say yes, or wait to decide. Writing these down and knowing possible feats ahead of time will help conquer them this year!

How will you achieve a healthy 2017?

Fitness Friday no. 23

| The Bee Life

It’s the first Friday in December! Now that the holidays are right around the corner, I wanted to share 4 simple tips that I’ll be using this month to help maintain and not gain.

fitness-friday-no-23-the-bee-life

  1. Eat Breakfast. Don’t skip out on breakfast. I think it’s human nature to try not eat if we have a party that night, so that we can fully enjoy the snacks and treats – well this will only lead you to overeating, and not the right things.  Eat a good, healthy breakfast and don’t skip out on other meals! Consider eating proteins and healthy fats that will fill you up throughout the day.
  2. Build your Immune System. This should always be part of your daily regime, but especially around the holidays be sure your taking care of your body inside and out. Taking Vitamin C, echinacea and other immune system building antics can help in the season of sneezing, coughing and colds!
  3. Get that Workout In. But don’t stress over it or kill yourself to get there, know the number of workouts you want to get in… no the realistic amount… I’ve gotten to the point where three workouts during the work week is my minimum goal – I don’t always achieve it but I get pretty darn close! And when I beat it, it’s even better!
  4. Limit the Sweets.  Yes three cookies are always better than two.  But when you’re about to pick up that third or fourth cookie, think again and spread out the sweets. This goes for alcohol too, try and limit the number of beers, or stick with vodka or gin mixed with soda water and a fresh garnish!

What’re your tips and tricks to help beat holiday weight gain?  Share them in the comments below or on social @mmariebee.

Happy Holidays!

Fitness Friday no. 22

| The Bee Life

Hello! I took a little bit of a Fitness Friday break – I’ve been trying to get back into a groove to share all the progress I’ve been making!  But it’s been slow progress and I was lacking motivation and inspiration.
Image result for fitness motivational quotes
But within this past week I’ve gotten up three mornings in a row to hit up the gym.  After work has been too busy and now that it’s dark when I leave work the motivation is very little… lunches are good but I always feel rushed. Morning workouts have been the trick and I’ve actually been doing them. Another motivator that has helped get these in is having workout buddies to go with me, yay for workout partners at your same gym! After these last three mornings I instantly feel better, I instantly don’t want to stop.

Here are my tips and reminders lately that’re keeping me focused to stay on track this time.

  1. Our Wedding! We are nearly at the year mark to the wedding, and since this past year has been a constant struggle I need to start now to really get motivated and make progress. Although I’m pretty sure once I secure my dress the motivation will kick up a level.  This will be a prom diet on steroids. Don’t have a wedding or big event coming up to look forward too? What about a vacation or a bikini you’ve had your eyes on, it’s never too early to start working on yourself!
  2. My Jeans. I know when my jeans are feeling a bit tighter that I need to get off my butt and get to the gym! I don’t like stepping on the scale, but I know when things aren’t going in the right direction when my clothes aren’t feeling right.  Don’t like the scale either? Read your clothes and pick up the pace if you’re not loving the fit. 
  3. Feeling Better. I haven’t felt overly tired this past week after my early morning workouts,  in fact I’ve felt better all around.  I’ve even started pushing myself to running on the treadmill (which I hate) but doing it in small doses and picking up the speed more than my comfort zone, and knowing I can do it.
  4. Half Marathons. I’ve got my eyes on some upcoming races to end this year strong and even to get ready for, for 2017 to help with wedding prep! I know I would be in no condition to run a half marathon right now, but I really want to run another one since it’s been almost 2-years since our last half. Yikes!

I’m excited about this new progress and thankful for having motivating friends who also want to get back into a routine, it helps so much!

Cheers to progress and motivating friends!

Fitness Friday no. 18

| The Bee Life

Hello gems! It’s Friday again, oh sweet, Friday.

I’m writing today feeling defeated, overweight and discouraged.  Which I will admit doesn’t happen too often since I’m pretty darn stubborn and relentlessness when it comes to personal goals and keep pushing forward. It’s not saying I’ve given up, I just need some different… better inspiration, maybe even some tough love… I need to take my fitness from average and inconsistent to kicking ass and not wanting to miss a day of sweat. 16One thing that has been pushing me through, especially this week, is my silly little fitbit. I am new to fitbit’s, and received one at my new company since health and wellness is ingrained into the culture with fitbit challenges and quarterly fitness outings, along with some other cool perks! It wasn’t until I had a fitbit that I realized how little I actually walk throughout the day. Getting to 10,000 steps without consciously making decisions to be active or go for a walk is hard when you’re mostly confined in an office from 8:30 – 5:30. I’ve realized I need to get a walk in the morning, a longer walk at lunch and then a medium-to-long walk in the afternoon/evening to hit 10k. Regardless of how ugly the fitbit is *giggles* it has definitely made me more aware to take advantage of the little opportunities and get up and walk more. I’ve hit 10k steps 3 of the 5 days so far this week! Which is a significant upgrade from my previous weeks.

Although walking isn’t my workout of choice, with busy night plans and hot humid summery days (and nights), small walks throughout the day have been all I’ve been able to squeeze in. Knowing I’ve even been doing more of that, it’s still not enough so here are a few things starting August 1st (Monday) I am going to start doing … I’m hoping B will help me along the way too.

  1. No eating out Monday – Friday
  2. Limit the snacking between meals
  3. Buy spin classes or gym membership
  4. Run 2x a week in the morning
  5. Boot camp 2x a week
  6. Barre 2x a week
  7. No beers with weeknight dinners
  8. No breads/bagels/pastas
  9. Weekend workouts are not an option, they’re a must.
  10. Take 1-hour of me time, work towards goals each weekend

I really need a full makeover of eating, working out, and my health life. August is going to be a big month (news to come) and other milestones in months to come that don’t allow for lazy, average, trying to figure it out attitudes. It’s time to not only start but continuing doing and always doing more!

Fitness Friday no. 13

| The Bee Life

Heyyyyy Friday!!!!! How’s everyone’s fitness plans going? I have to say, I’ve truly gotten back in my groove lately and I love it.  The results haven’t been as apparent as I would have hoped, but it’s a journey, it’s not over night success, and I just have to keep reminding myself that (you should too!).

Regardless of how apparent (or non-apparent) my results have been, I feel great! And I recently got some new gear to wear for my workouts and runs and I was amazed at how much better I felt with some fun pants, new sports bras and comfortable sports tees.

Active ware has boomed recently from Kate Hudson to Beyonce launching their own lines, old oversized tee’s and shorts are no more.  Brands and active ware clothing are working for women, with fun prints, flattering fits and soft fabrics. With that, I don’t feel like you need to break the bank to feel great while working out, because let’s face it, you’re getting pretty clothes to get sweaty. So my go-to lately has been Marshall’s or T.J. Maxx because you can get hi-end brands at a severely discounted price. FRIDAY!(1)
01  | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06

Ultimately it’s about what you feel comfortable in, feeling good about yourself, while keeping you motivated to keep working out, time after time. So if you haven’t updated your workout wardrobe lately, take some time and slowly start grabbing some new pieces, you’ll be feeling great while getting into shape!

Fitness Friday no. 5

| The Bee Life

Happy Friday! How is everyone doing with their 2016 fitness goals?

I’ve been making slow progress. I signed up for Barre3 – which offers a plethora of online videos at a low monthly cost, and right now that’s exactly what I need. I’m enjoying the challenge and core building exercises, and I’m excited to keep it up once I start training for my 10-miler.

So this week I want to focus on the “little” things that are just as important to your health and fitness, as the actual physical work.  What’s that? Maintaining your stress and positive energy.

Fitness Friday 05 - the bee life - emilyboylan.com

1. Confront It. If something or someone is bothering you, confront the situation. I think the word confront often has a negative connotation – but the way you approach the situation is key and doesn’t have to be negative or defensive. Clear your chest and speak your peace, the rest is out of your hands…

2. Lose Control. Speaking of out of your hands, you can only control yourself, aka you cannot control others. So if you’ve spoken your peace, knowing you’ve tried, work on letting go of the rest.  You’ll thank yourself later!
*Disclaimer: I know it’s easier said than done.

3. Release The Stress. With exercise! Not food! Personally, I often crave some bad eatings when I am stressed or had a bad day at work – I find I have a small window to get motivated to exercise, but when I do pick exercise over the burger and fries I feel 10x better AND not fat!  Challenging your mind to pick fitness over food in those situations is half the battle.

4. Stretch! I’ve mentioned this before; but since I’ve been stretching more I can’t get over how much I can feel it in my muscles and body and how much it helps.  It helps release all those stresses that get stored in our body from long days of sitting at a desk or standing on our feet. Try 10-minutes a day, I bet you’ll feel a difference.

5. Reflect on the Good. It’s easy to fixate on the bad, how we didn’t work out, how we ate bad, the jerk at work… and it’s easy to overlook the good. Try writing down on a post-it at least one good thing that happened during your day and tuck it away in a jar, by the end of the year you’ll have a jar full of happy memories, that hopefully also helped you in the current moment – focus on the good. You can also bring this up with a roommate, spouse, or best friend at the end of the day and both share your “goods” of the day.

Keep focusing on your 30-days there is still time to work towards your goals and build good habits!

Goals for 2016

| The Bee Life

Okay, okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to share my goals for 2016, I sort of changed my mind… I’m going to share a few, the rest are just for me!2016 Goals - the bee life - emilyboylan.comHow am I going to accomplish each of these goals?  Well, it’s not going to be easy… but here are a few ideas:

  1. I am already signed up for one race, and about to sign-up for my second.  Then I’ll just need to find two more for the summer/fall seasons.
  2. I’ve got something up my sleeve, and I’m excited to share this will all of you, but not yet!
  3. In July we have a wedding in Denver to go to, so that’ll check off one new place – B and I always have the travel bug, so I hope we will figure out another fun trip!
  4. This is something I’ve been working on, but haven’t made a focus; and I want that to change.  There are many aspects of this, less Starbucks, less eating out, less house projects!, etc… so I’m going to learn to say “No” a little more, even if that means saying “No” to me.
  5. I’ve made many excuses this past year and I’m over it – so I’m hoping that better 30-day focus and my Friday Fitness blogs will help some of you, as well as me!
  6. Without technology!  It’s a bad habit, and I do love my social media, but I find us too often browsing when we could be talking or paying more attention to each other. That’s one example of how to accomplish this.

Another goal is to focus on these goals (I know that sounds silly, right?) and modify them and re-evaluate these when needed, if needed.  Goals are meant to be reflected on, and worked towards gradually and if they aren’t reviewed regularly, chances of success are few.

So remember to focus on your goals and have check-in’s so that you can have 2016 success!