How to Stop Extreme Dieting and Find Balance With Macros

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women 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 you to do is 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.

Nikkiey: I'm not somebody that's going to pull out a scale and track my macros at a restaurant or with friends or when I'm with family. I have years of this developed skill that I can look at food and understand this is a carb, this is fat, this is a protein, this is the quantity of each, the quality of each. That's what healthy living is to me. It's not being restrictive or feeling like I need to track all the time or feeling I need to go to extremes and restrict certain foods. I know nutrition well enough to know this is where I'm at for the day, and this is what a good quality piece of food is. And so I'm going to allow myself to have whatever I want, whenever I want, but in balance.

Lindsey: Hello, and welcome to episode 27 of the Nourish and Strengthen podcast. I'm so excited about our guest today, you guys. Nikkiey, you don't know this, but I've had a girl crush on you for so many years. I'm so excited to introduce Nikkiey Stott to you guys. She has an incredible story and is a wealth of knowledge. She is the co-founder of WarriorBabe. She's a certified personal trainer and has a BSN in nursing. She's the host of The WarriorBabe Show, which is an amazing podcast. Welcome to Nourish and Strengthen, Nikkiey.

Nikkiey: Thank you, Lindsey. I appreciate you having me on.

Lindsey: Oh, I'm so excited and so honored. So I just want to dive right in, because you have an incredible story that I don't think I even really realized happened to you until pretty recently. From my story, most of my audience understands there are downsides to getting competition lean. You used to compete, right?

Nikkiey: Yes.

Lindsey: And restrictive dieting, which obviously we don't believe in, and overtraining. But your story actually ended you in the hospital. Tell me more about your story.

Nikkiey: Yeah, I'll go back a little bit and dive into that, and then we can touch on how that even led me to that arena.

Lindsey: Perfect.

Nikkiey: Basically, growing up I was very much into sports: basketball, field hockey, track. And then once that regimen stopped, with schooling and practice and your coach and being held accountable, my early 20s, before 2014, I was really struggling. Post school in your early 20s, drinking and that life. I wanted to be fit and healthy. I wanted to regain that mentality I had while I was playing sports and had a team. But I didn't know where to start. I didn't know how to do it by myself. It was struggle bus city. I hated the way I looked. I always wore baggy clothes. I never wore shorts.

Lindsey: Yeah, I totally resonate with that.

Nikkiey: Totally. Just about my legs. I tried various different diets. I would go to the gym sporadically. I couldn't keep anything consistent enough to give it enough time to give me results.

Lindsey: I think right there is every woman's story, right?

Nikkiey: Totally. And then this is probably a lot of women's story too. In 2015 I made my New Year's resolution, baby. I was like, I'm going to transform my body, I'm going to boost my confidence, this is my year, 2015.

Lindsey: Heck yeah.

Nikkiey: And I was determined to follow through, because I was just fed up with feeling bad about myself. And it was extremely challenging and overwhelming at first, because I tried all of these different methods and advice from the internet. I joke that I didn't know what protein was. I had to Google what protein was and where I could find it and what I was supposed to eat.

Lindsey: That is awesome. So you really came from the beginner of beginners.

Nikkiey: Yeah, I really did. I had no idea. And then this is where I really transitioned, early in 2015, when I stumbled upon Instagram posts of bodybuilders, and their physiques inspired me. I started to dream: if they can do it, then I can do it too. And one day, long story short, this gym manager asked, "Are you going to be competing in a bodybuilding competition?" And I was like, "No, but funny you ask. I've been thinking about this." So this is where I hired a coach. I dedicated myself fully to this plan and immersed myself in training for six months for my first bodybuilding competition, all while in nursing school, taking care of my sick grandmother and working part time at a local ER.

Lindsey: Wow.

Nikkiey: And after months of this hard work, I won the first competition. I turned pro. It just ignited my passion.

Lindsey: Yeah, that's amazing.

Nikkiey: To want to understand more about strength training and nutrition. But the high was totally short-lived, because, as I shared recently with you, in my first month post-show I gained 25 pounds back.

Lindsey: Wait, really quick, back up. So you turned pro after your first national show?

Nikkiey: It was a very small federation, NABBA. I won pro with them, competed with the pros at night and then beat the pros. But it was like three people.

Lindsey: Okay, that's amazing. But you don't need to say that part. No one knows. You could just pretend and no one would know the difference.

Nikkiey: Yeah, exactly. And then I still totally lacked direction, and I quickly gained that weight back. I felt I was heavier than I was when I first started out. I was like, what happened? This is the only way I know how to do this. So I decided to compete again, but I went for a bigger federation, the OCB. They're all natural. And I won. I went pro in that first show. Then I took about two years off, but fell into that cycle again throughout that. It was weight loss, it was weight gain, it was up and down for two years. And then leading into wanting to compete with the pros on the major pro show in 2018, right before that, is where I landed myself in the hospital two times.

Lindsey: Oh, so how did that happen?

Nikkiey: Going into the pro show, my coach was like, we've got to do this better, we've got to show up better, we've got to come in lean, we've got to do all these things. And training went 10x. First of all, I was prepping for about eight months straight.

Lindsey: Wow.

Nikkiey: And then about eight weeks out, my training went from zero to 100. It was, let's train six to seven days a week, three times a day.

Lindsey: Oh my gosh.

Nikkiey: Morning cardio: I had to wake up at 4 a.m. and do cardio first thing for an hour on the StairMaster. Then I had to go back later in the day and do strength training for an hour to an hour and a half, and then do an hour of cardio after that strength training session.

Lindsey: Nikkiey, oh my gosh. Were you just dying?

Nikkiey: I was. It was the lowest point of my life, all to achieve a certain type of physique and to win. And so what happened, amongst all those extremes, I ended up with rhabdo, rhabdomyolysis, where my body couldn't filter out lactic acid enough. It was in my legs and I was walking around like a penguin. All of my blood levels were elevated. It was so uncomfortable. They had to flush me with seven liters of fluid.

Lindsey: So I've heard of rhabdo, I know what it is, and you just talked about that. But what is the symptom that sends you to the hospital for that? What does that feel like?

Nikkiey: Basically, your muscles are so tense, in a flexed state, for 24, 48, maybe even 72 hours, like three days. And you're waddling around like a penguin, at least for me.

Lindsey: Like you have a cramp, kind of, or not?

Nikkiey: No. Think about doing a leg extension, right?

Lindsey: Yeah, that's actually where my mind was.

Nikkiey: Yeah, you're in a flexed state for that entire time.

Lindsey: Oh my gosh.

Nikkiey: And you also start to experience dark urine, because you're so dehydrated and your kidneys can't filter out this lactic acid. And I knew this, right, because of my nursing background. I'm the worst patient. I'm like, I'm sure it'll get better. But you can't physically drink enough water to keep your kidneys filtering it out. You need liter after liter after liter of fluid. So that was hospital visit number one. Hospital visit number two was because my fats were extremely low from dieting for competition. I was eating one tablespoon of olive oil for my fat a day, so 14 grams of fat a day.

Lindsey: Oh my gosh.

Nikkiey: So I ended up in the hospital because I could not poop. I was constipated. My x-ray showed my digestive tract completely backed up along an entire side of my rib cage, and then it was bleeding into the other side.

Lindsey: No way.

Nikkiey: Yeah. And because I worked in the ER, my doctor walked in and said, "Nikkiey, you're full of shit." Literally.

Lindsey: Really?

Nikkiey: No pun intended there. So both of those extremes led me there. And then I finally competed in the pro show. I still did it, even amongst that.

Lindsey: Wow.

Nikkiey: I beat the pros. But my gosh, I was like, peace, I'm done with this lifestyle.

Lindsey: Yeah, seriously. So those are some major extremes. And I feel like even if our listeners didn't compete, they can relate. I have a lot of listeners who just under-eat because they think they're supposed to, and that causes so much stress. That's something I like to talk about. Even if people don't have our story of competing or the extremes you went to, they can still understand the idea of going to extremes and having that backfire. How do you feel your story applies to our everyday listener, the everyday woman?

Nikkiey: The everyday woman isn't eating enough food, first and foremost. You coach women in this arena, and so do I. I hear these stories all of the time: they have digestive problems, they're constipated. That's one of the symptoms I hear. And I'm like, let's pull it back and look at what you're eating on a regular basis. And it's either not consistent or not enough. It's usually totally under in calories, all just because of not knowing how to eat, which is a big struggle. So yeah, it totally resonates. I hear this all of the time.

Lindsey: Totally. So now you're about a lot more balance, and I want to talk about that. You moved from this restrictive low fat. Were you following meal plans at the time? I assume back then?

Nikkiey: It was a diet. Totally. Chicken, broccoli, rice, tilapia, cod. I will never look at tilapia and cod again. There's no way.

Lindsey: Oh my gosh, I'm so with you. I even feel that way about chicken sometimes, which is sad because I like chicken, but sometimes I'm just chickened out, you know? But now you've called yourself the queen of macros, the queen of macronutrients, and I feel like that probably symbolizes the balance you try to find. So why do you feel so passionate about tracking macros versus just calories or meal plans? Why is that so important?

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Nikkiey: There are many reasons, but I'm going to narrow this down to three in particular. First, a personal story, because I'm very, very keen on macros. When I was competing, I asked my coach, what is this macro thing? How can I see people flexible dieting and then stepping on stage and looking incredible? And my coach was just like, no to macros. Guys, if you're watching this, I'm putting a big X up. He was like, nope, can't learn this. And it just caused me to be more curious. Anybody tells me no, I'm like, oh, I've got to go figure this out.

Lindsey: Exactly. Why are you saying no? Or, I'm going to show you that I actually can do this.

Nikkiey: Exactly. So that led me down the world of macros. And once my eyes were opened and I learned the skill set, because it is a skill set. It's not a diet, everybody. It's a skill set that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Nikkiey: The reason I love macros so much is mainly three reasons. One, you can have a huge impact on your body composition. Macronutrients, protein, fats and carbs, directly affect your body composition. You can tailor your nutrition by eating enough protein so you can grow and repair your muscles, eating your carbohydrates for energy, and having fat for hormone production. When you understand what those things do for your body, you can tailor the way you eat on a daily basis, and that's going to optimize how you can change your body composition. A lot of the women I speak to want to build muscle. They want to be toned. But they're following calories. And I'm like, okay, cool. 1800 calories, great. 2000 calories, great. But what is that calorie makeup coming from? It's mainly carbs and fat. So let's dial it in a little deeper, because if you want to change your body composition, you've got to have that protein in there.

Nikkiey: Two, when you're dialing in a balanced nutritional diet with macronutrients, you can prevent and manage health conditions. There are so many women I hear from and support and help who are managing and dealing with a variety of health conditions like diabetes, PCOS, high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, all of those things. If you can balance out your nutrition and eat right for protein, fats and carbs, you can prevent and manage these health conditions.

Nikkiey: And the last one is that it's not just about the body and the way you want to change it. I love macros for changing your body composition, but eating right also has a profound impact on your mental and emotional wellbeing. If you're eating what your body needs, it can improve your mood. It can improve your energy levels. It can improve your cognitive function. It can overall lead to better mental wellbeing. So that's why I love macronutrients.

Lindsey: I love that. And you talk about it being really important as we age, too. Can you touch on that a little bit?

Nikkiey: Hey, I just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you're enjoying it, and there's so much more to come. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons, and it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show.

Nikkiey: A hundred percent. The women I speak to are 45, 55, 65 years old.

Lindsey: Same.

Nikkiey: Okay, cool. After the age of 30, your muscle mass decreases by about 3 to 8% per decade. So what a lot of women experience is they lose their muscle mass as they age. It's just a natural progression that happens with that process. When you're eating enough protein, and high quality protein, it's a vital macronutrient to help you maintain that muscle mass, and importantly, to help you build more strength and functionality with strength training. So by eating the right portions of macronutrients, you can preserve muscle mass and build more if you're doing strength training.

Nikkiey: Another one is weight management. As you age, your metabolism begins to slow down. At the same time, us humans begin to slow down.

Lindsey: True.

Nikkiey: So it's not entirely metabolism's fault. When you're able to balance out carbs, fats and proteins, that's key to maintaining a healthy weight and preventing obesity.

Nikkiey: And like I touched on, when your muscle mass decreases, your bone density decreases. When you're eating the right balance of macronutrients, you're getting adequate protein, you're getting fats to absorb vitamin D, you're getting everything that will help keep your bones strong. On top of that, when you're doing strength training, the muscles are helping to make your bones stronger. That will help prevent osteoporosis, which a lot of women experience later in life. I saw so many people come into the ER when I worked there with broken hips or who had fallen. And you can just look at somebody and think, that person definitely does not work out, that person definitely does not eat right. If people had a little more information about these things, or were more curious about learning nutrition and fitness and applying them... That's how macronutrients are vital for helping women age in a strong way.

Lindsey: I love that. That's so eye-opening and important. So you come from this background of extremes, and now you seem to have found this really healthy balance. I want to know your day-to-day healthy living: your workout, your nutrition. If I were to look into Nikkiey's life, what does healthy living mean to you?

Nikkiey: I love this question, because it's literally half of what I was doing when I started out.

Lindsey: Isn't that so cool, though?

Nikkiey: Yeah, it's literally amazing. I say that less is more. I used to train seven days a week, and those days being in the gym three times a day. Now I'm training maybe three to four times a week with strength training, and I've incorporated a little bit of running for my cardiovascular health. It's literally half of what I used to do. And healthy living to me is finding the balance, going from the extreme to actually living the sustainable, realistic way for myself. I'm not somebody that's going to pull out a scale and track my macros at a restaurant or with friends or when I'm with family. I have years of this developed skill that I can look at food and understand this is a carb, this is fat, this is a protein, this is the quantity of each, the quality of each. I can look at a meal and know. That's what healthy living is to me. It's not being restrictive, or feeling like I need to track all the time, or feeling I need to go to extremes and restrict certain foods. I know nutrition well enough to know this is where I'm at for the day, and this is what a good quality piece of food is. And so I'm going to allow myself to have whatever I want, whenever I want, but in balance. And when it comes to training, it's: what do I love to do? I love to train, and I'm getting into enjoying running again. I can't believe I would ever say that.

Lindsey: And I know we both love to rollerblade.

Nikkiey: Yes, we do. We both love to rollerblade.

Lindsey: That is such a fun activity. That has been my cardio all through the summer. I didn't even start it as cardio. I started because I just wanted to get outside and do something. And then I was like, hey, my heart rate's like 130. This is awesome.

Nikkiey: Totally. Like I said, what do you love to do? It needs to be fun, and then you don't dread it. And also, to piggyback, a lot of people will say strength training is not fun. But can we think about longevity?

Lindsey: Good point. Yes. And sometimes people might think eating a lot of protein is not fun, but sometimes you have to have your conscious brain tell you, well, sometimes we need to do that. It's best for us.

Nikkiey: Exactly. Or people say, oh, strength training is so boring, this exercise is so boring. You've got to do the boring work.

Lindsey: Yes. Well, that's another time when balance is important: balance with having fun and enjoying it, but also doing what's best for you.

Nikkiey: A hundred percent.

Lindsey: Awesome. So I have a fun game we're going to get into in just a minute, but before we get into the more lighthearted stuff, is there any advice you would give yourself back when you were in the extremes, or to our ladies who are under-eating, over-exercising, doing all the HIIT cardio classes? What would you tell them or your past self, based on what you know now?

Nikkiey: The first thing I would tell myself is to prioritize balance over extremes. I think that's really important. To a listener, I would say don't fear food. Don't fear carbs. It's a lot easier said than done. There's so much marketing out there that says carbs are bad and carbs will make you fat. So this would be another thing: get curious. Why are they saying that? Why would carbs make somebody fat? You can dive into the science and understand that carbs turn into glycogen, and glycogen holds onto water. So it's not necessarily fat, it's water weight. Get curious. Always keep learning. Know your truth, not necessarily somebody else's truth or what they're saying.

Nikkiey: And I would say enjoy the journey. Looking back, I love the process I went through. But I was so honed in on the results. I've got to get to this show, I've got to eat this way and train this way because it gave me this result before. Instead, find the joy. Dude, I get to do this. I don't have to do this, I get to do this. My body can do this. I can eat healthy because it's my choice. So enjoy the journey.

Nikkiey: And another one: everybody feels like they're going to be happy once they achieve a result, like they're going to feel body positive once they achieve a result. Dude, just appreciate your body for what it is right now and what it can do, not just how it looks.

Lindsey: I love that.

Nikkiey: That alone will help you step into a different frame of mind around yourself and your journey.

Lindsey: I love that. Those mindset shifts are so important. All right, I want to play overrated, underrated. Do you know how to play?

Nikkiey: Yeah, I understand. Maybe you play it a little differently.

Lindsey: I probably don't play it any differently, but I'm going to say a topic, maybe a buzzword in fitness or on social media, and you're going to tell me if you think it's overrated, properly rated or underrated. Just to be clear, if you think it's overhyped, like people think it's too important, that's overrated. If you think it's more important than most people think, that's underrated. And properly rated is when it's getting the appropriate amount of attention from the mainstream. Does that make sense?

Nikkiey: Yeah, it makes sense. I'm a little dyslexic, so bear with me.

Lindsey: Okay. And we'll talk through each one. We won't do just one-word answers. And guys, I didn't give Nikkiey these beforehand. I'm just throwing them right at her. That's why it's a game.

Nikkiey: Love it.

Lindsey: The first one is cardio for weight loss. Overrated or underrated?

Nikkiey: Overrated.

Lindsey: How come?

Nikkiey: You can do cardio to lose some weight. However, it's not the answer I feel a lot of people want when it comes to the type of appearance they want for their body. With cardio, in the moment, you burn the calories. But when you incorporate strength training for fat loss or weight loss, you burn calories all throughout the day. It's not a one-and-done type of exercise. Your muscles are active tissue. They're always operating, they're always burning. And strength training also helps aid your metabolism. So if you're strength training, it's a double effect. You're going to lose fat and lose weight with that type of activity, and you're going to get the results you want with the physical appearance I think a lot of women want, with more tone. Whereas with cardio, you're just going to become a skinnier, fatter version of yourself. It's going to help you lose weight, but you won't have much tone to your body.

Lindsey: Yep, I totally agree. Maybe I could have said cardio for achieving your optimal body composition, but I completely agree with you. This next one, I'm going to put in quotes. I don't know if my quotes make a difference. Motivation. Overrated or underrated? Just the idea of being motivated, needing to be motivated.

Nikkiey: Overrated.

Lindsey: Talk about that.

Nikkiey: I love that you asked that, because I had Sal Di Stefano on The WarriorBabe Show, and one of the leading questions I asked him was, what do you think is a big fitness myth in the industry right now? And he led with motivation. I was not expecting that. And the way he explained it, I was like, damn, that actually makes so much sense. He said everything out there right now is leading with "you're not motivated enough." All the tactics, all the marketing are saying you need to be more motivated. To me, motivation is an emotion. It ebbs and flows. You're not always going to be motivated. Once that ad gets you to say, yes, I need to be more motivated, great, you're motivated to start. But you're not going to be motivated in four weeks, guaranteed. You're not going to be motivated in three months, guaranteed. So I think it's entirely overrated. You need to be more disciplined rather than motivated. You need to build more habits and become disciplined with those habits rather than trying quick things and quick fixes because you're in a motivated state.

Lindsey: Right. I sometimes talk about, are you motivated to do the laundry? No. Are you motivated to go to work? Maybe you and I are, but most people aren't always motivated to go to work. You go to work because you want to make money. You do the laundry because you want clean clothes. You do it because you have a habit of doing the laundry on the weekend, even though you don't want to. I hate the laundry. Okay, next one. Intermittent fasting. Overrated or underrated?

Nikkiey: I'm going to say overrated, because, in my opinion, what I love to preach is let's not create any type of restriction or limit around the timing of food. Can we just do the basics and learn how to eat? And I would say maybe there's a right time for intermittent fasting for people who need to address health issues. However, that's just for those people. If you are healthy and have the ability to make a change, you don't need to. Just keep the basics in play. Don't restrict yourself. Don't eliminate foods. Don't put time limits around X, Y and Z. So I would lean overrated.

Lindsey: Awesome. I totally agree. Next one: breathwork and meditation. I know you love breathwork.

Nikkiey: This is my jam, man. I think it's underrated. I don't think enough people are really diving into the benefits of what this can do for a fitness journey. There are so many positive components to breathwork and meditation that will support the results you want along your fitness journey. So I think it's entirely underrated.

Lindsey: What do you do for breathwork? I know you've talked about it before, but what's your daily practice, if you have one?

Nikkiey: Every morning I do about 12 to 15 minutes of breathwork exercises. I have a breathwork coach. Her name is Brit Lee. She's amazing. For the first part, it's just normal breathing: coming present to your breath, recognizing that you are breathing and trying to be present in the moment rather than letting your mind spiral into what you have to do for the day. Then we move into a halo active breath, which is open mouth, in and out, in and out, and then into a triactive. Each of these has a designated time period. The halo is two breaths in and one breath out. At the end of the halo and the end of the triactive, you hold your breath, so you can feel your energy. You can feel the stillness around you. You can feel your own power, essentially. And then you let it go, and you sit at the bottom of that release and experience how you want to experience your day.

Lindsey: That is so cool. I love that. Okay, got another one for you. Creatine. Overrated or underrated?

Nikkiey: I would say this is right in the middle. I think it's properly rated, or it's starting to be properly rated. I was actually totally against creatine at the beginning of my journey, because I thought, as a meat eater, you get natural creatine from eating those whole foods. Vegans and plant-based people don't get that, so they need to have it. And then there's been a 360, or is it a 180? I don't know which turn.

Lindsey: A 180. You just changed your mind.

Nikkiey: I changed my mind, which makes a great coach and makes you adaptable to learning. There are so many studies and so many positive things around how creatine can help keep your muscle mass intact and keep you strong throughout aging, especially women who are 45 and older going through menopause. Creatine is great. However, consult your doctor, because if you're not drinking enough water, then there you go. But yeah, I think it's properly rated.

Lindsey: Awesome. I've got a holiday one for you, and I think I know how you're going to answer this. Tracking your macros on the holidays or on vacation.

Nikkiey: Overrated. It's so stupid. Memories over macros, man. Just enjoy, be present, have fun, create new memories. Don't worry about, oh my God, is this a protein, fat or carb? Does this fit into my day? Am I over my grams? Stop. It's literally 3% of your year. So don't let the holidays be something that throws you off track, people. It's literally the smallest amount of time.

Lindsey: I totally agree. But at the same time, don't let the idea of the holidays, Christmas and Thanksgiving, make you go off track for eight weeks, and then in January you're up 10 pounds and kicking yourself.

Nikkiey: Control yourself, control yourself, get right back on track. It's a temporary pause to your routine. It's not a forever change.

Lindsey: Oh, I love that. That's a great way to think about it, a temporary pause. Okay, another one. I've got three more. Well, one of them we already talked about, so we'll do two more. Using the scale to track your progress. Overrated or underrated?

Nikkiey: Overrated. Entirely overrated, for so many reasons. I just did a podcast on this on The WarriorBabe Show, about why the scale may not budge when you start strength training.

Lindsey: Yeah, I saw that.

Nikkiey: One reason is that when you put on more muscle, muscle is more dense than fat. You could literally weigh 150 pounds and be standing next to somebody who weighs 150 pounds, but if you have more muscle mass than that person, your body looks way different. That's because muscle is denser and takes up less space than fat does. Second, when you step on the scale, it's only telling you how heavy you are. It doesn't tell you what you're made up of. It doesn't tell you about the muscle mass you have, your muscle-to-fat ratio, how heavy your bones are, or how much water you're holding onto, which goes to my next point: water retention. You're going to experience that no matter what, and it doesn't mean you're getting fat. When you start strength training and you eat carbohydrates, you have increased glycogen storage so you have power to perform your workouts. When carbohydrates turn to glycogen, that glycogen gets stored in your muscles and your liver and gets used when you perform strength training exercises. And when it's stored, you hold on to three times that amount in water. That's where carbs get a bad rap. People say, I eat carbs and three weeks later I weigh more on the scale. No, dude. There's water with every gram of carbs. It's just water weight. So I hate the scale. Get over it. It doesn't tell you the full story, man.

Lindsey: I love it. Okay, last one for you: eating at maintenance calories. Underrated or overrated?

Nikkiey: Underrated.

Lindsey: Did I give you many overrated? I didn't really give you any underrated. Anyway, talk about maintenance calories.

Nikkiey: I mean the other way around. My rights and my lefts. But yes, underrated. Entirely underrated. Because I say maintenance is magic. You're giving your body the food, the fuel it needs to give you the type of results you want. A lot of women don't associate that your muscles need fuel for energy when you go and do strength training. They don't connect those two yet. Hopefully soon the fitness industry will trend that way. They think they have to eat less in order to get some type of result. But if you're doing strength training and you want fat loss and a more toned physique, you want that body composition to change, you've got to eat more to fuel that process internally. I always say, let's focus on internally making your body happy, and then you will experience a compound effect, the physical change on the outside happening. And a huge component of a successful journey is maintenance calories.

Lindsey: I love that. And something I try to say a lot is that a deficit should be little blips of time, not most of your year. Most of the time should be spent at maintenance. Then if you want to do cuts here and there, fine, as long as you've spent enough time at maintenance. It's like you have to earn it, you know?

Nikkiey: A hundred percent.

Lindsey: Well, Nikkiey, thank you so much. Where can we find you and learn more from you?

Nikkiey: You can check out WarriorBabe.com if you're ever interested in one-on-one training. I hang out on Instagram the most, at Nikkiey Stott. And there's also The WarriorBabe Show on Apple and Spotify.

Lindsey: I love it. Thank you so much. It was so much fun having you here.

Nikkiey: Thank you, Lindsey. I appreciate you having me.

Lindsey: Okay, see you soon.

Nikkiey: Hey guys, real quick. If you're interested in taking your body to the next level, losing body fat, building more muscle and feeling more confident, do it alongside one of our 30-plus professional coaches. Work one-on-one with her to eliminate all of the guesswork you may have. All you need to do is the work she tells you to do to get to those goals of yours. To learn more, click the link below this podcast and apply to our VIP program right now.