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Episode 19939 min

Mastering Your Cut Phase - When to Start, Stop, & Adapt for Success

Listen to episode 199

In this episode Nikkiey Stott breaks down the essentials of doing a successful cut. She will explore how to know when it’s the right time to enter a...

Full transcript

00:00Real 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 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. Just because you can do a cut doesn't mean you should do one. Just because you can, that bracket of people, those three things should eliminate at least half of you guys.

00:34Because bottom line is you should only start a cut when your body is in a healthy place to handle the stress of a calorie deficit. Cutting, being in a cutting phase, that is a tool. It is not a quick fix. Yo, you guys, what is going on? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikki Stott, co-founder of Warrior Babe. 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.

01:12I am your host, Nikki Stott. And welcome, guys, to episode number 199. This is the last episode of season two before we move into season three. And first of all, what a fire topic that I have for you guys today. Second of all, season three is going to start off as a banger. I am so excited for a couple of reasons. This morning, I sat down and thought through some of the topic, concepts, episodes that I want to bring to you guys over the next couple weeks slash months.

01:50And they are fire. Another reason is that season three, the first half of it is going to have some freaking incredible guests that I'm really excited to bring to the podcast and have them share their voice, share their message, share their input. One in particular, I'm super stoked about that one's going to be dropping in December. So stay tuned. So tons of excitement all around.

02:21But going back to this episode today, this is the perfect one to close out season two. And I want to give a shout out to those of you guys on Instagram that filled out the questions box that I put on my Instagram story every once in a while. For whenever I'm in like a slump, like what topics do I bring to the podcast? What should I talk about? You know, I feel like I've talked about everything. But then there's, it's so helpful to put that up there. And if you guys don't follow me, go follow me at Nikki Stott, N-I-K-K-I-E-Y-S-T-O-T-T on Instagram.

02:55Putting those out there and then hearing your guys' input and getting fresh perspectives and like I'm thinking outside of my brain, that helps tremendously. So shout out to you guys. Thank you so much because this episode today is something that you guys asked for me to bring to the table. And I think it's a great one. And why I think it's a great one, and I'll just say that and then you guys can leave it up for your own interpretation as you listen to the entire episode. It's just going to bring you guys tons and tons of value and I hope provide tons and tons of clarity into your understandings of when you are to implement this type of concept into your fitness journey.

03:33All right. So without that, without, wait, what's that saying? Okay. With that being said, there we go. Let's dive into the episode. So today I'm going to talk about that. I feel like many of you guys like are, have asked about in different types of ways, like one being on Instagram, DMs, in the warrior community, if you're inside of it, in our VIP group. Particularly the topic is how to approach a cut the right way.

04:05So, and what we're going to talk about today is like, when should you do a cut? When is it time to end a cut? What are the understandings that you should have when it comes to your body's adaptations during a cut that are actually really important for you to understand, which are critical to your success in a cut? And I'm going to dive into, you know, what the heck is even a cut? Because maybe there's some of you guys are like, a cut? What is a cut? Nikki, what does that even mean? So that's actually what I want to start with first.

04:35The basics. What is a cut? A cut is when you basically reduce your caloric intake to create a calorie deficit. And I think that's why, oh, another side note, like it's really important to know how many calories you're consuming in a day so that you can approach the cut the right way. The most strategic way, in my opinion. Because if you don't approach it strategically, you could end up doing more harm than good. So with that being said, you're reducing your calorie intake from calories that you've been consuming consistently for weeks, months on end.

05:13And then you're creating a calorie deficit. And so when you do that, what that internally does to your body is it encourages your body to burn stored body fat for energy. Okay? So again, a cut is when you are reducing your calorie intake to create a calorie deficit. So then at that point, your body is in, it's basically being in a state of, okay, well, she's slashing food, which I usually get for energy to be able to, you know, function, thrive throughout the day.

05:46But we're cutting and I'm not getting as much food. So I need to tap into other areas of my body to give myself that energy. Make sense? And the goal in a cut is to lose body fat while maintaining as much lean muscle as possible. So here's the thing, you guys, because that goal is drastically different than a weight loss goal or wanting to lose weight. Okay? You preserving as much muscle as possible while decreasing the body fat around it is fat loss.

06:25I've talked about this concept in a couple of episodes prior to this one. What's the difference between weight loss and fat loss? Those are the titles of the episodes. Go listen to it if you haven't yet because I'll dive into a little bit more about that. But for today's podcast, it's all about cutting. But you need to understand what that means. Because you're losing, in short, you're losing, like, when you lose weight, you're losing everything. And that includes muscle. When you are losing fat, you're preserving the lean muscle mass while decreasing the body fat around it, which essentially makes you toned, quote unquote.

06:55Because you're just showing more defined muscle that you have. But here's the thing. And the thing that I really want you guys to understand is that just because you can do a cut, the whole world can do a cut. Everybody and their mother can do a cut. It doesn't mean that you should do one. It doesn't mean everybody and their mother should do one. Just because you can do one doesn't mean you should do one. And I think timing is so freaking important. And so the first thing that I want to dive into talking to you guys today about is when to do a cut.

07:26But there's a few signs that indicate whether it's a good time for you to start a cut or not. Okay? And this, with me running through some of these things of when to start a cut, it's going to eliminate all the people that think they can do one. When they, doesn't mean that they should. Okay? And it should eliminate. Maybe this is you, where you should, you can do one, but you shouldn't do one. So number one, when to start a cut is when you have a solid foundation of muscle.

07:57So before even considering a cut, you need to make sure that you've built a good amount of muscle beforehand. Because cutting, going into like that phase without enough muscle mass, can basically leave you looking like a skinnier, fatter version of yourself. You want to be able to reveal muscle definition, not just lose weight. So in order to make sure that you are in a good state to start a cut is that you've probably already spent enough time in maintenance or a surplus.

08:32And that brings me into the second time when you should start a cut. If you've been in maintenance phase or a bulking phase for a while and your metabolism is healthy, that's a freaking great sign. Your body needs time away from dieting and time to restore its metabolism and hormone levels. So if you've just finished a long dieting phase, jumping right into another cut isn't a good idea. Or even for those two things combined, for people that have basically have no idea how much they're eating on a regular basis,

09:03maybe are eating a thousand calories, eleven hundred calories a day, and they're overweight and they want to lose weight. They shouldn't go into a caloric deficit because their metabolism isn't healthy enough to go into a cut. And if they and then they push back on their coach saying, no, this is what I want to do. Why are you making me eat more food? And then they the coach puts them in a cut and they're not losing any weight. It's because their metabolism isn't healthy to be in this phase. Okay. And then at the same time, if you are somebody who maybe is skinny fat, but doesn't have enough muscle mass underneath of you,

09:38you basically need to put yourself in maintenance first. And this is what I've talked about in previous episodes. Maintenance is where the magic happens. You're bringing your caloric intake up. And I've talked about this in the reverse one or a couple episodes ago. You're basically bringing your calories up from if you're really eating eleven hundred calories and your body's not where it wants to be, your overweight or your skinny fat or whatever, you can't go into a cut from there from what I just said. So you have to give your body more food, bring it up to like fifteen hundred, sixteen hundred, seventeen hundred calories.

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11:22You guys can hit those links in the description below this podcast. Let's get back to the show. Make sense? So number one, you have to make sure that you have a solid foundation of muscle. Because if you don't and you go into a cut, you're just going to become a skinnier, fatter version of yourself. You want to reveal muscle definition, as I said, with the goal of losing body fat to maintain as much lean muscle as possible. If you don't have the muscle, you're just focusing on losing weight. Which you don't want because you're losing a little bit of everything.

11:55You're losing muscle along that journey too as well. So you need to have a solid foundation of muscle. And you need to make sure that you've spent enough time at least like in maintenance. You don't necessarily need to be in a surplus. But you need to be in maintenance. And your metabolism needs to be healthy. And that's something that you can't see externally. And that drives people nuts. But think if you are aware of what I just explained. Like you're eating 1100 calories.

12:25Or you have no idea how many calories you're eating on a daily basis. You're overweight. You're unhappy with your body. There's fat in store in areas that you don't want. You're jiggly. Whatever. You cellulite. Whatever. Like if your body isn't where you want it to be. And you have no idea where you're eating. But you're probably not eating enough. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss,

13:00Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation.

13:32That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right. Let's get back to the show. Then your metabolism isn't healthy. So you need to spend time in maintenance. You need to spend time in that reverse dieting concept I brought up in the previous episodes to get your metabolism healthy. And you'll know really short because I feel like I could elaborate on this into another podcast,

14:02but you will know when your metabolism is healthy when you have hunger cues. Tell me right now. Think about it. This is you and the person I'm explaining that 1,000 calories are 1,100 calories. Tell me that you are experiencing or do you experience hunger cues? Because I guarantee you the answer is no. So that's a sign that your metabolism isn't healthy. So we need to gain that back. And the only time we're going to be able to do that and then to be able to enter in to a cut in a good way is when your metabolism is healthy.

14:37Okay. Okay. Then the last one when you should start a cut is if your workouts feel strong, you're recovering well, and you're not dealing with major stress or fatigue, you're in a great place to start a cut. If you're feeling run down, entering and you're feeling like you're not getting enough good sleep, you're not feeling strong, your recovery is taking longer, your mood is up and down, fluctuates, you're hangry. Literally entering a calorie deficit will only make things worse.

15:09No joke. For those in that did that. So when I said that you just because you can do a cut doesn't mean you should do one. Just because you can that bracket of people, those three things should eliminate at least half of you guys. Because bottom line is you should only start a cut when your body is in a healthy place to handle the stress of a calorie deficit. Cutting, being in a cutting phase, that is a tool. It is not a quick fix. So you need to make sure that the things that I just said, that timing is right.

15:44And you've at least you're in those three buckets, you have a solid foundation of muscle, you spent time in maintenance, and your energy levels and performance levels are stable. If not, it's not time to start a cut. I need to focus on those three buckets before you can. Okay, now let's talk about the other side of the equation. When to end a cut. This is just as important as knowing when to start a cut.

16:15Because pushing a cut too long can and will lead to negative effects on your body and your mind. So physically and mentally, if you push a cut, which this brings me back to the bucket of people. I feel like 80% of people, because one of them they don't know how much they're eating, where their calories are on a daily basis, or they just want to focus on losing weight. They spend way too much time eating less than what they should be on a daily basis because they're so stuck in their mind that they want to lose weight.

16:50You guys wanting to lose weight and only eating 1100 calories is going to make you gain weight. Okay, so that was a little rant. But back to the when to end a cut. When you, when to end one, you need to know, again, it's just as important as the beginning because there's negative effects that could have on your body. And that's, that's basically what I was saying. If you continue on one for too long, you're going to be stuck in this world of not getting the results you want, but eating less and then getting fatter.

17:23Point blank. And then you're, it's going to drive your mind insane. So signs that it's time to end your cut. Let's say you've been riding the cut train. A couple months, maybe 16 weeks, who knows what it depends differently for everybody. Everyone's individual, one cut for somebody, and the timeframe of that is going to look different for somebody else. So the first thing is, though, when it's time to end your cut is when you've hit a plateau that won't budge.

17:56So if you've been in a calorie deficit for an extended period of time and the scale pictures body like you're looking the same, nothing's moving. Your body might be adapting to that lower calorie intake. And so I'm going to dive a little bit deeper into that when I talk to into adaptations later. But for now, know that hitting a plateau is a sign that your body needs a break. It needs a break. And I've talked about this in previous episodes, too. Specifically, I think the titles are the word plateau or stagnation or something like that isn't a title.

18:28If you are there and you want to learn how to break through it, go to that. But I'm also going to talk a little bit more about it in the adaptations in a couple of minutes. Adaptations. Yeah, adaptations. The second thing is, when it's time to end your cut, is your energy levels and performance are dropping. So if you're feeling sluggish, if your workouts are suffering, if your recovery time is taking harder, you're finding hard to recover, it's a signal that your body is struggling. When this happens, your body is basically telling you that it's had enough of eating less, enough of being in a calorie deficit, and it needs to be brought back into maintenance.

19:08The third thing is, you're experiencing constant hunger or cravings. Some hunger, let me just say this point blank, some hunger, when you earn a cut, is entirely 100% normal. But if you're constantly fighting cravings, or you're thinking about food all day, what I like to say is you basically want to gnaw your hand off because you're that hungry, it is a sign that your body is under stress. Your hunger hormones get out of balance during prolonged calorie restriction.

19:43And ignoring that will and can lead to you binging or feeling out of control with food. So if you're experiencing constant hunger or cravings, if your energy levels are dropping, if you're hitting a plateau that will not budge, these are basically signs that you need to move out of a cut. This is why you do cuts in incremental periods of the year or times of your journey. You should not be in a cut for extended periods of times. At the same time of all those things happening, and when it's a sign for you to end your cut, another thing is your mood.

20:17I talked about this earlier, but if you're feeling irritable, if you're having trouble sleeping, if you're noticing mood swings, it is a sign that your cut has gone on for too long. Your body needs fuel to support you, to support your mood, to support quality sleep. And if you're not giving enough, those areas are going to suffer. So please trust me on this. Because some people want to stay in a cut until they reach their goal.

20:48Is that it too? Let me tell you this now from the world of, you know, macros and cutting and maintenance and this concept. You need to go in and out of those phases along your journey. You can't stay in a cut for extended periods of times. In maintenance, more so what's going to happen there is your mental is going to take hold and you want to be in a cut. So just trust me on this.

21:18The goal of a cut is to lose fat while maintaining your performance, while maintaining your health, while maintaining your sanity. If any of those signs show up, the mood being affected, experiencing constant hunger, levels of performance are dropping, you hit a plateau that won't move. It's better to end your cut and return to a maintenance phase for a while rather than pushing your body through and risking negative effects. The negative effects will be gaining more weight.

21:49And then being more irritable and not sleeping and being frustrated because your body's not changing. Your body's adapted at this point. You got to throw it a curveball. I mentioned this in previous episodes. Then when I talked about like reverse dieting and all that kind of stuff. Or talk about plateau. So that's really important to understand. Because you and this is hard when you're doing yourself. I think it's really important that you work with a coach that understands these concepts and is a professional with it.

22:19Because if you're left up to your own vices on when to call it for ending a cut, but then you could be calling it too early or you, you know, you could be going in for more. So you're going into it way too long than you should be. And you don't have eyeballs on it. It's for somebody else to just like take an objective perspective on your journey. Then you could just hit, you could just go in the negative spiral of where you could be with somebody else supporting along your way. And then back to like when you want to start a cut. Everybody wants to start a cut.

22:49Everyone wants to go into a cutting phase. But is it the right time for you to actually do that? Objective perspective, you know, from a coach's perspective would be like, it's definitely not the time for us to do this right now. And like hold the line and making you stay a little bit longer maintenance and knowing when the right time to do it is. Right? So I think it's well, to get this right, you need somebody as a professional in the space to be able to do it. Quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating or a review or share it with someone who could benefit from it.

23:29Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat and feel confident. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. Now, let's talk about, I think, another really important aspect of cutting, which is you understanding the adaptations that happen in your body. When you're in a calorie deficit, your body goes through a series of adapting and getting used to you being in a calorie deficit or getting used to things. And it's really important to understand that your body's primary goal is survival, not fat loss.

24:04So when you restrict calories or you cut calories back or you go into a calorie deficit, your body adapts to ways to conserve energy. So these are just a few things that happen when you're in a cut. Number one, a metabolic adaptation. As you reduce your caloric intake, your metabolism can slow down. Your body becomes more efficient at conserving energy, which means it burns fewer calories at rest. And this is one of the reasons why people hit plateaus during a cut.

24:38Your body is adjusted to that lower calorie intake, essentially. So your metabolism is slowing down. It's getting used to it. It's becoming more efficient. And like, okay, this person's not eating that much food. So we need to hold on to the and conserve energy. And so it's going to burn fewer calories while you're at rest. And so enter plateau, enter frustration. And that's just because your body is adjusted. It needs to be thrown a curveball. It needs a break or something like that. It needs, basically needs a new thing to adapt to.

25:12So another adaptation that happens is, have you guys heard of NEAT? NEAT is basically like, it stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. N-E-A-T. That is, that decreases. So it's, those are small movements. NEAT is small movements that you do throughout the day. Like me fidgeting with my hands right now when I'm recording this podcast.

25:42Me moving around, walking, standing. When you're in a calorie deficit, your body may subconsciously already reduce these activities to conserve more energy. You may not even know it. You may not be hitting that 10K steps anymore. You may be not as like talkative with your hands. Like you don't even know this is happening. This is happening subconsciously because your body is like, I need to conserve energy. So that's decreasing. Those things are decreasing. And that's going to, again, slow down your calorie burn. It's adapting. You're adapting to this.

26:12Another thing that happens is your hunger hormones. So ghrelin, leptin, those two things, those are affected by you being in prolonged calorie deficit or prolonged calorie restriction. So ghrelin, which is the hormone that stimulates hunger, that increases. While leptin, which helps to regulate your energy balance, that decreases. And that combination can make you feel hungrier and less satisfied, which makes it harder for you to stick to you being in a calorie deficit.

26:45So all these adaptations are happening. And then last thing, too, is performance and decline. If your body isn't getting enough fuel, it's not going to have the energy that it needs to support high intensity workouts or the energy that it needs to recover properly. And so this is going to lead into decreased overall performance, strength, endurance, everything. So these adaptations are happening internally. Sometimes you'll feel them. Sometimes you won't. You won't even notice it, especially your knee that you're decreasing, you know, going out for walks or fidgeting or standing or whatnot.

27:20You're sitting longer. You're these things are your body's adapting to it. It's adapting to this lower calorie intake. And remember, this is just your body's natural response to ensure survival. That's the only thing you want to do. Its primary goal is survival. It's not fat loss. It doesn't care about fat loss. You want fat loss. Your body doesn't. It doesn't give a shit. It wants to survive. So the longer you stay in the cut, the more pronounced these adaptations can be. That's why it's so freaking important to listen to your body and to end a cut when the signs are there.

27:54Specifically to the ones that I mentioned, your mood and sleep are affected. You're experiencing constant hunger. Like you want to, you want to know all your fingers off. Your energy levels are dropping. You're not feeling as strong. Your workouts are suffering. Recovery is hard, is terrible. Or nothing's budging. Your plateaued weight pictures. You're looking the same. All of this means that it's time to end the cut. And then this is what's happening eternally. All these adaptations are happening.

28:24And they just will become more pronounced if you stay in a cut longer than you should. So with all of that being said, and so I told you guys this is going to be a great podcast in terms of the value that you guys have. And understanding like everybody can do one. But should you do one? And everyone can stay in a cut. But not everyone can stay in a cut. Everyone feels like they want to stay in a cut until they get to their goal.

28:55But should you? Like these are things that you should be like becoming aware of when you're the one that wants to stay in a cut for 10 months. But you're not getting to your goal in the last three months. And you keep doing the same thing over and over again. Expecting different results. It's the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again. And expecting different results. So think about that. Or like even just even more baseline basic. You have no idea what you're eating on a regular and daily basis. How can you enter in a cut the right way?

29:26Which is probably the majority of you guys. Or even like maybe you do know how much you're eating. But like are you doing it consistently? Enough for your metabolism to be healthy to go into a cut? How have you been consistent with your nutrition over the last four weeks? Six weeks? Six weeks. And then the other one was yeah. If you've been in a cut. If you have done all this. And you are eating the right way. And you're in a cut.

29:57And you're consistently doing it. And you made progress. But the progress isn't where you hopefully thought initially would be. To the goal. Does that mean you keep pushing and pushing and pushing in the cut until you get to the goal? No. Because you're just going to make things worse. So cool. You've been in a cut for four or five months. But all these things are happening. And your body is basically saying yo we need to stop. Then you need to pull out. Give your body a break.

30:28And be able to take maybe like three or four weeks of that break. To get back to baseline. And throw your body a curveball before you go back into another cut. There's ways you can do this. And it's different for everybody. So just understanding these concepts. I hope like you see that. I'm breaking it down pretty. I'm proud of myself breaking it down the way that I am to you guys right now. Okay.

30:59But my brain stopped right there. Because it's like okay well what does a break mean Nikki? Like I've been in a cut for five, four or five months. And then I need a break. What does that mean? That means like the way I personally go about it and what our coaches do at Warrior Babe is they'll throw in like a – we call it die breaks. We call it refeed days. Reefeed days can be like three days in a row which is like essentially like a die break. It's the terminology that whatever is going to make it sound pleasing to your brain and more appealing.

31:31Okay. So to combat the adaptations from going too long and then becoming, you know, louder and louder and more pronounced, consider incorporating those refeed days or those short diet breaks where you basically – what you do is you temporarily increase your caloric intake. And so in short, that basically boosts your metabolism and alleviates some of the negative effects of being in a deficit. So it's the negative effects of, you know, the stress that you take on when you're in a deficit.

32:01That can get worse and worse. And so the way to alleviate that is just by giving your body more food for a couple of days. And it could be different. Like I've done weeks. I've done a week of a diet break. I've done three days of a diet break. I've done three back-to-back refeed meals to the person. Like it depends. It's drastically different for everybody. So those are how I would like combat an adaptation or like when you know you need a break or you're experiencing these things happening. Those are great strategies to be able to implement, throw it in for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, maybe four weeks, and then go back into a cut.

32:38But now that we basically covered like when to start, when to end, how your body adapts, I want to give you guys some practical tips for executing a successful cut. One being starting with a small deficit. A lot of people want to drastically drop their calories. There is absolutely 1,000% no fucking need to do that. Start with a small calorie deficit around like, and this is where you need to know where your calories are on a daily basis.

33:0910 to 20% below your maintenance. This approach is going to help you to preserve your muscle, minimize the adaptations, and you be able to drop body fat. If you start small, please do not drastically drop your calories. That's just going to cause havoc. And these are things you can't see internally, but it's basically wreaking havoc on your metabolism. And basically your body being like, we're fucking in survival mode. Like you're going to kick into gear those adaptations much faster.

33:44The second thing is protein. Protein, protein, protein, protein, protein, protein, protein. You need to make sure you're getting enough protein in your cut. Because what protein does, with the whole goal of preserving lean muscle mass, protein is a macronutrient that's going to help preserve that muscle mass while keeping you full and decreasing your body fat. Strength training is a priority. Don't skip the weights just because you're in a cut.

34:15Strength training helps you to preserve muscle mass, which is so important. They're all linked, you guys. Muscle mass, eating enough, the protein, starting small. Now, this is a way for you to essentially maintain a healthy metabolism. That is so important. And then as you're going through a cut, when you're starting it and you're doing these things I'm saying, pay attention to your body. Listen to your body. How's it feeling? If you start noticing the signs that I already talked about earlier, like fatigue, mood changes, constant hunger, then it's time to end that cut.

34:52And it's time to go into maintenance, depending on what type of strategy you want to implement. Refeeds, diet breaks, four weeks off, whatever it may be. Look, I can't emphasize this enough that maintenance, whether you're starting out in it or you're returning to it after a cut, it's just as important as the cut itself. Your body needs time to recover from the stress that it goes into and basically takes on when you're in a calorie deficit.

35:29And maintenance is where you do that. Maintenance is where you restore metabolism. You restore your energy levels. You restore your hormone levels. Maintenance literally is where the magic happens. Do not be afraid. And I know this is easier said than done. And I know this is like what I've been like. It's easier said than done. And just trust me now and believe me later. Do not be afraid to eat more when you come out of a cut. And I think applying this episode to the episode that I talked about with how to do how to feel confident with reverse dieting or the reverse dieting tactics or whatever.

36:07And then also the confidence of intuitive eating. This married, this podcast married with time and implementation, married with reverse dieting, time and implementation, and then intuitive eating. These are those are your freaking strategies right there. Do not be afraid to eat more when you come out of a cut, please. It doesn't mean that you're going to gain all the fat back. If you increase your calories gradually, as I talked about in the reverse dieting episode, and continue your strength training, you will be able to maintain your progress and see even better results in the long run.

36:40Mic drop. Amen. Point blank. Mark my words.

37:11So to sum this all up, you guys, doing a cut the right way means knowing when to start, understanding when to end it, and being mindful of your body adapting to it. And I think the drill at home, cutting is a tool that's going to help you to achieve your goals, but it's not something to stay in for extended periods of time. Listen to your body.

37:42Respect what it needs. Understand that these things are not a sprint. They're a marathon. And if you apply these tactics the right way, you will be hella successful in your journey. But just one last thing. Just because you can do a cut doesn't mean that you should do one. Okay? Sweet. I hope you guys enjoyed that episode. That was fire. I really enjoyed bringing that to you guys. It's my jam. I could talk about this stuff all day long.

38:14So take it. Digest it. Process it. Implement it. Peace out, you guys. Here we are at the end of season two. Thank you guys so much for being listeners of this podcast, sharing these episodes, bringing value to people in your circle, in your space. That means the world to me because I can reach you guys, but you guys can reach tons of people by sharing these episodes and sharing this podcast. So please do more of that.

38:44I thank you guys so much. Season two is a wrap. Let's get on to season three. Peace out, guys. Hey, really quick. Before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all of the difference, helping more women discover the tools they need to transform the fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey.

39:14Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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