Pre-Workout Carbs, Collagen and Cardio: A Live Q&A

Nikkiey: What's up, everybody? Hello, world. Happy Wednesday. We're here live for our Wednesday Q&A time together and I am so excited. I love coming here on Wednesdays and hanging out with you, this whole tribe that we've got: my followers on Facebook and the WarriorBabe community. What's up, Cheryl? Hi, Yana. What's up, babes?

Welcome to our Wednesday live Q&A. You guys know the drill. We keep it real here on Wednesdays. We do a live Q&A session together. You ask me whatever it is you need clarity on, whether that be macros, nutrition, some tough love, some workouts, some mindset, just anything that you need clarification on for your journey. That's what this Wednesday live Q&A is all about. We've got my Facebook followers and we've got the WarriorBabe community. This is something we have been doing for a couple of months now, and for anybody who is a Facebook follower and not yet a WarriorBabe, you'll see how I converse with the WarriorBabe community and the language that I use. Maybe you'll check out warriorbabe.com and see what our programs are all about.

WarriorBabes, I'm ready to kick it with you. As you're tuning in, let me know you're here by commenting in the comment box so I can say what's up back. If you're catching this after I've been live, do the hashtag replay and leave any questions that pertain to this live Q&A in the comment box, and my girl Kate, our community manager, will come into this live Q&A after it's done and respond to any questions you left. What's up, Brittany? What's up, Brandy? What's up, Madeline? Hey, babe. What's up, Maureen?

I already see you guys firing off some questions. If you have any questions for me, now is the time. Drop them in the comment box and I'll kick off this Q&A in a couple of minutes. But before I do: WarriorBabe is growing daily, weekly, by the minute, by the second, by the hour, by the month. Holy shit, you guys. Welcome to all the new WarriorBabes who are becoming part of our community. You're part of thousands of women, all different ages, all different starting points. Maybe you have 50-plus pounds to lose, or maybe you just want to maintain your weight. You're part of this amazing community that is collectively working towards the same goal: getting toned, being stronger, building muscle, burning body fat. So welcome to all the new babes who have joined us in the past couple of hours, days or week. I'm so stoked for you to be part of this program and this amazing community.

I have never seen anything like our WarriorBabe community in the fitness space. It's so cool to see how supportive everybody is. If there's an excuse maker inside the program or the Facebook group, the babes fire back with, "Yo, you've got to give it some time." They're supporting each other. What I'm saying is that we're all supporting women and empowering women, and that's really cool to see in this space, because not many people understand what we want or the goals we want to accomplish for ourselves. Some people bash it down or they're jealous, but inside the WarriorBabe community everybody is lifting each other up, which is so amazing. I love you guys so much. Welcome to all the new ones. Like I said, you're inside this community with thousands of women on the same journey as you, maybe starting from different points but collectively working towards the same goal. WarriorBabe is where strong is the new sexy. So welcome.

What's up, Maureen? Scott, Jack, Mendy, Carla, Roxanne, Emily. What's up, New York? Kelly, Francine, what's up, people? Strong is the new sexy. You got it, Madeline. That's damn straight.

All right, you know the drill. On Wednesdays we do this live Q&A: anything macros, nutrition, workouts, mindset. If you need some tough love, I'm here to help. Please don't ask me some of the weird questions I got last week. You'll catch me here live anyway, and I'll be blunt and honest and respond the way I naturally would if I was talking to you face to face. Now is the time to fire off any questions in the comment box and I'll start in just a couple of seconds. I wanted to say something before I started, but I forget what it was. Oh, this is what I want you to do right now: if you're excited for this live Q&A, smash the like button and share this. The more you smash the like button, the more views it gets within our community if you're a WarriorBabe. And if you're a Facebook follower, sharing this to your page means more women are going to see it and tune in, and more women need this value and knowledge that's about to be dropped. I'm coming here to provide you with tons of value and knowledge on the questions you have, to help you along your journey.

Okay, cool. Let's kick it off. Back up to the top here. Brittany asks, "What are your favorite easy pre- and post-workouts?" If you follow me on Instagram, I always share my food and what I love to eat pre- and post-workout in reels and stories, so definitely check out Instagram. My handle is Nikkiey Stott, spelled N-I-K-K-I-E-Y S-T-O-T-T.

My favorite pre- and post-workouts: I'm going to go into the science first, because that's what I love to do, the why and how. You want something that's easily digestible. So either a protein shake beforehand or some egg whites for a protein source, and then a rice cake, fruit, or a white tortilla. Oatmeal is a really good pre-workout; it's a little bit of a longer-digesting carbohydrate. Pop-Tarts, yes, I said Pop-Tarts, and cereal are fast absorbing. Those are really good pre-workouts, especially for those of you who get up in the morning and have to go to the gym within the first half hour of waking up, so you want to eat something really quick. Those are your best bets. Anything that's a longer-digesting carbohydrate, like brown rice, sweet potatoes or oatmeal, is better to have about an hour to an hour and a half before your workout.

Post-workout has to be easily digestible too. That's a protein shake, a protein and carb powder, banana is a really good one, rice cakes are really good, and I have dried mangoes. Cereal can be a post-workout as well. Anything fast acting that's going to get to the muscles for immediate recovery. Those are some really good pre- and post-workout options.

"What are your thoughts about collagen? I've been hearing and seeing a lot about collagen lately." I think it's great for health-related things, but if you're using it on a daily basis and you track your intake, you need to track it as a protein. The reason I don't like using it, and I'd rather take it in pill form than as a powder supplement, is that it's an incomplete protein. People really confuse this and take collagen right before they work out, but it's an incomplete protein, so it's not breaking down like a normal protein source would, like a protein shake, chicken, egg whites or Greek yogurt. Those are whole protein sources. That's what you really want when you're choosing your food on a daily basis: whole food over artificial or incomplete sources, and collagen is an incomplete protein. That's why I wouldn't use it, because it means I have to track it, and if it's not really benefiting me as fuel through food, I'm not going to take it. I'd rather take it in pill form. That's my recommendation on collagen.

Now let me branch into what I just said about quality macros and the food choices you make. As you know, WarriorBabe is all about macronutrients. Why? Because macronutrients are a sustainable lifestyle. You can still have the foods you enjoy while you're decreasing body fat, getting toned, and building the muscle you want to build, because muscle is what toned is. We don't give you a meal plan in WarriorBabe. Why? Because you all have different tastes, different brands where you live, everything's different, or you have sensitivities or allergies. So we teach you the right foods, when to eat, and what types of foods to eat.

Leaning into what I'm trying to explain here: yes, you can have Pop-Tarts, like I said. Yes, you can have a chocolate at the end of the night. Yes, you can have pizza. But you don't want to have it on a daily basis. "Oh, I can have pizza because Nikkiey said it fits my macros and I can eat whatever I want. Awesome, I'm going to fit pizza in every day." No. You still have to choose quality macros over artificial, easy-to-grab food options like pizza and Pop-Tarts. You can have Pop-Tarts maybe Monday and Friday, putting them into your routine in balance. That way you're not restricting anything. You can still have it, but you're having it maybe once or twice a week. All in moderation, all in balance.

You want quality macros. Why? Because that's going to help facilitate even more fat loss, more leanness, more tone. If you're having sugar every day, that's going to play a factor. If you're not having it at the appropriate time, which is around your workouts, if you're having it later in the day or when you first wake up, which is a big no-no, it all matters. These are the things I break down inside the WarriorBabe program so you feel confident in the food choices you're making. So the moral of my story and my little rant is that as you go on a fat loss journey, you really want to focus on quality macros, making sure it's sustainable and you're feeling full: chicken, ground turkey, egg whites, Greek yogurt, brown rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, rice cakes, those types of things. Then you fit in what you want to have in balance. That's what it's all about. That way you don't have the mentality of restricting foods.

April, what's up, babe? Yvette asks, "Why count macros versus calories?" This is a great question. When you're counting macros, you're still essentially focusing on a calorie intake range, because macros make up calories. Calories break down into macros. Let's say you're focusing on eating 1,800 calories in a day. You don't know how you're hitting those 1,800 calories if you're not paying attention to the macros, because each of those macros, protein, fats and carbs, breaks down differently in your body and facilitates different things happening within your body. If you're paying attention to 1,800 calories and you're eating tons of avocados and tons of rice, but you're not paying attention to how much protein you're getting in, only fats and carbs, then your overall calorie intake is only made up of fats and carbs, when you need each one in a specific percentage to help you meet that calorie range.

Listen to me loud and clear: if your ultimate goal is performance, to look fit, to be toned and to decrease body fat, you have to pay attention to macros, because each of them plays a different role and breaks down differently in your body. Fats don't do the same thing protein does. If you're eating more fats, you're getting tons of calories from fats in your overall calorie range, and you're not getting any protein. But protein helps satiate your hunger, protein helps you not have cravings, and it helps build muscle. And if you have no carbs, you're not going to have enough fuel and you're not going to have good recovery. So you see what I mean? If you're just paying attention to calories, you're missing the big picture, especially if your ultimate goal is performance, leaning out and being toned. If you're just looking to lose weight, sure, have at it, go for a calorie range. But I'll tell you this: you're just going to become a skinnier, fatter version of yourself if you're only paying attention to calories. There's a massive difference between the two, and that is my long-winded answer.

Christy asks, "If you have been in a calorie deficit for a very long time and your metabolism is wrecked, do you have to get your body used to maintenance calories before you can try to cut to lose body fat? Or would just a small deficit work?" Your first question, or statement, is true. Look, this is something I brought to my VIPs last night. When you go into a program, there's a lot of "what the fuck" in your mind, because it doesn't make sense. Your coach or the program is telling you that you need to reverse up and start eating more calories. Why? Because you've been doing obscene amounts of cardio, you're eating 1,200 calories, you're working harder but not smarter, and your body's not getting the results. So why would you go into more of a deficit? You're just going to be banging your head against a wall in six months because you're still not getting results. The reason you want to reverse up and come to maintenance is that your body is not ready to be in a calorie deficit. Your body is not ready for a diet.

Your metabolism is everything you want to focus on when you have any particular goal in mind. If you want to decrease body fat, you've got to get that metabolism revving. If you want to build muscle, you've got to get that metabolism revving. If that metabolism is straight-up shot, it's head to wall. Guaranteed. So yes, if you've been in a calorie deficit for a long period of time, you're not getting any more results, and you're trying to work harder, cut more calories and do more cardio, you're literally going down a rabbit hole, a black hole, to pure darkness. That's so dramatic, but it's so true. That's why you have to reverse yourself up. You have to slowly increase your calories to get up to maintenance.

Let me tell you what I tell my Blueprint community and the people I work with, and what my coaches reiterate to the people they work with. When you're in that process, two scenarios could happen. You could start losing weight, because your body's like, "Oh, thank you so much for giving me some food." Or you're not going to make any progress on the external side, but internally your metabolism is starting to rev. You're starting to get hungry again and you're feeling those cues, maybe not losing any weight, maybe not losing any inches, maybe not seeing external results. This is where people get mentally screwed, because they want to see results yesterday and they're asking, "Why am I eating more food when I want to lose weight?" Well, you've got to get your metabolism revving. You've got to get it to a better speed. You've got to heal it. So those are the two scenarios: either you feed yourself and you're losing weight because your body's thankful for the food, or you're not getting external results but you're internally healing your body for the longevity of the goals you want to accomplish.

Maricela asks, "What is the best way to lose the baby pouch?" Nutrition, proper nutrition, a calorie deficit and strength training. Aw, Jamie, thank you, babe.

Mindy asks, "Is it true that bananas are detrimental to building abs due to the high sugar?" Absolutely not. No.

Brandy says, "Hey, Nikkiey. I just started fully committing to counting macros. I'm 130 pounds and I work out six days a week. My macros are set at 1,300 calories and my macro percentages are set to 40, 40 and 20. I built muscle but need to take off that extra layer. I've read a lot about calorie deficits. Do you see where I need to adjust my macros or calorie count to reach my goal?" Bomb. Honestly, Brandy, this would be something awesome to dive into by checking out the WarriorBabe programs, because I simply can't give you an answer without knowing your stats, without seeing your body type, without physically seeing a picture of your body to say, "You've got decent muscle mass, you probably need more food than 1,300 calories," or maybe you're short, five foot, I don't know. What I'm trying to say is there's so much more information I need from you, which is why we have the WarriorBabe programs. Blueprint is education and coaching calls four times a week where you send in pictures and I get to see your body. VIP is one-on-one coaching. We have a division of eight coaches, we're continuing to grow our coaching division, and we work with you one-on-one. We give you your program, we give you your macros, and we do weekly check-ins. But my honest opinion, without seeing your body: 1,300 calories is freaking low. Where do you go from there? 1,100 calories? Again, you're going into the dark rabbit black hole to nowhere. Does that sound super low to anyone else, or is it just me? You guys let me know.

Brittany says, "Cool, thank you. I was doing protein shakes but was worried about it having a tiny bit of fat in it." No, that's totally fine. But again, protein shakes are artificial, going back to what I was just talking about with quality macros. You don't want to have too many artificial sources. You want one or two protein shakes max. If you're going to have a protein bar, that counts toward the two artificial sources I'd recommend in a day. Someone said, "Pill form is supplementing, lol." Yeah, but it doesn't have macros in it. That's my point.

Christine asks, "Would you use fast-acting carbs pre- and post-workout?" Yep, that's what I talked about. Okay, I think I'm a little behind here. "What are some good proteins other than chicken and fish if you can't have eggs or Greek yogurt?" Ground turkey and ground beef are two really good options. Egg whites, oh, you can't have eggs. Chicken, fish like tilapia, haddock, cod and salmon, ground turkey, ground beef. "What app do you use?" I use MyFitnessPal. Brittany asks, "Do you have your post-workout immediately after your workout?" Yes. April says, "I love the WarriorBabe Blueprint." So excited to have you as part of the program, babe.

Jana says, "Supermans are in the lats and hammies workout at home this month. That's a low back workout, correct? I'm not feeling it in my lats." 100%. Yep, you'll feel it right here.

Kelly asks, "Is it possible to get rid of what they call the menopause belly that hangs over?" Yeah, 100% it's possible. Nutrition. There are tons of WarriorBabes inside the program who have been through menopause, are actively going through it, or are post-menopausal, and they're still getting amazing results.

April says, "I go to the gym at 4:30 a.m. and I haven't been eating first." Oh, girl. Once you get to that section inside the course, "Three reasons why not to lift fasted," you'll immediately change your mind and want to be eating before. Danielle says, "Just stopping in to say I love you." Danielle, I love you too, babe. You're awesome.

"What are the most effective exercises to grow the glutes?" Hip thrusts, squats, deadlifts. Wow, I'm drawing a huge blank. Hip thrusts are great. Squats are absolutely great. Then more isolation work like goblet squats, sumo squats or sumo deadlifts, and more isolation work like glute kickbacks and fire hydrants. Those are some really good exercises. Marie, what's up, babe? I see you saying hi to Cheryl too.

Emily asks, "Did you mention before that you were coming up with a program of workouts for those who want to build their glutes?" Yes, I was, and it's done. It's been done for months, but we were trying to figure out where to put it and when to launch it. So stay posted inside the WarriorBabe community, because it might just be a WarriorBabe-specific launch. RDLs, yes, very good. Thank you, Jana.

Colette says, "I have no options to eat before working out. My gym appointment is at 3 a.m. and the kitchen opens at 4. Is a protein shake okay? I live at work two weeks on and off." Protein shake, babe. You can get a carbohydrate powder from coalitionnutrition.com, who are my sponsors. You can get Super Carb and mix it in with your protein shake, put the carb in with it, and just drink that before you work out. Look, you guys, having fuel before your lifts is so important for the muscles you want to build. They need fuel and food in order to be built and in order to survive. Plus, if you're working out first thing in the morning and you don't have any fuel to back your workout, you're raising your cortisol levels. If you're raising your cortisol levels, you're stressing your body out by not giving it fuel and then going into a strenuous workout. And if your cortisol levels are raised, your body fat is literally just not going to move. Plus, I know people talk about fasting, and I'm so against that, because I'm about longevity, sustainability and being realistic. You need fuel for your muscles. They're active tissues, and the mitochondria, which help build muscle, are active tissue as well. They need fuel. Plus, like I said, your cortisol is raised, and cortisol is a fat-storing hormone. You're literally just going to be face to wall again. Yes, hip thrusts.

Jackie asks, "How do you work cardio into your fitness routine without losing muscle?" Great question. First of all, you don't overdo it. Think about it like this: cardio versus strength. If you're doing tons and tons of cardio, you're adapting your body for endurance. When you want to adapt your body for strength training and have it be better with calories so it can build the muscle you want, you want to limit your cardio, because you want to be adapting to strength training. The way I personally work it in is three days a week, 10 to 20 minutes max, for me at my stage of my journey. For those who are just starting out, I'd probably recommend low steady-state cardio for maybe 20 to 30 minutes, three times per week. What you want to make sure is that your body is in a fasted state. Whether you're doing it first thing in the morning and having your first meal afterwards, or you're doing it right after a strength training workout, your body has technically used the protein, fats, food and fuel for your workout, so you're in another fasted state. That way your cardio is going to do its job when you've finished your workout and facilitate the type of results you want from cardio at that point. "Aha, makes sense."

"Forget what I said. Whenever I do hip thrusts, I feel it in my lower back." Lower your weight. Focus on form. Whenever you're overcompensating and feeling it somewhere else, it means you've got too much weight on. So lower the weight. Maybe even start from scratch and just do the motion, so you can feel the motion of the exercise and feel the muscle being connected. "Eat effing food, your body will thank you." Yes, truth.

"How good is cardio for definition? Is weight training better?" 100%, weight training is always the way. Like I said, if you're doing too much cardio, you're not using strength. Your body is being adapted for endurance. And for those of you who don't eat enough and are doing tons of cardio, it's deemed metabolic damage in the fitness world. But it's really just doing things your body has adapted to, which causes the metabolism to slow down. You don't want your metabolism to slow down. The way you're going to get defined is by being in a calorie deficit with your nutrition and doing more high-intensity strength training. Not HIIT, not something cardio. A calorie deficit and high-intensity strength training.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Adrian asks, "What about the Insanity with Shaun T program? Do you recommend it?" I've never done Insanity, but think about circuit training like this. I know Orangetheory is a big thing with circuit training, and Insanity is a big thing with circuit training. When you're trying to burn calories to get to the type of result you want, you can do it one of two ways. You can do it manually, which is really fucking hard: you're doing an hour of circuit training and an hour of cardio-based exercises. You can do it that way. Yes, you're going to burn calories, but it's going to be hard, and eventually you're going to plateau, and you're going to plateau fast. Or you do it the other way, adapting your body to strength training and putting on more muscle. Muscle adds to your metabolism and naturally increases your BMR, your basal metabolic rate. So in the long term, strength training is going to speed everything up and help you get where you want to be with your goals.

This is kind of a mind thought. People want to do cardio endurance classes, Insanity and circuit training because they facilitate immediate results, but those immediate results plateau in a short period of time. That's why so many women do tons and tons of cardio and say, "I'm not seeing any results." Yeah, because you're doing too much. Whereas strength training has a snowball effect. It's a really slow start. You're probably hovering around the same weight for a long period of time because your muscles are filling with glycogen and holding on to water, but you're probably seeing some progress in your measurements, your photos are looking bomb, and you're feeling tighter. But the compound effect isn't going to happen for months.

What I'm trying to say is, if you're doing tons of cardio, an activity that requires very little strength and no muscle, and you're doing a lot of it, and that activity requires a lot of calories, then your body is going to start to adapt to it. Your metabolism adapts. Your body recognizes, "Okay, we're burning a lot of calories during this activity. We need endurance. We don't need a lot of muscle or strength. So let's learn how to conserve calories by turning off the muscle stores, paring down muscle and slowing the metabolism down, so we can become more efficient with endurance and the cardio we're doing." I hope this is clicking. If you want to be lean and toned and decrease body fat: calorie deficit and strength training. Calorie deficit and strength training. A calorie deficit that meets your specific macro intake for your body type and your goals, and strength training.

"Does it matter if we eat our last snack right before bed?" Here are two scenarios. One, no, it doesn't for the majority of individuals. Two, and this is very individually based, if you eat something right before bed you could experience restless sleep. You might not get a good night's sleep because you probably spiked your insulin, which spikes your metabolism, which keeps it revving, keeps you awake and doesn't give you a good night's sleep. Typically, people like me can eat right before bed and sleep like a freaking baby. Others have this effect and need to stop eating at a specific time.

Emily says, "I'm on week two of the build phase and counting down the days until I can stop doing cardio. Four days a week is brutal, and I'll be so happy when I'm down to one." Yeah, girl, I guarantee you, we just started this, so you're going to be there sooner rather than later. Those are going to be your first adjustments: increasing calories and cutting back on cardio. Diane, what's up, babe? Hello from Arizona. Nice, that just makes me feel warm.

Jen says, "I turned 40 this year and I feel like my metabolism has come to a halt. Any suggestions? FYI, I want your arms. They look amazing." Thank you very much, I appreciate it. My first recommendation for you would probably be to eat. I don't know where you are or how much you're eating, but you may not be eating enough. Like I said earlier in this Q&A, if you're not eating enough, you need to eat more to facilitate the results you want and to kickstart your metabolism. So that would be my suggestion. First of all, become aware. If you don't know how much you're eating, download MyFitnessPal and track a week of your normal habits. This will be insanely eye-opening. If you track your food for an entire week, you're going to be like, "Oh my God, I'm eating like 800 calories. My protein is like 80 grams." It's so eye-opening, and that's where you'd take your next step: how much should I eat, what do I need to eat? That's where you'd probably check out WarriorBabe and Nikkiey's programs and all that jazz. So that would be my first step: how much are you eating? Do that.

Emily asks, "Question for deadlifts in the build: is it conventional deadlifts that I should find my one-rep max for? I like both kinds of deadlifts but normally do sumo on glute day and conventional on back day, so I'm not sure if it's too many deadlifts for the week." My personal answer is: do the deadlifts you like the most. For me personally, I do sumo for every deadlift. I don't like conventional, and that's just me. So it really comes down to whichever deadlift you like better.

Awesome, you guys. I appreciate you all so much. Thank you for showing up here. I do these Q&As every single Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern. As you can see, there's tons of value. I dropped tons of knowledge bombs, and you can take this away and start implementing it in your journey right now. So show up here, mark your calendar, set your alarm for five minutes before 6 p.m. Eastern so you can be here every Wednesday, plug in, get your questions answered, and I can help you along your journey. That's what I love doing. Then check out warriorbabe.com. On our website you can check out our programs and read reviews from women who have been inside the program for years or months, maybe the same age as you, maybe dealing with the same situations. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. You're all awesome. Keep up the good work, and I'll catch you next time. Bye, everyone. Thank you.