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Do little bites and tastes really affect fat loss?
Answered by Nikkiey Stott and her guests · Updated
The short answer
Yes. On Ep. 20, Nikkiey explains that little bites, licks and tastes add up over time. Finishing your kids' plates or licking the peanut butter spoon several times a week can put you over by 300 or 400 calories, which can throw you out of your deficit and stall results you've worked for.
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Nikkiey on how bites, licks and tastes can add 300 to 400 calories a week
Plays from 9:03 · Ep. 20: How to Build Self-Discipline for Fitness Goals
Why finishing your kids' plates is an impulse, not about wasting food
Plays from 8:27 · Ep. 20: How to Build Self-Discipline for Fitness Goals
Nikkiey's peanut butter spoon trick for catching yourself in the moment
Plays from 9:29 · Ep. 20: How to Build Self-Discipline for Fitness Goals
Asking "does this support me?" to stop extra calories before they happen
Plays from 13:21 · Ep. 20: How to Build Self-Discipline for Fitness Goals
The full answer
If you're doing everything right and the scale still won't move, Nikkiey suggests looking at the small stuff first. On Ep. 20 of The WarriorBabe Show, she asks you to think back over a week and count how often you take the leftover food on your kids' plates, lick the spoon, or grab a taste while cooking. Each one feels like nothing. Added together, she says, they can be the reason you're 300 or 400 calories over and out of your deficit.
She also reframes why those bites happen. It's usually not about not wanting to waste food. It's an impulse to eat, and impulses can be practiced against. Her approach is simple and practical:
- Notice the impulse instead of reacting to it right away.
- Ask whether it supports you. Her own go-to thought is, "This doesn't support me."
- Remove the temptation. When she's done scooping peanut butter, she puts the spoon straight under the water.
Nikkiey is honest that she feels these pulls too. She talks about wanting to lick the peanut butter spoon and calls it "a boatload of extra calories." The point isn't perfection or willpower as a personality trait. It's that resisting gets easier the more you practice it, until you catch yourself automatically and think, "Nope, not today."
So if results have stalled, it's not that your body is broken or that you lack discipline. Often the plan has a few hundred untracked calories leaking in through the edges. Tighten those up and your deficit can actually do its job.
From Nikkiey Stott and WarriorBabe's coaching. For education, not medical advice: talk to your doctor about your own health.
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31 minHow to Build Self-Discipline for Fitness Goals
Episode 20 · Feb 22, 2023