Penny Aiava Health & Fitness Coach

So this is 50! ✨️✨️✨️

I've had such an amazing weekend celebrating with my family. I'm not much of a party person, so those who know me best made the past few days super special with all my favourite things.

I have so much to be grateful for as I sit here this morning, my actual birthday, and reflect on the past 50 years.

I've had my own personal battles over the years, but I feel like it's time to let all that go and step into this new exciting chapter of my life with more faith, boldness, and confidence than ever before 💙

I'm excited for the future, and I'm excited to rock my 50's and beyond!

I am grateful to be here. I never take for granted each day that I wake up to. Our lives are made up of two dots and a dash ( . - . )...make the most of the dash 💙❤️🙏🫂

Love you all ❤️

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary 💙❤️💙❤️

This photo pretty much sums up our 6 trying to make me laugh 😂

The journey has been hard at times, but we always pull through. Our faith keeps us strong and connected.

I love you so much. I know we have some very challenging but also exciting times ahead...I'm blessed to be walking through all of this with you 🙏 💙❤️

We have our church conference coming up next week for 3 days and I've decided to fast and pray for a few days leading up to it.

Most of you know that I'm a Christian and my faith is very important to me. As much as I look after the physical I also know how important it is to look after the spiritual.

I will be off social media for a few days to eliminate any distractions. But the main reason I wanted to post this is I will be doing 3 days of PRAYER and fasting. So I just wanted to put it out there...if you have any special needs or requests and need some prayer I'm 100% happy to pray for you. Please just let me know, it would be honor to pray for you 🙏 ❤️

See you in a few days 💙

One Pan Mexican Chicken and Corn

Serves 10
(You can half to serve 5...I like to double my meals for leftovers)

1.5kg chicken mince
2 onions, diced
2 large capsicums, diced
2 large handfuls spinach, chopped
2 cans corn, drained
2 cans black beans, drained
2 packets taco seasoning mix, I use Farrohs
1 jar salsa
4 Tbs tomato paste
Grated cheese

Heat a non stick pan over a high heat and add the chicken mince. Stir whilst breaking up the mince until its browned.

Remove mince from pan and set aside.

Add the onions and capsicum and cook until soft then add back the mince.

Add remaining ingredients: spinach, corn, beans, salsa, tomato paste and seasoning. Stir through and heat gently through.

Add grated cheese, put lid on and let cheese melt. Serve on soft tortillas with extra salad veggies and avocado.

Simple and yum!
(Cheese not shown in picture as eating later)

Weight gain or just normal weight fluctuations??

I have put on almost 3 kilos over these winter months (photo end of summer to now, not that we had a summer lol 🤣). Do I notice it? 100%! Is it normal? Also, 100%!

It's so easy to get down on ourselves when we see that scale weight go up. Sometimes, you just have to logically put it in its place.

It's 100% normal for weight to fluctuate by a few kilos...hormones, fluid, muscle mass...all those things can contribute.

For me personally, I always have some extra body fat over winter. I eat differently (mostly more 🤣), I hibernate more (Netflix!), I'm overall less active (too cold to workout 🤣, all the excuses!). And to be honest, IM JUST NOT A WINTER PERSON! FULL STOP! ❄️😕😒😞

I still aim to eat well, most of the time. Still train consistently, most of the time, and just embrace the body changes, rather than getting down about it. I use these colder months to use the extra food to lift heavier and build more muscle...win win!

And you know what? How about we don't even weigh ourselves! Focus more on how strong we are, how fit we are. The scales are a tool, but only one of many tools. Geez, I did 100 burpees this morning in under 6 minutes! No scale weight can dictate how awesome that was!

FYI: I literally froze my ass off taking that photo 🤣😁❄️⛈️💧☃️

Guess what? Life isn't always perfect, especially when it comes to healthy eating. I mostly eat good, nutritious food because it makes me feel good, but there are times when it's not possible to make healthy food choices, and that's okay 😊

I'm a huge advocate of consistency, in my training, in my eating, and in most areas of my life. It's what you do most of the time that counts. When life happens, like late night drive-thru for ice cream with your kids or unexpected coffee and cake with a friend, it's OKAY because I have already built that foundation of healthy eating habits.

The occasional indulgence is nothing to stress about. In fact, it should be enjoyed, guilt free. I enjoy a cheese scone with my mum and desert with my family once a week. It's no big deal because I enjoy good food most of the time.

Having a flexible attitude towards your eating is crucial for long-term success. Strict rules only lead to feelings of guilt and shame when you "go off track." These negative feelings can lead to a cycle of binging and more restriction, believe me, I've been there, and it's not great 😑 😕 😒

We all want to feel good and have our bodies perform at their best. By consistently eating healthy, nutritious food and allowing room for occasional indulgences, you start creating a lifelong sustainable plan. No guilt, no shame, no restriction, just a healthy relationship with food. This is important not only for ourselves but also for our loved ones, our children, the messages that we are sending to them ❤️

I've just finished reading this book. Unfortunately, I had to read it on my phone, but I LOVED IT!

There are so many gold nuggets. I was constantly taking notes and even spent time pondering on the questions she asked.

I'm not a huge fan of self-help books, but this one really resonated with me.

I really liked this part, "Passion isn't something that spontaneously happens in us. It can spark up when we watch other humans step out of their comfort zone and into their daring future right in front of us. In coming alive to our passions, we invite others to do the same"

Love this so much! That's what I want my life to be, full of life and passion, which encourages others to step into their own God-given gifts and dreams 💙💛❤️

Happy Monday 😊

Still on a high from our trip away which made getting up this morning for my early clients much easier!

Just about to do my own training but thought I'd pop on here first and say "HELLO"

It's been a whirlwind past few weeks but I loved every minute of Los Angeles, we had such an amazing time ❤️

I've come back with a new fire in my belly and new clarity. I know what I want, I know what excites me, what makes me happy and how I want to live the rest of my life.

Life is too short to just go through the motions, find what excites you, what drives you and do more of that!

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will bless you with the desires of your heart"