Untitled - December 30, 2025
00:00:00 Speaker: We are kicking off the new year in so many different ways. Whether that is you have set goals, expectations, resolutions, whatever that looks like. But for a lot of us, it might have something to do with health and wellness. Today on the Working Moms Redefined podcast, I get to be joined by Michelle Stallings, and she is the founder of Ambitious and Fit. Her company has helped thousands of women stop putting themselves and their health on the back burner. Hand is raised. I am just as excited as you are to learn from Michelle, who has helped thousands of women stop putting themselves in this cycle of yo yo dieting, releasing the restriction around health and wellness and actually building routines that make us feel beautiful in our own skin. Mindset is obviously so very important, and with Michelle, she blends this clarity, mental strength with sustainable habits for us to be able to fit into our working moms lives. I'm excited to hear about her perspective. It's rooted in helping women wake up each and every day to finally prioritize Ice ourselves and dare I say, man, that's going to help us show up to be stronger for others. But that is hard. Michelle, thank you for being with us today. Oh my gosh, I am so honored to be here. Denise, like it is just a pleasure. I love being able to talk to, especially like my you just mentioned. My company is ambitious and fit. I specialize in working with high achievers, high performers, really gals that choose to live an extraordinary life, especially as moms. I mean, like moms are already wonder women, but like when you add working on top of that, having a career, having a business, like there's just so much incredible things that come with that and it's just expanding who you are, expanding who you get to be. And so I'm so excited to be able to chat more with your audience, especially because going into this new year, like we're all we're all stepping into a new level. We're unlocking, we're unlocking something, and it's going to be freaking real. So I'm so excited that you and I get to chat today. Now, what will you tell people if they stick through the end? What will they take away from our time together today? Oh my gosh. They're going to get so many tangible nuggets today. So like I think the biggest takeaway that I want that I specifically has have helped hundreds of women, thousands of women be able to do is I want I want these moms to know you can get in the best shape and health of your life. And it's not only attainable, it's it's essential, especially because we have to prioritize ourselves. We have to take ourselves off the back burner, put ourselves in the forefront that we we can show up as the best moms that we can be the best wives, best sisters, the best business owners, corporate leaders. Like if we don't take care of ourselves, everybody's heard the concept of like, whenever you're on an airplane, they always say when the oxygen masks drop, make sure to put yours on first. That way you'll be able to help your child. You'll be able to help those around you. If you don't do that first, you're going to pass out and then be dead to the world. You're not going to be able to help anybody. Someone's going to have to help you. And so that's why I'm so excited to be able to share with the gals today. By the end of this episode, you're going to get tangible little nuggets to implement literally today that when you kick off your new year, starting to look and feel your best. So it's going to be epic. I'm excited, I can't wait. Let's go straight in. Ironically, we are not leading with, hey, get on the scale and weigh yourself because there's so much more and different that is necessary to talk about, one of which focusing on mental clarity and how that helps us prepare ourselves before any physical results show up. Why is that the most important, would you say, Michelle? Oh, I mean, I think that first of all, I mean, as working moms or even just like this incredible group of gals that are listening right now, it's we can't we can't have an incredible physical body. We can't transform from a place of burnout, from a place of being spread thin. If our mindset isn't right, where our focus goes is where our energy goes. Where our focus goes is where we grow as individuals. So we hear this concept of the eighty over twenty rule. There's a lot of eighty twenty rules out there. But the specifically the one that says if you want something to happen in your life, eighty percent of the game is your mindset, twenty percent is the mechanics, it's the actual like how tos and how are you going to do X, Y, and Z. But eighty percent is mindset. It's it's the way that you're able to say, I am choosing this for myself now I can figure out how I'm going to get there. So having mental clarity, it helps you make decisions faster. It helps you actually peel back the layers to say, okay, what do I want? What what what do I care about? What's actually going to make a change in my life? So we have to have the mental clarity. And that's the that's the reason why like I've, I personally actually you know was a lot of people are just certified, you know, fitness coaches or nutrition coaches. The biggest piece of the gals that I work with specifically is I'm also trained and certified in mindset as well. And that's because it's such a huge pillar. And I would say that's how we actually get if we have that clarity, that's where we can take things to a new level and actually achieve what we want for the long term, hands down. How on earth do we get to a state of mental clarity when the to do list is ever going? What's the next step or the next right tip toe? Get my foot wet to gain that. Yeah, well, I think it's I think it's a theme that I would think of for this for the beginning of this year, which I think your gals are going to be really surprised by, is simplify to amplify. It's almost like this concept of slowing down to speed up. So, you know, our to do list is ever growing. I literally have my to do list right here next to me. I'm pretty sure it's thirty miles long, but it's also one of those things that we have to I think it's a it's a mix of it's a prioritization perspective. Like, are we doing things just to do them? Do they need to be done right now. So it's establishing mental clarity of like what are the actual needle movers in my life. What are one to two things that I can do today for my health and my wellness and for my transformation that if nothing else got done today, at least I got a walk in. At least I went in, you know, had a high protein breakfast. At least I took ten minutes to myself. Maybe if it was hiding in a closet away from the kids as things everyone was running around like, mom needs a moment to herself, right? Like, how can you do one to two things or big needle movers and focus on yourself? Because the to do list, it's never all going to get done the moment you check something off your list. Guess what? Three more get added, baby. We even talked like, literally right before this episode started. You and I both added things to our own to do list because we got excited about something. But you know, you and I already checked off a couple things this morning. So it's the twenty five things. They're always going to be there, but really getting clear and prioritizing like, okay, what is actually going to move the needle for me? Stop doing things just to do them. Lean into like, what's actually going to make you feel more confident and shift and change. I hope that's helpful. I love that simplify to amplify. Are there any other mind traps that you see women fall into when it comes to health and wellness? Oh my gosh, the list is like endless. It's absolutely insane, but I will I'm going to give you a theme of maybe like top four. Does that sound like a plan? That'll work. Just that. Just that way. Like some of the I mean, I feel like I chat about these on a weekly basis with all of my clients, whether they're in my group coaching or they're in my one on one. And I would say the very first one that is probably the most obvious, especially for working moms. I've worked with so many of them. First one is definitely the all or nothing mindset. As like high achievers, as high performers, as gals that, you know, choose not to have an average life, refuse to settle, and they're wanting something extraordinary. In our heads, you know, the all or nothing mindset has served us in the past in some way. And when I say all or nothing, we're saying it's black or white, thinking you're either all in or you're all out. I'm either, you know, getting six workouts in this week or I ain't doing anything at all, right? You know, it's it's it's an it's an extreme right. And where that comes in is that, that served us maybe in our career, in our business and our finances in some type of family perspective. But whenever it comes to our health and our fitness and our transformation, that's not how that works. You are with your. You are with your body. You are. You have been. The longest relationship you'll ever have is the one with yourself since literally birth you. You are stuck with you forever. Okay, so when it comes to transformation, you have to actually enjoy the like concept that like you have to live in this area, you have to live in the gray. You can't live in the black or the white. You have to live in the gray. Something is always better than nothing. So if you can't get the six workouts in okay, number one, that's a little hardcore. You don't need that just to highlight like three to four workouts a week can actually really help you. And they don't even have to be an hour. They can even just be twenty minutes. But we'll talk about that a little more later. But if it means that you stand up from your desk, whether it's at home or at the office, you go for a walk or you bust out twenty five squats like just something is better than nothing. At the end of the day. So I would say one is definitely the all or nothing mindset. That's huge. The second one that I would highlight is comparison. I mean, as as women in general, we have been conditioned to compare ourselves to others. And that's a common mindset trap. And and I personally I'm personally a twin, so I have a twin sister. Um, we are fraternal, but again, I've been compared to since literally in the actual womb. Okay. Like it's it was Michelle and Alex all the time, right? And so granted, like, the thing is, is that even my own twins, someone I share biology with, we are completely different human beings. We have different stressors. We have different life things that are going on. And so that social media influencer that you see, who's giving a two and a half hour routine, morning routine or night routine, you're like, wow, she has all the time in the world. Lucky her. right? It's like you have to understand, number one. That's her job. First of all, that's not your job. Then second, she has she doesn't have the same support or stressors or she doesn't have the same life as you. So comparison is like it really is the thief of joy. And so it so I would say that's a common mindset trap. The other caveat I would say to that though, is if you do know someone who is highly similar to you or has a similar job, has a similar family life, and you're like, this person pretty much is me, I would just encourage the gals that are listening to almost shift my shift that mindset. Going back to the mindset piece we talked about earlier, I would encourage you to say like, she is proof. Like, oh my God. Like if she can, if she can get in the best shape of her life, if she can do that with all the crap she's got going on in her life, that means she has proof and evidence that I can do that too, right? So it takes that that gross, icky trap part of it, and it leans into like, whoa, like someone else did it, which means I can. It's possible for me as well, especially as a hardcore working mom. Like, I get to be the anomaly. I get to be that person, too, right? And then I would say the last two, the first, the next one, I would say is old identity shifts. For the longest time, regardless of our age, we have always had these stories in our head of I'm not consistent, I'm too much. I am too busy. I'm spread too thin. Um, I don't follow through on things I never complete what I started like, there's these little inner old identity stories that when you're going through a transformation, they're not serving us. They're only keeping us stuck because you're. Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right. Right. Like that's the piece of the mindset. So it's so important that we ditch some of those old identity patterns that we see coming up. And and that'll be a day to day. A day in and day out process is trial and error and experimenting on like what happened here? What what's going on? But if you if you say I don't follow through on things, that's probably one of the most common ones I hear I'm not consistent. Well, inconsistency is your habit right now. So we need to create consistency as a habit. So what's one thing every day this week that you could do? One of my clients just even told me yesterday. She said, I'm going to get seven hours of sleep. I'm going to go to bed a little earlier and I'm just going to do seven hours. That's it, seven hours of sleep every day this week. And you would think it has to be this granular thing. And and it wasn't. She got her seven hours and she was like, oh my gosh. I actually followed through. I went to bed at the right time. I woke up at the I, I did it. And she built that confidence and broke an old pattern that she says, I work too late. I don't prioritize myself and my sleep. I I'm not consistent. I don't follow through. It's breaking that pattern. So I would say that's a third mindset trap. And the fourth one. Just to leave that, especially for working moms specifically, is the guilt. It's the guilt of taking care of your self when you feel like you should be taking care of everybody else. And I feel like as women and as moms, we are conditioned to make sure everyone else is good before we take care of ourselves. But the problem is, is that not everybody's going to be good all the time. It's just like our ever to ever long to do list. That's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is you. The way you can show up in the best way that you can for your kids and your work and the things that you want to accomplish. So we need to remove that that guilt piece, because therefore, you should feel guilty that you are setting the example for others, whether it's for your team at work or for your kids or your family saying, I'm going to put you first. I'm going to put myself last. Kids, we don't have to tell moms this at all. Kids, you tell them what to do. They won't listen to you. They will watch you. So if you are not putting yourself first, if you are not taking care of your health and you're not doing little daily nuggets here and there, you are. You are demonstrating to them that yes, I'm going to tell you what to do, but I'm not going to take the advice myself, which means you don't have to either. So all the nuggets. Here you go. There's my four nuggets. I can't help it. There's so many more. But I'll let us riff on those first. No, I feel very seen in that last one because we think we're serving. We think we're doing the right thing. We think XYZ. And then little nine year old Cydney watching me. Well, mom, you're not doing what you say. Why do I have to do? Like, I can totally see her doing that. That feels selfish. Investing into myself from time to time over them or others sometimes feels selfish. How? How do I navigate that? How do I shift the mindset or anyone listening of not making it feel selfish? Yeah, it's self-care isn't selfish. It's it's your responsibility to set the example and to be the role model for for your kids and for your family, even even for my gals that are maybe listening who are expecting moms or maybe, you know, don't have kids yet, but you know that that's something that you want and you want to start that identity shift early. Maybe you're just putting your spouse first, or putting another family member, or your parents or somebody else first. You're doing a disservice because if when you take care of yourself, you actually inspire others. You give them permission to take care of themselves, too. And and honestly, there's this sense of self respect that you get for yourself. But you can when you see a working mom who is who is in her own definition, in whatever she wants it to look like healthy, fit, um, just kind of thriving, confident, and feels good in her skin again, whatever that looks like for her. She not only has major self-respect for herself, she receives respect from others. She receives like there's this ripple effect that happens. And so I would encourage gals that think that moms that think like, oh man, it's selfish for me to take care of myself. No it is, it is self care. Shift from selfish to I'm taking care of myself the way I have my own self respect. I have my own confidence. I am my own person. I am bigger than being a mom. I'm bigger than being a wife. I'm bigger than being. I'm bigger than my job. Like I am me. And so that that's the shift that I would really lean into is from selfish to self-care. That way you can have self respect and then also inspire others around you. Give them the permission to take care of themselves too. Mhm. I love that tiered approach. What ideas do you have for us to start doing that can be qualified in building that self-care habit or confidence or self-respect? Yeah, I would say the very first thing I would really encourage gals to do is to stop relying on motivation and feeling like it. I would actually make a shift of like saying, yeah, like, okay, Michelle, that sounds great, but like, what do I do? I would say majority of the time I see gals that are like, okay, new year, new me. Like, I, you know, I have this like, inner, you know, pressure on myself and perfectionism and, you know, okay, like all or nothing mindset coming back up. One of the common mindset traps. But I would say that really like making sure that we are more so leaning into systems. So one of my favorite books is called Atomic Habits by James Clear. I'm sure that maybe you've heard of it or maybe read it yourself. Denise, I would not be shocked. It's who you are as a person. Um, but the the concept of habit stacking. So how can we prioritize self-care with an already super busy, hectic life? What we do is we simply add little. We have little systems that we put in place. So for example, if you are taking your kids to daycare or taking them to school at seven seven thirty, you don't have to be at work until nine. Well, guess what you can do? You can actually go drop off your kids. They'll be the present incredible mom. And then while you are on your way to work, stop at your local gym or stop at a class. Or if you work from home, like taking two seconds in your garage to do a twenty minute lifting session with just two dumbbells or even your own body weight. Right? So stacking that habit of, okay, I was a present, mom. I'm now taking care of myself. Now I get to go into my work, right? Same thing goes after work. Or you know what? Maybe every time I am eating lunch, I'm going to go for a quick five to ten minute walk. Afterwards, I'll bring my favorite coworker. I'll bring my I'll call my mom. I'll habit stack like any doctor's appointments I need to make or any errands I need to run. There's tiny little systems you can put in place saying, when I do X, I'll do Y as well. So if you love, um, Netflix, for example, if you are a love is blind girl, I don't know who is a love is Blind. I personally had watched the most recent season of his terrible but at the same time, other ones were fantastic or Dancing With Stars or whatever. Like show that makes you feel like, okay, I have a little downtime for myself while the kids are running amok. Put that on on your laptop or on the TV, and do your meal prep for that one show for the thirty minutes and use your kitchen around you. That's one of the biggest things I would say that my clients, especially the busy moms I work with, I'm like, use your kitchen around you. Meal prep doesn't have to be this for our ideal. Like, if you want to focus on your self-care, use the things around you. Use your oven, use it if you have an air fryer. If you don't have an air fryer, ask for one for like your birthday, for Valentine's Day, whatever day you're listening to this, whatever upcoming thing you have anniversary, get an air fryer or just buy one on Amazon. Like make it so. Make things so easy and simple for yourself that like again it's simplifying the amplify right. So habit stacking, but also saying I'm going to do something that I like while moving my body. I have another client who even has this walking pad. She took her walking pad from her at work, from home office, took it downstairs. And as she watched the last season, the latest season of survivor, she said, when I watch survivor, I walk on my walking pad. Homegirl literally like she she took her steps from a normal like five to seven thousand per day just for her personally, and she went up to twelve thousand like in two weeks. And it was just watching survivor, like she was like it was like I looked forward to it. Right? It's just crazy. And she was a mom, a dog mom, like it was crazy. So it's just the tiniest little things that we could do to like, step into that. It doesn't have to be it's granular situation that has to happen. It doesn't have to be excessively transformative, even with the smallest things that compound over time. And what a good time, because it is the new year. But I'm the first person to say I don't love New Year's resolutions, because oftentimes people do not stick with them. I think there's a statistic that says nine out of ten people by February have already done away with their resolutions. So how can we make this different, Michel? How can we make it so that this mindset or our new habits actually last beyond January? Yeah, I think it goes. I think the concept of new year, new you, I think that I think it's a, I think it's a it's catchy. So like go for it. Like if that's something that resonates, that is like a mantra you want to lean into. I think that's great. Um, but to your point, there's a stat out there that says less than eighteen percent of individuals keep their New Year's resolution after two weeks into January. There's a joke where a lot of people like take the first two weeks for going to the gym. They're like, I'm going to let other people go start their New Year's resolution. I'll go in two weeks, I'll go mid January and it'll die back down again. And I'm like, okay, that's not fair. But it's it's one of those things where, um, the thing I love the mantra of New Year, new me, just because of the the excitement behind that and the mindset shift around it. But I would shift away from the fat, from the perfectionism and the pressure piece and like the how do I quickly fix myself? Like because new year, new me. It's not from a mind. It comes from a mindset of like, it comes from a more negative place of like, okay, how can I fix myself? How can I finally get my ish together again? Or how can I get back on track? Especially post holidays when I would almost what I personally work with my gals to do, and I work with gals for six months to three four years. Like, I mean, I work with so many individuals for extended periods of time. And what's made them successful is they shift away from how can I fix myself to, okay, who am I becoming? How can I start tapping into her? How can I lean? How can I just start doing little nuggets here and there that just prove I am her on a date? How can I collect evidence? How can I start to get more confident in these routines and these things that I'm doing? That's the longevity piece. I think that New Year's resolutions, New Year, new me. A lot of people also come from this diet mentality. They come from a very short term mentality and they're like, I'm going to restrict the foods I'm eating. I am not. I'm not going to have any sugar. I'm going to do a cleanse. I'm going to do all of these things. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on one second. That's so short term. Like granted, you'll probably like, see maybe a little bit of results, but biologically speaking, it takes your body anywhere between eight to nine weeks to show off your hard work. It starts by doing it, then feeling it energy wise, and then you see it later, which is why people don't stick to it, by the way, because they don't have the patience to wait eight to nine weeks. But what I would lean into instead is instead of a diet mentality of I'm going to do no sugar and no alcohol or dry January or all of these things. That's great if you want to, but I would lean into more. Who am I becoming? What is what is the lifestyle I want to create for myself? What in six months from now, I always do a visualization type of exercise with all of my new clients and I'm like, okay, six months from now it is June twenty twenty six. It's July twenty twenty six. What does that girl look like? What does she feel like? What is her routine? What is her day to day look like? How is her relationship with her kids and in her marriage. Like what? What is her work life look like? Like creating that that that visual and that roadmap. And then they say, I'm going to be her in six months. And I'm like, yeah, you are. And here's how we're going to do it. So like, it's who I'm becoming. And the actual long term lifestyle mentality versus the short term, super hardcore, not sustainable diet mentality that really makes people all fall off. I love the visualization because that is something that each and every one of us can do tonight or tomorrow, whenever we really decide to make the time to do it. By asking ourselves those very simple questions, how I I'm visualizing who I want to be in six months. How do I couple that with maybe what my body actually needs Instead of looking on Pinterest or Instagram and seeing what's trending or what's in the diet culture, how do I really listen to my own body? Yeah, I think that's the biggest piece. So I personally, um, when I started my fitness journey, I, I did the all the extremes. I, you know, ended. I was in college, I, you know, discovered fitness and lifting and, um, I started working out with these, you know, competition bikini competitors. And I was like, okay, I want to look like you, but, like, I don't want to, like, compete. I ended up actually competing down the road. So there is that. But, um, you know, and I'll never do it again. But it was a great life experience. But I will tell you that I did a lot of the extremes in the beginning. And whenever I started my corporate job, I, you know, was I had a commute. I was working eight to six. I actually had damaged my metabolism, my hormones. I actually gained twenty five to thirty pounds of fat. Um, was very depressed. It was a lot of stuff going on. And so it wasn't until, you know, I actually made the decision to take care of myself and to and to really actually make a decision like stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and actually like, get aligned, focus on what I, how I want it to look, how I wanted to feel, this visualization piece that you and I had talked about, like shifting from the diet mentality into lifestyle, like what would actually make me happy. But to answer your question on, you know, how to listen better, listen to your body. I would say majority of the time most people don't listen to their body. They only focus on, you know, the random influencer diet plans or Pinterest moves or what recipe guide can I do x, Y, and Z? And even I did that. And so it wasn't until about three years into my own transformation journey I was seeing great results, but everything was so external. It wasn't until I actually learned more about my gut health, um, you know, the impact of sleep, the impact of my hormones when I actually saw my metabolism, like, stabilized. Right. And it wasn't until I actually started listening to my body that I actually saw extraordinary results like that. I actually, like, got to not only have a transformation, but I got to keep it for over ten years now. And I would never go. I have a better body at thirty four than I did at twenty four. Like it's insane. And everybody is like, oh, I wish I had the same one I had in my twenties, but like, and I'm pregnant and I can't even say that. Right. So it's just one of those things where we need to emphasize more of listening to our body, because our body is giving us symptoms. It is talking to us all the time, but we have been conditioned to only pay attention to the externals and listen to the media and, you know, do all this like lose ten pounds in ten days or like all this like diet culture verbiage versus taking a step back. So to answer better answer your question. How do we listen to our body? Your body is giving signals right now. You're are you are you tired like are you do you have these emotional cravings? Are you bloated? Are you like how is your body responding right now? And start to listen to her a little bit. We have to partner with our body. We can't hate our body into transforming. We actually have to partner with it and say like, okay, I'm really tired today. Maybe I didn't get the best sleep. Maybe I need to go to bed maybe thirty minutes earlier tonight, see how you feel the next day, right? Maybe if you are clutching onto the three to five cups of coffee that you're having per day. Number one, no wonder you have anxiety. You're overstimulated. Times a hundred. Which. P.S. I love coffee, I love lattes, I'm all I'm game. I will never say no to caffeine. never, ever, ever. It's even been difficult being pregnant. But at least I get my one latte per day. But I will tell you that even reducing your coffee intake from, you know, three cups of coffee, even down to one and a half or two, like, notice how your body feels. If you feel like you're having this, you know, three p m crash in the middle of the afternoon and you just feel like all of your energy exited means we didn't get enough protein earlier in the day, we were having a blood sugar crash. We've had maybe a lot of carbs. We haven't had enough healthy fats for our hormones. So like, our body is constantly talking to us. And if we are bloated and maybe not getting enough fiber in your body, right? So it's like I would pay attention to I would scale back and I would almost just have a one minute pause and just say, what is my body telling me right now? Like, how, how how do I feel like, okay. Like if I'm If I'm craving so much sugar, like, maybe I need better sleep. Maybe I need to increase protein. Maybe I need to go for a quick walk. Maybe I'm feeling stressed. Like, how am I feeling right now? So we need to partner with it as best as we can and start listening to it. Because I will tell you, the moment that you listen to it and you actually start to do tiny little things to just test and take trial and error, to see how you can feel better water intake if you increase your water intake, you magic happens like waste leaves. It's incredible. Your gut health, everything is just so much better. Even increasing to one extra veggie per day. It changes everything. It compounds over time. So that's where your gut health is better, your hormones are better, your nutrition is better, your energy is better. And then your body starts melting and morphing and you're like, cool. I didn't even have to work hard for that. That's great. Like, you know, um, so I hope that that answers your question there, but we have to partner with it in order to be able to feel amazing and save ourselves from later on conditions too. While you were talking, I was trying to really get in tune with okay, how am I feeling? And I'm definitely feeling the fact that Hudson got up twice last night. I'm when you said one more vegetable like, that's maybe something that we could do. Just eating a vegetable would be a great goal. Yeah. You're so little, and I appreciate the lack of pressure that you are putting on this conversation as a whole. It's not that because this is it can be a sensitive topic for some anyway. It's very realistic. It's dare I even say achievable is. But yet what if somebody is scared to take the next step? What does it look like for those people when they're like, yes, but I have so much going on between work and family and everything in between. Would you tell him it's okay? First of all. And it's it's doable. Yeah, I think I think taking the pressure off of themselves a little bit, I almost would say, like, give yourself a little bit of grace. I mean, you've got a lot going on. I think you don't have to tell high achieving gals or, um, high performers. You do not have to tell them. You don't have to. Like you don't have to give them pressure. You don't have to tell them like you like drill sergeant stuff the this like captain mentality, military mentality for working moms and for for women like us that want or don't want an average life, want an extraordinary life. You don't have to put pressure on us. We were already stressed beyond belief. Okay, so what really works for us is almost scaling back and like taking a quick pause to pause over pressure. I'm giving you so many like little nug bugs in terms of like the words. Um, but I would say pausing over pressure and it's, it's by choosing saying like, hey, like I'm just going to I'm going to take a beat for a second. I really want to know, like, how can I what can I do for myself right now? Like what's actually important to me? How can I how can I do this? And I and I'll tell you your cortisol levels. Most of us are high functioning. Most of us are like we we live at a radar up here like everybody else is down here. They're chilly. Billy's like, no hanging out, just hanging out. We are up here all the time. So the fact that, like, even if we were to take five minutes a day to even to sit in our chair, not look at our phone and just do even some deep breathing. So, like breathing in for four out for four, breathing in for four and then out for for doing that two or three times. Your entire nervous system calms down, inflammation goes down, brain Brainfog is released. Like just you actually feel like you can handle the situation, right? So I, I would just encourage women to focus on how can I just focus on myself. How can I take a step back and like actually focus on like what what what would feel really good right now? That's a question I ask all of my clients all the time is what would feel really good today. I'm like, you know what? I'm Hudson kept me up twice and woke me up twice last night. I have no idea. You know I'm feeling it. Okay, well, maybe having a wind down routine tonight. So maybe it's like we. We take a bath, we take a long shower. We ask our husband to just, like, hang on to hang on to the kids for a twenty minute span. Or the dogs. My dog moms out there, like, I have a new puppy. Like, can you manage the puppy for me real quick? You know, giving yourself this little tiny window to just breathe is going to be so transformational and give you the clarity, the mental clarity that we talked about earlier. It's going to give you the clarity to say what would feel good today. If I can't work out, can I at least get a great dinner in? Even if I have to eat out, can I at least choose like a place that I'd be really proud to eat from? Yes. So keeping it, keeping it tangible, keeping it, staying in a flow. It's always about a flow. It's not about restriction. It's not about having things dialed in and perfect. It's just staying in a gray. Something is better than nothing flow. And what a great way to wrap that up Michelle. Very well done. People are obviously going to want to connect with you further, because I'm assuming these nuggets that you've already given us today, you do so on socials. How can people work with you or connect with you outside of our time together? Oh my gosh. Well, definitely feel free to pop over to my own podcast that I have. It is the Ambitious and Fit podcast, so if you love some of the nuggets that you heard today, we have over three hundred episodes of more tangible nuggets for you to be able to take with you and implement right away. So pop on over there. I would love to have you join some of our ambitious at The Inner Circle. I mean, if you're if you're listening to this podcast, The Redefining Working Moms, like, let's be let's be real here, you are an ambitious and fit gal. Like, we're you need it. Um, and then I'm also going, you can follow me on Instagram at Michelle E Stallings. Um, I'm always on there. You can always message me if you have any questions or need anything from that perspective. I have some of my coaching items on there too, but more so just come and ask questions and just hang out. I think that's great. And then, um, I'm also Denise. I would love to be able to gift your audience, um, a little freebie for the New year. Um, and so it's going to be called the Five Ways to Look and Feel Your Best without Burning out. So just some really good nuggets, some tangible takeaways for you gals to take with you and literally implement right after this episode, right today, within the next week, and really set up your new year for success. I think that'd be amazing. So fun, so fun. Thank you, Michelle, for your time before we part ways. It's my favorite part of every episode are our lightning round questions. What are some or one of your favorite quick, energizing moments for a busy day with those that you might not have had time to get a full workout in? Oh, okay, so some quick movements. I have to tell you that, um, I would say even busting out three, three rounds of twenty squats, literally, like just right next to your desk, you don't need any equipment, just doing it. Twenty squats. Pause. Do it again. Pause. Do it again. Like literally. It will energize you if you are wanting to work on your arms doing even ten push ups like you'll feel it the next day too. So I would say it's very energizing. Gets your blood flowing. It's wonderful. Highly recommend. Because I did not get to work out this morning. You can absolutely know that after this podcast episode I'm going to go do those squats right through it. It'll be good for your digestion too. So yes, do it. It's going to be a multiplier. We love a multiplier. One misconception that you would love to completely erase from working moms minds about what they have to do to live a healthy, fulfilling life. Restriction is not the answer. The restriction is not the answer. Um, we at admission, I will tell you, after I even competed, um, I went on a stage when I mean when I say I competed, I literally was the girl that hopped on a stage in a bikini, posed and just did it more so to, like, see how far I could take my body. I did six months of pure restriction. Even on my birthday. I didn't even waiver. I didn't do anything, I, I was literally perfect for that stage. I even went to nationals on Vegas and all of the above I would again, I would never do it again. But I worked with the top coach and I will tell you, the moment I was done with that, it wasn't worth it and I decided I was going to go ahead and just add flexibility, implement this rule called the eighty over twenty Food Sustainability Rule. So eighty percent of the time you're eating healthy, whole, nutrient dense foods. You're doing your workouts, you're feeling good about your habits and routine. But then twenty percent of the time you are living a little. You're enjoying the margarita, the cake. You're making memories with your the cookies with your kids, or pizza like you're having fun and flexibility. And I will tell you, I implemented that rule, and I've implemented it for the past nine and a half years of my life. And I looked better for my wedding with the eighty over twenty rule, even seven, seventy thirty. I was even better for my wedding two years later than I did, even on a national stage with peer restriction. So I want every gal to know restriction is not the answer. Ditch it. It's not worth it. You need to create a lifestyle. That's the biggest piece. I love it. Oh, uh, what is one song that instantly boosts your mood? Oh my gosh. Okay, I would say I'm gonna give you two. One is the me, myself and I by G-Eazy. I know, it's like I know how crazy that sounds, but I gotta tell you that the moment I decided I was going to transform my body, my mind, and I wanted to elevate my life. I wasn't even with my husband, who I met at the gym, too, which is great. After my, uh, beginning of my transformation. That proves that, gals, you couldn't. You can meet anybody anywhere, and you can look like shit doing it too. But, um, but I would say G-Eazy. So me, myself and I by G-Eazy. And then I do. I'm not an overly swiftie, but like the Are you Ready for it song by Taylor Swift when she's like, are you ready for it? Uh, I'm like, I don't know. Something activates in everybody's system when they hear that. So yes. Last question. What is a book that completely changed the way that you view health? Ooh, I would say, um, we already talked about atomic habits, which was a big one, but I think there's another one. It's called the compound effect. Um, the compound effect is a really good one. Um, it essentially just highlights the things that we had talked about on this podcast today, and it just says the smallest little habits they compound. So they come. It's like the small daily deposits that you do. They turn. They they compound over time. They create interest. They they amplify over time and literally like the results are unmatched. So the tiny little things you do on a day to day basis turn into some of the best investments you could have ever made in yourself. Could not wrap up an episode about health and wellness better than with Michelle Stallings and her business. Ambitious and fit connect with her. She has all of that info in the show notes as well as the freebie. We'll be sure to let that be something that you have access to as well, as it was a pleasure to get to really redefine what health and wellness might look like in the twenty twenty six year for you as a working parent. Because remember, you can do hard things. Yes, yes you can, and you are worthy of doing that. Put yourself first. Thank you for listening to the Working Moms Redefined podcast. It is not lost on me that you chose to spend time together. Thank you. Let's connect outside of this space on socials. We'd love for you to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest. We've got it all to connect with you! If you feel as if someone in your life could be impacted by this message, feel free to share it. That is the biggest compliment as we part ways together. Remember, you can do hard things.
