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Transformation Fitness & Wellness

How to WIN the week

Hope you are having a great weekend! This weather is absolutely awesome!

Weekends tend to be the time we take to recharge.

We mentally shut things down and then prepare for the week ahead.

Something Tony and I have had a lot of success with, both business wise and personally, is having a family meeting. We have done these on Fridays or Sundays.

What we do in those meetings is talk about the week, how did it go and what’s still outstanding. Then look at the week ahead. Do we have appointments, calls, his schedule, my schedule, etc.

Owning a business with your spouse can be super challenging, but after almost 11 years I think we have weathered several storms and celebrated lots of success.

But one essential part of our success has been the plan.

Sitting down with each other allows us both to come to the table with our priorities and communicate how we want the week to roll out. There are very few surprises or miscommunications because we are both on the same page.

We touch on all things business, then kids’ schedules, grocery/meal prep/meal service, when we will dine out, down to what time we will be home from work, what time we need to go in and workouts.

May seem a bit over kill but it has saved several tense moments.

So, I encourage you to take some time even if its only with yourself and plan your week ahead.

Work Schedule

Home projects/needs

Kids/animal needs

Workouts

Food planning

Etc.

Then watch your week play out. Sure, things will come up, that’s life, but when you have a plan, communicate the plan – things tend to go a bit smoother.

I hope this idea can help you have a smooth and enjoyable week ahead!

Take care,

Arin

Apple Cider Glazed Chicken!

INGREDIENTS

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

2 apples, sliced

2 tbsp.

olive oil, divided

1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed

2/3 c. apple cider

2 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp.

Grainy mustard

1 tbsp. butter

3 rosemary sprigs, for skillet

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 425°. In a medium bowl, add potatoes, apples and chopped rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss until combined.
  2. In a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, heat remaining olive oil. Add chicken and sear, skin side down, until golden, about 2 minutes. Remove chicken from heat while you make the glaze.
  3. To the same skillet, add apple cider, honey and grainy mustard. Bring mixture to a rapid simmer and cook until mixture has reduced slightly then whisk in the butter. Return the chicken to the skillet, skin side up, and scatter the sweet potato mixture and rosemary sprigs around the chicken. Turn off the heat and transfer the entire skillet to the oven.
  4. Bake until the sweet potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. (If potatoes need longer to cook, transfer chicken to a cutting board to rest and continue cooking until tender.)
  5. Serve chicken and potatoes with pan drippings.

 

{Healthy} Halloween Bat Energy Bites!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt optional
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats uncooked
  • 1/2 cup rice krispie cereal
  • 2 tablespoons dry chocolate pudding mixor cocoa powder for a healthier treat
  • 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
  • Broken blue tortilla chips
  • 20 eye-decorated candies

Instructions

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and salt. Microwave for 15-20 seconds and stir until combined.
  2. In that same bowl, add in the oats and rice krispie cereal. Stir together until completely combined. Add in the pudding mix (my little guy doesn’t love the taste of cocoa powder, so I use pudding mix or dry brownie mix, but those aren’t as healthy as cocoa powder) or cocoa powder.
  3. Add in the chocolate chips if desired.
  4. Form a ball with the mixture around the broken tortilla chips (helps them hold their place).
  5. Then using a drop of honey, attach the eyes to the front.
  6. Store these bats in an airtight container for 4-5 days (I keep mine in the fridge)

 

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna!

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • 1 1/2 cups vertically sliced red onion
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sliced garlic
  • 1 (6-oz.) pkg. baby spinach
  • 3/4 cup plain 0% fat-free Greek yogurt
  • 1/3 cup 1% low-fat milk
  • 3 ounces sliced part-skim provolone cheese, torn into small pieces
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 (20-oz.) butternut squash
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 1/2 ounces Gruyre cheese, grated (1/3 cup)

How to Make It

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add onion and garlic; sauté 4 minutes. Add spinach; sauté until wilted. Remove from heat. Place yogurt, milk, and provolone in a blender; blend 20 seconds. Add flour, salt, and eggs; blend 1 minute.

Step 2

Peel neck of the squash. Cut neck from bulb. Cut neck into 24 (1/8-inch-thick) slices using a knife or mandoline. (Use bulb for more slices if needed.)

Step 3

Place squash slices in an 8-inch square microwave-safe glass baking dish; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave until squash slices are almost tender, about 4 minutes. Remove squash from dish. Coat dish with cooking spray; spread 1/2 cup yogurt mixture in bottom of dish.

Step 4

Shingle one-third of squash over yogurt mixture. Top with one-third of ricotta cheese, one-third of spinach mixture, and one-third of remaining yogurt mixture. Repeat procedure twice, ending with yogurt mixture.

Step 5

Sprinkle lasagna with Gruyère. Cover dish with foil; bake at 350°F for 50 minutes. Remove from oven. Turn on broiler with oven rack about 8 inches from top. Remove foil from dish; broil 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; loosely cover, and let stand 20 minutes. Cut into 6 rectangles.

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 252
  • Fat 12g
  • Satfat 6g
  • Unsatfat 5g
  • Protein 19g
  • Carbohydrate 17g
  • Fiber 3g
  • Sugars 6g
  • Added sugars 0g
  • Sodium 597mg
  • Calcium 43% DV
  • Potassium 9% DV

What’s going well…

Hope you having a great week!

I am wondering how many people out there are feeling great, loving life?

Then how many people are stuck in the mud, dredging through whatever life is throwing at them?

Let me know where you are?

I keep waking up each morning this week and meditating on what is going well.

1.) Lyvia and Leo are thriving and healthy.

2.) Loving and supportive husband.

3.) I am proud of still being able to feed Lyvia and feeling no pressure.

4.) Working out minimum 3 days per week.

5.) Amazing clients we serve on a daily basis.

These are just a few things. Sure, it probably seems like I have it easy, but one important thing I am doing is focusing on the positive.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs)

This doesn’t mean we don’t have stress or pressure. Matter of fact we have a lot. We also have been working through some chaos in our living environment, loved ones getting awful diagnoses, hormone imbalances, pain, etc.

We all go through things.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. (Proverbs)

Love life when things are going well and when it is not going well, keep going, everything is worth the fight.

What are you fighting through?

I encourage you to keep going…we all have a purpose and plan.

No matter when you read this stop and think about what is going well. Write it down if you need to. Sometimes I have to remind myself what is going well. 😉

I hope you having an awesome day today or decide to make it awesome!

Keep fighting,

Arin

Do not wait 11 years….

I have officially gotten back into workouts post having our daughter. Did a strength workout on last Friday and Wednesday with the Noon rock-stars and plan to get another in today! Then got a run in last Saturday before it heated up too much.

But man, I feel so out of it.

I forgot my shoes for the first workout, no clue what I did with my heart rate monitor…

Part of it is from the lack of sleep but taking 6 weeks off let alone having a baby, takes a toll on you.

I remember when we first started our business I sat down in a consultation with a lady and I was talking to her about her goals. She told me she needed to lose the baby weight. I said, “awe, how old is your baby?”

She replied, “11 years old.”

We both sat there a second. 😉 Thankfully she laughed which broke the silence.

I’ll never forget that moment. I could see it in her eyes. After having her kids, she was never able to get back.

I completely understand this now.

It is so easy to tell someone when you are your 20s, make time for you.

It truly is easier said than done, but it must be done. We get it, but we can’t let 11 years go by.

Tony and I were just taking about how to carve time for reading. Pre-kids we got up early, would make some coffee, no one said a word for the first hour and we each read a book that was going to help us be better in some fashion.

Currently we have some really great books sitting…maybe 10 or so pages into them.

But we have to find the new normal. Just because we had kids doesn’t mean we have to stop doing everything we did before it just has a new spin.

I also think it take more intentional planning and it has to be timely and effective. This morning I got Lyvia back to sleep around 6:30am and Leo doesn’t get up till 7:30am so I could have gone back to sleep, instead I went and enjoyed that hour–reading!

It was glorious and started by day on such a good note!

That’s why I had no problem jumping back in our Team Training workouts. 45-minute workout and I chose Noon for now because it works in my schedule M/W/F when we have childcare at home. I do miss my early morning workouts and two showers a day is not my ideal, but it is how its going to fit in.

This is what it takes when you are juggling several different priorities, kids or no kids, we are all juggling a ton of things.

We can let 11 years go by and neglect us, but a lot can happen in those years.

Its to our advantage to take care of us, so that we present the best version of us to the world.

I know when I work out, I feel better about me, my clothes fit better, I have more energy and am a better mom/wife/business owner.

It is convincing ourselves every day we are worth the time.

Let me know if you want to talk more about how to juggle your schedule and still make time for you.

We would be glad to help!

Take care,

Arin