Skinny Fat? Why a Maintenance Phase Beats Cutting Calories

Nikkiey: What's up everybody? Nikkiey here with WarriorBabe, and with today's video I am extremely excited to talk about this topic with you. We've talked about what a cutting phase is. Today we're going to talk about what a maintenance phase is, and this is honestly one of my favorite phases to put bodies into that deserve to be in this phase.

So today we're going to talk about who this phase is for and who it is not for. We're going to talk about the ultimate goal of being in a maintenance phase. I'm going to share with you what you can expect from the changes that you may see with your body inside of a maintenance phase, and the ideal time that is recommended to stay in this maintenance phase.

All of this, let me just reiterate, is very individual to who you are and where you are in your journey. You're probably going to hear me say that a lot through a lot of the videos, but my ultimate goal here is to give you a lot of insight, a lot of knowledge, a lot of value around these specific phases, and then you take the information as you see fit.

So the maintenance phase. Let me first start off by saying the average woman who needs to lose five to 10 pounds doesn't need to go into a cutting phase right away at the very beginning. If this is you, and you're an average skinny individual or skinny fat person and you have those five to 10 pounds to lose, you don't need to go into a strict cutting calorie deficit. Maintenance phases are golden for you. Instead, what you should do is focus on maintaining your weight, building muscle and reducing your fat stores.

In my opinion, maintenance is where all of the magic of body composition changes happens. It's not sexy. People don't want to hear that, but it's the truth. When you're looking to build muscle, you need as much food as possible, and you don't really get that by being in a caloric deficit. Maintenance is where the magic happens. And it also makes future cutting phases way more enjoyable and easier.

First off, reiterating who this is for: it's for more of the average skinny fat person who needs to add some shape to the body and build more lean muscle, but doesn't want to go as far as a caloric surplus in a building phase, which I will talk about in a separate video. Who this is not for is somebody who is looking to lose 30-plus pounds. This phase just isn't right for you right now.

The ultimate goal of being in a maintenance phase, aside from the overall strength increases you're going to have, the increased energy levels and improved mood you're going to have, and the better sleep quality you're going to have, is maintaining your body weight, give or take a few pounds. That is the sole goal of a maintenance phase. When you're in this phase, because you're eating at a higher caloric threshold, you have the ability to build muscle, but also to see slight changes in your body composition, with the ability to decrease body fat wherever you may be at this maintenance threshold.

So let me talk about the maintenance threshold. Broadly speaking, there is a lower side of maintenance and a higher side of maintenance, where you pretty much maintain your body weight throughout, but you're eating more food. That's the glory of the maintenance threshold, and I'll talk about that in a second. But that's a pretty solid goal to focus on: outside of measuring your weight and seeing where your weight is, seeing where your body fat is, and watching how your physique is starting to change physically, also how much food you can push your body to eat while maintaining all of that. Those are the goals you can expect to accomplish within maintenance.

And then the changes you can expect within your body. I just touched on it a little bit there with what the goals are. A hard number to pay attention to when you're in a maintenance phase: you should really only hover around a three pound increase, maxing out at around a seven pound increase. And with the amount of weight that you're going to maintain and/or gain, it's not all going to be fat. I need to make that clear, because so many women, when they're in any type of phase, solely rely on what the scale says, but the scale isn't telling you the whole story. You could gain three pounds or five pounds according to the scale, but what the scale isn't telling you is that it's also partly muscle weight. It's only telling you the broad overview of what your body weighs.

Muscle is denser than fat. It takes up less space, but it holds more density, so it's going to weigh more. That is a factor in that weight fluctuation. And like I said at the beginning, this is where the magic happens. You have the ability to build muscle, but you also have the ability to see a little body recomp happening in this phase, where you're decreasing body fat at the same time, which is why it's the most magical of all the phases to be in.

Honestly, it's where I spend the majority of my time each year. I'm currently in maintenance right now, and I'm needing to fix my calories and macros because I'm losing more weight than I want to, even at a high caloric intake in a maintenance phase. So I'm going to be testing my maintenance threshold shortly, which will be a fun thing to talk about in another video. But again, it is where the magic happens. I spend the majority of my time in it, and I recommend that a lot of women spend their time in maintenance, because there's so much benefit that comes from being in a maintenance phase.

Not only what I talked about with the overall goals you're going to see with mood, energy, strength and better sleep, but your digestion also gets better, and your metabolism gets stronger because you're eating at a higher caloric intake. Overall, that's going to aid so many areas, not only for the goals you want to accomplish, but also from a health standpoint as well.

So then lastly, let me talk about the ideal time you want to spend in this specific phase. Honestly, as I mentioned before, maintenance is where all of the freaking magic happens for your body composition. You should spend as much time as you want and/or need to ensure that your metabolism is up to speed and working properly, that you're getting to eat more, that you're getting stronger, and that the changes are happening within your body composition. You can see the results you want to see just by being in this phase. You don't have to slash your calories. You don't have to go into a cut, especially if you fall into who I recommended this phase for.

If I had to give you a hard estimated time to be in maintenance, it could be anywhere from 6 to 12 months. Again, it greatly depends on where you're at in your current journey. If you're somebody with that skinny fat frame who needs to build more muscle and add more shape, and you really want to recomp your body, then this is the perfect phase for you. If you're somebody who has to lose 30 to 50 pounds or more, this just isn't the right phase for you. That's more of the cutting phase from the video I spoke about before.

That's the magic of being in maintenance: what you can expect from a goal standpoint, the changes you're going to see in your body while you're in a maintenance phase, and the ideal recommended time to stay in a maintenance phase.

I hope you found this super valuable, and maybe you can apply it to the situation you're in right now. If it did help, I'd appreciate it if you subscribed to this channel and smashed the like button, because it only helps this video get in front of more women who could gain value from listening to this as well. I appreciate you hanging out and listening. Stay tuned for the next video.