Q&A: Overcoming Extreme Cravings, And More!

TRANSCRIPT

What’s up you guys, Nikkiey here with Warrior Babe and welcome back to our weekly Q and A. You guys know the drill if you guys have been keeping up for the past couple weeks. If you don’t know this drill and you are new to this channel, welcome, make sure to smash that like button and subscribe to this channel because every single week I am taking four questions from a previous live Q and A that I do weekly on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time at facebook.com/WarriorBabeNikkiey and I take those four questions from that live Q and A and I’m gonna answer them here for you guys right now. All right so if you guys are excited again be sure to smash that like button. I am stoked to be here with you guys right now and do this Q and A, provide any help around questions that you have that will put you on the right path towards your journey. All right, well, let’s dive into it right now. Question number one. “How do you discipline yourself to resist the cravings? They feel overwhelming at times.” So I have a two-part answer to this question. The first part is you’ve got to assess your nutrition that you are doing already on a daily basis. If you’re not giving yourself enough food or enough of the right types of macronutrients, that one being in the protein world, then you’re gonna feel like you have endless amounts of cravings all of the time. You’re gonna feel like you’re gonna have to walk down the hallway at your work and stick your hand into the candy jar of your coworkers that they have on their desk. So the first thing that you need to address is making sure that you’re getting enough of the right macronutrients on a daily basis that’s going to curve your cravings and protein is one of those things. It’s gonna help you feel fuller for longer periods of times. It’s going to knock down those cravings in general, getting enough protein and macronutrients The second part to that question is tapping into does this craving that I want to fulfill right now by sticking my hand in a bag of Doritos, or by having some chocolate at the end of the night or indulging in food that maybe doesn’t serve me with the goals that I want to accomplish? So I always say like, think about not so much who you are right now, but think about the person that you’re working to become. And that person that you’re working to become in the long run is that person letting this craving control her instead of her controlling it. And by understanding that, okay, this craving that I wanna devour all this food, or I wanna stick my hand in a bag of Doritos and eat it to the bag’s empty is not going to serve the goals that I want to accomplish. And same time too I also speak to this is like, okay, if you have this craving of chocolate, you don’t need to eat a whole bag but you can fit some of those pieces of chocolates into your routine at the end of the night to again, so that you’re not restricting yourself from specific things because that’s not a way to go about your journey, you don’t wanna restrict yourself because then you’re just going to go down the deep end and indulge in all of these foods that you wanna have. But if you’re allowing yourself to meet that craving but not to have an obscene amount then you’re curbing that craving. For example, every single night I have either two pieces or four pieces of Godiva chocolate, if it fits into my macros and I am enjoying that chocolate, I’m enjoying that craving. I don’t need to have five or 10 or 20 pieces. I can get the fix within two or four. So it’s all about again, making sure that you’re eating enough of the right foods on a daily basis, thinking from the end point of your goals and what’s required of you to meet those goals and making sure that you are not letting the cravings control you but you are controlling in the cravings. And then also make sure that you’re not entirely restricting yourself, that you understand that you can work in the types of foods that you want to enjoy. Question number two, “While I’m in a cut phase how often do you recommend measuring body fat and or weight? Daily, every other day, weekly? Thanks.” This is a great question and I’m so happy that I’m able to speak to this right now. First of all, I want you guys all to understand that the weight is not an indicator of your progress. That number on the scale does not justify your means of success. That weight number is always going to fluctuate. So for are a beginner in that weight realm you may be triggered by that number on the scale. It’s either gonna make you feel elated or it’s gonna make you feel extremely frustrated. So if that’s the case then maybe just weighing yourself on a weekly or biweekly basis is the best thing that’s gonna support you and your, the longevity of your goals. Now, if you understand that that weight is just used as a tool, just solely used as something to track data in a number form and you don’t have any emotional relation with that number, then I would say track your daily weight on a daily basis, track that number daily, because you’re going to see and understand how your body done us fluctuate by either one pound, two pounds or three pounds or even maybe 10 pounds if you’re on your menstrual cycle, yes, that does happen. And you’re gonna understand what and how your body does respond to specific foods on a daily basis too, as well, and it’s gonna help you just know that this is just a specific data point that is a way to who measure your journey. And it doesn’t mean anything other than just seeing how your body fluctuates. Now, when it comes to body fat, weight loss is not linear as many people think think it is. It’s going to happen like this. It could happen like this yet your body fat may be coming down. Your body fat is definitely gonna be an indicator on a more linear progress of your journey. And the best way to measure your body fat is by InBody scan or a DEXA scan or a Bod Pod. That’s more of a reliable point to, to focus on. Those scales that have numbers for body fat or tell you what your body fat is, are not a reliable source for you to measure upon. Those three things that I just spoke to, InBody, DEXA Scan or a Bod Pod, those things are gonna be the most accurate and you do sometimes have to pay for them unless your local gym has an InBody scan. So, you know, measuring your body fat on a monthly basis or maybe even a two month, a bimonthly basis. Whatever is supporting you and your understanding around all of these is just being a tool to measure your progress is going to be the most benefit for you. Now, when you do measure on a monthly or bimonthly basis for your body fat you need to do it the same way consistently every time. What I mean by that is if you’re measuring your body fat one time in the morning and you haven’t eaten and you’ve already gone to the bathroom, you have to do that the same time the next month. If you’re somebody who’s measuring your body fat on your period one month and then you’re measuring it off your period the next month, that’s gonna just skew that number. If you’re somebody who is going in and measuring your body body fat in the morning, but then measuring your body fat after a workout the next month, it’s going to skew that number. So you just wanna make sure that you’re consistent with the way that you’re measuring your body fat on a monthly or bimonthly basis. Question number three. “Can doing too much cardio hurt you if your goal is building muscle?” I’m gonna say that yes, but I’m saying yes because not many people pay attention to how much food they have to eat when they’re doing tons and tons and tons of cardio. You know, marathon runners or people that are getting ready for long distance endurance events who are not paying attention to their nutrition we’ll have their body tap into their muscle stores because muscle’s active tissue. Your body’s gonna go searching for energy to help you sustain that long endurance activity. And it’s gonna do that by tapping into your muscle stores, grabbing energy from your muscle stores, and providing you that energy so that you can partake in that specific activity. So yes, it can hurt your overall goal of building muscle if your nutrition is not paired correctly with the amount of cardio that you are doing. And you know, it is an epidemic in the fitness industry that, you know, nutrition is the hardest thing to nail down. And a lot of women don’t eat enough of the right types of foods. Yet they fit feel like the ultimate way to get their goal body composition is to do X amount of cardio and a amount of cardio. Whereas as cardio’s only gonna make you look more of like a skinny fat version of yourself. It’s not gonna give you that tone. It’s not gonna give you that muscle, strength, workouts, resistance against that muscle is what’s going to give you that toned look that you want to accomplish, it’s not the cardio. So if you’re doing too much cardio, let’s say you love cardio, you just make, gotta make sure that you’re pairing it with the right amount of nutrition that’s gonna help you also meet that endurance activity but also help you to preserve that muscle mass that you want to keep on your body. And you gotta understand that cardio is an endurance activity, so it requires less strength. So your body’s going to adapt in that sense to fulfill that endurance activity and vice versa. When you are doing a strength-based workout and you’re training your body for strength activity your body’s going to adapt that way. So you just gotta understand what your goals are and make sure that you’re pairing the right nutrition and the right type of exercise to meet that goal that you want to accomplish. Question number four. “What are the most important supplements you take to keep muscle when in a calorie deficit?” Great question. As you guys can see I have First Phorm sports bra on right now. This is the company that I rep and stand behind for supplements, they are amazing. They have great quality to the supplements that they provide. So First Phorm, everything is in the link to the description below but I want you guys to understand that the most important supplement is not a supplement that’s going to help you from taking a protein or a carb or a pre-workout, or, you know, X, Y and Z that’s gonna get you to where you want to get to with a result of a caloric deficit. The number one supplement that you need to be making sure that you’re nailing down is your nutrition and being in that proper caloric deficit. That’s going to get you the result that you want to accomplish, okay? What I’ve always preached and what I will always stand behind is that supplements will not get you the end result. They benefit you in getting the end results but they’re not gonna get you that end result. They’re gonna benefit, help you along your journey. Hard work, consistency, and dedication is what’s going to get you that that end result that you want to accomplish and being in a proper caloric deficit. Now, if you are in a proper caloric deficit and you’re doing everything the right way then a supplement again is going to benefit you. And the two that I would preach to is a protein powder and a carbohydrate powder. And I would take them immediately following my workout in a post-workout sense, in a shake. Vegan Power Pro is an amazing protein powder, easily digestible and it tastes great and it blends very well. And then Ignition all by First Phorm is a carb powder. And I mix those two together and I down that right after I’m finished my workout. Those are the four questions I wanted to bring to the table today and answer them and help you, help provide clarity around those is that you may also too have, that’s gonna help you be on the right path towards your goal. So again, like, you know, understanding that you gotta control the cravings and not let the cravings control you. That weight is not an indicator of your progress and there’s other ways to properly understand body fat and weight as a tool as just data points to help you understand how you are progressing in your journey but they’re not gonna be the ultimate, you know, distinguishing factor of if you’re doing it the right way or the wrong way. Can cardio hurt you with building muscle? It can, if you’re not pairing the right amount of nutrition with the cardio that you are doing And understanding that supplements are a benefit to helping you get to your end result. Every single week, four new questions are coming to you guys, and who knows, it may be something that you need to hear or understand that’s gonna help you on your own personal journey. And if those questions helped you guys, those answers helped you guys, let me know in the comments below. I’d love hearing the feedback that you guys have, or if you guys have any more questions that I can then take from our YouTube channel, and then also make them into this weekly Q and A, and provide answers to them too, as well. Now make sure you subscribe the channel, leave comments below. And if you, you guys have any other questions or any other things that you wanna learn about making sure that you’re doing the right thing individually for you nutrition, or, you know, you’re doing the right exercises to reach the goals that you want to accomplish and, you know, make sure that you’re doing them, doing those things right that are gonna create results that last forever, head over to wp.warriorbabe.com. There’s a ton of other free resources, just like this that can provide you information and provide you knowledge around your own fitness journey too, as well. All right, you guys I’ll see you guys next week in our next Q and A.