Maple Brown Sugar Overnight Oats

I've been all about oats lately but can you blame me? They're so versatile and good for you as well. Saturday morning I finally got around to having overnight oats in one of my almost empty Jif Whips containers. I've been seeing people use jars of peanut butter to make their overnight oats, shoutout to Rachael :) but I've never done it myself.

If you haven't done it, you need to! Like right now.

I revised my normal overnight oats recipe because I honestly wasn't sure how I'd like the combination of greek yogurt and peanut butter in the oats. I don't know why but I decided to first try it without the greek yogurt and then if I thought it lacked that creamy texture, I would add it in a second time. Guess that would just mean I'd have to suffer through another container of Jif Whips ;)

I used Maple Brown Sugar peanut butter for this recipe because it's honestly my favorite peanut butter ever. It's a limited edition flavor which makes me nervous because I might have a total meltdown when they finally take it off the shelves. You think I'm joking but I'm not entirely sure if I am.

So for these oats you'll need:
1 nearly empty jar of peanut butter (mine probably had between 1-2 tbsp)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Pinch of stevia to sweeten

Combine everything in the peanut butter jar and let it sit over night! I topped mine off with cinnamon, a drizzle of honey, and half a banana.

I ate every last bite! 

These were the perfect pre-run fuel for my long run on Saturday morning. Even with all the cold rain during my run, I managed to get a new PR for this season on my 9-miler so I'd like to think it was the oats!

The weather was terrible and rained for two days straight so I just stayed mostly around the house trying to get some work done with essays. No complaints about that because it left time for plenty of snuggles!

PB&J Oats

If I could pick a favorite meal of the day it will always be breakfast. I love everything and anything to do with breakfast foods. So much that I often will have breakfast for dinner. 

The past three days I have had breakfast for dinner every night and it's mainly because we haven't had a chance to eat together as a family like we normally do. We were all sort of on our own and when that is the case, 99.9% of the time I will make a breakfast food. I actually look forward to nights where I fend for myself for dinner because then I get to have breakfast! 

So yesterday I decided to have peanut butter and jelly oatmeal with a side of protein pancakes (all about dat carb life). I'll admit I might have saved a good chunk of my carbs just so I could have this heavenly spread of carbs for brinner. I have no regrets.

The oats were simple: I just added stevia, peanut butter, and strawberry jelly!

You can add however much PB and jelly you want, I just did a tablespoon of each since that was what fit my macros. I also used 1/2 cup of oats, and the ratios were perfect!

It's not the prettiest bowl of oats but I was not going for points for presentation at allll. 

I used honey-roasted peanut butter for mine and you can learn how to make that here!

Friday Favorites #3

Happy Friday everyone! 

I didn't have any problems remembering to post this one today, maybe I'm making some improvements? Probably just wishful thinking but we'll see. 

1. Hebrews 12:1

I found this Bible verse the other day and it really stuck with me, especially since I'll be starting my official marathon training plan in a little under 2 weeks. I'm so excited but at the same time I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty intimated! 26.2 miles is double the longest I've ever run in my life, and when I actually think it all out sometimes it's like "WHAT DID I GET MYSELF IN TO?". And then I remember my goals and my passion for running and then I'm excited all over again! 

I'm also nervous that my shin might not hold up throughout the next 18 weeks and all the long runs buuuuut Jesus and ice are gonna get me through it! I have no plans of letting anything get in my way or stopping me from achieving this dream, but of course, I'll still be smart about it and listen to my body. I know for a fact that this Bible verse and among many others are going to be my mantra during all those long runs when my legs will probably want to give up. 

2. Caffe Mistos

I discovered this yesterday as a recommendation from another one of my coach's clients and let me tell you, they're amazing!! I never go for Starbucks plain coffee because it's too dark for my liking and just tastes burnt to me. I would normally get some kind of specialty drink but once I started tracking and with macros especially, it can be hard to fit those drinks in.

These caffee mistos are super macro-friendly, and also delicious! It's basically just coffee and steamed milk. I get mine with sugar free vanilla sauce and put a little stevia in it, and it's ah-mazing! I got a grande and it was only 10g carbs, 7g protein, and 0g fat since I got it with skim milk. You can get it with any milk you like or any sauce to flavor it but I just happen to like skim and vanilla! Obviously, the macros might change depending on the milk and flavor but that's not too shabby especially compared to 25-30g of carbs that the other skinny drinks can have! 

3. Investing in others

This has truly become my saving grace in the past couple months. I realized before just how much I had cut myself off from others when I was in the middle of restricting. I would cancel on dinner plans or anything that might involve food or if the plans meant I wouldn't have time to workout. I was completely consumed with myself and after last week's Bible study lesson, I figured out that the number on the scale had become my idol. Meaning, it had taken over significance in my life above God. In fact it had taken over significance above everything in my life-- not only with God but my family, friends, school, my happiness, and my future as well.

I believe that we were created to love and to crave love. I was denying myself self-love but more importantly, I was not spreading love to others. Once I opened my heart to other people, I've been getting it back ten-fold in my life. I absolutely love making those connections with people, and make it a priority over my macros and workouts. I'd now rather spend time with someone, answer an email, comment on someone's post in my fitness group on Facebook, or just show someone that I care about them and have genuine investment in them rather than worry about working out. Sometimes it can be hard to fit it all in but not only is it about finding balance with food but with life and people as well! 

4. For King & Country

I listen to a wide variety of music ranging from country, contemporary Christian, rock, and pop. I mean anything really, except rap. Out of all the music I listen to, they are by far my favorite! I went to their concert in September and LOVED IT! They have two albums out: Crave and Run Wild.Live Free. Love Strong, as well as some Christmas songs.

I have all their music and listen to it constantly. If I ever need encouragement, comfort, strength, or to jam out they're my go-to! Some of my favorite songs they do are Matter, Middle of Your Heart, Fix My Eyes, Steady, To the Dreamers, Long Live, Proof of Your Love, Shoulders...I just realized that I pretty much want to list all their songs so I obviously can't pick out my favorites as it's all of them! 

5. Reverse Dieting

This has been a lifesaver for me. It's a topic that has a lot of debate going on in the health world but it's slowly gaining popularity as more people find out about it. For the sake of keeping this post short and since I'm no expert on this topic, check out this post by my lovely coach as she explains it!

It's a very gradual and slow process but it's worth it! The first time I tried a reverse, I went with a giant company and was just treated as a number rather than an individual with goals. Katie is amazing and coaches me each step of the way, this time around has been much more successful! I've been working with her for over 2 months and have been increasing my carbs and fats without any weight gain. I've actually lost a couple pounds but it honestly doesn't matter to me because now I only check my weight every few weeks for check-in purposes to make sure that my body is adapting properly with the process. My weight and measurements are just for the sole purpose of communicating to Katie so she can make sure she is helping me in the best way she can. Everyone is different, though, and some people might lose or gain a little bit of weight. But as we know, that darn scale doesn't matter!

I chose to reverse diet for two main reasons: I was not eating anywhere near enough what I needed for maintenance with my activity level, even when I was done restricting and binging. It wasn't intentional but simply lack of knowledge. Secondly, my metabolism was in poor shape after two years of wreaking havoc on my body. I wanted to repair and heal my body, and I knew I wanted Katie to help me. So I reached out to her a few months ago, and she has been an answered prayer! I highly recommend her to anyone who asks :)

With the love of Friday favorites, I hope you all have a great weekend!