Balancing Macros: A Deep Dive into Protein, Carbs, and Fats for Body Composition

00:00Real quick, if you want to learn more about macronutrients and understand that methodology on how they can help you achieve your body composition goals of changing the way your body looks, I put together a free 15-minute training where I dive into macronutrients and how you can control your body for the rest of your life with them. That link is in the description below. Click on it after listening to the show today. Macronutrients are the main nutrients that our bodies require in larger amounts.

00:30Yo, yo, yo. What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkie Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I'm your host, Nikkie Stott, and welcome to episode number 86, where we're going to talk about balancing macronutrients.

01:00And I'm going to deep dive into the science behind protein, carbs, and fat metabolism for the overarching goal of you changing your body composition. So we're going to get a little bit science-y like I did in the previous podcast, but I am going to try and talk to you with these terms I'm going to share with you in layman terms so you understand what I am providing you in terms of knowledge. And then most importantly, you can take this information and you can apply it for yourself.

01:31Because if I talk about it in Science Matters, at a science level with terminology that you don't understand, you're going to become a deer in headlights, right? So my goal for this podcast, like I did in the previous podcast, is to bring science to you guys, methodologies to you guys. But I'm going to speak to it in a way that you will all understand, okay? So we're going to break it down into chunks with this podcast. First, we're going to just talk about a brief overview of macronutrients. Then I'm going to dive into the nutritional energy values behind these macronutrients. And then we're going to speak to protein metabolism, carb metabolism, fat metabolism, and then we're going to close out the podcast, okay?

02:08So that's what you can expect from this podcast today, you guys. And my overarching goal, second to you guys understanding this, is that you also just understand how important nutrition is for the overall goal of you changing your body composition. And my argument is that you need all three of these macronutrients, okay? You can't, you know, just have one and then the other and then eliminate one of them. While it may work for a short period of time, it is not sustainable for the long term.

02:39And you guys all know that I preach to long term sustainability and longevity of having an overall, sure, you getting to the results you want with your body composition, but also the overall health of you being able to maintain your body composition through your life, okay? So let's first talk about an overview of macronutrients. Macronutrients are the main nutrients that our bodies require in larger amounts. They include carbohydrates, they include protein, they include fats, and they are primarily responsible.

03:11All three of those are primarily responsible for providing your body energy that it needs. Second to also getting the results that you want. And you have to eat enough of these macronutrients and in good quality from foods in order to create really solid energy and in order to feel the results that you want. Now, bringing it down, the second thing that I want to speak to you guys with, which is nutritional energy values that come from each of them, protein and carbs, they both provide about four calories per gram of the makeup, right?

03:49So when you look at a nutritional label on a box and it says that there's 35 grams of carbohydrates, well, four calories per gram make up the overall calorie of the coming from those carbohydrates, right? So you would just take 35 times four and that would be the overall makeup of calories coming from carbohydrates. Fats, these guys provide nine calories per gram, which is more than twice the energy provided by proteins or carbohydrates.

04:24And then same thing, right? If there's like 10 grams of fat on the nutritional label, then you would times that by nine and that makes up the overall calorie number coming from fats in that specific meal. Then this is the thing with alcohol. This is not a macronutrient, but it's worth mentioning, right? So alcohol provides about seven calories per gram. And this is where like I've talked about this on social media. There's a really trending reel of mine that has popped off where I talk about the truly cans and you know how a lot of these alcoholic beverages have two grams of carbs.

05:01Yeah, they're not people are forgetting the fact that there's 100 calories right inside of a can of truly but to if you just like the math that I just said, if you have two grams of carbs, it means that there's only 14 calories in the entire can, which is false, because there's 100 calories. Well, the other makeup is also coming from which isn't on a macronutrient label is which isn't on a nutritional label is the alcohol and that has about seven calories per gram. Okay, so take that into consideration, you guys, when you're drinking alcohol and like it says this, but it says this on a nutritional label.

05:36It's just not clearly laid out for you guys to understand. Why? I have no idea. Understanding these caloric values, you guys, is so essential for anyone, you know, looking to manipulate their body composition. And it just helps individuals allocate their calorie intake based off their specific goals, whether that be building muscle, whether that be fat loss, right? If your overall calorie goal, or you know, which is 1800, we'll just use as an example. And then you have the macronutrient makeup of that 1800, which should evenly be distributed towards whatever your goal may be.

06:09Or if you haven't, you may be eating a little bit more, you're trying to build more muscle, right? Or maintaining X, Y, and Z, the overall calorie number would be what you're focusing on. But macronutrients that make up that is the most important thing when it comes to overall body composition and getting the results that you want. Okay, now let's dive into talking about protein metabolism. And this one is just so important, you guys. So I'm going to break it down into two of the things that come back behind protein metabolism. I'm going to break it down to three things of which the body uses protein.

06:41And then I'm going to just debunk a myth that has just been heavily weighed on in the fitness industry that is just not true. I mean, it has some truth to it. But, you know, a lot of the people I'm speaking to right now are healthy individuals. So I'm going to just debunk it in relation to healthy individuals. So protein metabolism. First and foremost, protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs and fats, meaning that the body uses more energy to digest and absorb proteins compared to the other macronutrients.

07:12This can be extremely, and I've talked about this in previous podcasts where I highlighted how important protein is. And this can be very beneficial for fat management, weight management. And consuming more protein can actually boost your metabolism and increase the number of calories burned. Like right there should be the reason why you guys are all consuming more protein. I mean, that should be a huge selling factor to protein, right? You boost the metabolism by eating more protein because of a thermic effect that it has. And it increases the number of calories burned. Like no brainer, right?

07:42And then another thing is that the proteins have essential amino acids. So these amino acids are the building blocks of protein. And of the 20 amino acids, nine are considered essential because the body cannot produce them on its own. So when you're consuming protein, you're consuming enough EAAs, which is critical for muscle growth and repair. So if you're not, which is a big thing in the fitness industry and fitness space and women trying to, you know, get the results that they want, they're not eating enough protein.

08:14And if you're not eating enough protein, you're not getting the benefits of these EAAs, which is so important when you want to have the, you know, toned body and you're working out and you're doing strength training because they play a critical role in that. When you're in the gym, you're breaking down the muscle fibers and they play a critical role in that muscle growth and the repair after that workout. Those are two big things, you guys. So just having and making sure that you're having, you're eating protein, consuming protein. Three of the things that goes on inside of your body when you eat these proteins, second to what I just said, is that when you eat the protein, your body breaks it down to small parts, which I just mentioned amino acids.

08:50And the body either uses these amino acids to build and repair things like muscles or to get energy. But most importantly, what I want to say here right now, which is going to lead me into the myth that I have to debunk, is that some of these amino acids that aren't being used become waste, which gets turned into something called urea, and that is removed from the body when you go to the bathroom, when you pee. It's extruded through the kidneys. This is the thing that has been predominant in the fitness space, is that if you eat too much protein, it can cause kidney damage.

09:24And I just want to debunk the shit out of that, because it is half what true and more entirely false. Okay, so first and foremost, the origin of this myth came from existing kidney diseases, right? So it's true that people with existing kidney diseases are often advised by their doctor to limit their protein intake. That is completely true. And that is because their kidneys may already have trouble filtering out the waste products from this whole protein metabolism that I'm talking about. And so for these guys, it can actually harm the kidneys, but for majority of women that I'm speaking to, majority of you guys I'm speaking to, you guys are healthy individuals, right?

10:04So the science and research behind this is that healthy individuals, a vast majority of studies on these individuals with healthy kidneys show that protein intake does not have detrimental effects on kidney function. The kidneys are incredibly adaptable and capable organs. And based off of what I'm going to talk about right now, which is increased filtration rate, where when you eat more protein, it causes the kidneys to filter more blood per minute, which this is known as GFR. And some people have interpreted this, that the kidneys need to work harder and thus thought that it might lead to actual potential damage.

10:41However, with this increased GFR in response to protein, it is a normal adaptive mechanism and it doesn't indicate kidney damage or affect the kidneys at all. And so being what I just said, how the kidneys are incredibly adaptable and capable organs and with the increased filtration rate from a high protein diet, this makes it the organ just fully capable and of making it a functional capacity to be able to filtrate out kidneys, right?

11:13So if you're working out, if you're very active, if you're incorporating this type of exercise and all of these things into your routine, your body is moving and pumping blood through all of the organs necessary and that being one of them, which is a kidney. And it's going to filter out from your body in a normal and totally capable way. Okay, so I just want to debunk that entirely and also speak to long term studies that have been done that evaluate the long term effects of high protein intake and healthy individuals.

11:50And it is also not shown a clear connection between protein consumption and kidney damage. Okay, so in layman terms, they're not correlated. There's been studies done that what people say with kidney damage and with protein consumption, with high protein consumption, there's been studies shown that this is not connected. Okay, so just want to debunk that myth entirely with you guys. Done. Dusted. All right, so that's everything when it comes to protein metabolism. Hey, guys, love so much that you guys are listening to this podcast.

12:21If you ever want to have the video version of this, which usually has more effects and all that good stuff for those of you who are visual learners, check it out YouTube channel warrior babe, if that's what you like either way, keep enjoying the show. Now I want to break down carbohydrate metabolism and the next fat metabolism. So carbohydrate metabolism, carbohydrates, carbs come from foods like bread, pasta, all the sugary stuff, right? And they're broken down into simple sugar called glucose. And then the body, this glucose is like fuel for the body.

12:55It's sent around in your blood and it provides energy to your cells and especially and foremost your brain. And then if you have more glucose than you need right away, the body stores it for later in the liver and in your muscles. So think of this in a term of analogy as a keeping some fuel in reserve. And then when your body needs this fuel, when it needs this energy, that stored glucose is brought back out of the liver from your muscles to provide you energy.

13:26Okay, so that's really in layman terms how carbohydrates get metabolized throughout the body. But most importantly, they're so important for overall energy function throughout your body. And most important for the energy function of your brain. Your brain loves carbohydrates. Your brain fuels off of that energy from carbohydrates. So you guys probably know if you've ever dabbled into diets that restrict or eliminate carbohydrates or you're just eating low carbohydrates, you probably have experienced brain fog.

14:00And that is because the energy that gets all sent around from you metabolizing carbohydrates, it provides energy to your cells and to your brain. And so if you have a limited shortage of that, you're going to experience that type of brain fog that you probably have experienced before if you've dabbled in those things. So it's just really important, like I said at the beginning of the podcast, you can have these specific things in moderation, right? In a balanced way. Overall, arching goal of this podcast today is to speak about balancing macronutrients. You need enough protein, right?

14:30For what I already spoke to, you need carbohydrates and then you need fats, which I'm going to dive into next. But you don't need to eliminate any one of them. They each provide and do a specific thing for your body and also for overall body composition. So you don't want to eliminate one of them. But anyway, end of my rant there. So let's move into fat metabolism. Fat metabolism comes into play when you eat fats, like foods that come from oils, meats, butter, all of the things that have the intake of or on a nutritional level that have fats, right?

15:04And your body breaks them down into smaller parts. Your body breaks them down into smaller parts that being able to be burned as fuel in your cells. So they both carbohydrates and fat provide energy to the body. And so it's been recently noted in the industry that like you just focus on your protein and then you can have your fat and carbohydrates fluctuate, right? While I stand behind that, I also find the importance that people need to make sure that they're consuming enough carbohydrates and enough fats. Because you may experience a lack of calories in ways that your body is going to rebel against you in respect to the activities that you're doing or even the results that you're seeking.

15:40Again, same thing with carbohydrates. If your body has more energy than it needs right now, it will store some of that fat, right? And so it's like saving money in the bank. But think of it in terms of saving energy in the bank. And then when you don't eat that many carbs, like I spoke to, your body can and will over time use and adapt and break into an alternative energy source from fats, which this is called ketones. It takes a minute to get down to this, right? And this has also been spoken to when you're doing the keto diet.

16:12And another reason why I don't see sustainability behind it, because you have to put your body through, man, like days, even weeks to get into a ketone state and then consume a carbohydrate, you break it, right? So speaking to the longevity of that, you don't want to go with carbohydrates for the rest of your life. You don't want to go without them for the rest of your life, right? There's no sustainability to that. And so that's why I think that it's really important to understand how these things work in your body and understand how they're metabolized throughout your body. And let's say you have a day where you're lower on consumption of carbohydrates, you're probably going to feel in your brain with brain fog.

16:49But if you keep that going, your body will search for an alternative energy source and it will tap into. And I can speak to this from experience. When I was bodybuilding, there was a point where my carbs were very, very, very, very, very low. And so after weeks on end, and why I say that, what I previously said to back that up, is after weeks on end, my body tapped into this alternative energy source coming from fat stores, right?

17:19And tapping into that bank of energy that was stored to fuel my body with energy that it needed. And also at that point, my fat stores were very low too, which came to the physique that you have when you step on stage. But overarching with the argument that I'm saying here is that there's no need to eliminate one of those two. You can focus on having enough protein, right? But then also make sure that, you know, you have the intake coming pretty equally, if not, you know, more one or the other coming from fats and carbohydrates.

17:52Now, I'm speaking in broad terms here right now. I don't need anybody coming back to me and being like, Nikki, but we have this and we have that. Those are specific to the goals that you have, right? And we're able to narrow it down based off of your body composition, based off of your lifestyle and all of these things, the type of macronutrients that you should be consuming. But understand this from a broad perspective that this is possible in terms of, you know, body composition and getting the results that you want. But also understanding that these two macronutrients, one shouldn't be, what I'm trying to say, one shouldn't be like if you are afraid of carbohydrates that you eliminate and get only 10% of your carbohydrates and make the next like, you know, 60% coming from fats.

18:34I ain't about that. You want to make sure that it's like, okay, you have your protein intake that's coming in terms of like your body weight and you're getting that in terms of grams per day. And then the other two percentages fluctuate that, you know, fuel your body in an appropriate manner that's, you know, healthy, right? And sustainable, but also going to fill you in the results you are seeking. Overarching, that explains and expresses and also dives into the science of, you know, balancing macros.

19:05Understanding the metabolism behind protein, understanding the metabolism behind carbohydrates, understanding the metabolism behind fats. And especially when it comes to you having the body composition that you want. You need all three of them, okay? And I think my argument was pretty clean throughout that entire podcast. So I hope you guys enjoyed that podcast. I hope that you guys, you know, got a little bit more light bulbs going off in your head on why these macronutrients are so important. And what they're doing inside of your body when you consume them.

19:36And I will see you in the next episode. Peace out, you guys. 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 eliminate 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. Now to learn more, click the link below this podcast and apply to our VIP program right now.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.