Fitness Friday no. 6

January 29, 2016January 30, 2016 | The Bee Life

We are 29 days into the new year and if you’ve joined along, 29 days into our first 30-day focus. My focus items included, limit times we eat out, do barre 5-days a week, walk Moz on the weekends, no sweets, and limit alcohol intake.

So how did I do? You’ll have to wait and see… Monday I will give my full 30-day run down, but until then, we still have a few days to finish strong and start looking ahead at the upcoming 30-days and some more fitness tips to help you (and me) succeed!

Fitness Friday 06 - the bee life - emilyboylan.com

Treat Yourself – Regardless of how ‘successful’ you consider yourself to be these last 29 days, the fact that you tried and accomplished feats is something to be proud of! It’s OK to treat yourself, whether that’s having some of your favorite ice cream, buying a venti at Starbucks, or splurging on some wine and chocolate. If we deprive ourselves too much for too long, we might end up over indulging in a moment of weakness. It’s easy to focus on the negative, we need to reflect and acknowledge more of the positive!
Pump Up the Volume – With music! Take some time to make sure you have an awesome playlist for your workouts, this will keep you motivated from the start of your workout to the finish, not to mention a few dance moves in between sets or while you’re on a run.
Prioritize Goals – One of the perks of focusing on 30-days, is the focus! It’s also a time to prioritize your goals. Is one of your goals, to be consistent with workouts, week after week? And another to loose weight? And another eat better? If you’re like me and have endless amounts of goals, start small and prioritize – in order to accomplish X I need to do Y first… aka in order to loose weight, I need to maintain working out week after week, so that is my first focus goal. The rest will fall into place.
Be Practical – Just like prioritizing goals, be practical in what you’re asking yourself to accomplish. Are you jamming too much in and it’s resulting you to not succeed? It’s OK if you can only workout 2-nights a week and the rest has to wait for the weekend. I am realizing that right now, running has to wait for the weekends and I can focus on Barre and strength during the week given the time I have. I’ve even come to realize that 30 or 40-minutes is better than nothing – so although it isn’t to the standards I’d prefer or would like, I need to make strides in the right direction.

Here’s to finishing the first 30-days strong!

Fitness Friday no. 5

January 15, 2016February 10, 2016 | 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

January 11, 2016January 11, 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.com How am I going to accomplish each of these goals? Well, it’s not going to be easy… but here are a few ideas:

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.
I’ve got something up my sleeve, and I’m excited to share this will all of you, but not yet!
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!
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.
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!
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!

Fitness Friday – New Year Edition

January 1, 2016 | The Bee Life

Happy New Year!! I usually share with everyone my resolutions or goals for the new year – but I am going to switch it up this year and continue with more focused tips so that we’re all successful with our healthy goals always, but especially as we enter 2016.

Fitness Friday - New Year Edition - emilyboylan.com — Fitness Friday – New Year Edition – emilyboylan.com

No More Fad Diets – Why? Because you won’t last. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there before. There is a difference between a lifestyle change and a fad diet, know what is good for you and what works with your eating habits, lifestyle and health. For example, I need to make a more conscious effort of cutting dairy out since I’m lactose intolerant- lifestyle change, not a fad diet.
Post-It On The Wall (Or Refrigerator); If you see your goals everyday, and what you’re striving to accomplish, you’ll be more likely to have success. In college I used to have little signs posted on my wall that read, “No eating after 9pm” – “No soda!” – “Work Out!” – “One Sweet a Week” … etc. It really helped me get those notions and habits in my head and I actually followed my own rules.
Focus on 30-Days; This was a suggestion by the famous Biggest Loser trainer, Bob Harper, and I think it’s so smart and simple. Instead of having grandiose plans for the entire year, focus on one month at a time. I received fitness classes for Christmas – but instead of using that up, I want to get into a rhythm before, since I’ll only have the fitness classes for 2-months – I want my healthy workout routine to last more than just 2-months out of the entire year!
Cut Out The Sugar; Sugar drinks, coffees, soda, and sweets! Once we have these sugars in our bodies, we only crave them more – so let’s start cutting them out! This is going to be one of my 30-day focus items that I plan to in-bark on.

So now what? Pick a date to start your 30-day focus, I am thinking about starting January 4th or 9th. Next, pick out your items you want to focus on for those 30-days, start small if you’re starting from square one. For example; Exercise 2-3 days a week, no sweets during the week, no soda or eating after 9pm. Then, write your items and post them up where you’ll see them EVERY DAY; and begin. I also found that writing my progress on a calendar helped me see my progress – where I struggled and where I had a really kicked ass. It might help you too!

Here’s to you and a healthy and happy new year!

Bye 2015!

December 31, 2015December 30, 2015 | The Bee Life

We are less than 24 hours away from welcoming in the new year, so let’s take a look back through pictures at my 2015 to get ready to say good-bye.

January 2015 – Puppy fever

February 2015 – Katie & Travis visit

March 2015 – My Birthday

April 2015 – Celebrating my Promotion

May 2015 – Mother’s Day

June 2015 – Dress shopping for Kates

July 2015 – #emnbtostbc

August 2015 – Celebrating G&P

September 2015 – Fin & Moz

October 2015 – Sunday House Tailgate

November 2015 – Winterfest

December 2015 – Moz

I didn’t do very well with a lot of my 2015 goals, honestly I didn’t focus on them as much as I should have, so I’m not totally surprised.

My 2015 goals:

Get back into a workout routine – failed miserably, again.
Start the 5:2 Diet – nope, hardly tried.
Travel outside of the country (Dublin 2015?) – not this year
Get a promotion at work – yes!
Run a half marathon – at least 3 other races – ran 2 races, but no half
Read more books – a little success
Don’t sweat the small stuff – maybe?
Live in the moment – maybe

I’ve been thinking about my 2016 goals, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect in the last few months about successes, failures, hopes and wishes, and am truly working on a plan and change. I feel like I’ve made strides within the last few months in comparison to a majority of last year and early this year. So I’m excited about my new focus and motivation for a positive change.

Cheers to another blessed year and cheers to another year of opportunities!

Wednesday Reminders – Life

April 22, 2015October 13, 2015 | The Bee Life

My daily quote box in my office inspired me once again:

Sometimes our goals are life related but often times they’re work, or school related; which can lead to hard and negative situations that can so easily get us down or set us back, it’s only human nature. It’s true at times that negatives/set backs can push us forward and make us work harder. But I think more importantly than the negative; we as humans often forget about the positive (guilty) which I think at times so much harder to be cognizant of. As the quote above reminds us that life needs to be enjoyed before our goals can truly be rewarded. To put the icing on the cake, I read another perfectly fitting and great reminder scrolling through my instagram feed last night, @alexajeanfitness posted;

“It’s easy to fall into the trap of replaying negative situations from the day that you wish you’d handled differently. Regardless of how badly the day went, the best thing to do is avoid that pessimistic spiral of negative self-talk because it will only create more stress. Remember to take some time to reflect on the positive moments of the day and celebrate the successes, even if they were few and far between.”

Yes! I did this all day yesterday, replayed a conversation that I wish hadn’t happened, and I wish I’d responded differently towards – and I read this and realized that the entire day I was grumpy and miserable and stressed because all I focused on was the negative. We need to remember to reflect and talk about the positives; and not in a coincidental way (my mom did that yesterday.)

So this morning I finally got a good laugh to snap me out of my grumpy funk, all at B’s expense but it was so needed, so thank you B ❤

I am owning situations, I am owning my actions and I am going to start talking about the positives and start enjoying life beyond my goals. Happy Wednesday!

Friday-spiration

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015 | The Bee Life

Great news! It’s Friday, we’ve made it through another work week, now we just have to make it through this day (5:30pm).

I’ve always been someone who has big aspirations, dreams and goals both personally and professionally. I’ve worked hard, and I’ve reached my goals but not without roadblocks. Recent roadblocks for me have been out of my control, like so many usually are. When roadblocks start adding up and are constant, it’s hard not to loose inspiration and motivation. I will admit the luster is dulling (probably because I just turned 25 and I’m having my midlife crisis – yes midlife crisis.)

A friend recommended the book #GIRLBOSS – and I finally got it for my birthday. Late last night I dove right into it and was immediately inspired and lifted up, I wanted to share a few sentences that jumped out to me last night.

“Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back. Learn to create your own opportunities. Know that there is no finish line; fortune favors action. Race balls-out toward the extraordinary life that you’ve always dreamed of, or still haven’t had time to dream up. And prepare to have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.”

– Sophia Amoruso, #GIRLBOSS

I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me is that constant reminder to; “create your own opportunities” although the harder part is learning how to do that and then having the confidence to go out on a limb and do it. We are creatures of habit, and it’s terribly easy to fall into a space of comfort. But we need to keep pushing ourselves past that.

How do you stay inspired?

TGIF!

Wednesday Reminders – Snow happy

January 21, 2015October 13, 2015 | The Bee Life

It’s a snowy January day and it’s hard not to stop and take a moment and watch the big fluffy flakes fall slowly like being in a giant snow globe.

I love this quote, and today I am trying to pause for the day (and rest of the week) and just be happy and content. One of my goals for 2015 is to live in the moment, and that includes the happy moments. Nothing crazy has happened, in fact I am super busy, lots of plans and busy days are coming, late nights after work with extra-curricular activities, back to back (which I don’t always like). But I am going to enjoy them, have fun, and just soak up the memories and the time.

If there is anything I’ve learned of late, it’s that things change very quickly. Friends/family are starting to have babies… getting married… moving away, and it’s all happening so quickly and a little out of the blue (not so much the weddings) and before you know it we are going to be all old and sitting in rocking chairs talking about that one day in 2015. #Terrifying

But… I digress. Here is my challenge to you: try to be happy with me for the next three days! It doesn’t have to be 100% happy but it needs to be 90% happy. I bet we’ll feel better, things won’t be so hard or stressful, because there is always a brighter side.

New Year, Fresh Start.

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 | The Bee Life

I think everyone likes the idea of being able to have a “fresh start” at the beginning of each new year, it’s a time when we can set goals, learn from mistakes, and dream bigger… it’s hard not to get caught up in all of the chatter.

My 2015 goals, are definitely going to be bigger, and after seeing what I accomplished last year, I believe that writing down and setting goals, and seeing them every day really does help you to accomplish and allow them to be in the forefront of your mind.

My 2015 goals:

Get back into a workout routine
Start the 5:2 Diet
Travel outside of the country (Dublin 2015?)
Get a promotion at work
Run a half marathon + at least 3 other races
Read more books
Don’t sweat the small stuff
Live in the moment

A lot of these are similar to my 2014 goals, but I liked them! And I feel that I can always strive to improve on all aspects, whether it’s my personal, work, or health life – and these goals help round all of those out.