Changing Station

Wouldn’t it be nice if CHANGE was a total no brainer.  What if change was as easy as a drive through speedy car wash?

Pull up, order a custom physique, a spritz of baby powder or favorite scent and pull forward.  Get a little rubba a dubb dub, clean the scum off and come out squeaky clean, tight, toned, tan and two sizes smaller.  Wouldn’t that be a sweet dream?!?

Unfortunately CHANGE is not robotic and quick.

When I saw the changing station picture on HI SUGARPLUM’s blog, I was totally inspired.  This picture captures something deep and gives a sense of hope.  It reminded me of the magic wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia.  Slip through the back into a fantasy world for a quick fix.

 I hate to burst your bubble but not all changing stations are clean, petite, red and turquoise.  To encounter radical change we must go beyond the surface. Change is most often greasy, rough and

 

FILLER UP!  

Use your imaginary skills and visualize your life, your body like a car on empty.  Pull up to the nearest filling gas or service station, roll down the window and order up a big ultra tank of premium CHANGE.

Pop the hood and take a look around.  What do you need?  What’s going on with you?  Do you need a tune up?  Oil change?  New belt?  Tire pressure low?  Window washing?   Low on gas?

Fuel. It’s not just for cars!

Food is fuel for the body. Would you intentionally run your sweet new ride out of gas? Highly doubtful.  Your personal gas meter should never ever be below half.  If you’re essentially awake approximately 11 hours a day, you should be refueling about every three hours.  That’s 5 pit stops…aka small meals in a day. Maybe more.  Every time you refuel, you extend the life of your fat burning machine…your engine!

Sample eating schedule 

6:00am  coffee with skim milk and honey and a Quest protein bar

9:00am coffee with skim milk and honey 3-4 scrambled eggs (two yolks) and half of an english muffin ⇑(linked above is a really cook workout and embarrassing coffee rap from yours truly)  

12:00pm Premier protein shake and a hand full of nuts almonds and cranberries

3:00 pm lean grilled chicken salad no dressing no cheese

6pm grilled chicken fajitas some guacamole, salsa and corn tortillas!

9pm A cup of Special K red berries and skim milk Mr. Chicken Fry calls this my sleeping pill.  It’s my little nightly desert delight.  It’s sweet, crunchy, cold and filling!

Running out of gas causes the body to hold on and store reserves. It goes into FIGHT or FLIGHT  mode.  The body is protecting itself in case of abandonment.  It stores up and stores it as FAT. FAT!!!  The opposite of what you think it’s doing RIGHT?!?!  BUT...if you constantly refuel, the body will keep burning.  The goal is to keep fueling with lean proteins and vegtables to keep the body running at MACH speed.

The quality and fuel grade is equally important. A high protein low carbohydrate diet is imperative for efficiently. Greasy fatty foods junk up the system and clog up the fat burning process.

Pop the hood!

When you take a car to a service station or shop they usually put it up on that big hydraulic thingy.  You pay a professional to crank it up and listen to it run.  You entrust your vehicle to someone who understands car mechanics.  You must have it inspected once a year for safety.  Right?!?

Can you even remember the last time you did a lunge or a bicep curl? Are there cob webs  on your tennis shoes?

Right…that is a sign it’s time for service?  You need a swift kick in the rear end, prompting to start a new workout regimen, join a boot camp, break it off with your boyfriend, start eating breakfast, back off to only a pack a day, file for divorce??  What area of your life needs to change?  Girlfriend listen up, bad eating and drinking habits sneak up like a slow leak in a tire.  Lack of activity and exercise only mount more stress and fatigue which add up to muffin top layers of unwanted fat.  

I know you want to slip through the magic wardrobe window but you can’t.  Quick fixes don’t work.  You have been there down that road too many times to count.  For real change you have to lace up your tennis shoes like a big girl and hire a trainer or join a gym.  Invest in yourself.  Inside of you is a fire engine red Ferarri.  Honey honk the horn and snap out of the mini van, station wagon mentality.

Last summer I was itching for a new do!  I badly wanted to change my hairstyle.  I have had bangs for 836 years.  Countless times I tried to grow them out past my eyeballs.   Sometimes it was fear, nerves, an obligation or plain old temptation but I always caved.  I reverted to the scissors every single time I made a little head way. (no pun intended)

NOT THIS TIME. Last summer I rolled into the changing station with determination.  I knew from the moment I made the visceral decision that there was no turning back.  Eye o the TIGER!  Big girl panties!  Them it happened, the icky phase.  I constantly had to remind myself of ALL of my past failed attempts.  I warned my brain that this was going to at least a 4 month commitment.

Y’all, I had hard times.   Flat hair,  bad parts, odd braids and pony tails, but who doesn’t??  I went through baseball hats, clips, rubber bands, curling irons, flat irons and combs, to make sense of the small section of hair in the VERY front of my face!  Behold, I survived the eye of the storm.  From May through September.  I was totally over the hurdle and GIRL, was it worth it…HECK yes!

Mr. Chicken Fry was so supportive and psyched. Whew, and just like that I finally made it out of the 90’s  Why didn’t I suck it up sooner?

Losing weight is the same.  Don’t WEIGHT!  6 weeks from now you have the potential to be 10 pounds down.  Be creative and let your natural survival instincts go to werk. Say no to chips and cheese. It’s really not that hard.  Remind yourself of all the times you made progress but then quit.  NOT THIS TIME!  Use all you have. Every ounce of will power, vegetables, tennis shoes, gym membership, measurements, mantras, and trips to the grocery store it takes.  Tape up FITness pics that inspire you. Don’t you dare come down from the hydraulic thingy until you are humming like a Rolls Royce!

You can’t grow if you don’t change and you can’t change if you don’t do something out of the ordinary.  Think about it.  The only way to achieve a new look, job, relationship, size or shape is to STOP what you’ve previously been doing.

I think you are worth the full service treatment.  Don’t you??? No more low grade crappy fuel for you.

Need some accountability and coaching?  I’m standing by eagerly waiting to whip around my shammy cloth and buff you out! My virtual FITness program comes with a full meal tip packet of information.  FUEL for your brain and a body! I want to be your coach, accountability partner, trainer and friend.  

Click here to get started ⇒ FITogether Virtual FITness

Love, tone, because you are bad to the bone!

Angi