All Things Macros, Habits, And Sustainability w/ Paula Ciarniello

00:00All right, so let's get on topic of macros. Yes, my favorite thing to talk about. What's up, you guys? Welcome back to the show. Today is another special day. We have another freaking awesome guest here with us. You guys, this chick is one badass woman, blunt, straight to the point, says it how it is type of human. I met her a few years back and we just instantly clicked.

00:33She's doing some awesome stuff in the fitness space with her Take Control coaching crew. And I am just so stoked to have her here today so that you guys can witness some no bullshit type of coaching all within this podcast. So let's get to it, Paula. Welcome to the show, girl. Thank you so much for having me on and for such kind words. I remember very vividly the day that we met and clicking with you immediately. That was like, I think your first trip out to HQ with Taylor.

01:04And man, it was probably one of the fastest I'd ever like clicked with somebody before. It was just, you know, when it's just such an easy conversation and you're like, wow, you're just like me. Exactly. It's like instant vibe. Like 100%. It's such a good feeling. It really is. Yeah, it is. It's hard sometimes to find like-minded people. It really, especially in the fitness industry, I find it's, it's just, it can be tough to navigate, but, but thank you so much for having me on. Yeah, girl. I love it. Let's get to it. So I know that you've been through it. Like you've,

01:37you shared being 20 pounds underweight, you share being 30 pounds overweight and all or nothing mindset to now like finding a totally simplified approach, which has made you so much more happier with your physique, your health and your mindset. So just like, I, I just want to hear, I personally want to hear more of your journey, but I know the listeners want to hear that too, as well. So can you take us along your journey and share it with us and why fitness is just so important to you? For sure. Absolutely. Um, so it, I mean, I would say I got into fitness seriously when I was 20. So

02:11people are always surprised to hear this. I did not play a sport growing up. I played one season of soccer when I was in middle school and it was far too much running. I don't know why I didn't anticipate that. Um, there was a lot of running in soccer, but I was like, well, we're done with this. So I don't really qualify that as having played a sport. Uh, but my, my parents are, um, former military. So my dad always had like a home gym and he always lifted. So that was kind of like what I saw growing up. It was just lifting weights. My mom always did like, I don't know if you remember the at home,

02:41like a VHS workouts, like buns of steel, the firm. So that was like my intro when I was like 16, 17. But when I got to college, I really wanted to start lifting weights. Um, because I would watch, you know, or look at not watch. I would look at the pictures of, uh, when Nicole Wilkins and Aaron Stern and Alicia Marie and like all the OGs and oxygen magazine and muscle fitness hers. And I'd like tear them out and put them up in my dorm room. And, um, finally started learning how to lift weights, had a guy friend of mine take me around the weight room. And that was sort of what made me

03:13fall in love with it. And what's so crazy is that prior to getting into fitness, I never struggled with my weight. Like in my teen years, I never had a hard time staying thin. I just was naturally always thin. And I remember thinking like, I'm very grateful. I don't have to worry about that because I had to worry about my skin. But, um, getting into fitness was actually what created such a poor pattern of eating for so long, because it's like, it made me obsessed with food because I hired my first personal trainer when I was 21. So I started learning to lift at 20,

03:45at 21, I hired a personal trainer because I wanted to do a figure show. And turns out I didn't actually want to compete in bodybuilding. I wanted to look like I did. And that's a very important distinction. When people are like, Oh, should I do a show? And it's like, well, do you want to compete? Or do you just want to look like you compete? Because you're going to have a very dramatically different mental outcome if you're only getting into this because you want to look a certain way. So that was me. Like, I didn't really care about actually the competition piece. I just wanted to look like that. But having like my intro into the knowledge of how to eat,

04:18I went from eating Nutri-Grain bars to following a contest prep diet. So I always associated that with healthy eating, I thought, Oh, well, this is what I have to do to lose weight. So I was like, so emotionally attached to this contest prep diet for years, because I didn't know any other way to lose weight. So what I fell into was this horrible cycle of restricting for weeks and months on end. And then when I would mentally break, I would binge and then I would mentally spiral into like depression. And then I would get my shit together and go back into restricting again. So that's,

04:52that's how I ended up getting into that. I was either 20 pounds underweight or 30 pounds overweight. Like I was, I didn't always dramatically shift that much in my weight, but I definitely was constantly in a state of yo-yoing. I was either gaining weight or losing weight. It was one or the other. And that was like my entire twenties. So I got certified as a strength coach through the Poliquin Strength Institute. If you're familiar with Charles Poliquin, he's a strength institute. Well, he passed away a few years ago, but he, uh, his strength institute in Rhode Island, I got certified

05:23there actually after I graduated because I have a degree in art. So I studied art in school, but as I fell in love with lifting, I'm like, well, I want to learn as much as possible. Cause if I can cram as much information into my brain, then maybe I'll get shredded. That was my whole like knowledge base was like, okay, I'll just learn as much as I can. And what's so ironic is that I was gaining all this knowledge. I was getting, you know, certified. I had certification after certification and course after course and seminar after seminar. And I still couldn't figure out how to lose weight. I couldn't figure out how to get lean. No one ever taught me macros. Like they're all of this.

05:57Like they did it like so many, seriously, key word. It's like I was eating all the right foods. They say, eat a handful of nuts for a snack, eat avocado, eat whole eggs, cook everything in coconut oil. All of those are fats. So fats are like twice as calorically dense as carbs at the time. Like I'm not even paying attention to that. Cause I'm, I just wasn't. So it's like, I went from eating this diet plan to like falling into the paleo thing. And like all the while diet plan didn't teach me how to eat because it's just eat these things. It's not here,

06:30learn what is in this. It's like, go follow this plan. And then I became emotionally attached to it. And then after that it was paleo. Cause it's like, Oh, well, as long as you eat healthy foods, you don't need to worry about how much you eat, which is a lie because eating for health and eating for, you know, weight loss are two totally different things, right? Like they need to be blended. But it took me probably until I was like 28 years old to figure that out. When someone finally was like, you just need to track your macros. And all I want you to do is focus on your calories and your protein and let your carbs and fats fluctuate. And that blew my mind because for the

07:04longest time I was like, so obsessive about those numbers. Like, well, what, what's the right number of carbs? What's the right number of fats? Like surely like that matters. Like I have to make sure all the numbers are perfect. I believe there was this like magical formula that I hadn't like cracked the code yet. And lo and behold, when I started tracking my calories and protein, let my carbs and fats fluctuate and eating healthy food 90% of the time, uh, it became really easy. And it just, Oh my God. Let me tell you when like you've gone through,

07:34and I know you've, you understand this completely and probably a lot of listeners do as well. Like when you go through the ringer of like trying every diet under the sun, keto, carb cycling, everything like diet plans, paleo. And you finally like, Oh, just calories and protein. Surely that's not it. Yeah. Surely it's more complicated and it's really not. Yeah. And that's when I would say when I was 28, 29, it was when I finally like it clicked and everything came together because of that one last missing piece, the macros, the macros love that. So there's a lot to unpack

08:05there. First of all, now I totally understand your personality a little bit more knowing your upbringing from a military family. Yeah. Everyone says that. Yes. Makes sense. Both of them. Let's learn that today, but makes sense. And then before we dive into macros, because I feel like that is just, you know, a heavy conversation that I want you and I to have. I want the listeners to listen in on. I want as many people to gain as much insight on macros as possible. But there was another thing that you said in there, which I feel like a lot of women, I resonated so hard with it. When a lot of women go

08:40into a type of journey, they always say that I want to, I want to look like a competitor. I want to, and maybe some of them want to compete, but like, can you share what your, what you think your difference is in those two avenues going to compete? Cause I know you competed or just going to look like ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause?

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09:45join our community of strong empowered women. Visit warrior babe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warrior babe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. Yeah, well, and I, social media makes it this huge misconception of what a competitor at stage lean actually looks like. Because you know, just as well as I do that when somebody is a stage lean and

10:18they are, they're tan, they're stage lean, they're dry. For anybody listening, that means that they are essentially dehydrated so that they can look as lean as humanly possible. Their skin is as thin as they can get it. Um, actually in quite a very unhealthy state when they are on stage, they have been like severely under eating for a long period of time, all kinds of things come with it. And for the record, I am, I'm like, I love the sport of bodybuilding. I, I respect it so much. And I think all of these things make sense in the confines of competition. But when you see those photos on social media,

10:50it's easy to be like, Ooh, I want to look like that. And then when you see that person in real life on stage day, on competition day, it's a completely different look than what it is in a photo. And I would say not like if 99%, if not a hundred percent of, cause I know a lot of competitors. I know competitors who've competed in the Olympia. I know competitors who are, I, and Candace is an IPV pro. Um, my business partner is, um, they all say they don't like love how they look when they are

11:20stage lean. Like it's necessary for competition. So that's the first thing I think is there's this, this misconception of what that, what looking like a competitor actually means because I don't compete. My goal is to look like I compete without competing. Like, that's what I always say about my physique. I just want to stay, you know, healthy level of lean. You're like, that's just my preference. And people in the gen, I train at golds will be like, Oh, when's your next show? And I'm like, I don't compete. Like I'm very flattered by that, but I don't. But if I were to like get tanned up right

11:51now and get on stage, I would look fat compared to everybody else up there because like, um, probably 10% body fat higher than what is stage lean. So I think that's the first thing people need to understand is like what you think that looks like, isn't what it actually looks like. And what it requires to get there is not what most people want to do. It's necessary. Like contest prep diet is not lifestyle. It's two, two totally different paths. And I think what happens is, you know, you'll have a competitor, you know, this happens a lot, actually competitors who like they get really lean, they, they, you know,

12:26see some success, they win some shows and they want to start coaching, which is totally fine. But if the only way they know how to coach people is in the same manner that they got lean for stage ready. And now they're teaching that to like, you know, Sally and Susie who like have no interest in competing. They just want to look good. They can't follow that lifestyle. That's just so far gone from what they're used to doing. And I think that's what happened to me. Like, of course I did tell my coach at the time I wanted to compete and that's why she gave me that plan. But I went from no structure to my eating, no knowledge whatsoever to contest prep, which is

12:59like quite a large leap. And then that happens to people. It creates a pretty bad relationship with food. A hundred percent. Would you say Nutri bars or whatever to Nutri green bars to contest prep? I felt that that's so, I felt that that's the same thing. I went from not eating like barely anything, you know, sugar every single day. Cause I love candy to hold Turkey. Like literally the next day, chicken, broccoli, rice, tilapia. Tilapia is such a garbage fish too. And we ate so much of it.

13:33I know. So yeah, I love that you pointed that out. I think one thing that though does resonate with people that want to have that type of body composition to, um, people that do go up on stage and compete is like you do. And I'm going to, you're, you're so good at sharing this right now on your social medias. I'm going to link everything you guys beneath this and, um, the description for you guys to go follow Paula, but the habits, right? The mentality, like it's two drastic, different things, like going to stage competition, like the last like few weeks. But like, if you want

14:06to look that way, what are like, share some of the habits that like you take your crew on, what are some of the things that you have to start embedding and get the mental discipline down all that jazz? Well, from a habit and like a daily activity, daily task, we'll call it daily task standpoint, like tracking the food, hitting your calories, hitting your protein. It it's really the same structure of what you have to do to just get to a lifestyle level of body fat and leanness that people can just enjoy themselves, go on vacation or contest prep. It's the same. It's the same

14:39things they do. It's just contest prep takes it to the extreme and all those avenues. That's really the primary difference. And I think, again, that's where it gets confusing. Like, well, they do this and they look like that. Why don't I look like that? Because like, well, you don't need to go to the extreme. And when people do go to the extreme on their own volition, not with the help of a coach, not for contest prep, that's when issues arise. But I am very habit focused because one, one of the biggest things I want to get through to women, especially is that there's plenty of benefits to a healthy lifestyle independent of looking good. I would really

15:14love to make it a thing where people start pursuing this lifestyle because they want to feel better because they want more energy because they want to be proud of themselves for the work that they're putting in so that they can see the beauty of their body getting stronger. And I think building muscles a beautiful thing and it's seeing yourself accomplish those things that brings a satisfaction. It's not looking a certain way. And, and I'll say this, it might sound cocky. I don't mean for it to, but I have been able to see my abs for the last several years. And that gets old very quickly. Like you're excited. You know, the very first time you can finally see a six pack and you're like,

15:48Oh my God, I did it. When you've been trying for like over a decade and you're like, Oh shit, I'm there. I got it. The novelty of that wears off pretty quickly. And what you realize actually makes you feel happy is just living your life that way, which is, it's a cool thing because it doesn't take very long on that path for someone to start to feel the joy of living a new lifestyle. Everyone thinks, well, I'll be happy when I look that way. I'll be happy when I get lean. And like, that's, that's really not it. And I know women have heard this over and over and over and they need to

16:19keep hearing it because it's just go for a walk every day, eat the right amount of calories, eat the right foods. It only like Candace and I do this thing with people where we'll challenge them, go a hundred percent whole foods for 10 days and see how you feel. Just see if you can do it for 10 days, a hundred percent whole foods. And we'll go through their, their, we try to like really break things down for people in a simple manner and show them all of the processed foods they're eating. I got this from Candace. This is what she does with her clients. And I was like, that's brilliant. I'm going to start doing that. So pull their food log and she'll be like, okay, we're going to add up

16:50all the calories that come from processed foods in your diet. We're going to go through one at a time, even if it's, even if it's mildly, we're going to divide that by the number of total calories you've eaten today. So we can see what percentage of your food comes from processed foods. And most people it's 50 to 60% when they're really trying to like eat better 50 to 60% of their, yeah. And I started doing this with all my clients too. And I'm like, we need 10% of your total calorie consumption, no more than 10% that come from processed foods. Realistically, it's really tough for people to go a hundred percent, right? You can go 90 though. You can get to that point.

17:23Point being though, it's, it's simple. The things you have to do to get to that result, right? So you asked about the habits, the things that I teach, tracking your calories. I know you believe in the same thing. I believe in it. People are like, Oh, macros don't work for me. Yes, they do. You don't work for you. If you're not following diet, that's why it doesn't work, but it's literally, it is. It's one of the laws of thermodynamics is energy in versus energy out. You have to measure how much you're eating. It's no different than your bank account. If you're

17:54like, well, I can't save money. Well, are you looking at the price of things you buy from Target and seeing how much you spend? No. Well, that's why you can't save money. It's no different than eating foods. I always relate it back to like finances. I feel like people understand that better. Um, check your calories, get your protein. I tell people your carbs and fats can fluctuate. 90% of your food should come from whole foods. Um, get in at least 30 minutes of intentional movement. Okay. What like do I tell people start with what you like? Don't feel like you have, if you don't like lifting weights. Okay. This is for like the everyday person, right? Like if you

18:26don't, if you want to go do bar, I'm cool with that. If you want to go to F45, if you, cause my biggest concern in the beginning was someone who's not exercising at all is that you choose something that you like. I'm not going to make you follow a training program. It might be the most optimal training program for them, but if they don't like it, they're not going to do it. So at least 30 minutes of whatever you want to do. Yeah. That makes you look forward to doing it because again, like the benefit of exercise, like let's stop looking at it just for aesthetics. You're just going to feel better when you move your body. You're going to be happier. Your body releases the

19:01right hormones. Like I'm a firm believer in living the way humans are meant to live and humans are meant to move our bodies. We're meant to be outside. We're meant to get exposure to the sun. So I tell people to do all those things. I'm like, here's the deal. Check your calories, get your protein. Okay. That's from the diet standpoint, like numerically that's first step, 90% whole foods. That's usually something we have to stair step them to for most people. Cause it's like making one swap at a time, 30 minutes of intentional movement. I tell them go for a walk. Okay. I want you to go for a walk

19:33every day. And from a time standpoint, people will be like, there's no time to just start working it in. And you're going to find the time when you realize how much better you feel. And it's so great for fat loss too. Like it's such a great form of cardio for fat loss. Yeah. And drinking water. I say at least a hundred ounces of water. I drink a gallon. That's what I suggest. But I would say those are the daily things I have people do. Yes. I love that. And everything that they have to do that you're teaching them to do is a vote towards their future self, which is that James clear atomic habits. That's one of my, I get so excited when you said that.

20:07That is one of my favorite things to tell people. Every action you put forth is a vote for your future self. And like trying to get people to remember that in the moment, I think is the tough part. Cause it's never when they're in the best mindset that they want to open the bottle of wine and drink half of it. So they're not necessarily thinking, is this a vote for the type of person I want to be? They're thinking conscious awareness in the moment. That's the hard part is like, let's be honest. None of us are thinking about is, am I voting for

20:37the fucking person? So like, that's the tough thing. So for that, what I tell people, again, I got from James clear is just make that habit hard to do, man. Like any habit that you want a break, just make it hard to do because everything we do is how you'll put the wine in the upper cabinet above the fridge, lock it and throw the key out the fucking window. Yes, absolutely. Just make it hard to do. And honestly, sometimes all it takes is for you not to see it. That's the cue. You see it and you're like, Ooh, I want the, I want that. It's like,

21:12what is it? Cue response. Cue craving response reward is the four ways the habits are built. You have a cue, you response to it, which is like, or excuse me, the cue, the craving. I crave the wine. It's not really the wine that you crave. It's the relaxation. It's the perception of relaxation that comes from the wine. So if you can just, I tell people just throw a wrench in it. Like you can replace it with something because it's the hand to mouth, right? That's why I'm drinking coffee right now. I'll do it if it's cold. It's just, it's just there. So it's the compulsion.

21:42A hundred percent. Here's a good example. And I'm going to cut you off there, but I just, I treated myself to insomnia cookie over the weekend and that shit was sitting on my freaking counter for like the last, like two days. And like just the sheer seeing it, wanting it, the taste of it. Oh, it's like same thing. Anything that's not supporting you in your house, pick that, took that box. He wasn't finished through right in the trash. Like that's the best way to do it. Get rid of it. For sure. So Nikki, it's so, I'm so happy that you said that though, because I think people need to hear that too. It doesn't matter how long you're living this

22:15lifestyle. We all experience the exact same thing. It's not like I have some kind of will of steel where like, I'm able to like, yes, I do have a stronger will than someone who is in practice of saying yes to everything. I'm simply in greater practice of saying no to things when I know I shouldn't have them. It's, it's a repetition thing, right? It's no different than Tom Brady running the same play over and over and over and over and over. He gets good at it. But if you're in practice of saying no under certain circumstances, like go to a restaurant and practice saying no to the alcohol, just practice doing it. Now, the more you're in that environment saying no, you get

22:49better at it. So you're in greater practice, but it doesn't mean you don't still feel the same urge when you see it. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Love that. It's not like we don't want those foods. Like I still have it. I know it's going to make me feel like shit. And like those cookies, the there's so many off brands of them. Now it's like what crumble. There's so many like variations of them. And I'll tell you what, I will literally feel like I have a hangover the next day. A hundred percent. Dude, I woke up puffy. I was so swollen just from having a fucking cookie and a half.

23:22Let me ask you a question. Did you happen to weigh yourself the next day to see you have a scale jumped? I didn't, but I should have because you know, I do just out of curiosity. One time we went to the Texas state fair, which nothing there is not fried. Like I don't care if it's savory or sweet, it's all fried. So I had literally over the course of the day, I know I didn't even exceed 2000 calories. So I was not even in maintenance, but at the fair, I had two gumbo balls, which are like hush puppies with gumbo inside. People who don't hush puppies are like little fried. They were literally the size of

23:55golf balls. Okay. So they weren't big. Collectively, they probably were 400 calories. Let's just say that. And I had a tiny ice cream bar. It's all I ate. I was six pounds heavier the next day. Yo, I love that we're getting on this topic right now because like you didn't gain six pounds of fat because the 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat. So that shit clearly wasn't one pound of fat, six pounds of fat. That would have been, I can't do quick math, but that would be over at least what, like 10,000 calories. It gained six. If where's my phone? He, I always, I, I, man,

24:28we are the same person. I always have the same conversation with clients too. I tell them, listen, for you to gain one pound of fat, you'd have to hit your maintenance calories plus 3,500. So for me, if I'm 140 maintenance, let's call it 2,100 calories plus 3,500 calories, that would be like 6,000 calories. I'd have to eat just to gain a pound of fat. Yeah. So that ain't happening, my friends. You ain't getting lost six pounds of fat. Well, what is it? Why do people, when people step on the scale and they see that go up, they think it's fat, but let's explain to them what all of the other factors are that are coming

25:00into play when you step on that freaking scale. All of them. We literally just did a live on this in my Facebook group last week about body weight fluctuations. We do it every single challenge specifically for this reason. It's water. It's almost always water. It could be intracellular water inside the muscle. If you, if here's one factor, if you've been eating in a caloric deficit, which means you've been getting a deficit from fuel sources, which are your carbs and fats, right? So I tell people this, like when you're in a deficit, it's like your fuel tank is, it's not a hundred percent, which would be maintenance. It's like, you're always at 75%, right? So we're just

25:34filling out fuel tanks, 75%. Well, if you have a day where you eat a hundred percent, right? And you just eat maintenance calories scale will be up the next day because the carbohydrates that are stored inside the muscle cells, glycogen, you've got more of that now. So the weight can go up from that alone. And when carbs are pulled into the cell, water will come with it as well. So that's a factor, right? When you eat crappy food, like I did, you experience intestinal inflammation, too much sodium, like your body pulls water into the cell. Yes. But it also could be a subcutaneous blow, which is where

26:08Nikki said she woke up puffy the next day. Subcutaneous means under the skin. The water is being held there as well. Cause it's like you experienced spill over, um, where it's like the not enough volume to hold the water inside the cell. So then it spills over and then you got water on the skin. That's why you get puffy. So it's crazy how much the scale can move because of that alone. People don't realize how dramatic that can be. So they'll see it, you know, they can be sticking to their diet perfectly, perfectly hitting their macros. And because of their hormonal cycle, or they eat one inflammatory food, they weigh themselves and they're up two pounds the next

26:42day. Like this shit doesn't work. Exactly. It does. How about the ones that weigh themselves in the morning and then weigh themselves at night? Women, we always weigh ourselves in the morning. I will wake up naked, go to the bathroom, then weigh myself. If I, if I forget to weigh myself and I take a shower, my hair is wet, forget about it. If my hair is wet, there's water in it. If I even, exactly. If I have my cup of coffee and I'm like, or in my water, I'm like, Oh shit, I didn't weigh myself today. I didn't weigh myself now.

27:15I'm going to wait now. Yeah. And then men all weigh themselves at night. They will like eat dinner, drink a pint of water and then step on the scale. Cause they're like, Oh, look how much, look how heavy I am. Look how full I am. All of it's in the muscle. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. So it's just so true. Yeah. I love that we got on that topic. Cause I know the women need to hear that about the scale. Cause so many people just rely on it so much. And like you said, they, yeah, they, well, you know, here's the thing. A lot of coaches because of this, I feel will say, don't weigh yourself. And like, yes, there's some circumstances where I'll tell clients

27:49not to do it just for a little bit until you start seeing progress. However, I will encourage them at some point in time to start weighing themselves every single day for two reasons. Yeah. One, literally weigh yourself every day. The scale never lies. Okay. And hiding from it doesn't help us. There's two reasons why one, you will learn about these fluctuations and you'll realize that you can see a spike on the scale and it go right back down. I have this actual, this perfect line graph from one of my clients from last Christmas. She diligently weighed herself like

28:20every single day. And it creates a line graph of like her weight over time. And it's, it's from December 23rd to December 27th. And there's this big spike in the middle and it comes right back down and it's Christmas. And she literally goes up five pounds on December 26th. And then on the 28th, it comes right back down again to exactly where it was before. And I show all my clients that I'm like, this is a, an inflammation spike. Like this is extra carbs. This is an inflammatory response from alcohol. Like that's super normal. So I tell them weigh yourselves every day to learn the fluctuations,

28:50but also to emotionally desensitize yourself. Yeah. This probably is something I got from my military parents, but I'm a big believer in exposure therapy. And the more you expose yourself to the things that like activate you or trigger you, like the less activated you will be by it. So you get to a point and I tell them like, this actually will help you get better results because the less emotionally derailed you are by the freaking scale, the easier it is to stick to the plan because it's a different experience. And you step on the scale and you're like, Oh, it's three pounds up. All right, cool. Yeah, exactly. I'm going to live my day as normal versus it's three pounds up.

29:26No. And then you order pizza and you're like, that's not even worth it. Dude, spot on. They're so emotionally attached to it. And that's such a great way to deal. Like you said, desensitize yourself to that emotion and go on with your day. Cool. It's up, whatever. All right. I'm used to it's going to fluctuate. Um, that's normal. Yeah. Well, and you know, actually when I'm having consults with clients as well, I will tell them, listen, I'm going to ask your goal weight because knowing your current when your goal weight helps me set your macros appropriately. But I also want you to know that like in reality, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have one goal weight

29:57because you're always going to bounce back and forth between like three to four pounds. Like that's like, if I tell someone's like, what do you weigh? I'll be like somewhere between 140 and 143, depending on the day. Like that's if Mike and I go out to dinner and 145, but that's like, I bounce back and forth in that range. That's just, that's my maintenance. That's where I live. And I think that can bring a lot of peace of mind to women as well to realize that like, oh, well, if I fluctuate day by day, if I'm maintaining my weight, surely the same thing happens as I'm losing weight. So it just, you know,

30:28it just bounces back and forth as it comes down. Spot on too. And when people just focus on measuring one day a week or stepping on the scale one day a week, they can measure in on a day that they spiked and then freak out because they're not losing anything. Yet the average of their entire week could be way, could be lower, could be a pound or two lower. So yeah, I love that because I'm the same way. Like at first I'll tell people not, I'll tell people to just depending on the personality, when they can weigh in or when they need to weigh in. Right. And then like the clients that I coach still now, I'm like, do weigh every day?

31:01Like, please. Like, so I can see what's going on with your body and that just the same way you can get used to knowing that this is a fluctuation. Like one of my clients went away to, uh, to travel and she was, she has a wedding coming up in a couple of weeks and she was so nervous, even like after three years of coaching her so nervous about not being ready for that travel. And I was like, dude, your body is so primed right now. She fluctuated up. And in a matter of four days after being home, went right back down to her, her average weight. So I love that we brought that up because I think it's so important. It's such, it's a good tool, but it's not the over.

31:34It's not the be all end all. Yeah. Well, the problem, and this is the biggest thing I think, and we keep saying women, cause I think it is mostly women. I only work with women as of now, but need to, to disassociate the scale with body fat because the scale is not a representation of your body fat. It's, it's a representation of your body weight. And there's so many factors outside of body fat that are going to dictate what that number says, but we're just so trained and hardwired to think like, if it changes, it must be fat. Well, usually no, because the fat loss is

32:07gradual over time, but like that's in the background, right? As you're in a deficit and like that energy is being burned off as fuel, but the water weight can fluctuate. I tell people this, I'm like, if you want to see less fluctuation day by day, get more consistent with your food choices, because it's literally like a science experiment. If your weight is variable on, if your weight is variable X, we need to keep all the other variables as constant as possible. Literally. I'm like, if that stresses you out to see, well then stop eating different shit every single day. And like,

32:39I'm a big believer in variety, but like when you're making different recipes all the time, you're doing this and just choosing different things. I'm like, just get consistent with your food choices, make them whole food choices. And that will fluctuate when it's body fat coming down. Like I really don't see a super dramatic fluctuation day by day because everything I do is the same. I'm sure it's probably the same for you too. Yeah. A hundred percent. But one thing that you just said there was the difference between the fat loss and weight loss, which I think is huge. And it's one of my favorite topics that I love to talk about. But when people come into wanting to build muscle, right. And change their body

33:12composition, which is a lot of women that are in my audience, they need to really disassociate themselves from that number that they're seeing on this scale because there's some people that could literally only lose three pounds, but yet they're in the inches are falling off. Their body composition is starting to change. Right. And like for me, and for what you just said, like people have goal weights, right? So like when I first started, I was 140 pounds, but now like eight years later, I'm 150. Uh huh. So it's like they, people need to understand that when they're losing weight,

33:46the you're going to lose everything, right? You're gonna lose a little bit of everything, but when you're losing fat and you're eating macros, as we'll get to, and you're focusing on the protein intake that you're eating, which is preserving that muscle, you're decreasing the body fat around it. So therefore you may drop a couple pounds, but your body fat is going to drop. Your measurements are going to drop in your body composition. And the mirror is going to look completely different than for sure. Especially, especially as you get leaner. And I would say about 50% of my clients are similar to yours. Um, you know, already like really like not trying

34:18to lose a ton of weight, but wanting to just change body composition. So I would say I have like half and half, half their strictly weight loss, half their body composition. And I, I always have this conversation with them as well. Like, Hey, as you get leaner, like it's even more important for you to take photos every single week because you're going to see greater reflections in the photos and the measurements than you will on the scale, especially the more petite they are. I have a couple of clients who are like five foot tall and I'm like, listen, the scale is not going to move crazy dramatically for you. You don't have a ton of body fat to lose and you're short. So

34:49you're not going to really see a huge change with the scale. So don't get frustrated if it's like half a pound each week, that's totally okay. Like let's take photos. Cause that's, what's going to show the biggest difference for you. So yeah, I agree with that completely. Yeah. Love that. All right. So let's get on topic of macros. Yes. My favorite thing to talk about. Hey guys, real quick. If you're interested in taking your body to the next level, lose body fat, build more muscle, feel more confident. Do it alongside one of our 30 plus professional coaches work one-on-one with her to

35:21eliminate all of the guesswork that you may have. And all you need to do is just do the work that she tells you to do to get to those goals of yours. And to learn more, click the link below this podcast and apply to our VIP program right now. Yes. So why macros? Um, I think because I'm a big believer in data and numbers don't lie. I mean, yes, there's variables within the macros, um, and food choice. And like some people respond differently to different foods, but at the end of the day, if you, you cannot manage what you don't measure. And when you are trying to, let's say intuitively

35:58eat, which I feel like social media has taken the concept of intuitive eating as a whole and turned it into something that it's not, which is like an allowance to eat whatever the fuck you want. I completely agree. Cause there's women that come in and they're like, I want to learn how to intuitive eat. I'm like, do you know what you're eating? Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Intuitive eating comes from years and years and years of tracking. I feel when you know what is in the food you eat completely. Like Nikki, I'll bet that, you know, off the top of your head, what the macros are, two tablespoons of peanut butter. Hell yeah. So leave it. I believe, you know, a hundred grams of

36:32rice. I believe, you know, four ounces of chicken. Like you have all that shit memorized. I know my quick oats of oatmeal. How much is literally in a bowl? Literally always. And when you, and when you start like weighing things out and you're used to seeing a certain amount of food on your plate, it's easier for you to get the right amount when you're not weighing it. Yeah, dude. I love what you brought up though with the peanut butter, because I remember watching your story and I was like, Oh my God, this is spot on how you, people will just take a spoonful of peanut butter and delete it. But yeah, what an actuality of the two tablespoons really looks like in the

37:08measurement that's you're supposed to have for one serving. It's depressing. Like how small two tablespoons actually is. How much is in two tablespoons. But here's the deal. People, and I know people, like I tell all my clients, I'm like, I know all the shit you do because I do the same shit. And I have done all of it. Like every time you tell me it's your period again, when your check-in is due and I'm like, Oh, it's your period again. You know, I'm not a guy. Like I know that happens once in a while. Like are you still on it? The same thing with the peanut butter. I'm like, you'll weigh out your two tablespoons. And then before you put the jar back, you got to like

37:40clean the outer edge of it. And then you got to like just one tiny little bite that doesn't matter. Like that shit adds up. Like all those little extra bites add up. But yeah, like it to like a dry, but just put it underneath the water, you know, put it underneath the water and wash it off. Like don't look it dry. You don't even look it dry. For sure. Absolutely. It's like you can get a whole extra tablespoon out of that. That's eight additional grams of fat, which doesn't seem like a big deal. But when you're going back into the jar multiple times per day, like, well, eight times. I've been 72. Am I doing quick math like that? Look at me. That actually might be. I am not that great at times tables when the numbers get too high, but

38:12extra hundred calories right there. Almost. Yes, exactly. And people will be like, Oh, it's only a hundred calories. But man, the line between being in a healthy deficit and maintenance is finer than people think. A hundred percent. Yes. That's where like all clients get super. It's so funny. We just did a zoom on this last night as well. Was it Tuesday? Yeah. It was a zoom last night. Um, ways you might be self-sabotaging yourself and when to know when this, when the calories actually do need to go down. And that was one of the things we have like five questions, um, for clients to ask themselves, you know, one, are you actually

38:45logging everything you eat? Like condiments, drinks, like everything you eat. Are you logging all of it? Who are you weighing it out? Because if you're just eyeballing your portions, like you don't really get the luxury of eyeballing your portions on every food, especially high fat foods until you've hit your goal and you're maintaining. And until you've been doing this long enough to really be able to accurately eyeball a measurement, because I tell my clients like, just have a handful of nuts as a snack. Okay. Well that could be the difference between a hundred calories of nuts and 500 calories

39:15of nuts. Yeah. Pretty big discrepancy. A hundred percent. How depressing is it to think that you can be following your diet to a T to a T to a T and it could be the cashews that are preventing you from losing fat. Cause you just have one too many cashews each day. It doesn't take a lot of cashews. A hundred percent. Yeah. I love that. Love that you're, you're speaking to that. Cause it could literally just be that a hundred calorie difference that you may be licking off or extra bites or, you know, taking the, taking the stuff from your kids' plates, finishing it off,

39:48just throwing it away. That shit adds up. The BLT, bite licks and tastes. Bite licks and tastes. That's hilarious. I've never heard that, but it could be. And that's what's, what's really stressful about that. Like as a coach is when you know that that's, what's the case and what's preventing them from being able to like hit their goal. But they think the answer is to drop their calories to like 1200. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just keep them where they're at and with everything. That's all I need you to do. You really shouldn't feel like you're dieting when you're in a healthy

40:20deficit. I tell them you're going to be a little hungry when your metabolism starts to pick up, you shouldn't be starving. And they're like, this is actually really easy. I'm like, yeah. Did I love that? You just said that. I'm like, yes, you will be a little hungry, but like, unless you don't feel like you're going to gnaw your hand off your chill. Like, you know, like if you're feeling, I get excited. And when I started, I'm like, Ooh, my metabolism is picking up. I'm starting to get a little hungry. Yes. I love that. I love that feeling. Same. Like the shit's working. Same. So, okay. Macros. So what can macros do for somebody? If they've, you know,

40:55of all the, even though we just talked about that a little bit, but like, I say macros is a diet. It's not a diet. It's something that will serve you for the rest of your life. I say it will set you free. That's what I always tell people. I'm like, macros will literally set you free. It will set you free. It'll set you free because yes, 90% of your food choices should come from whole foods. And honestly, lately cats and I have been saying, let's stop calling it whole foods. Let's call it food and fake food because we have this habit of calling it food and whole foods. And it's like, no, no, it was just food and fake food. So you should 90% of your calories should be coming from food.

41:29Only 10% from like the bullshit, like process, you know, quick, like pretzel fins, things like that. However, when you have a day where you want to go off to dinner with your spouse and you have that meal coming up, you can manipulate those numbers a little bit to your advantage where like what I'll do is I reserve most of my carbs and fats for dinner. I don't, I personally, I don't actually log that meal. Like I will, if I'm like really like seriously in a cut or in a challenge, like right now we're in a 30 day challenge and my partner and I are both doing it with our challengers. So like I do, I'm logging every single thing, but on an ordinary basis, if it's like a

42:03casual cut or if I'm maintaining, like I don't, I don't really measure that meal personally. I think most people should, if they're learning to track, if you're inactive, like a deficit right now, you're trying to cut. Um, but we'll get to a point where similar to myself and I'm sure Nikki, like you can, you, if you make the right choices and you prepare yourself in the day, like I'll have mostly protein leading into that meal. Like I'll have carbs before and after my workout. I'll have my normal breakfast of oats and eggs after I train. I prefer training fasted, but I'll have, you know, some fruit on the way to the gym, um, on a day like this, I'll have my

42:36normal breakfast afterwards. My next two meals might be just chicken and vegetables or beef and vegetables, um, or yogurt and some, you know, carrots or something. And then I just reserve most of my carbs and fats for dinner. So like, I think you can do some manipulation once you have been tracking consistently enough and you've been eating consistently enough for a period of time to like have a baseline set and you like are used to that lifestyle. You can do some manipulation, which like sets you free where you fit in things that you wouldn't have all the time. And you're

43:07like, you know what? Tonight, instead of potatoes at dinner, I kind of want to have Cheez-Its as my carbs. So I'm going to track my Cheez-Its instead, but I'll still have chicken in my, you know, a salad kit and then I'll have a little bowl of Cheez-Its or some popcorn or something. So it's like, let's get that. What is this saying? Have your cake and eat it too. But this is one of those things I often hesitate to tell people on social media or out of the gate. Cause I never, it's like you give people an inch, they'll take a mile. I never want someone to be like, well, I can do that every single day. I'm just going to eat Twinkies and track it. Cause Paula said I can't. I was like,

43:37no, you, you still need to eat healthy foods, quality food. Yeah. Quality food. Like the majority of the time, but you can still work in things that you like. Yeah, dude. Like 80%, 90% quality food. Have, I have dull chocolate every night. I four, two to four pieces of whatever fits in my macros. I'm going to cut every night. Cause it just curves my, it just, it gives me that sweet tooth, curves my cravings and I'm solid. I have a question for you actually. Do you have periods of time where you track and periods where you don't? A hundred percent. No. Are you in my brain? Cause I was

44:10going to ask you that question. No, for real. Cause I know a lot of people wonder that like a lot of people have, I have the same question for you too. It's like, and yes, I do. There's a period of time where the last like eight weeks, six, eight weeks I've been tracking. Cause I have travel coming out. My birthday is tomorrow. So like, I want to feel good. Thanks. So I want to, I want to feel good leading into it. Like I want to, yeah, all that jazz. So I will put myself into a deficit and I

44:41track like I down to the team and I have to, because when you're in the cut, you can't just, again, a little bit over. If I didn't measure something could be putting me back into my maintenance calories where I don't want to be. So I really pay attention when I'm in a cup, but then majority of my time now throughout the whole year is living in maintenance where I'm a little bit more lenient with it. Right. And I'm the exact same. So if I'm a period where if I want to try to put on a little bit of muscle or I want to cut either of those, that's when I

45:14track. Like I tell people this, when I'm actively pursuing a goal, a progression with my own fitness, that's when I track. But if I'm just living life, I'm not tracking. However, the way that we eat doesn't change. Exactly. The foods I eat, I tell people this, the foods I eat don't change, whether I'm losing weight, gaining weight or maintaining weight. It never changes. I always eat the same things. Always. Exactly. It's not like, oh, I'm not going to track doesn't mean I'm going to go and get like five guys every freaking day and like have ice cream like, you know, for lunch every day. I used to do that. Yeah, sure. But I used to live like that. Well, see, like back in my 20s,

45:49when I struggled, that's why I struggled so heavily. Because it was like I was either dieting and I was all or nothing. I was either dieting and following this meal plan. And this is before I knew anything about macros. And before I knew that I could actually fit those foods into my plan, I just had the belief that I literally could never eat any of those things ever. I had a coach one time, who and I had probably six or seven coaches throughout a 12 year period. Part of it was I just wanted to learn from different people like, Oh, I want to learn what this person knows. I want to learn what this person knows. I would choose a coach based on like it was a powerlifting coach.

46:21I've had a CrossFit coach. I've done so many different styles of training and dieting because I wanted to gain my own experience and see how they coached. But I remember I had a coach when I've had good coaches and bad coaches. I had a guy one time I texted and I was like, Hey, can I put goat cheese on my salad? And he was like, not if you want to get lean. So like it just perpetuated the belief that I can't have goat cheese if I want to get lean. Damn, like how am I supposed to live life? And I remember it was being depressed and like, I can't eat anything outside of my roommate at the time. She's like one of my best friends. She called it a Paula. She called it at the time

46:55the Paula five food groups is like 10 years ago. I ate like egg whites. She's like the Paula food groups, egg whites, whole eggs, chicken, broccoli, sweet potatoes. That's like all I ate. And I'm like, this is what I have to eat. So I was either doing that diligently, which I psychologically, I could only stick to it for like what 10 to 12 weeks. And then I mentally break and then I'll binge. I got to a point Nikki, I haven't talked about this a ton on social media. And it's not

47:25something I am embarrassed to talk about by any means. But I used to binge and purge. I would say there was a couple a couple year timeframe where I started getting into the purging thing. And that's like, that's like paired with like depression and like a few other things I had going on that my therapist and I have worked through. And again, I don't mind sharing this because I feel people need to hear authorities in this space. People need to hear authorities bring it up so that they know that they that's okay. If you're struggling with that, like don't hide it. Go talk to a therapist. I assure you, you are the worst that they've ever heard. So like, don't be afraid to do that. And like,

47:58I'm a huge believer in therapy. I'm a huge believer in it. And it helped me it helped me overcome all those things. But I can relate to that that belief that like, okay, if I ever eat these foods, I'm just gonna it's gonna keep me fat. And like, I'm not going to be able to ever get lean. So like, when you have you could you it's like a perfect storm when you pair restricting yourself with calories and food choice for a very long period of time, only eating five foods or only 1200 calories, this conscious prep diet is that deep, right? And then when you break, it's like you have this

48:30primal urge to consume as many carbs and fats as possible. Because like, and I remember reading this in Atomic Habits, he's like, the human brain hasn't changed in the last 50,000 years. 50,000 years ago, people were struggling to survive. And they didn't have an abundance of carbs and fats every day like we do now. Whenever you had that in front of you, you wanted to eat as much as you could you had to that's why the body has adapted by being able to store carbs in the muscle to store fat on our body. So that would take us through periods of not having food survival, which we don't have that anymore,

49:06like we have food in abundance, which so we still have that primal urge to do that. So if you have been restricting yourself for a long time, and you break mentally, which you will at some point in time, you're going to binge that's that like happens to every person. Now you throw in the factor that there are food scientists whose literal jobs are to figure out the best combination of sweet and salty, the best combination of crunchy and gooey, all of the best combinations of the most palatable foods to make it as addictive as humanly possible. So that paired with the primal urge to eat as much as you can

49:41in one sitting, they are trying to make it addictive, you have food in abundance every day, no water, it's so hard for people to change their lifestyle. Damn, nothing about our life is conducive. Nothing about the modern society is conducive to being healthy. It is conducive to laziness. Everything's delivered to us. Now, everything allows us to stay inside of our home, you can have every meal delivered, you can have groceries delivered, which I do take advantage of grocery delivery, don't get me wrong. So I'm not trying to demonize these services and say I don't

50:11use them. However, it does make it very easy to have a very chaotic life. It does. You have I have clients, I would say 60% of my clients work from home, and they struggle way more than the people who go to an office. Because you have people working from home spending all of their time in their house. Think about how natural unnatural I if you don't mind if I talk about this real briefly, because I think this is so important. No, I love it. Think about how unnatural that is for humans to be in isolation indoors all the time with your spouse. Now think back again, 50,000 years ago,

50:48not even that long, you could give it a few hundred years, we were living communally, small villages, small towns, they say it takes a village to raise a child. Women all spend time with the women during the day. And then at night, you spend time with your husband and went out and hunted, they went out and took care of things. Now you got both spouses working from home. You are inside all day long, you never get exposure to the sun. So your circadian rhythm is off, you have shitty sleeping habits, you throw alcohol into the mix every single day, you have everything delivered to you, you have no social life, because our social life for most adults comes from our work environment. So

51:23if you're working from home, yeah, you see people on zoom calls, but that doesn't take the place of being social. So then your social life becomes eating and drinking out with your friends. So that is your social life, which again, is unhealthy. And then all the foods more addictive every time you go out to eat. Even if you go to a healthier restaurant, you get a protein based entree, it's for sure cooked in oil. And it's not going to be the best, it's not going to be the healthiest. So you're, you're spending all this extra money on that. So it's like everything in modern society and our existence is conducive to being overweight, and being unhealthy and being depressed.

51:58What's that like percentage in like years to come? Where's obesity is just going to get worse? It's terrifying, isn't it? I actually appreciate the communication. You're laying it out in a very like, very easily understood manner, for sure. Thanks. I appreciate that. Yeah. Well, I think people just need to understand, I truly believe that what I teach people to do is to live normally. Because I don't limit my discussions with clients to just nutrition and training. We talk about everything. Because if I, if you when you work from home, just to circle back to

52:29that real quick, they don't have any structure. We've always had structure imposed on us since childhood. And they say children need structure, they need structure. You've heard that, right? Like kids need structure. Okay, well, that doesn't magically disappear. More adults, adults need structure to for our mental health, like our hormone production is on a clock, everything needs structure. So you work from home, you can start your day when you want, as long as you get your work done, you can live your day the way you want to according to your plan. But no one's taught how to manage themselves. No, like no, we don't, we don't have a class in

53:01college on how to manage your structure of your day. You have your parents, then your teachers, then your professors, then your, your boss at your internship, then your boss at your job, and then COVID hits and you work from home. What the fuck do you do now? You sleep in until you have to answer emails or until your first zoom call. And you look like shit while you're doing it, because you're like, well, no one's going to see me. So I'm going to keep my camera off and I'm going to not dress well. And you're going to sit on the couch. And guess what happens when you wear loose clothes every single day? You don't notice when you gain weight. I, I realized that when I was personal training, I'm wearing leggings every single day. It's back in my twenties.

53:34And I didn't notice when I was gaining weight and talk about jeans on. And then my jeans wouldn't fit. And I was like, Oh no, Oh no, I'm gaining weight. I didn't realize it. And to that point with the gaining weight, you don't realize it, but also with anxiety and depression, people being stuck in a house and not seeing sun for like Uberman talks about this stuff, you know, getting, losing out with the sun, Gary Brecca with 10 X health talks about this stuff, which is just, it's so true. It's like, you don't see a light. So your circadian rhythm is messed up. But then at the same time, anxiety and depression, you wonder why, like, you know, with everything

54:04that everyone's been through, why it's just getting worse. So on top. Yeah. Everyone has ADHD at this point. I was, I want to say six months ago, because I've, I've always had depression on and off since I was a teenager. I have a family history of mental illness. So I kind of already knew that I had that gene. Um, so it never really bothered me to me. I view it no differently than having like an issue with my liver. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, I wanted to figure out a holistic way to like help myself from with my brain. Um, and I live life in as healthy manner as I can. I'm like, I still have these like anxiety and

54:36depression. So like I recently started taking Lexapro. Um, and I don't know if you're familiar with what it does. SSRI, it helps produce more serotonin. So it helps your body, um, have a level production of serotonin. So like it corrects some of those issues and it's been a godsend for me, but I feel like because of our lifestyle, because of our screens, because of being inside, because of social media, everyone's developing some form of depression and ADHD. Yeah. So I think this would be a cool thing to switch over to talking about, cause I see you up morning in the morning at like four 30, your morning routine. What? Yeah. Well,

55:09share what your morning routine looks like. Cause I'm sure you've got a kind of optimal for you, which is important. Yeah. For especially overall, I love that we're talking over overall health. So it's not just, you know, about body composition. It's more of the lifestyle. It's more of living a healthy long longevity, like future. So absolutely it is. It really, the evolution of, of my like coaching philosophy. Yes. I help people with body composition. I got plenty of clients. I have serious training clients, but I still have this discussion with them as well. Like,

55:42what does your morning routine look like? What do you wake up at the same time every day? Like, you don't have to wake up at four o'clock in the morning if you don't want to do that. But the reason I do is because I don't like waking up and starting my day with calls. Like I love my clients. I love having these calls. I do zoom calls multiple times throughout the day. It's, I look forward to them, but I want to have four hours to myself in the morning to be me. And for me, that's where like, I will, if I, if I have a perfect morning routine, cause I don't do that every single day. I have non-negotiables where I train in the morning,

56:13but if I have a perfect morning routine, I will train. I'll read my 10 pages. I will pray and meditate. To me, those are kind of like one of the same. So like, I'll talk to God, I'll do my meditation and I'll get ready for the day. And I'll go to the office typically, like I'm working from home today cause I wanted to have a quiet environment for our podcast. Um, but I'll go to the office because I know that having the transition from home to work is very important for my mental health. And then I'll come home again, um, when the work day is done. So like my, I'm a big believer in like the format of my day and the structure. And anytime that

56:46structure is thrown off, that is when like, it can make other things, um, go in disarray as well. So I have what I refer to as like cornerstone habits. And I'll explain to people the cornerstone of an archway is the stone that holds it together. It's the one on the top, right? So I got this concept from not atomic habits. The one that he references in that book is called the power of habit. I forget the name of the author, but it's the power of habits, a yellow book. Charles do it, right? Charles do it. I almost said that. I literally, it was in my mind, but I'm like, that's not it.

57:22I almost said that he, he's, he talked about cornerstone habits and it's like the one thing that kind of impacts everything else. And it creates this cascade effect. And I have learned that if I do not train in the morning, my day is not going to go. It'll be a fine day surely, but it's not going to be exactly like what I want it to be. If that makes sense. Like I just won't feel right. Like I've tried training in the afternoon. I want to train at night. I can't, if I have to, I will, but I hate training at night. I absolutely hate training in the evening

57:53after like noon, the likelihood goes downhill for sure. But like, yeah, that's, yeah, that's your, your signature. Yeah. Yeah. I would rather, I would rather train like on the stomach first thing in the morning, listen to my music. Like I have like these rituals that I have and like, I can get a little woo woo with this, but like I condition myself to do things when I want to do things, if that makes sense. So like, I have little rituals that like, if I perform the ritual, the action will occur. So like in the morning, like I have a little ritual of like, I make my

58:26coffee, I put my collagen in, I listen to like this one playlist I have that I listened to over, over and over that like triggers me to get in the mood to train and I go to the gym. Nice. Same thing every day. Nice. Love that. And that just sets you prime for the rest of your day. Totally love that. Um, well we're coming up on almost this, we could keep going. I know we totally could keep going. Um, but I love all the things we discussed and we're probably going to do like a part two and in months to come, which I would love to bring you back on. Yeah. Some more

58:59questions I would love to ask. Um, but for sake of time, I think all of these conversations were really good and I appreciate you being here on the show. Hey, thanks for having me on. All great topics. I know the audience is really going to appreciate it. If you guys want to go follow Paula, you guys can check out all of our handles below and we'll definitely bring you back on the show. That was a lot of fun. Thanks. Yeah. This is so much fun. I appreciate it. So thank you for being here, Paula. I appreciate you so much. Real quick. The only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more

59:29women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate review and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review, it will take you 10 seconds and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

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