Does Calories In, Calories Out Work for Women Over 40?

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabe community? What's up, guys? Happy Wednesday. Welcome to our live WarriorBabe Wednesday Q&A, and also welcoming in all of my followers on Facebook. It's been a combined Q&A for a couple of months now. For anybody who's been following me on Facebook, this is something we do every single Wednesday: a live Q&A session with me to answer any questions you have about your workouts, your macros, mindset, any way I can provide clarification for you on your journey.

So you Facebook followers are joining in, my WarriorBabe community is joining in, and I am so excited to be here. I had last week off, so I wasn't here for Q&A, but I'm here now and we're here to kick it live. If you're tuning in live with me right now, say what's up, say hello in the comment section so I can see who's here. And the more you comment, especially the WarriorBabe community since this is being shared inside our Facebook group, it pushes this video to the top of our group so all of the other babes can see that we're live and hop in and join us on this live Q&A.

If you're tuning in from my Facebook page, what's up, guys? Welcome to this live Q&A. Be sure to smash the like button for me, because when you do, it helps this video get seen by other viewers who can tune in, get knowledge, get value and have a good time here for the next 30, 40 minutes. Share this as well, because when you share it, it spreads to other women who need to hear the bombs that get dropped here on these Q&As, in any way that I can help as many people as possible.

All right. What's up, Natasha? What's up, Michelle? What's up, Barbara? Hello, hello, hello. Super excited to be here with you guys. If you're catching this after I'm done being live, remember to do the hashtag replay and leave any questions that pertain to the live Q&A in that comment box so my community managers can come back in and answer any questions that came in after this was live.

All right, we'll kick off this live Q&A in a couple of seconds. If you have any questions, start firing them into the comment box. But before we dive in, let me say hello to everyone. What's up, Dawn? Hey, babe. What's up, Shayna? Good to see you. Trina, hello. Brandy, what's up, babe? Martha, what's up from Nashville, Tennessee? I will be there in three months. Three months, I will be in Nashville, Tennessee. That'd be so cool if we could meet up. Melissa, what's up, babe? Nicole, what's up? Abby, nice, excited to be a new WarriorBabe. Cool.

That's one thing I wanted to do before we dive in. Guys, if you do have questions, now's the time to drop them in the comment box where you're commenting right now, and I'll kick off the Q&A answering all those questions. This is a time to get serious value, serious knowledge bombs, whatever you need from me to help you along your journey. And I come here live every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, so be sure to mark your calendars and set your alarm for next week. You don't want to miss these. Some major bombs get dropped.

Huge welcome to all of the new WarriorBabes. I think we had the most babes join us last week. Regardless of the number, our community is getting bigger on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, and it's so cool to see all of you joining us. I got to meet a few WarriorBabes in person this past weekend, and that brought the whole surrealness to reality. It's really cool to see the community we have, how supportive every one of the WarriorBabes are, how uplifting they are, how badass they are. The ones I got to meet in person this past weekend were truly, truly amazing, and to see their personalities outside of being virtual, actually in person, was so freaking cool.

So welcome to all the new babes joining us. Maybe down the road I'll be able to meet you in person, like I met a couple of WarriorBabes this past weekend. Our community is getting bigger, and you are now part of thousands of women working together to become stronger, more confident versions of themselves. What's so amazing about WarriorBabe is that it's not just about the macros we give you, the nutrition, the food, the workouts. It's the shift we're creating in women mentally: to be more confident and to present more of the bodies they love. It's so cool to see those shifts happening. So welcome to all of you new babes. I am super stoked for you. Another new babe, Lisa, what's up? Nice. Angela is a new babe too. Cool.

If you're just tuning in and have no idea what WarriorBabe is, I highly recommend you check out warriorbabe.com and see what WarriorBabe is all about. We are a community of strong, badass women working to become stronger, more confident versions of themselves. You can check out our programs at warriorbabe.com, and you can check out the reviews from women who have been inside our program, down to WarriorBabes who are maybe your age, maybe struggling with the same thing you're struggling with, who have broken through and now see the light on the other side with WarriorBabe. So I highly recommend you check it out.

All right. Instead of me talking all about WarriorBabe, now is the time when I hang out with you and answer any questions that pertain to macros, workouts, mindset, lifestyle, how to eliminate fad diets from your world. That's what WarriorBabe is all about too: things that are realistic, sustainable, that set you up for long-term success, not just quick results. So if you have any questions, drop them in the comment box and we'll kick it off.

Kim: "How much is your program?" If you go to our website, we have two different programs. You can check out our Blueprint or our VIP. The Blueprint is more about teaching you how to be in control of your body for the rest of your life. The VIP is more hands-on, one-on-one coaching with the 11 coaches we have on our team. To figure out which one best fits you, you can apply, talk with my team on the phone, and figure out which program best suits you. That's where you'll get all the details on everything you'll get when you join the program.

Kristen: "Newbie here. So excited to have started." Nice. Wow. Holy moly. Welcome, you guys. That is so freaking cool to see. I'm so excited you're part of this community. What I love so much when new people join us is how blown your minds get by how much more food you're supposed to be eating, and then the results you start seeing with the more food you give your body. The workouts kicking your butt, and seeing you pop up in the community, is so freaking cool.

Nicole: "My question is for the WB Build program, specifically in the app. Do I spend the first week determining my one-rep max for each lift in order to determine the weights for each superset, determined by the four sets of eight to 10 reps?" Nicole, this is something I've spoken about inside the community on our Q&As. Any babe inside my program has access to those Q&As, which are different from this one. I'm on a Zoom webinar and able to speak with you directly. Inside your program, you can check out the recordings of previous Q&As, and I've mentioned this a few times there.

The Blueprint platform itself teaches you how to go about building that Build workout program based on your one-rep maxes. I give you that three-month program, you're figuring it out and getting your one-rep maxes. That's more educational; it's teaching you how to do everything yourself. The app is more broadly speaking to everybody inside our program. So you want to choose which one you want to follow: the Build that's more educational and based on your one-rep maxes, or the app, which is a little more broad. So to answer your question, Nicole, you wouldn't do the one-rep maxes for the app. You'd focus on the one-rep maxes for the educational pieces of the program.

Stephanie: "Do you believe in calories in, calories out?" No, I honestly don't, because there are a couple of ways you can burn calories. One is manually, which a lot of people like because it's a quick result. You're burning calories, and that comes from cardio, circuit training, classes that are all cardio based. That's one way you can burn calories, and it's manual. The second way is me just standing here, me talking, me sitting on the couch, from the muscle mass I have on my body. I've adapted my body to efficiently burn calories at a different rate than just doing it manually.

Does that make sense? And this is something about gaining muscle that isn't heavily talked about in the industry. It's starting to be, but a lot of people just focus on weight loss. When you adapt your body by building more muscle, it's like a snowball effect. At first it's really, really slow. But the more muscle you put on, well, muscle is a metabolically active tissue and it contributes to your BMR. Your BMR is your basal metabolic rate, what you burn while you're just sleeping, breathing and talking. When you have extra muscle mass on, you have the ability to burn more calories.

So going back to your question, I don't fully believe it, and I think things are changing because of what I just broke down. With the calories you burn manually by doing cardio, you're burning a ton, and a lot of people don't pay attention to that. They're actually not eating as much as they should be, so it gets mixed up in that realm. And when you adapt your body by building muscle, there's a whole different avenue for the way your body burns calories. For instance, I eat 2,100 calories a day, but I also burn around the equivalent, and I can still drop body fat. So it really comes down to the makeup of your body frame and how much muscle mass you have that determines where you should be with your daily nutrition. I hope that makes sense. That was a really long-winded answer. But I really think that whole concept is dying as new things and new trends emerge.

Stephanie: "Do you do any cardio?" Yes, I do cardio, but it's very, very minimal. Like I said, because I have a lot of muscle mass, I have a more solid chance of burning body fat and of holding a lower body fat because of the muscle on my body. But that doesn't eliminate my cardio. I still do cardio. I still believe cardio is important for overall health, because your heart is a muscle and it needs cardio endurance. But a lot of people go too far with cardio. They think it needs to be done five, six, seven days a week, every single day for 45 minutes, in order to get results, and that's just not the case. So to answer your question in short, yes, I still do cardio.

Casey: "How do you stay away from bad food when everyone around you eats it, or you just crave it?" Well, how big are your goals? To be brutally blunt with you, as I am on these live Q&As: you're the only one who can see the goals you want to accomplish. You're the only one who has the vision of what you want to do. Nobody else. And when you're around friends who aren't actively striving for a specific goal, especially when it comes to eating better, living better, wanting to lose weight or get your body a specific way, when you're around that energy, more than likely, and you probably don't recognize or realize it, you're going to get sucked into it.

For me, I don't have the same friends I had when I first started my journey. As I grew, as I stood up for myself and my goals and put a hard no on the things that didn't support me, I found more supportive friends, a more supportive lifestyle, people doing the same thing I was doing. Now, I'm not saying you need to get rid of your friends. Maybe you have to have a conversation and say, "Hey guys, I'm trying to do this. I'm sticking up for myself. I want to hit this goal." You've got to want it, because it comes down to that point. It's all mental. It's a huge thing we talk about inside WarriorBabe. If what's in front of you doesn't support you and your vision of what you want to accomplish, you have to say no. You have to be disciplined and dedicated enough to say no to eating like an asshole. That's what I tell my community.

But if you crave it, that's a different story. If everyone around you is eating it, you have to have the discipline to stick up for yourself and say, "Nah, this doesn't support my goals." But if you're craving it and you're tracking your macros and paying attention to what you're eating, have it. It's all about balance. If you can fit it into your macros, fit it into your macros. Every night I have dark chocolate, two or three pieces, because I fit it into my macros. You don't want to deprive yourself of the foods you want to have and enjoy. You don't want to deprive yourself of social situations. But if they're happening the majority of the time, if your habits are like 90% or 70% that way and that's the reason you're not seeing your goals, then you've got to check in with yourself and lay down the law for what you want to accomplish.

At the end of the day, you have to want it. You have to want your goals. No macro program, no workout program, none of this stuff can do it alone. It's all going to help as tools. But if you can't get your mindset on the right track toward the vision you have for yourself, you're going to be on this hamster wheel of why you can't break habits. Until you break those habits and get off the hamster wheel, you won't be on an upward trend to where you want to be.

Where am I at? Nicole: "Perfect, thank you. I'm sorry I missed the Q&A. There have been some technical issues." No worries. You can refresh and try it again. You're welcome. Absolutely.

"Yes, get away from the food that doesn't fuel you. And if you don't have the support you need, make a different choice to support your goal." "Nikkiey knows. She's talking about it." Yep, a hundred percent, guys. I have been there. I have been in your shoes at one point or another. I've experienced what you've experienced. But I'll tell you, when you stand up for yourself and what you want, that is a confidence boost. You're getting more confident by doing that, and you're becoming a stronger person by standing up for yourself and your goals. Learning to say no is the best thing you could possibly do when you're trying to reach any specific goal you have in mind.

Stephanie: "Does your program include which weight exercises to do?" Yes. This is the thing with the Blueprint: we give you a three-month workout program and we teach you how to build your own, because I like to customize things to you. If you want to build your shoulders, let's focus on building your shoulders. If you want to build your glutes, let's focus on building your glutes. If you don't want to take that educational route, we have an app inside our program with monthly updated workouts, so you can literally just follow along with all of the workouts we give you there. And we give you tutorial videos to follow as well.

Did I miss one? No. Betty: "I want to take your program, but you're too expensive for me." Well, everybody's got goals, and it's a lifetime commitment. Let's break it down like that.

Cheryl, what's up, babe? Jody: "When is the best time to move to build rather than burn?" When you're transitioning away from a cut and you're starting to reverse and bring up your calories, that's your best transition to a build. Yeah, that's exactly it. You may be looking for a more extensive answer, but that's exactly it. When you're removing yourself from a cut and starting to bring your calories back up, that's your best bet to transition to the build workouts. What's up, Jana?

All right, any more questions? Every Wednesday I come here live at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to answer any questions you have pertaining to workouts, macros, lifestyle and mindset, and I'm happy to provide any clarification you need on your journey. A lot of knowledge bombs get dropped, so make sure you tune in every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, because we kick it off and it's a great time. Aw, thank you, Jana.

Jody: "Thanks. No more cut, then go to build. Yeah, I think I'm there." Nice. Yes. You'll utilize all the calories when you start reversing yourself up. And if this sounds like gibberish, me talking about cutting and reversing and building and macros, definitely check out warriorbabe.com. There's a resource tab with a bunch of free videos on pretty much everything I educate on, obviously not the gold, because my program is specifically individualized. Check that out, because it'll make a little more sense. But when you're moving yourself up, increasing calories and macros, and reversing out of a cut, that's your best bet to use the build workouts to maximize those calories and where they're going, and help you build the muscle you want to put on.

Brenda: "Emily is the best coach ever." Oh, I love to hear that. We have such an amazing team of coaches in the VIP program. We have 11 coaches on our team and they are truly, truly amazing. So if you want to work one-on-one with a coach who does your macros and your programs for you, check out warriorbabe.com, go to the VIP program and apply.

Nicole: "Any suggestions for strength and toning with a C-section scar?" Yeah. Since I know you're inside the program, check out week three or week four, section three or section four. There's a part for, I think it's diastasis recti. I can never say it right. But those are pretty similar exercises, and I would probably recommend them for a C-section as well. You don't want to be twisting. You don't really want to be doing ab crunches. So things like leg lifts or planks are really good.

Cheryl: "Jody, make sure you build for at least six months." Yes. Yep. That's the timeframe, guys. I say no less than six months in a build. This is something a lot of women struggle with: they want to see fast progress, ASAP. But you have to understand that building muscle takes a hell of a lot of time. If you commit yourself to the journey and understand that building muscle is your ultimate goal, if you can commit to a year to a year and a half of building muscle, I guarantee you'll see it. It's not a quick fix. It's not, "Three weeks and I'm going to be toned, now I'm going to be ripped." That's not what it is. Don't fall victim to all the fad shit on the internet. It takes time. I know it's not sexy to say, but I'm not going to lie to you. It takes a heck of a lot of time and a heck of a lot of dedication, but if that's what you want, then do it. You deserve it.

Carrie: "What's a realistic amount of weight I could lose in a month if I follow the program? I need to lose about 80 pounds." Well, babe, if you have a significant amount of weight to lose, just by getting in, hammering down consistency on what I'm telling you to do and getting in the workouts, you'll probably see movement pretty fast. But the realistic amount of weight is completely different for everybody. If you have a lot of weight to lose, then yeah, you're probably going to see it, if you're consistent, if you're sticking to it, if you're being honest with yourself, if you're not overeating or under-eating or doing too much cardio. I'd guarantee you could probably see some things move fast. But again, weight loss, or fat loss, is different for everybody.

"How long does it take to see a change in your body after starting macros?" Again, it's completely different for everybody. Take somebody like me. Let's say you have the same frame I do and you come into a program wanting to decrease your body fat a little. I personally probably won't lose any weight, but I will decrease body fat. Those are two drastically different things. I've talked about this before, and if you check out the WarriorBabe YouTube, there are videos about it. I've talked about the difference between weight loss and fat loss. With weight loss, you lose everything: muscle, fat, organ size. With fat loss, you preserve your lean muscle, you hold on to it by the way you're eating, and you decrease body fat.

So for me, I'm not going to lose weight, but I'd decrease body fat and would probably see a little difference in my photos. Somebody who's 80 pounds heavier coming in looking to lose weight is probably going to see it a little faster. Mine's going to be a little slower because I don't have much to lose. So it's different for everybody. Everybody's body is completely different, and that's why in the Blueprint we tailor it to exactly what you need for your specific body type, where you are in your journey, how old you are, and where everything needs to be put into place. "How long does it take?" is such a broad question. It's different for everyone.

Brittany: "Do you have any recommendations for people who don't count macros when eating?" Check out my Instagram, @nikkieystott, because I just put up a video from one of these live Q&As where I talk about the difference between calories and macros. There's a massive difference. If you have the goal of being toned, building muscle and performance, you've got to pay attention to macros. You could be not eating enough protein, which is a building block of muscle. You could be not fueling yourself with enough carbohydrates, which are a recovery tool for muscle and give you energy. You could be eating too much fat, and fat has way more caloric density than the other two macros.

So if you're not paying attention to your macros and your goal is being toned, you're doomed. I'm telling you, it's just science. If you're focusing on calories, you could be eating 800 or 1,800 calories. Awesome, that's great. But what's the makeup of those calories? It could be super low in protein, which I guarantee it is, and over in carbs and fats. And yeah, you could lose weight. If you just want to lose weight, calories are fine. Calories will get you moving in the right direction. But if your goal is aesthetics and looking toned, macros are the way to go.

Thank you, Victoria. Thank you, babe. Jody: "Six months. So good to know. Up the macros too, right?" Yep, you got it.

Brandy: "How long should you cut before you begin to build?" It's completely different for everybody. Like I just said, if you have 80 pounds to lose, that's going to be a journey, just being brutally honest. But if you only have a little to lose and just want to get a little tighter, that could be six weeks, that could be eight weeks. That's why I recommend getting a coach and checking out WarriorBabe, because we'll help you with your entire process. We listen to biofeedback: you've lost a certain amount of weight, you're here, is this your goal? How's your biofeedback? How's your sleep? How's your energy? Then, "I think we're ready to transition out of this and bring your calories back up." I can't tell you enough how much thought process gets eliminated when you have somebody helping you. That's why I highly recommend checking out WarriorBabe, because we'll do all of this for you.

Jody: "I just want arms and shoulders, and I will do it." Eat, baby. Eat. Ladies, eat. I got this way because I eat. I eat a lot of food, because muscle needs food in order to grow. So do not be afraid of food, because if you want muscles, you've got to eat.

Stephanie: "What types of weights do I need at home for your program?" Dumbbells, bands and body weight. We have a dumbbell-only program, a band-only program and a body-weight-only program. So if you want to join us inside WarriorBabe, you can get started with just body weight, then transition over to bands, then transition over to dumbbells.

Cheryl, you just said what I said. I love it. Guys, Cheryl was in a build for around eight months. If you check out the WarriorBabe YouTube, we did an interview with her and she talks about her build. She had gained 10 pounds in that video, but she got up closer to 20 and surpassed 20, I think, if I remember correctly. The majority of what she put on is muscle. She put on fat, yes, but the majority is muscle. In order to build muscle, you're probably going to put on a little fat, because the body needs that to be able to build. Then when you start cutting back down, you reveal the hard work you've put in.

She has been in a cut for four weeks and her weight has not changed, but in her pictures, her body fat is decreasing. She's a perfect testament to holding on to the lean muscle she built so she doesn't lose it as she cuts. Eventually her body weight will go down, but it's so good to see that in the first four weeks she's holding on to that muscle and it's not being tapped into as we decrease her macros and calories. It's a science.

Alicia: "I only have about 13-ish pounds of fat to lose. Do you suggest starting by cutting the fat and then building, or just going for a build?" I could go either way, but I'd probably go for a little bit of a cut. If you already have a decent amount of muscle on your body, I would go for a cut. If not, I would probably go for maintenance and work on body composition, changing your body composition by adding in strength training. Naturally, by building muscle, you're going to decrease body fat and decrease weight.

All right, guys, I'm going to bump around here because I'm going to pop off in a couple of minutes. Martha: "I can't remember where you stand on creatine. How do you feel about taking it?" Honestly, guys, you don't need any supplements. I am such an advocate for whole foods. There are nutrients and everything you need in whole foods, so you don't need any supplement. But let me give my two cents on creatine, because I'm kind of right in the middle on it. I'm a hard no if you're a meat eater. Anything that's been made by a mom or a dad, chicken, meat, fish, eggs, has natural creatine in it. So I'm a hard no there. I'm a hard yes if you're vegan and don't eat meat products. Then you need creatine, so it's a good supplement that way. Or if you're older, in your later 50s or 60s, past menopause, where you run the risk of low estrogen and less bone density and you need to keep muscle on your body, creatine will help keep that muscle mass on you.

Diane: "I don't always take measurements, because the scale doesn't always reflect progress." Non-scale victories. Hell yeah. Throw that damn scale away. Seriously. I hope in the next few years that thing is just deceased. It probably won't be, but that'd be really nice.

Lindsay: "I love macros, but I can't meet them. It's so hard for me." It's only as hard as you make it. Remember that, guys. Why is it hard? Nail it down. Are you not preparing for it? Are you not planning? Are you not meal prepping? What is the trigger that's stopping you or making it so hard for you? Find out what that is and squash it. Do better. It's only as hard as you make it.

All right, I'm going to go down to the bottom. Sorry, I just skipped over this one. "I'm interested in toning and getting stronger after shoulder surgery, but I'm clueless about macros." Definitely check out WarriorBabe. We'll take it from a beginner standpoint and I will walk you through it. One of the courses inside the Blueprint is Macros 101, which tells you what they are and why they're so important. Right there, a lot of people's brains get shifted, because they don't realize they're not eating enough and they're missing out on how important macros are.

Leslie: "Any advice on decreasing arm fat for someone in their 40s?" Strength training. Strength training. And if you are doing it, maybe you're not doing it the right way.

Jen: "Sorry, I just signed on, but what do you mean when you say cut?" Like I said, a lot of this may sound like gibberish when I say cut or reverse or build. A cut is decreasing body fat. Reversing is bringing calories back up. Building is building muscle. If you check out warriorbabe.com, there's a resource section on our website that covers a lot of the verbiage I use.

All right, cool, you guys. I have to hop off. This was an awesome time hanging out with you. I come here every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I have to hop off because I have another Q&A with the WarriorBabe community in the next 20 minutes. If you're just tuning in, definitely listen to the replay. That was an awesome Q&A. And make sure you check out WarriorBabe. If a lot of aha moments are going off when I break down the whys and the hows and the importance of specific things, this is just me getting started, just scratching the surface.

If you check out WarriorBabe, the Blueprint or the VIP, which I see in the comments right now, we no longer serve the Revolution, because my team and I are about support. That's the value you get inside my programs: endless support from my community managers, our coaches, and me in the Q&As, where I'm able to speak to you directly. And it's lifetime access. So when you break it down like that, the value plus lifetime access, what are you missing out on? Definitely check it out at warriorbabe.com. You'll be able to talk to my team members and see if it's a good fit for you.

I appreciate you guys so much. You're awesome. I'll catch you next Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Bye, everyone.