Lost Motivation, PCOS Macros and Soreness: Live Q&A

Nikkiey: What's up, everybody? Hey, you guys. Welcome to our WarriorBabe Wednesday live Q&A time together. I am so excited to be here live with you and to go through the questions you have about your journeys, in any way I can help: nutrition, macros, workouts, tough love. If you need me to be real on the real, this is what our Q&A on Wednesdays is all about. I am so excited to hang out with you for the next 30 to 45 minutes and go through this Q&A session together.

We are live, as we've been doing for the past month, month and a half, on Facebook. We're live in my WarriorBabe community. So for those of you who follow me on Facebook but aren't inside WarriorBabe, you're going to get a gist of how I hang out with my community every Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and how I support them and answer any questions they have about their journey. So I am super excited to be here with you.

As you're tuning in, comment and say hey, so I can see who's here and who's hanging out with us. Do that in the comment section. Plus, the more you share this live to your Facebook page, the more it brings other women into this Q&A to help them along their journey too. By sharing right now, you'll reach another woman who needs to hear this Q&A. It might get her in the right mindset or help her with macros or nutrition. She'll click in, and maybe she'll pop in and drop a question. So share this right now, drop your hellos and smash the like button so we can get this rolling and get it out to other babes.

If you're tuning in at a later date or time, after I'm done with the live Q&A, write #replay in the comment section along with any questions you have. We at WarriorBabe are so big on support that even when I'm done, my girl Kate, our community manager, comes in and answers any questions that were left and any from people watching the replay. So leave a replay and any questions that relate to this Q&A, and Kate will come back and answer anything left after I'm done.

All right, we'll get started in just a few minutes. What's up, everybody? Emily: "Hello, stranger." Thought I'd say hello and give you some happy thoughts. Yes, welcome, babe. Hello, everyone. Brandy and Natasha, Tammy and Juliana. Natasha, this is your first live? Well, we have a Natasha who spells it with a C and a Natasha who spells it with an S. Awesome. Ruth, Jenny, Nicole from Michigan. Boom. That just sounds cold to me. I'm in PA, so I'm cold too. Roxanne, what's up? Hello, guys. I am so excited for you to be here.

Cool. We'll get started in just a few seconds with the Q&A portion of this hangout. If you have questions, start commenting them in the chat box where everybody just said hello, and I'll kick off the live Q&A in a couple of minutes.

Before I do, as I do with every call, I need to give a huge, huge welcome to all of the new WarriorBabes who have joined us in the past couple of days, the last week since I was live on Wednesday. Y'all, I am so stoked you're here and part of this community and this program. Our community just keeps getting bigger every single day, every single week, every single month. We are here to make a statement in the fitness industry. We've already helped thousands, and now we're here to help hundreds of thousands of women get on the right path to becoming a stronger, more confident version of themselves.

We are so stoked to have all of you new women inside our community, being fed the truth about what it actually takes to get the body composition you're striving for. None of these 12-week challenges, none of these 30-day this-and-thats, where you're left hanging with the same habits you had when you started. A 12-week challenge just gets you to your goal faster. That's great, that's awesome, but what about the end, when you're still left with the old habits? A lot of people just revert back, because they never learn the habits that need to be put in place to create sustainable, realistic results for the long term. That's what WarriorBabe is about: teaching you the truth about how to get where you need to be. Yes, progress may not be what you'd expect in a 12-week period, but you're learning habits and skills that will serve you for the rest of your life.

So welcome to all of you new babes. I am so excited you're now part of a community of thousands of women who are learning to become a stronger, more confident version of themselves, where strong is the new sexy.

All right, I'm seeing you drop in some questions. You know the drill. If you're part of my Blueprint program, we go live in about 50 minutes in a Q&A where I can talk directly to you, back and forth. So if you need support with macros or workouts, or just need clarification on the program, save it for seven so I can talk to you directly. If you're part of my other programs, leave your question right there in the chat box and we'll dive into it. If you're tuning in from Facebook and you're not part of my programs, I'm happy to support you in any way I possibly can. If you're tuning in from Instagram, same thing.

Remember, there's no silly or stupid question. Please ask anything you need clarification on. I'm here to support you, but I'll remind you, I'm not here to be a friend. I'm here to be a coach and to direct you where you need to go, even if you don't like my response about what you need to be doing. I'm here to facilitate your results. I'm not here to pussyfoot around it. I don't care; it gets you results.

Okay, let's kick it off. McCall: "I was doing so good for a solid four months and I hit a wall. I'm not motivated to hit my macros or hit the gym. How do you re-motivate yourself when this happens?"

This is a great question, and I'm sure so many of you are coming off of January thinking, "I didn't meet what I wanted to. I didn't motivate myself to get where I wanted, or learn how to hit my macros or stay on track with them, or I didn't get to the gym when I wanted to." So this is a good time for all of you to refocus.

Here's how I would re-motivate myself. First of all, it's okay that you got demotivated. You need to understand that motivation is an emotion, and it's going to come and go. That's why you can't rely on motivation on a daily or weekly basis; it's going to ebb and flow. You have to be disciplined: disciplined to commit and take action on what you know needs to be done to get the results and goals you want.

Think from the end. Think about the woman who has the body you want. On the day she doesn't feel like going to the gym, is she going to go? Yes, because that's in alignment with her goals. Is she going to be on track with her macros? Yes, because that's in alignment with her goals.

But understand, like I've said before, there are 52 weeks in a year. If you're on point for 47 of them, you're winning the majority of the time. So it's okay to have these ebbs and flows.

If the gym or macros ever feel like a chore, remember that this is a lifestyle. If it ever feels like a means to no end, you need to take a step back and remind yourself why you love this process so much. Why you love to work out, why you love to eat healthy and be on track with your nutrition: because it makes you feel good. So remind yourself why you're doing it. Always start with why. Maybe you want to be healthy for your kids, be a better role model for your daughter, or be healthy in the long run for longevity and lifespan. Whatever it is, circle back to your why. That should re-motivate you and get you disciplined to show back up for yourself.

Cool. Carrie: "I work out six days a week with a fasted cardio session and lift each day. When taking the quiz, would this be considered very active? That's what I chose, and my calories and macros seem high. I'm loving the food, I just want to make sure I answered appropriately. By the way, I'm on maintain and build."

If you're working out six days a week and doing cardio, that's what I deem normal, WarriorBabe style. So I would keep it at 1.55. I honestly wouldn't go any higher. If you have an active lifestyle outside of that, say you're a hairdresser or a waitress, running around, loading and unloading packages, constantly moving, then yes, I would go with the active modifier. But if you're just doing WarriorBabe workouts and have a pretty normal desk job, up and down and walking throughout the day, I would go with 1.5, the moderate multiplier.

Tammy: "I've cut back on my carbs and calories. I just started Golo about a week ago. I'm not sure why I'm not really losing anything. I don't know if it's my age or what. Help."

Guys, cutting back on food is not always the answer. I know that's what's pushed in the fitness industry, and it's self-sabotaging women's mindsets to cut down and eat little to nothing, then do ridiculous amounts of exercise and cardio and Orangetheory and bootcamps. That's not always the answer.

Also, about not losing anything: losing weight and losing fat are two completely different things. I'm in the business of teaching women how to lose body fat, not weight. If you're losing weight, you're losing everything: muscle and fat. You're just going to become a skinnier version of yourself, a skinnier fatter version of yourself. If you're losing fat, you're preserving the muscle you've already built and decreasing the body fat so more of the figure underneath shows. Those are two different things, two different approaches.

So Tammy, I'm not sure how to completely answer your question, because I have no idea what Golo is. Honestly, I don't want to know, because something new keeps coming up every single week or month, when really it's so simple: learn to track macros, work out and have daily movement. Hey, I may be completely wrong; maybe it's something else. I have no idea what it is.

But broadly speaking, cutting back on calories is not always the answer. And cutting carbs is especially not the answer if your goal is to be toned. Being toned is building muscle. I'm toned because I have muscle. I teach women how to build muscle to be toned, and carbs are an essential macronutrient that helps that process happen. Carbs help build muscle. They don't need to be eliminated.

Guys, if this is making sense, please smash the like button so I can see the likes going. It helps me know this is clicking, maybe from a perspective you haven't heard, or I'm saying it in a way that resonates with you. Yes, beautiful, I love it. I'm seeing those likes and those hearts.

Shayla: "Most days at work I'm moderately active. Occasionally things go wrong and I have a super active day. Should I consider changing my macros for those days? For example, 5K-plus steps, 50-plus flights of stairs, in the cardio zone for usually two or three hours. Usually I've already worked out before this as well."

Yeah, babe, absolutely. This is a great example of what I just said about the moderate or active modifier. I would absolutely consider you active. That will help you get the calories you need and not make your body conserve more calories and hold on to more food.

This is something I talked about with my VIP group. If you don't know what my VIP program is, it's one-on-one coaching. We have six coaches in our division, and they work with clients one-on-one to help you get to your goals. You have an app, your workouts are programmed for you and your macros are programmed for you. Go to warriorbabe.com/vip-application to check it out, or go to warriorbabe.com, click on our programs, and check out the VIP program and apply.

But back to what I was saying. On my call yesterday I talked about how your body has a way of working with calories: it can become less efficient with calories or more efficient with them. Less efficient is where you want to be. It's kind of a mind plug, kind of backwards, but less efficient is where you want to be, because your body wastes more energy.

That's in terms of building muscle. If you're working out and doing strength exercises, using muscle to get through each exercise, you're becoming less efficient with your calories and spending more of them to build the muscle you need. If your body is more efficient with calories, it's conserving more energy and holding on to more calories.

I could totally dive into this, and maybe I'll film a video on it, because it would be so helpful for you to understand how and why you may not be getting the results you want. Either your body has become less efficient with calories, or it has become more efficient and is conserving them and holding on to them. When that happens, it's from stress, not enough sleep, too much cardio or overtraining. Your body is like, "This body is stressed out. We need to pull back and learn how to conserve calories to keep this human going." Smash the like button if that makes sense. Please, please, please. I could really dive into this topic, and I'd love to, but I want to stay focused on the Q&A.

All right. Adrian: "Any help for losing weight with PCOS?"

Yes. I have a couple of babes in my Blueprint program with PCOS. If you want to learn more about the Blueprint, go to warriorbabe.com, go to programs and click on the Blueprint. It will tell you everything, even down to what you can expect when you get inside. You can see everything I teach and provide to women.

The women in my program with PCOS do benefit from lower carb, but there is a threshold you can sit at. When it comes to macros, I'm really big on making them unique and tailored to you and your individual needs. That's why I created the Blueprint. It really is a blueprint, individual to each person in the program. For you, Adrian, it would be specific to you. But broadly speaking, you'd probably want a little bit higher fat, lower carb, and moderate protein around your body weight. That's the broad level I can help with for you or any woman dealing with PCOS.

Ruth: "This is the best program. I'm learning so much. Thank you." Yay, that warms my heart, and I know it warms my team's heart so much. Michelle, what's up, babe? Happy Wednesday.

Ashley: "How much weight training does it take to gain muscle, assuming macros and calories are in check?"

It takes years. It can take years, and it's individual for everybody. It could take you a year, it could take another person two years, it could take somebody seven months. It's not about how much weight training. It's about consistently training your muscles on a daily and weekly basis, consistently over time.

Think of it like a compound effect. You go to the gym five days this week. You're focusing on split muscle groups, on progressive overload, on getting stronger. You do that for six months, and what you did in the second month is now compounding into month six. It's all about the compound effect and consistency. It's not that on the 70th day of weight training you can expect a certain thing to happen. It's consistent progression over time.

Nicole: "What are your favorite high-protein snacks? Looking for low-fat, high-protein ideas."

Anything lean: lean meat like chicken, ground turkey, or ground beef on the high percentage side, 93 or 99 percent lean. White fish like tilapia or cod. Honestly, some of my snacks are probably other people's full-on dinners, I'm not going to lie. Right before this I had a chicken tortilla with popcorn. Another one would be Greek yogurt with some peanut butter and fruit. Another would be rice cakes with tuna on top. Those are three solid examples, and there are tons more. Y'all, drop your favorite high-protein snacks right now. Let's go.

Tammy: "Thank you so much for your explanation." You are so welcome. If you ever join my programs, or you consistently show up here on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for this live Q&A, you'll learn from my personality that if you have a question, I'll break it down to the why or the how. I absolutely love to explain things, because I feel I'm not leaving you in the dark when I explain why something is so important. It gets you on the level I need you to be on with me to understand what you need to be doing. I always explain everything to the best of my ability. If I don't know something, I will say, "I don't know." I'm happy to say that, and it opens up possibilities for me to learn more.

Erica: "I've tried so many different macros to see what works for me, and I haven't seen a change in my body. I want to build muscle. How do I find what works for me?"

Here's what I have to say, and I could be completely wrong, Erica: how much time are you giving those macros? This is the problem. There's not enough patience in the industry, not enough patience among women. People want results yesterday. I'm not kidding you, it may take your body three to four weeks to fully adapt to any macronutrient numbers you give it.

If you're not giving your body enough time, you can't see where it's at in relation to the macros you're giving it. Say you start something now, and next week nothing's changing, so you throw in an adjustment. You're giving up on what those macros could have done for you. You're changing them too frequently. In my programs I call it Morse code: you're someone who changes macros too often because you're not patient enough to see how well your body is adapting.

Guys, with macros, sometimes people don't need an adjustment for eight weeks or three months. You could be on the same exact macros. I'm not kidding you, I've seen it. Some people need more frequent adjustments. But my answer to you is: how long are you giving these macros? If you're not giving them at least three to four weeks, you're not being patient enough. Give it more time. Learn patience. Work on that muscle. Everybody, please work on that patience muscle.

Nicolette: "How do you know how much to eat in a day? How do you figure that out? And do you have a list of good foods?"

You can easily go online and find a macronutrient calculator. Is it right? Is it what you individually need? No. That's why we have an insane amount of support on the back end, to make sure women are following the right macronutrients for their bodies. It goes way beyond what you'll get from a macronutrient calculator.

Here's how we do it. We figure out your age, height and weight. We figure out your activity level on a daily basis. Then, based on those stats and your lifestyle, we put you into a deficit. If you're in a deficit, you will decrease body fat, lean out and get toned, if you already have muscle structure on your body. If you don't have muscle structure, then you need to eat enough food to build some muscle and build the kind of body you want. That's how my team and I figure it out.

From that deficit come the macronutrients you should follow for your body. Broadly speaking, if you're 120 pounds, you could be at a protein intake of 120 grams. It's very common for women to need to eat at least their body weight in protein, which is not what women do. I know that firsthand. The one thing I always hear is, "Nikkiey, after being in your program, I realized I was never eating enough protein." Protein is the building block of the muscles you want to build. Protein is the building block to get you toned.

Then the carbs and fats depend on the ratio that fits your protein and your calorie intake in a deficit. It is so unique and so individualized. That's how I figure it out.

"Yay, this is very helpful." Love it. Lisa: "Doing curtsy lunges and single-leg deadlifts now. No weight, but yes." That is so exciting. Oh my God, that's such a huge step in an awesome direction. Lisa, I'm stoked for you.

Hey, we've got some protein people dropping snacks. Awesome, love it. Greek yogurt and PB, check, for the win. That sounds bomb. Egg whites on Dave's Killer Bread. Yep, I do that too. Awesome.

"Does anyone else have celiac? I struggle with nutrition and finding healthy foods with variety." Yep, there are people in the program who have celiac.

Leanne: "If I'm not sore, does that mean I didn't train intensely enough?"

No. Soreness is not an indicator of your progress, you guys. Progress is the indicator of your progress. Just because you aren't sore after a workout doesn't mean you're not going intensely enough.

I talked about this with my VIP community. So many women say, "Nikkiey, I'm not as sore as I was when I first started my workouts. I'm not as sore the next day." Your soreness is not an indicator of your progress. If you're going way too hard, and I talked about this on previous Q&As, last week and a couple of weeks ago, you could be overtraining. If you're super sore two to three days later, you overtrained. And if you're constantly overtraining, your body is literally in heal mode, just trying to heal. It's never going to adapt and get stronger, because it's constantly in healing mode.

So it's okay that you're not sore. It's totally fine. Honestly, in a perfect world, you'd be training, increasing your weight and getting stronger without being sore. That rarely happens, but it's the perfect place to be. You're getting stronger, progressing in weight and not sore? That's amazing. Your body is recovering properly, you're doing a great job on the recovery side, and you should keep doing what you're doing.

So soreness is not an indicator of progress. You can be not sore and constantly build muscle and burn body fat, as long as on a weekly basis you're getting stronger and progressively overloading with weights. So no, not being sore does not mean you're not training intensely enough.

"At what time of day should I take BCAAs?" You can take them at any point in your day.

Erica: "Thank you for answering my macro question." "Can you share how important the mind-muscle connection is to building muscle? I'm struggling to see results and a flat stomach."

The mind-muscle connection is very important. If you use proper form in every single exercise and create that connection, your muscles are going to work better than if you just go through the motions. If you're just going through the motions, pulling weight and pushing weight, that's not going to do you much good. If you're creating a mind-muscle connection, challenging yourself with weights and using proper form, you're connecting to the muscle you want to stimulate and grow.

To create that mind-muscle connection, lower your weight so you can feel the muscle being engaged. Once you can feel the muscle engaged through your repetitions, try to increase your weight and keep that same feeling in the muscle.

"Do you take ketones? Are they really helpful for losing weight?"

No, I do not take ketones, and I'm so sick of what's on the internet. Literally, all you have to do is nail down your tracking. That's the big secret. First of all, ask yourself: what am I not doing that other women who have the results I want are doing? That will help you figure out, deep down, what you need to be doing.

Is it that you've got squirrel brain? "Oh, shiny object. This is going to get me to lose five pounds in two weeks." Or, "This will get me to this result in 12 weeks, or this result in six weeks." That's what's so bad about the marketing in the industry online.

All you need to do is nail down your tracking and understand how much food you're giving your body to fuel it every day, and incorporate movement by exercising. This is what boggles my mind: people make the fitness world so complicated, and it's literally just nailing down your tracking and getting better at it. If you're not good at it, be honest with yourself, because there are women who think they're really good at it and have a hard time admitting they're not. Then movement: do daily workouts. Then the small things: sleep, water, are you doing enough, and is your stress under control?

"Do you offer a monthly program for a plan and training?"

If you go to warriorbabe.com and click on programs at the top, you can see the programs I offer. I have the Blueprint, which is an online education course. It teaches you how to tailor everything to you and your goals, with support in a group setting. Every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we have Q&A calls where I can talk back and forth with you, help you with your goals and make sure you're on the right track.

Then the VIP program is one-on-one coaching. It's monthly. You can get six months, you can get a year. Some women are so gung-ho that they sign up for two years. We don't even have that as a membership, but we make it work. In VIP, you work with a coach from our division of six coaches, who are absolutely amazing. Their knowledge is so wide, but the cool thing is that we're all on the same exact page about what it takes to achieve the body women want. You have your own app, your meal plan is done for you, your workouts are done for you, your macros are set for you, and you have check-ins with your coach and group calls. Then you join me in a Zoom setting weekly with everyone, and I fire you up with specific topics to help you learn what you need for your journey.

Amy: "Can you advise how many days you should be lifting and how many days should be cardio, and for how long? Can they be on the same day?"

Sure, I can definitely advise. It's individual. You can choose four, five or six days, whatever works best for you and your schedule. Cardio is also individual. You can start with three days of 30 minutes, and then cardio can be adjusted from there to do more or less, whatever you need to reach your goals. That's something I do in my Blueprint program. Cardio is really just a tool that can aid fat loss. It doesn't need to be in your plan, or it can be. And yes, you can do them on the same day. My only recommendation is to do cardio after you're done with weight training.

Jody: "I'm on day 24 of the 30-day macro challenge. Game changer." Let's go. That is awesome, babe. Keep going, and don't even stop at 30. That's something we have in the Blueprint program, you guys. We have challenges so you can embed these habits into your lifestyle, habits that will serve you for the long run. We have a Macro Warrior challenge and a Beast Mode challenge. For the Macro Warrior challenge, you have to consistently hit your macros for 30 days and upload your photos so we can see them, and we give you a certificate when you accomplish it. For the Beast Mode challenge, you upload selfies, not to the community, actually, but to a portal our team sees, for 21 straight days of workouts. When you reach that, you hit Beast Mode.

"I have Hashimoto's and follow a doctor-directed modified autoimmune protocol diet with success. Is it possible to build muscle with the food restrictions?"

I'm not sure what that diet calls for, but yes, it is possible to achieve what you want. It may just take longer, especially if you have an autoimmune condition or specific thyroid problems. It really has you work on that patience muscle. You can achieve it; it will just take a little more time. The one thing I do recommend: I know autoimmune conditions are more sensitive to carbohydrates, and carbs can cause flare-ups, so it depends on what your doctor has you on. Make sure your fat intake is good and your protein intake is solid too. As long as your protein and fats are solid, it will just take a little longer, but you can totally do it.

Angela: "If you work different muscle groups daily, do you still need rest days?"

Yeah, absolutely, 110 percent. Everybody needs rest days. Think about it this way: when you're resting, your muscles are growing, recovering and getting stronger. You need rest days.

Okay, guys, I'm going to answer a few more and then pop off, because I have my Blueprint program Q&A, which I do Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday inside Zoom, where I can actually talk back and forth with my community. I need to get myself prepared for that.

"What would you recommend for strength training to start with? For example, do you focus on training full body each workout, or do you rotate, and how often? Thank you so much for your help." You are so, so welcome.

No, I don't focus on full body. I focus on split muscle group training. Right now I'm doing powerlifting-style workouts, but when I was doing bodybuilding style, which is what helps you create more of that toned look, doing the burn style, I would train different muscle groups each day and change my routine every four weeks. It's really good to change up your workouts every four to six weeks, because it keeps the muscle confused and constantly challenged, and that's what stimulates growth.

Carla: "Is it okay to eat before bed if it means you hit your macros for the day? Should there be a certain amount of time between your last meal and bedtime?"

This really is individual. I'm fine eating right before bed, and I sleep like a baby. It's totally fine to do that if it works for you. But if you find that eating before bed means you can't fall asleep or can't get a full, well-rested night's sleep, then I'd recommend pulling back and eating about an hour or two before bedtime.

Erica: "Do you always track your macros? I've counted macros for a couple of years, and sometimes I feel like I'm not living life because of being in a caloric deficit and feeling restricted. If I could be, I'd be eating 2,500 calories."

Yes, I've always tracked my macros. But recently, because I'm at a point in my journey where I can be a little more lenient and my body doesn't regress as much, I've found a way to incorporate intuitive eating, and I'm really happy and proud of that. Even when I was tracking and I was with family or friends, I made it work. I've learned macro skills that don't restrict you from living life normally, and that's what I teach inside my programs too. So you can make it work and make it feel less restrictive. Macros are really a skill that will serve you for the rest of your life. Now, six years into my journey, I can pull back on tracking, look at food and still know what I'm eating, well aware of what I'm eating in my day.

"Why do you say do cardio last?"

You should always eat a meal before you work out. If you eat a meal and then do cardio before you lift, you're going to have no energy, because you're burning through that meal before the strenuous portion of your workout, which is lifting weights. When you're done with the weights, you've metabolized that food and used that fuel for your workout. Now your body is in what I like to call a fasted, empty-stomach state. In that state, you're going to burn more fat. You'll burn your body fat as energy to get you through that exercise.

All right, cool. You guys, I love you all so much, but I do have to pop off. I wish I could hang out and answer questions all night long. I absolutely love coming here and spending time with you. If you want more information on WarriorBabe, what I teach and how my team helps thousands of women get amazing results, and you can see some people in the comments talking about it, go to warriorbabe.com. Go up to programs and you can see all the programs we have: the Blueprint and VIP. You can check out reviews and watch and listen to testimonials from women who've been inside the program, and you can apply. So warriorbabe.com is where you can get more information.

I'm going to hop off. I know you're still asking questions, but this is where my girl Kate comes in and answers anything left after I'm done live. I appreciate you guys. Every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, I come here, hang out with you for a bit and answer any questions you have. So mark your calendars, tune in and be here next week. I love hanging out with you. Keep up the good work, and I'll see you next time. Bye, everyone.