5 Macro Myths: Late Eating, Protein, Carbs and Tracking

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabe? Hey, everybody. Nikkiey here, and welcome to our Sunday WarriorBabe Revolution Rally Call. I am super excited to be on this call with you guys right now. I'll lay out some firebombs of knowledge and get you guys started feeling uncomfortable.

We're strong into a new week. So we'll get started in just a few minutes. Go leave a Facebook comment inside of our community, inside the WarriorBabe community, and let them know that this call is getting started. So go do that right now. Go leave a comment in the group. Let them know this call is getting started, and we're going to be starting in a few minutes.

Before we dive in, I wanted to give a huge welcome. I'm not sure of the number, but we've had a lot of new WarriorBabes join us this week. Guys, if you're listening and you're new, welcome. You are part of the community of thousands of women who are getting toned and becoming strong, more confident versions of themselves. WarriorBabe is where strong is the new sexy, and I am so excited that you are a part of our community.

If you are new, also know that we do these calls every single Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. So make sure that you have your calendars marked. Make sure you immerse yourself, especially if you're new at the beginning, into WarriorBabe everything, because that's just going to get you into the mindset, into the groove, into the tools and resources that I'm providing you, and it's going to help you start off on a very, very strong foot at the beginning of your journey here.

So set your alarms for these calls. Show up five minutes before they get started. You want to be here, because each week the topics change. They're mainly mindset. There's some macro stuff. I don't really talk that much about workouts, but usually it's mindset and macros where either I'm lining you up with some motivation into your new week, or I'm dropping some knowledge bombs to help you understand what may not be shared on the internet, or some misconceptions about things, which is actually going to be today's topic, and I'm super excited about it.

I'm sharing some misconceptions that you've probably heard if you're flying around in the fitness world, or your friends talk about it, or your family talks about it. So I'm going to debunk those misconceptions today. I'll tell you exactly what the misconceptions are in just a couple minutes, but I want to make sure that we've got everybody on this call, and people are still joining in. I hear the little dings.

So before we get started, really quick, I just want to run through this for all of the new WarriorBabes that are here. There are 14 Blast Off videos coming to you each day for the first 14 days of being a part of this journey, inside of your emails. Do not ignore these videos. Please do not ignore these videos, because they are a huge part of your journey starting out here. Don't just dive into the app. Don't dive into the workouts. Don't dive into the macros. Actually set your foundation here first. Know what goals you want to accomplish. Why do you want to accomplish them? And make the decision to yourself that you're actually going to follow through.

Especially if you're a really, really good starter but you're a terrible finisher, then you must listen to those Blast Off videos. They're coming to you in email, but we also have them inside the units section in the Facebook group. So you can click on units and go watch all of the videos if you want to. But I highly recommend that you do them, and you do the tasks I'm telling you to do. Because if you ignore them, and you're three weeks in, I'm going to be like, I told you so. It's really easy to start when you're excited about something. But when you're three weeks in and you're still going, that's where resistance starts to come up. And you've got to fight through that resistance to continue on with your journey.

All right, babes. So let's dive into today's topic, which I am so excited to talk to you guys about. It's the five macro misconceptions, the five macro false beliefs that I just want to clear the air on, so you know these misconceptions are not true. A lot of you will probably be like, wow, damn, that makes sense. Or, oh wow, I believed that.

So when you start on something new, especially in this kind of world, there are no restrictions. There are no limitations. You can eat everything in balance that you want to eat. You can have ice cream. You can have carbs. This is where it's like, holy shit, I can do this, and I can still get results. So that's the truth. But then there are also these misconceptions that people believe to be true, and they're not true. So I want to debunk them with you guys today and just give you clarity moving forward.

So, the five macro misconceptions. The first one is that people say calories are calories no matter where they come from. I'm sure if you ever worried about calories or tracked calories, you've heard people say calories are calories no matter where they come from. That's not true at all. As you can probably already see from using macronutrients, not all calories are created equal. Various foods break down and are metabolized differently than others. This is why I put the emphasis on macronutrients. Protein, fats, carbs, they all break down and metabolize differently in our bodies. So we can't simply throw calories into a big bucket and call each calorie the same. It's just not the case.

They all break down differently. So a calorie is not a calorie no matter where it comes from. Protein, fats, carbs, they all do different things inside of our body. They all break down and metabolize differently inside of our body. Their energy gets used differently inside of our body. But the thing is that they all work together. So when you take one away, and I'm going to share this with one of the five false beliefs about macros in a second, it kind of makes everything go wacky.

For example, when you take carbs away and you're only really focusing on fats and proteins, it makes things go wacky and it's not sustainable for the long term, which I'm sure a lot of you guys have realized. It creates great results at first. But over the long course of time, it doesn't hold. I'm working with somebody in my Blueprint program just to fix her freaking metabolism because of all these restrictive programs that she's been in. Her metabolism is literally just shot. So I'm working her up to be able to eat a lot of food and heal her metabolism. And that's what happens when people cut shit out. It starts messing with your body. It starts going Morse code on your body.

So understand that protein, fats and carbs all break down differently inside of the body. So calories are calories no matter where they come from? It's not true. All calories are not created equal. So that's the first macro misconception.

The second macro misconception is one of the most common nutrition myths that we've all heard before, I'm sure. I remember when I first started my journey, this was like, oh, but I can't do this. So this macro misconception is: don't eat past 7 p.m. That is such a myth and so false. People think that if you eat late at night, it's all going to be stored as fat. How many of you guys think that? How many of you have heard that? How many of you have implemented, oh, I can't eat past 7 p.m.? Really?

That's what I'm saying to myself when I ask myself the same thing from years ago, when I was like, I can't eat past 7 p.m. because I'm just going to get fat. So, guys, what this is trying to tell you is that when you go to bed to rest, so does your metabolism. That's just not the case. Your metabolism doesn't simply shut down at any point during the day. Your metabolism is always freaking going. It does not go to sleep when you go to sleep.

So what this myth is truly saying, without saying it, is that people can't be trusted with food choices. Late at night, many, many people sit down in front of a TV and they snack. They click on Netflix. They get a bag of chips. They get some ice cream. I used to be that person. And they just snack. And that's a big freaking no-no.

Look, listen. The thing I want to get across to you guys is do not eat for comfort. Do not eat for comfort. Understand that that may be a trigger for you, and you need to work through that trigger. You need to eat for fuel and function. My friends laugh at me because they're like, you're not going to warm up that food? You're not going to season that food? I'm like, no, man. I just eat for fuel and function. Give me food. I don't really eat for pleasure. I'll have an ice cream thing every once in a while, or every other night. I'll have some chocolate every other night. But mainly I eat because I know that that food is helping me fuel and function my body.

But look, if you want to have a nice protein-packed snack at night, by all means, go for that. Go for having a balanced fat, protein and carbs at nighttime. You're not going to wake up and instantly be fat. It does not work that way. What you eat is way more important than when you eat it. So you can have food past 7 p.m. It is such a common nutrition myth that you have to stop at that time. You don't have to. Your metabolism never shuts down. So understand that. That's the second common macro misconception.

The third one I've heard multiple times, being a nurse and being in the health industry. Many of you may not have heard this, but I have actually seen it in our community before, so I wanted to throw it in there. Eating too much protein will hurt your kidneys. That's a macro misconception. And it's put out there saying that you're going to get kidney disease and blah, blah, blah. Many are told that if you have a diet that's high in protein, it will raise your risk of harming your kidneys and potentially having kidney failure.

Well, it's not true. It can have harmful effects: if you eat large amounts of protein, it is indeed dangerous to those who already have kidney disease. But healthy individuals will have no issues upping their protein intake. Protein helps to promote muscle growth. It helps to facilitate fat loss. It helps you get that toned shape that you're looking for and change your body composition. Another great reason to up this macronutrient is that it helps you feel fuller longer throughout the day and satiated, rather than feeling like your stomach is digesting itself due to lack of substance.

When I first started my journey, I knew protein was the key thing that I had to get in. I just didn't know where to get it or how to do it. But once I started incorporating this macronutrient into my everyday routine and upping it and eating more, I never had any sugar cravings after that. I felt full the entire day. And it was a beautiful freaking feeling, because when I was just eating sugary shit, carbs and high fats, I'd be like, okay, I'm done eating, and then I could eat again.

But protein helps to neutralize things in your body. It helps to neutralize your blood sugar. Like I said, it helps you feel fuller longer throughout the day and satiated, rather than feeling like you're eating yourself. So don't believe nutrition myths like this one. Protein is not going to hurt your kidneys unless you already have kidney disease. You want to keep protein. You have to keep protein in there. And also, with the way that we train, your body is constantly revving through that protein. Your muscles are constantly revving through that protein. So it's totally normal, especially in our line of exercise, to eat tons of protein. Okay, so that was the third one.

The fourth one, and I'm sure so many of you have already heard this one, but I just want to debunk it even more and go through the science of why carbs are good. In my Blueprint, my VIP, one of my babes is eating 350 grams of carbs, and her weight's not budging at all. That's good. She's on the maintenance side of things. I just have to keep feeding her and feeding her and feeding her. And my other babes are eating roughly around 200. 200 to 300 is pretty much the average of where my girls in the VIP are at with their carbs.

So this is a very big macro misconception: that carbs are going to make you fat. That if you look at carbs, you're going to gain weight. How many of you guys feel that way? I know I did when I first started, and I gained back 25 pounds in one month from just eating, eating, eating. I was literally so fearful of carbohydrates. My carbohydrates were so low that I was afraid to even adjust them.

Carbs are not going to make you fat. You won't look at carbs and gain weight. They literally have the worst rep in the fitness industry. But they are so, so vitally important for toning, for shaping and for changing your body composition. They provide the fuel, the energy, to your body, to your brain and to so many other vital organs inside of your body. They provide energy and regulation of glucose in our body, which is a primary source that we all look for. And without carbohydrates, you can experience fogginess, forgetfulness and fatigue. Carbohydrates provide the ultimate fuel for our body inside and outside of the gym.

So let me break down the science for you in language that you will understand. Carbs break down to glycogen inside of our body. A lot of you have probably heard of glycogen. That glycogen is stored inside of your muscles. So when your body needs energy for an intense workout, it's going to tap into your glycogen stores first as an energy source. Now, with the goal of getting toned and building muscle, you need this specific energy. Because if it's not provided properly, if you're afraid and you're not eating, or you're restricting yourself and not giving your body the carbs that it needs, then your body can tap into your muscle storage.

So remember what I just said. Carbs break down to glycogen, and the glycogen is stored inside of your muscles. Your body needs that energy. Well, guess what? If you're not eating enough carbs, your glycogen storage is going to be depleted. So where is your body going to look for energy? Your muscles. And guess what? All of the hard work you're putting in inside the gym, all the reps, all the sets, everything that you're doing can and will be basically nonexistent.

I know so many people say, but I'm not getting the results, and I'm doing all this work. Well, guys, if you're not eating properly, this is what's happening on the inside. If you're not fueling your body with the carbohydrates that your body actually needs and you're doing this intense exercise, your body is searching for that energy in your muscle. It's pulling at your muscle rather than at the food, the fuel that you're trying to provide your body.

So you really want to make sure that you're eating the proper amount of carbohydrates, because they break down to glycogen. The glycogen is stored inside of your muscles, and that's where your body taps into it first. That's why a lot of you may feel like, at the end of a workout, you're wiped out. You're done-zo. You're tired, because your body just used all of that glycogen. And that's why it's so important after you work out to refuel your body with a post-workout shake. And then the 24 hours outside of the gym are so vitally important for you to recover with food, because you've got to push the carbs back into the muscle to have it recover. Mind blown. I hope you guys are mind blown right now.

Another thing with carbohydrates is that protein and carbs work together. Each one of these macronutrients really works together. But the most important thing I want you to understand is that protein and carbs work together when it comes to getting toned. Protein is a building block of the muscle. It helps to build and repair that muscle, which I just talked about. So, my keto babes, if you've been in an extreme carb restriction over an extended period of time, your muscles don't reap the benefits of the protein that you are eating. Your body can process protein better if carbs are available.

And with those two macronutrients working together, it's inevitable that your body will get toned faster and that you will change your body composition faster. You've got to have protein. You've got to have carbs. They do magic together. Literally, when you're done with a workout and you have your carb source, you're opening up the floodgates in your body for the protein to flow into your muscles. Because the carbs are going to the muscle regardless, to restore that glycogen store that you just depleted, and protein is there following the carbs to start recovering and building and toning and shaping.

Is this all making sense? I hope it's making sense, because this is mind-blowing stuff. Carbs are freaking good. They are not scary. You don't need to worry about getting fat with them. You're not going to blow up with them. You're not going to look at them and get fat. Carbs are really freaking good for you, and really good for the body that you're trying to build. So that's the fourth misconception: that carbohydrates are going to make you fat.

The fifth macro misconception is that tracking numbers and tracking food is obsessive. This is not true. Usually the people that say this are not working towards something, or don't have the goal in mind that we all have for ourselves. Or they just don't understand. Or many people that say this have had an eating disorder in the past and they fear food, or they fear that this is going to be an obsessive route for them.

When honestly, learning the macro side of things is, to me, and I'm sure many people can agree with this, the most sustainable concept yet. It's a skill set that's going to serve you for the rest of your life. This is not obsessive. Tracking numbers is not obsessive. It's getting you to learn a skill that can help you look at food and understand exactly what is inside of it. It can have you look at food and understand exactly the portion size that you are eating. That kind of skill can serve you forever, for years and years, and help you build a better relationship with food.

You just have to do this tracking and packing your foods at first so that you can learn this skill, so that it becomes easy for you and becomes a habit. It becomes a subconscious thing that you just do. That's just what I do now. Some days here in Bali, I look at food and I'm like, yeah, that's about a cup of rice. On my IG story that I shared with you guys yesterday, that was 3.5 ounces of chicken, a cup of rice, and, sorry, three-fourths of a cup of peanut butter Vietnamese sauce. I'm able to put that in MyFitnessPal, and I'm able to follow along.

It's better to be able to track what you're eating than not track anything at all. Because if you're not tracking at all, what do you really know about what you're eating? When I would never track, and I would only have two big meals throughout the day, I'd be like, wow, I had a lot of food today. When really, it was nothing. Two big meals is nothing in comparison to what you guys actually eat now. So tracking your food is better than tracking nothing at all, because you're consciously making yourself aware of the foods that you are actually eating on a daily basis. So tracking numbers and packing or tracking your food is not obsessive. Instead of looking at it like that, see it as a skill that will serve you for the rest of your life. So that was the fifth macro misconception, the fifth macro false belief.

So, the first one was that a calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from. That is not true. All calories are not created equal. Protein, fats and carbs all break down differently and metabolize differently inside of your body.

The second macro misconception is don't eat past 7 p.m. This is a common myth that if you eat past 7 p.m., everything's going to be stored as fat. This is not true. Your metabolism doesn't shut down, so you don't need to stop eating at a specific time of the day.

The third one is that eating too much protein will hurt your kidneys. This is not true. Having high protein helps your body recover. It helps to build the muscle. It helps you get that toned look you're looking for. And your body needs it for the recovery process with the intense workouts that you're doing.

The fourth one is that carbs are going to make you fat. Carbs are your friends, not your enemies. You need the carbs. And hopefully the concept that I shared with you blew your mind. Carbs are there to provide you energy. Carbs break down to glycogen, and glycogen gets stored inside of your muscles. If that energy isn't there, your body taps into your muscle stores, and then all your hard work is going to be nonexistent. You need carbs in your life. Plus, you need the protein and the carbs together, because they do magic together. That was the fourth macro misconception.

The fifth one is that tracking your numbers and tracking your food is obsessive. Guys, no. It's a skill that you're going to have for the rest of your life. You're going to be able to look at food, know portion sizes, feel confident in what you're eating, and learn that through your whole journey. In two years, you'll be able to look at food and be like, yeah, this is this much, this is that much, and you can easily log it inside of MyFitnessPal.

I had a friend ask me the other day, do you think you're ever going to get tired of what you're doing? I said, absolutely not. My kids are going to be eating healthy. My family's going to be healthy. This is something that is going to carry me through the rest of my life: exercising, choosing healthy foods. I will never stop doing this. And I'm so grateful that I've learned the ins and outs of nutrition, because I look at it so differently than I ever have before. I come from doing three big meals a day, quote unquote big meals, when actually they were nothing. I was eating under 1,000 calories. And I look at food differently because now I know what's a protein, what's a fat, what's a carb. And I want that same thing for you.

So I hope these macro misconceptions have lit up your world, and you understand that there are so many false beliefs out there that are not true, and this is what's true. I'm excited that I got to share that with you guys. I hope it was a good rally call. I hope it lifts you up with some knowledge firebombs. Let me know how you liked it inside the community. Post a comment in the Facebook group and let me know that you enjoyed today's rally call.

And show up for yourself this week, you guys. I said this on the Blueprint call this morning: there are things inside this program that are going to challenge you. And I'm there to challenge you, because whatever you've been doing and the results you've been getting, it's inside of your comfort zone. It's now time for you to step outside of the comfort zone. But understand that it's not going to come easy. You're going to do things that you don't want to do. You're going to be eating carbs even though you're afraid of eating them. But I'm here to help you understand that they're good for you. And I'm here to challenge you to do new things, because in order to get something different, you have to do something different.

All right, babe, so remember that. Start off your week strong, and I'll see you guys on our Q&A on Wednesday. Bye, everyone.