Cheat Meals, Refeeds and Macro Questions for Women Over 40

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabes? Hey, everybody. Nikkiey here, and welcome to our WarriorBabe Wednesday live Q&A time together. I am so freaking excited to be here with you guys, hang out with you guys, answer any questions that you have, provide clarification and provide you support along your journey. As you're tuning into this live Q&A, be sure to comment and let me know that you're here so that I can see your names and say what's up. What's up, Beck?

If you're tuning in at a later date or time after this has been done live, then please remember to do the hashtag replay and keep all of your questions that pertain to this live Q&A in one area in the comment section below, so that Kate, our community manager, can come back in and answer any questions that were left after this was live. What's up, Jodi? What's up, Christy? What's up, Kate? Speaking of Kate, there she is. Everybody say, what's up, Kate?

Also remember, as you're joining in, make sure you say what's up, because the more you comment right now, the more it pushes this live video to the top of our Facebook group so the other babes can see that we're live. If they're new and they've never tuned in, they'll see it and be able to tap on it and join in. So help the other babes by commenting. If you don't want to comment, smash the like button. Whatever you can do to engage with the video will help it go to the top of the Facebook group so the community can see that we are live right now.

We'll get started in just a few seconds to kick off our live Q&A. If you have a question, start commenting it beneath this video, and we can start the live Q&A in just a couple of minutes. But before we do, I want to give a huge welcome to all of our new WarriorBabes who joined us this past week. Our community just keeps growing and growing and growing on a weekly basis.

I am so excited for all of the new babes who have joined us this past week. Welcome, you guys. You are part of an amazing community of thousands of women who are getting toned and becoming a stronger, more confident version of themselves. WarriorBabe is where strong is the new sexy. Every single one of the women inside this community is collectively working toward the same goal, which is so cool, because our community is so supportive, so inspiring, so motivating.

Because we're all working toward a similar goal, we're all here to support each other along the way. So welcome to all you new babes. If you are new, I need to emphasize that you should be watching and going through the WarriorBabe Revolution Blast Off emails. I cannot emphasize this enough. I know the veteran babes are sick of me saying this, but the Blast Offs are so important.

If you are serious about this journey, if you are excited and motivated now, those WarriorBabe Blast Off emails will carry you through the first 14 days of transitioning into this lifestyle. I will help you day by day by day. Get yourself set up, get yourself grounded, get your goals figured out and your why figured out. That will carry your excitement and your motivation through the first 14 days, because a lot of people stray away after the 14 days.

They forget why they're here. Their excitement is gone and their motivation is gone. But these 14 days of emails that I send to your inbox are going to help you get set up. Day two even runs you through the whole tutorial of the app interface. I'll help you know your why, your goal, everything. That stuff is so important to figure out now so that you have a reason to show up for yourself on a daily basis: for your workouts, for figuring out your macronutrients, for learning MyFitnessPal and tracking your foods.

Your goal and your why will give you energy. Your goal and your why will give you images of the body that you want, which will then give you the energy to show up for yourself. So make sure you're going through the WarriorBabe Blast Off emails. Even if you're a veteran, I highly recommend you go through them again. Constant spaced repetition: the more you listen to them, the more they'll click for you at any point in your journey.

So make sure you're going through them, and take it seriously, especially if you're new. What's up, Nicole? What's up, Charity? What's up, babes? Welcome, welcome, welcome. If you have any questions, remember, this is a live Q&A. There's no silly or stupid question. I am here to support you and give you clarification on any questions you have about your journey and where you're at. So now is the time to start asking me questions in the thread, and we can kick off this Q&A in a second.

One more thing about questions. If you're new, don't come into the Facebook community and start flooding it with questions that can be easily answered inside the application. This is my tough love to you newbies. Don't flood the community with questions like where are the workouts, how much rest should I be taking, where are the reps, where are the sets, where's the schedule. It's all there inside your application.

Take the time to search there. Listen to everything that I'm sharing with you. There are so many golden nuggets inside this application. If the answer you're seeking isn't there, go to the home screen, click Need Help, and go to the Frequently Asked Questions resource page. The team has cleaned that page up, and now it's the Revolution Blueprint and all of our programs, with the questions that pertain to each, broken down into nutrition, workouts and all that jazz.

If the question isn't answered in the app or the FAQs, then come into the Facebook group and pop onto this Q&A. I come here every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and hang out with you guys. So if you can't find the answers to your questions, come to this Q&A. Set an alarm. Be here five minutes early. Get excited. Show up. Get your question answered. You have a pro right here, the creator of WarriorBabe, helping you answer any questions you need answered.

Last case scenario, your questions should go to support. Support is not going to answer anything fitness or nutrition related. It's more tech, membership and that jazz. You can also leave questions for Kate. Kate's our community manager, and she's popping in and saying hello to you guys. She's in the Facebook group every day replying to your questions.

She has a set time when she comes in and checks the questions and makes sure you're supported, and she does a really good job at it. So don't ever hesitate to leave questions in the Facebook community if you've done your research to try to find the answer first. All right, babes, where are my questions? I'm not just going to sit here and go on rants. If you have questions, seriously, now is the time. I'm not kidding around. I show up for you guys, and I'm excited to be here with you on Wednesdays.

I love coming here. I love hanging out. I love answering questions because it helps me know that I'm helping you and giving you even more support along your journey. So ask me for clarification on whatever you need. There's no silly or stupid question. The questions can be about anything: your fitness journey, the macros in the app, the workouts in the app, your journey specifically.

Whatever questions you have, this is the time to ask them, and I'll give you clarification. I love saying this: don't assume that you know the answer to your question, because you could go three months into your journey and figure out that's the wrong thing to be doing. Then you come to me and say, "Hey, Nikkiey, I've done this, I'm trying this." Or you've tried all of the fad programs, they've told you one specific way, and you assume that way is right.

Then you work on doing whatever they said for three months, and it could be completely wrong. Now's the time to get anything clear. Remove anything you've ever tried, because I can guarantee you it's wrong, and come here and ask for whatever clarification you need. All the carbs are good. You don't have to kill yourself with cardio. You have to work on your mindset. I'm here to help you with any questions you have. What's up, Sarah?

Jennifer asks, "Hey, Nikkiey, what's the difference between a cheat and a refeed?" That's a great question. Broadly speaking, both of them are an increase, a surplus of calories in the day. What they both do is speed up your metabolism and give you more energy. They help with feeling satiated and not feeling like you're dieting. They also help with speeding up the metabolism and decreasing body fat.

Your body can't be eating the same calories every single day. It needs to be thrown some kind of trick to make it work faster and not feel like you're dieting the entire time. So broadly speaking, both are a surplus in calories, and they do the same exact thing. The difference really comes down to which one works better for you personally. A cheat meal is one completely untracked meal. Not a day: a meal.

You still eat a structured amount of macros throughout the day, but at the end of the day you have an untracked meal of whatever you want to eat. I love giving this to personalities who need a break from tracking, or who have families and want to go out and enjoy a weekend with their kids and their husband, or have a couple of drinks on the weekend. That's the type of personality I would give a cheat meal to. They don't even want to think about it. They want a mindless, untracked meal.

Refeeds: with a refeed, you're still tracking throughout the day. You just have a higher count with specific macros. Again, it's a higher caloric intake, and the majority is coming from carbs and fats. I like to give refeeds to personalities who don't want to feel like they're going off track. It's so interesting, because these are two completely different personalities. This one wants to know they're still staying on track. They don't mind tracking, and they want to know they're within their numbers every single day on a weekly basis.

You can still make going out to eat work. I do refeeds, and I go out to eat and get a burger, get sushi, have a glass of wine. I work it into my macros on refeed days. My fats are high and my carbs are extremely high, so it works. But it really comes down to this: they both do the same thing. They both give you an increase in food in the day, which gives you more energy and helps the fat-burning process and the toning process. It just depends on which one will work better for you personally.

Jodi says, "I've been working out and lifting for over 20 years without making the progress I should for the amount of work I put in. Should I follow the more advanced level, more reps, or start as a beginner?" Sorry, I keep getting questions and it bumps everybody up. I would still just keep it at four sets of 12 to 15 reps.

You don't have to do five sets unless you feel like you need to for bigger muscle groups. Then you can do five sets for legs and five sets for back. But overall, I would keep it at four sets of 12 to 15 reps and go from there. What's really going to make the difference is your nutrition. I can guarantee you could be doing workouts and going to the gym every single day.

That's all fine and dandy, and it's awesome that you have the discipline to show up at the gym. But if you're not eating enough of the right types of foods for your body, that is a major reason why you are not getting the results you want or expect.

"Am I understanding right that there's no cheat or refeed for us babes who come out as a curvy babe?" Correct. There is no cheat meal or refeed if you are a beginner coming into my program and your body type is curvy.

I'll be honest: you've been cheating for a long time. That's the reason your body is the way it is right now and why it has that shape. You've either done yo-yo dieting, you've restricted yourself, or you just ate a lot of food. That's why you are where you are. The number one thing I say is take responsibility. I know that doesn't have anything to do with your question, but yes, that is correct. You don't need cheats just yet. I look at that more as a reward. Come into my program, put in the work, get the results, and then reward yourself with a cheat meal.

Jennifer says, "I'm in the build and find it hard to have three cheat meals. I think one free day might work out better for me." A hundred percent, babe. Go for it. If you feel like three cheat meals is too much, try a refeed. I'm all for it.

"How often should we refeed?" Again, it depends on what phase you're in. If you're in fat loss, you should only be doing it about once a week, and it depends on your body type as well. If you're building, you can go up to two to three. It's really hard for me to answer that specifically, because it depends on where you're at, your body and the phase you're in. But in fat loss, you should be incorporating at least one. If you're focusing on building, you can get away with two to three.

"Same, I'm a fitness instructor, but as I neared 40, and I'm now 44, I just slowly keep gaining. I've eaten clean for over a year now too. So frustrating. I'm only on my second week, so I'm hoping that getting the right macros will help me trim my skinny fat." A hundred percent. You guys, just because you're eating clean doesn't mean you're eating enough. I tried that game. I went from barely eating anything to trying to eat clean, which only consisted of three meals a day, which was really freaking nothing.

When I learned the truth, it was that you have to eat enough of the right types of food, and not 1,200 calories, 1,100 calories, 1,000 calories. You have to eat enough to fuel the whole cellular process, especially if you want to get toned, because you have to build muscle in order to get toned. That's what's going to change your body composition, and you have to eat food in order for that whole process to happen. It doesn't matter what age you are. I have a 57-year-old in the VIP who was eating 400, and we just got her to 460 grams of carbohydrates.

She's 57 years old and she's working on building muscle. So it's possible, even as you age. You just have to be eating enough of the right types of foods. That's the absolute game changer.

Nicole asks, "Should we count collagen protein in our goal? I'm getting conflicting opinions." Yes. If it has macros in it, and collagen does, then yes, a hundred percent. It's not a complete protein, meaning it won't fully digest as a protein, but it's got macros, so count it. Same with MCT oil, which has 14 grams of fat, and same with some of the fish oils you guys take.

They have fats in them. You want to make sure you count anything that has macros in it. For me personally, I have an energy drink halfway through my day. Sometimes I only have half of it, sometimes the whole thing, and it has macros in it, so I count it. So make sure you're counting it.

"I've been way off on macros for way too long, on protein especially. That's probably the problem with not seeing the results I want in the gym." Damn. Hey, what matters, girl, is that you're here now and you've got the resources and the tools. Now it's just you implementing what I'm having you do. I guarantee you, if you do what I'm telling you to do, listen to me and trust me now, believe me later, results are typical.

This program has helped thousands of women and transformed hundreds of women's bodies. The only thing that separates the people who come into my program and don't get results is work ethic. It comes down to commitment. It comes down to, if you fail, getting back up and continuing to push forward. It comes down to learning. It comes down to time management. If people inside my program aren't getting results, I guarantee you it has to do with one of those things. Smash the like button right now for me, guys, because that's the truth.

And if you come all the way up to my VIP program, which is open now, we have open spots. We've got some fire new coaches on board, and I'm so freaking excited to have them. They know their shit. There you go, smash the like button. When you come up to my VIP program, and now with my new coaches, we have serious standards. We hold you all to a very high standard, because we know what has to be done. If you're not going to do it, we will give you tough love. But if you're really not going to do it after the tough love, I have no problem kicking you out of my VIP program.

I've done it before, and I will continue to do it, because we already have a pretty hardcore community up there. That's where people come if they are serious about accomplishing their goals. If you're interested in applying to the VIP program, let's get you the link. Let me just make sure this is the right one.

And it is. There you go. Hell yes, let's do it. And guys, when I said I had five new fire coaches, Sarah is one of those five. She's the one with the most tough love. I can feel it through Zoom calls. So I'm super excited about our new coaches. Now to answer the VIP program question.

What is it? It's one-on-one coaching, so it's done for you. We build out your programming and meet with you one-on-one. The coaches get in depth on what you need to get to your goals. They make your macros. They make your workouts. They check in with you on a weekly basis. There's so much that goes into it. We push you to get results. What takes starter people usually eight to 12 months to get results, in VIP you're guaranteed to get results in about five to six months.

The initial setup is learning you, learning your body, what goes in your body, what needs to be done and what kind of programming you need, and then the coaches do that for you. You meet weekly and converse, and you do check-ins, photos, everything like that. That's what goes into it. Again, we have high standards in the VIP program. You have to go through a team member to see if you're a good fit to come into it.

My team knows that we have standards, so we don't accept everybody, and if you don't show up, we will kick you out. So if you're interested in one-on-one coaching, the VIP application is your best bet. Let me go back up to some questions.

"How do you know you're eating the right amount of macros? I know it's a silly question, but I'm confused." You go into the application that you have access to. Hold on a second. You go to the WarriorBabe calculator, which is inside the Retrain area, and that's where you figure out your macros. I can guarantee you my calculation is very unique. It's not something you're going to find online, and it's not cookie cutter. It's specific to you, and that's how you're going to know what macros you should be eating.

You just have to follow my application. Log in, go to Retrain, click on the WB calculator, and that's where you start the whole system. You'll get your macronutrients based on your body type. That's how you know how much food you should be eating.

"Nikkiey, I have a hard time figuring out my activity level. I do weights five days a week and cardio four days. I'm training for a race, but I sit all day for work. What activity level would you consider?" I would still consider 1.55, a hundred percent. You're training for a race, which is more endurance, and you're doing lifting and cardio. Absolutely, I would still consider 1.55, which is moderate.

Sandy asks, "Last time the group mentioned Intra Blast. Is that a drink during the workout, or when?" Yep, that's exactly it. You just drink it when you work out, during your workout. Love it. I'm obsessed with it and use it almost every time.

Heather says, "Hey, I thought I was muscular when I first started. I went back to the questions and I'm skinny. I'm in a build. How many days should I be doing cardio? I walk my dog every day, do the elliptical machine three days and HIIT one day. Is that too much?" Yeah, girl, it's too much if you're focusing on building muscle. Honestly, if you walk your dog every day, I would say that's a sufficient amount of cardio. If you want to add another day, one day on the elliptical is fine. But if you're focusing on building, eating all that food and training that way, you want to focus more on that than the cardio aspect.

Too much cardio can be counterproductive to building muscle.

Jodi asks, "Do you adjust and redo the macro calculator as weight is lost?" No, no, no. If you're getting results with my macro calculator, if it's broke, don't fix it. Wait, what's that saying? You guys know: if it's not broke, don't fix it. So if it's working for you, keep using those same macros.

It's working. Your body knows it and recognizes it. If you start adjusting it and lowering it according to your weight loss, it will eventually plateau. So there's no need to adjust the calculator as you continue to lose weight. Keep it the same, and don't modify anything until you experience a plateau. Thank you, Vinay and Brooke: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I was close. All right, who's got more questions for me? Who's got more questions for me?

Wow, my light is super bright right now. I look so washed out in this Zoom video. Well, if you don't have any more questions for me, then I'm going to... oh: "Do BCAAs count in macros?" No, BCAAs don't have any macros in them. Same with Intra Blast. Intra Blast doesn't have any. There's conflicting information online that says Intra Blast has carbs.

Not true. There are no carbs in Intra Blast, and there are no macros in BCAAs. Anyway, I'm going to close down our Q&A tonight. It's been real hanging out with you guys. I love coming here on Wednesdays, providing support to the community and making sure you have clarity on any questions you have. I knew it: as soon as I close it down, more questions. This is my last one.

"I have a question. I'm confused about macros. I find myself not knowing how to count. I'm on a budget and can't afford MyFitnessPal, etc. Is there a free app or a similar way for me to count my macros? I'm just confused. I need a small breakdown that's super easy for me to understand." Yeah, girl, you can still use MyFitnessPal. I went to my parents' house about two weeks ago and helped my stepmom on the non-premium version. It's a little bit harder, but it still helps you understand the

small distributions of meals. It gives you breakfast, snack, dinner, snack, whatever. It still gives you the basics. The thing is, it's not that you don't know how to count. It's that you're not giving yourself the time to learn how to do it. It's not that you're confused. You're just not giving yourself the time to learn it. Inside the application,

inside the Transform section, there are videos of me teaching you how to structure your day, what to eat pre-workout and post-workout, and what meals are good. So utilize the resources I'm providing you inside this program. They'll help you understand. Then it comes down to application, which comes down to you putting the time toward trying to understand it and trying to learn it.

I'm giving you the tools and the resources, and the application just comes down to putting in the time. And look, guys, if you're new, don't expect to understand it in a week. I can guarantee you macros are an amazing way to have a sustainable lifestyle, to enjoy yourself and still lose weight and still get toned, but you have to put in the work to learn it. It's not going to happen overnight, and you're going to fail.

Be okay with failing. But in that failing process, learn from it. Open up MyFitnessPal, go into your kitchen and start scanning barcodes, because it's as simple as that. Start playing around with the meals inside MyFitnessPal. Just start doing it. That's what it comes down to: taking action and putting in the time. You're welcome, babe.

And it is worth it. Hands down, Jodi, it is worth it. But I can understand, too, and the free version still gives you the features to be able to learn it. I hope that helped you, Mika, and I know it helped a lot of beginner babes. It just takes time at the beginning, and be okay with failing. The more consistently you put time into learning the macro side of things, and I give you all the tools and resources in the app, the faster you'll get at it and the easier it'll come.

All right, I'm out. I love you all. I appreciate you all. Keep up the good work, and keep putting in the work. Like I said at the beginning of this Q&A, the biggest difference between the people who come into this program and don't get results and the ones who do get results is work ethic. It's discipline. It's learning. It's failing. It's showing up for yourself. It's work ethic. That's what it comes down to.

So if you're not getting results, it's not the program. It's you. Figure out what you have to do in order to change. And if you are getting results, keep making that work ethic stronger, especially now, going into 2021, because now is what matters the most. Go crush it, you guys, and I'll see you on Sunday for our rally call. Bye, everyone. Have a good rest of your evening.