The Different Phases To Changing Your Body Comp (Cut, Reverse, Maintenance, Build)

00:00Literally, you guys, this is like where the freaking magic happens. What's 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 am your host, Nikkie Stott, and welcome to episode number 33.

00:34The one that I'm sure you guys have all been waiting for. All about, we're diving in to the different phases of changing your body composition. I'm going to talk about a cut. I'm going to talk about reverse. I'm going to talk about maintenance. And I'm going to talk about bulking, or what I like to call build, because it's easier on the mindset for you ladies. But I'm stoked.

01:05This is going to be a podcast, man. This is going to be filled with tons of value, tons of insight, some things to take away. Maybe you're like, I don't even know where I should be at right now. This is going to tell you where you need to be. This is going to tell you what you need to be looking for. This is what I'm going to tell you how much time you should be spending in these. This is going to be good, guys. This is going to be real good. Because what it comes down to, I shared this in an earlier podcast, but there's six things that I wish I knew at the beginning of my journey.

01:38It's that podcast. The first one was that I wish I knew at the beginning of my journey that I would need to go through multiple of these phases. Multiple cuts, multiple maintenance phases, multiple bulks, multiple reverses, in order to achieve what I've achieved now. Which is the body that I've wanted eight years ago. The body that I've wanted my whole life. I wish I knew at the beginning of my journey that I had to go through multiple phases of each one of these to get to where I am.

02:11And so you're going to know each of the phases by the end of the podcast today. Why don't we get right to it? Let's just get right to it. Because it's probably going to be a lengthy one. Because in each of these phases, I'm going to talk about who this is for and who it's not for. So I'm going to talk to the cutting phase, who the cutting phase is for, who it's not for. The maintenance phase, the reverse phase, the building phase. I'm going to talk about what the goal is in that phase, in each of the phases. I'm going to talk about the changes that you can expect from your body in each of those phases.

02:43And I'm going to talk about the ideal time recommended to stay in this phase. This is exciting stuff. I love talking about this because, you know, you need to know these phases. If you want to build muscle, if you want to change your body composition, if you want to do all of the things and unpack those statements, you got to know this. And you got to be okay with what you're going to expect in each of the phases. And you got to be okay working through them. You got to know the timeline because, like, if you just stuck to these phases, you could be where you want to be in three years' time versus 10 years' time.

03:23And I say that because I've taken my girl Cheryl Beaver, who I talked about on an earlier podcast, who's 60 years old, through multiple of these phases. And she's only been working with me for, like, three years. Yeah, she's achieved what somebody would – dude, it could take a woman a year, like, 10 years, 20 years to achieve what she's achieved in three by just doing these multiple times. All right, let's get to it. So the cutting phase. What is the cutting phase? So first I want to talk to who the cutting phase, fat loss phase, who this is for and who it's not for.

04:00So two scenarios here of who it's for. The cutting phase, fat loss phase can be for somebody who is, like, 20-plus pounds overweight, 30, 40, 50, 60. You know, you got the fat to lose, man. This is for you. Okay? You got to focus on being in a caloric deficit. You got to focus on shedding that weight. Now, scenario number two is, like, for me, for example, right now, like, you know, I've gone through multiple of these phases, okay, through the last eight years of my journey.

04:33But sometimes I'll throw myself into a fat loss phase. I'll sit in maintenance majority of the time. And I'll get to maintenance. Maintenance is going to blow your mind, you guys. But – and I will sit there majority of the time. And I will maintain a pretty lean, solid physique. But sometimes I'm just like, yo, let's drop some percentages here at body fat. And so I'll throw my body into it for, like, eight weeks max, maybe 10. So, like, if you're somebody who has been through these phases, right? I mean, I'm talking to some veterans here that have been through these phases multiple times.

05:07Or, like, you know, maybe you do just have – you're toned already. And, like, you've been through the journey, right? And you just have some – you just want to decrease in body fat. You want to show more definition. Then, like, cool. Then this is for you, like, throwing your body into a little bit of a fat loss phase. But for the majority of you guys who I'm talking to, like, a fat loss cutting phase is, like, caloric deficit. You got the fat to lose. You got to focus on dropping the LBs. You got to focus on dropping the percentages of body fat, right?

05:40To expose more, to build – to show your muscle, to be more toned. That's who I'm really, really talking to when it comes to a cutting phase. Because who this is not for is somebody who is, like, you know, smaller frame, skinny fat. You got more body fat to muscle ratio here. Like, your body – you got body fat on your belly. You got body fat on your arms. And you need to build more muscle.

06:12That's what's going to change. If you're skinny fat, you do not need to go into a cut, guys. And I'm going to – like I said, I'm going to blow your mind when it comes to maintenance. But, like, for somebody – for you guys, like, cutting phases, it's just not for you. Someone who's skinny fat, you need to build some muscle. You need to focus on eating enough to build that muscle. And it ain't going to be in a caloric deficit, okay? It's also not for somebody who has been in a restrictive diet.

06:44Or, like, you're just not eating enough. Man, ain't no way, ain't no how. Myself or a really good accredited coach is going to – if you've been on 1,400 calories for the last year, two years, five years, ten years. Sorry. I am not going to put you into a fat loss phase. I am not. You've already been there. And your metabolism is just probably shot because you should be getting some type of result being at that low.

07:14And if you ain't, your metabolism ain't working for you in no more. No more. All right? We need to give that metabolism a break. So those are the two categories I would not put anybody into a fat loss phase. You're already skinny fat and you need to build some muscle. You ain't going to do it in a caloric deficit. You're not going to do it in fat loss. And you're not going to – I'm not going to put you in there. This is just not for you. If you've been in a restrictive diet, you've been doing keto, you've been doing low carb, you've been doing that stuff, you're not eating enough, you have no idea what you're eating, which is probably you're not eating enough.

07:47Or, like, I mean, if you're overweight, then you've been eating too much, okay? And that's why you're overweight and you're 30, 40, 50 pounds overweight, then this is definitely for you. But if you've been in a restrictive diet and you have a smaller frame, you ain't going into a fat loss, at least not on my watch. So that's who it's for and who it's not for. So, again, two scenarios. Who it's for. You're 50, 60, you know, you're 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 pounds overweight. You need to lose some fat. Or, you know, you're like me. You've been doing this for years and you just want to throw yourself into a little bit of a mini cut is what I like to call it.

08:21A little bit of a fat loss phase. I'm here for, like, eight weeks and I'm out. Back up to maintenance, man. All right. So that's who it's for and who it's not for. So what is the goal of this phase? I'm going to speak really quick to the 20, 30, 40 pound overweighter. So the goal of this phase is to drop body fat at the same time as you preserving as much lean muscle as possible. So, like, you could be 20, 30, 40 pounds overweight, yet you go into a fat loss phase, caloric deficit, and you're dropping the fat.

08:57But let's say underneath of that body fat, you have muscle. You have muscle mass. So you're going to focus on, and this is why the scale is not your friend, because you could probably lose three pounds on the scale yet. Dude, your body could look completely different while you're in this phase. Because, again, there's a difference between weight loss and fat loss. And I explained that in an earlier podcast. And, dude, it would just so resonate with you since we're on this topic right now once you're done listening to this one to go to that podcast and listen to it.

09:29Especially if you're someone who is embarking on this phase. So, because you can. You can do a double whammy here. You can focus on losing the fat, being 20, 30, 40 pounds overweight, yet eating enough, aka protein, to preserve that lean muscle mass that is underneath and or being built in this process for you. And, therefore, when you're doing this, and you're 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 months into your journey, you just drop the fat, but you've also preserved the lean muscle.

10:04So, it's like I like to think of this as like an illusion concept. Like you're exposing muscle that has been built while dropping the body fat. So, like you're going to see more of the body that you want to have shine through, right? It's like I like to say, too, is like it's like Christmas morning. It's like and this is kind of going from a bulk to a cut. But, you know, you have all these extra LBs on you. So, you're dropping that. And then you're seeing the hard work that maybe you once put in in the past.

10:34Or, like you never really dialed in in your nutrition. And so, like you never really saw the hard work that you put in. But, like now you're seeing the hard work because you're exposing more muscle that has been built. Or that you've already had to your frame when it was just hidden by that body fat. Okay? So, that's more of the goals on like the physical side of things. Another goal within this phase is to like increase endurance, your endurance capacity.

11:05So, like for me right now and mine and like and for anybody that is overweight, you're doing probably more an elevated heart rate in your exercise than you've done before. Whether it be supersets with strength training, progressive overload, X, Y, and Z. For me, I've just dialed up my intensity in my workout. And my endurance is being woken back up. And it feels good. But that is another goal that you can focus on here too as well. So, those are some of the goals you will experience. You're decreasing body fat while at the same time you're preserving lean muscle mass.

11:38And you're having more muscle being exposed. So, now let's dive into some changes that you can expect from your body in this phase. So, you're going to see, like I said, more muscle development. You're going to see more muscle splits. You're going to see more striations. You're going to see all of this when you're dropping body fat. You're going to have less body fat on your body. So, the main thing is and the changes that you can expect is to see more of what you want to see.

12:10Point blank. Okay. Now, some other things you may experience in this phase. And I just need to drill this home because I can't tell you how many times I've heard women say, I hate being in this type of phase because I'm hungry. I'm hungry all the time. Well, it's the difference between hunger. It's like, do you want to gnaw your hand off hunger? Because if that's the case, man, you got to reassess how much you are eating. Are you eating enough protein to make you feel satiated? But if you don't feel it, there's that and then that some things need to be adjusted.

12:45Or there's just like the slight hunger that you're always going to feel. And that's good. It means your metabolism is working, guys. So, like if you eat, you know, a meal and then two hours later you're hungry again, fire. Your body is utilizing and doing all of the right things. I just need you to know that. I'm not going to get too sciencey here, but it's doing the right thing. You will have some slight hunger here and it's normal. Another thing that is normal and what you should expect too in this phase is, you know, there's a lot of women that go from like a building phase or, you know, they've been eating a shit ton of food.

13:24And you're all working out and you're feeling solid in your workouts, being able to move heavy weight because you're eating the food. But then you go into a fat loss phase and all of a sudden you're slashing your carbs or you're slashing your fat, you're slashing your calories down. And so you have a decrease in energy. Completely normal. What you may have been lifting weight wise in a maintenance or a bulk, you may not be lifting in a cut, in a fat loss phase. You should know that like you're going to feel a little less and you should accept this now because you could be in this phase not lifting that heavy weight and beating yourself up and being like, why?

14:02Like I feel so weak. It is a part of it. You're slashing your calories. You're in a caloric deficit. It's normal. Okay. So those are some changes that you can expect within your body during a fat loss phase. Now I want to talk really quick to the ideal timeline to stay in this phase. And this is really important because a lot of women will get stuck in this phase for years and years and years on end and just like shit out their metabolism.

14:35Um, so the time that I would recommend you to stay in this phase, a moderate cut would be like, I'm speaking more to the woman that's like overweight. Like you got the weight to lose, right? You got the fat to lose. So a moderate cut will be anywhere from like three to five months, three to five months, maybe pushing it, maybe six, seven, depending on how overweight you are. Be realistic with yourself. It's going to take time. I got to say like the 50 pounds you put on didn't take five months for you to put it on.

15:10Probably took you a year to put it on. Right? So be realistic in the time that's going to take for it to come off. Now, a slow cut, you know, I'm speaking to you inconsistent people here. If you're inconsistent, you're going to get inconsistent results. If you're consistent, you're going to get consistent results. So if you're consistent, that moderate cut is going to be in your timeline, depending on the weight you have to lose. And a slow cut, if you're inconsistent and you're dabbling in your discipline, you're a Monday through Friday, you're showing up and the weekends you fall off, expect your cut to take longer.

15:50Expect you to get to the destination longer because you're not being serious about it. You're dabbling in what you want. So that could be like six to seven, eight months. And in there, you're going to have to give your body a break so that you can still facilitate the results that you want. Okay? Now, really quick, I do want to speak in this phase. Plateaus.

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16:56Look, 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. That's WarriorBabe.com forward slash apply. All right. Let's get back to the show. Plateaus will happen, but it doesn't mean you have to go and change everything. Okay. It's normal to experience your weight to plateau for a week.

17:31Or you're like, you're not really seeing any different changes in body fat percentages or in the mirror for like a week. It's normal. Keep doing what you're doing. You're going to have this like whoosh of result happen in like the next week or maybe a week after. Okay. Plateaus are normal. Don't go changing everything up. My friends, please. I'm speaking to you. I know. I know. I know. There's somebody listening to this right now. It's like I needed to hear that. All right. Um, plateaus just do more what you're doing.

18:03Eat the same. Work out the same. Rest the same. Stay hydrated. If it's like been stuck in a plateau and you've been consistent with your stuff for like three to four weeks, then maybe some adjustments need to happen. I just need to throw that in there. So that's the cutting face. That's a lot of things who it's for, who it's not for, what you can expect and the ideal timeline. Now, let's say that you've reached your goal. You're where you want to be here.

18:34You're super amped. You've achieved an incredible milestone for yourself. You've lost 20 pounds. You've decreased body fat. You see more muscle showing up. You see the striations happen. You're more toned. More muscles being exposed, a.k.a. Now, this is really important. And this may be harder than the cut. The reverse. The huge goal with the reverse is to maintain what you just work so hard for, yet giving your body more food.

19:12Giving your muscles more food. Giving your body the reason to build more muscle. And to help you to stay pretty lean. And if you do this the right way, you'll only gain on the scale a little bit of weight. But really, what's happening is your muscles are filling out. You're putting on a little bit more muscle in the process. So, the reverse is so important. And it's uniquely different for everybody.

19:44As all of these phases are. But ideally, your reverse is like adding in 125 to 150 to maybe max 200 calories. On like a bi-weekly basis, depending on how your body is dealing with those adjustments. So, let's say you've reached the end of your cut phase. And by the way, along your cut phase, the macros that you start off with in the cut phase are not going to be the macros you end with.

20:18You're going to have to make adjustments in that to continue your progress. But I'm not talking about adjustments here. The only point I'm going to talk about adjustments is in this reverse because it's important. And I want you guys to know how to go about a reverse the right way. So, you're, you know, you ended the cut. And then you decide to start adding in more calories. And you're adding in about 125 to 150 to max 200 calories at the start. I would probably start with 125 calories at the start. Just to see how your body handles it.

20:50Now, those calories are majority coming from carbohydrates and fats. So, do the math. Okay, I'm not going to do it here. And you're going to see. You're going to give your body that food. You're going to see how your body adjusts to it. You're going to watch. You're going to track your progress. Watch how you're feeling. Look at yourself in the mirror. All that jazz. It's really important to track your progress. I'm telling you, this is probably the harder phase for people than cutting is. Let's say you're moving and grooving.

21:21And you're getting those types of results. You want to give your body more food. So, let's amp it up like another 125, 150. Maybe even in some points, I would do 200. And then see how you're giving a little bit longer time frame for your body to adjust to it. So, and that's mainly coming from carbs and fats. Again, maybe a little bit of protein, but not much. Like I'm talking like three grams, five grams max. Again, so coming from carbs and fats. And then let's say you do do like a big jump.

21:52Hold out there for like two, three weeks. Let your body fully adjust to it. That's what's most important when it comes to adjustments. And that's like, you know, this is everything that I share inside the Blueprint program. Knowing how to do all of these adjustments in each phase that you're in. The key is to understand that because that's, man, that's like a golden ticket to being in control. But I'm not going to talk about that here because it's just so much more in depth. And it really depends individually on where you're at, what you're feeling, and all of the jazz biofeedback-wise from your body.

22:24So, let's say you do that big jump and you're holding out. And let's say like now you're leveling, right? You're pretty much maintaining your physique in terms of where you're at with your fat loss. And you're moving and grooving here. You feel good. Three weeks go by. You've adapted to that adjustment. Do it again. Do 150. Your goal here is to get to your maintenance area. To where like you're maintaining a solid physique that you want to be holding on to, right?

22:58You're not gaining too much. You're not getting messy with it. But you're super happy with where you're at. You've maintained results pretty much. Maybe a little bit more body fat added on from your cutting phase. And that's normal. It's okay. That happens. It's what's the process of building muscle. You need to add a little bit of body fat to make that process happen. But that's like a reverse. And it could be different for everybody. It could be somebody that goes into a reverse for like six weeks. It could be nine weeks until you get up to your maintenance threshold. It's completely different for everybody. Now, some changes that you could expect in that process is you're adding a little bit more weight,

23:36you know, or you're adding a little bit more body fat. You're filling out. Your muscles are getting a little bit bigger. Normal. Okay. But the most important aspect of this reverse is just paying attention to how your body responds to you adding in more food. And that more food is, again, coming from carbohydrates and fat. Okay. And it's like, you know, you add it in at the beginning of your, at the end of your cut. You start the reverse. You start adding in more food. And then you're, you know, assessing your biofeedback with your body, seeing how you feel, the progress, all that jazz.

24:10Maybe you're adding in more, you're adding in more, you're adding in more, you're adding in more. And at a point, it's going to stop. And then you've entered into maintenance. Now, something I do want to note here really quick is that during the reverse too, with you adding in more food, you're going to slowly back down on the cardio sessions that you've been doing in your cut. And so I would, I would either take out one full cardio day. Let's say you were doing four, take out one, make it three. And then from there, you can play with timing. So let's say you were doing 30 minutes of cardio in those three sessions, take it down to 25. Okay.

24:40So again, you're playing with both of those in the reverse, but the most important thing is that nutrition. And to cotton a little bit back on your cardio sessions. All right, let's talk about maintenance. So I just talked about cutting. I just talked about reversing. Now, literally, you guys, this is like where the freaking magic happens. I said, like, I need you to know with this maintenance phase, the average woman that who needs to just lose like five to 10 pounds.

25:11Okay. That person, if that's you, you do not need to go into cutting. I just said that in fat loss. Like you do not need to go into fat loss. Like if majority of you guys who are just need to lose five, 10 pounds are like skinny fat. You do not need to cut weight at the very beginning. Okay. Instead, you should maintain your weight. You should build muscle and you should reduce your fat stores because you probably more body fat on your body than you do, you know, the muscle ratio.

25:41So most women should start in a maintenance phase, not a cut. Most women, in my opinion, is where all the magic happens to body composition changes. If you want to build muscle, if you want and you're skinny fat, this is your, this is your phase. And once you go through the cutting and the reversing, this is the phase that you would live in. I personally live in this majority of my year.

26:12Okay. If we're doing it on year focus. Plus you guys, when you're here and you sit in maintenance for a long period of time, after you've done all the jazz that I've already just alluded to and spoke to with cutting and reversing, it makes for future cutting phases to be way more enjoyable and way more easier. Your metabolism is restored. Your metabolism is happy. Your metabolism is revving. Your metabolism has more food.

26:44It will then allow you to easily tweak your numbers. Like you live in maintenance phase for a little bit. And let's say for me personally, like I just went in, I'm in a cut phase, like a slight fat loss phase. I just easily tweak my numbers and it's like, whoosh, my body knows what's happening. It's like, okay, Nikki, here are your results. Literally, like I'm not kidding you. That's what happens when you've trained and adapted your body so freaking well. So my friends, babes, ladies, live in maintenance.

27:16After you've done, if you're 50 pounds overweight, you've done all that work, live here, live maintenance. Welcome to the maintenance land. So, okay, let's talk about who it's for and who it's not for. So it's for if you're more of an average skinny fat type of woman that I've already alluded to, and you need to build more lean muscle, but you don't want to go as far as like a build phase. You're like, you know, if you're like, do I want to increase and go into a massive surplus? You're like, I don't want to, it's a mental, it's a mental game there. I'll tell you, it's a mental game.

27:46So it's not for you guys. If it's for you, if you're skinny fat and you need to build more muscle, but you don't yet want to be too much into caloric surplus because you can build muscle while you're in maintenance. You're eating, you're eating a lot of, you're eating food here. Okay. Who it's not for though, is what I alluded to somebody who is in a, who needs to be in a cut phase. It's like, if you need to lose an extra 20, 30, 40, 50 pounds, this phase isn't for you right now, but it will be once you do all of that work. So the goal of maintenance is a lot of awesome things.

28:23It's just where the magic happens. I should just say that and then be done, but there's so many things that happen here. Overall strength increases, increased energy levels. You know, you'll notice you'll have an increase in mood, you have better sleep quality. You're maintaining your weight, give or take, man. Like you're not going to maintain 150, 150, 150, 150, 150. Dude, you're going to like ebb and flow with it. It'll be 150, maybe 148, 152. Know that there's fluctuations in the damn scale.

28:53And please, if you're in any one of these phases, like you shouldn't really be relying on the scale as an indicator of like what you're doing. If you're doing anything right in that phase, like it's just, it's not the end all be all. Okay. So you're going to be maintaining your body weight, give or take a couple of pounds. Overall, everything increases strength, energy, mood, sleep. You're building muscle while also having the ability to drop body fat. And as you do maintenance over and over and over again, just as you do a cut,

29:27your calories, your macros will never be the same. As you do more maintenances through time, that maintenance threshold will increase. And so I may be like getting a little like woo woo, like science-y, like technical biblically here. But like, as you build more muscle, this is like, let me dumb it down. As you build more muscle, your BMR naturally increases. Your BMR, which is your basal metabolic rate, which is just anything and everything that you need to stay alive. Basic functions of your body, it increases.

29:57So therefore, you guys can, it makes sense as you put more muscle on your body, which you will do in these phases, you will need to eat more, which therefore your cut calories will be different. Your macros will be different there. Your maintenance calories will be different. You'll be able to push a threshold of, let's say like your lowest maintenance threshold is like 2200 calories, you could maintain your weight and still like add in. And I'm not going to speak to adjustments here because it's just another world.

30:27You in maintenance could add in more calories and macros in maintenance, still maintain your weight, give or take a couple of pounds, maintain your physique, your body fat, but eat more food. And you could hit a threshold at like 2600 calories. And that's just an example. It's pretty freaking cool. Like these phases, just understanding this stuff is just so freaking cool. So all of that will evolve over time. And like your adjustments will, like you could be at a maintenance threshold of like 2400 calories. And then all of a sudden you're making adjustments in your maintenance phase and you're up at like

31:013000 calories. I've been there. It's pretty dope. Yet you're still maintaining your physique. It's awesome. So that's like the overall goal. Overall, increase in strength, increase in energy, move, better sleep. You're maintaining your weight, give or take a couple pounds. You're building more muscle, which gives you the ability to drop more body fat or stay at the body fat. And then you're able to eat more food. You're going to make adjustments in this phase where you're eating more food than where it is that you started out at your maintenance phase.

31:31Hey 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. Okay, so the changes that you could expect in your body when you're in maintenance is you may, again, fuck the scale.

32:08But like you're going to see this happen because I know that I could say fuck the scale all day long. You're still going to step on the scale. You may see, you will see weight increase here. But like it shouldn't be messy. And everybody is going to experience this fluctuation differently. But like give or take three to seven pounds. You will see that type of increase. And it's okay because let me remind you, you're building muscle here. That weight is both body fat but also muscle.

32:41And this is where the body comp magic happens. So I just want to drill that in. And then another thing that happens here that you can expect with your body, if you've been in a cut for way too long and you're coming into maintenance, your metabolism just gets happier. You're giving your body more food. So your digestion gets better. And it's just a beautiful thing to experience because I've seen people, there's even so much as like strategies that I use as like when people are in cuts for long periods of time. Like that, the timeline that I alluded to, the six to seven, eight months.

33:12There's some periods in there that you have to throw somebody into a maintenance just to help their metabolism and their digestion. And dude, like I've done that for women like in a two-week span inside of their cut. And like they go up into maintenance numbers for that time frame. And then they just drop more body fat and weight and like more happens just by having more food. It's just a beautiful thing. Okay, so alluded to some things in maintenance there. Who it's for, who it's not for. The goal, what you can expect for your body. Be okay with like, you know, you've been in a cut.

33:47The main focus was like losing LBs, losing the fat percentages. Cool, that's awesome. But like you're going to gain a little bit more maintenance. But the most important thing that I want you to focus on is that your body composition is still the same or different. Okay, you're either growing more muscle or like you still have that shape that you've achieved with fat loss. Now, the ideal timeline to stay in this phase, like honestly, like as I mentioned before,

34:19maintenance is like where all of the magic happens for changing your body composition. You should spend as much time as possible in this phase as you need, as you want to ensure that your metabolism is working optimally. To be able to get to eat more, right? So like maintenance is where the magic happens. Ideally, majority of your time should be spent here. After you've done it and achieved the results that you want, spend majority or bulk of the maintenance before you do little tiny fat losses and little tiny mini cuts.

34:52Highly, highly, highly recommend. But for those of you guys who want like a hard estimated time, I would recommend anywhere short of like six months to max of like 12 months to one year. Told you guys in a year span, man. I majority of my time, I will sit up here in maintenance. Majority of the women that I coach will sit up in maintenance until they're like, Nikki, I want to go into a cut. Cool. Let's do like an eight week, three month type of deal.

35:25Then we'll come back up into maintenance. It greatly depends, you guys, on where you are currently at in your journey. The length of time you spend in maintenance greatly depends on where you're at. If you are more of that average skinny fat type shape woman and need to build more lean muscle, but again, you don't want to go as far as doing like a build phase, which I'm going to get to next, then this phase is for you and you should spend majority of your time in it

35:56until you build a lot of muscle to then reveal the hard work you put in by going into a fat loss. If you are someone who has to lose 50 plus pounds, then again, like I've mentioned before, this phase isn't for you right now. Do the fat loss phase, lose all of the pounds and then spend some time up here. But again, it just greatly depends on where you're at in your journey. Me as a vet, I'm going to spend majority of my time up in maintenance. Maybe me that's been doing this, like I can speak to Cheryl. Now, we're just getting to the mark of like, you know, two and a half, three years where like,

36:30I'm like, okay, majority of your time is going to be here in maintenance. And majority of your time the last year has been in maintenance. We've dabbled with a few cuts, like two cuts in that time frame. So I just want to put that into perspective for you. Maintenance is where the gold happens. Maintenance is where the magic happens when it comes to changing your body composition. Building muscle needs food and you get food when you're in maintenance. So that's maintenance. Now let's talk about, I like to call it the building phase, guys. People call it bulking.

37:01People call it lean bulk. I mean, bulk is like, to women, mentally, that's a narrative that can fuck with somebody. Okay? You're bulking. You're gaining some weight. It is not what people want to hear. You're building in this phase. If you want to build muscle at a fast accelerator rate, give your body more food. And giving your body more food is aka a surplus, aka a building phase.

37:32So like if you want to go from a cut, you lose all the weight, you do a reverse the right way. And then you just, you get into maintenance, but then you, then you, and you spend some time, a little bit of time there, but then you're, you're still, you're still adjusting your calories and your macros to bypass maintenance, to get into a lean bulk. Okay? And so you're eating more calories and you burn here. Yet you're helping, these calories are helping you to build muscle and to change your body composition. So like if you want to build muscle and you want to do it fast, this is your avenue.

38:05If you're not okay with the weight that's going to come on here and the body fat that's going to come on here, then I just recommend women to stay maintenance phase and you can stay maintenance phase. It's chilly. You can do all the things that you want to do there, but some people just want to go gung ho for it. My girl, Cheryl, man, signed up with me three years ago and was like, I just want to build dude. We, she gained some weight here, it, but she gained some muscle in the process. And then she revealed that hard work by going into a, into a fat loss phase.

38:41So if you want to accelerate, you want to be with my girl, Cheryl, you can do that. But bulking isn't for everybody. Lean bulking isn't for everybody. It shouldn't get messy here, but I knew Cheryl was the type of person that could deal with that. So it was chill. But like you, you shouldn't gain so much that it's hard for it to all to be lost. Cause like the mentality of women, you know, majority of you guys should just be a maintenance. All right. But building surplus phase is cool, but not everybody has to do it. But for the sake of the podcast, I'm going to talk to it because maybe there's somebody

39:11out there that does just want to manage. I don't care. Like I just, I want to build muscle. I want to do as fast. I want to do all the work. And then I can reveal my hard work like it's Christmas morning when I go into a fat loss. So who this is for and who it's not for. It's for you. If you want to solely focus on building lean muscle mass and spend a good majority of time doing it. It's not for you. If you have 20 plus pounds to lose first before really focusing on composition changes. Okay. And it's also not for you. Like I just alluded to mentally, it's like, you know, hard to

39:44swallow the fact that you're going to gain some weight here. So what is the goal of build? Well, the goal is to build lean muscle mass. The goal is to make your future cuts easier, just like maintenance. And the goal is to improve your metabolism and digestion. The only thing that's different between a maintenance and a bulk, obviously, is you're eating more food, but you're just going to put on more muscle fast. That's really it. That's the difference between the two. You can do what you want to do and achieve a maintenance.

40:14It's just not going to happen as fast because again, food, energy, energy, muscle, muscle building, getting you toned. Now, the changes that I want you to expect and that you need to understand that you will expect in this phase is a scale number will increase. Point blank. It will increase. And like, again, like accept that because when you accept that mentally, it's going to be easy for you to know what to expect.

40:46Like again, mentally, this is for the people that can deal with this shit. Okay. It's not for everybody. But the scale number one increase, you will have a softer body. You're going to kind of feel like all of your progress like went in the opposite direction, kind of, sort of. But like you got to keep in your mind that like you're doing this for a reason. There is an outcome that I'm going towards. And you need to remind yourself of that outcome every single day because it's going to make it

41:16easier for you to accept this phase that you're in. And so many people ask me all the time, can you speak on the mindset for women inside of a building base? That is it. It is all mindset here. You can achieve what you want in maintenance without having to have a softer body. You know, I see a number increase on the scale. It's probably a little bit above the seven pound marker. But like you're accelerating your results here. So which one do you want? It really comes down to you. Which one do you want?

41:47Do you want to just stay in maintenance? Then chill. Do that. If you want to accelerate the results, bulk. Okay. I said that multiple times. I think I drilled it into your head by now. And then another thing too, in the terms of like things that you can expect to change within your body is that muscle mass and strength will increase. You're going to feel like she-hulk here. You're going to be able to move like you're going to be able to move some weight. You know, you're going to be able to increase some PRs. That is what is awesome about both maintenance and build phase. But like you're going to feel like a badass babe here in a build phase.

42:24But it's not mentally for everybody. I just need to keep saying that. It's a phase that, you know, your clothes are going to be fitting a little bit tighter. And you would really want to have a coach here do this with you. No doubt. I don't think Cheryl could have gotten through this without the guidance of myself, holding her accountable to the outcome she was striving for. So let's talk about timeline that you would need to stay in this phase for. We'll recommend a timeline to stay in it.

42:54So I would say like, depending on where you're at in your current body composition, like if I was to go into a surplus, I would only need to be here for like three to six months minimum because of my current body composition. I have muscle. I have muscle mass. For those of you who have muscle mass, you've done all of the things, you're a veteran in this space, three to six months going up into a lean bulk, into a little bit of a surplus. But if you're somebody who wants to accelerate the process of building muscle and like you're

43:28like, you know, cut, reverse, working through maintenance and then having the end goal of being up in a lean bulk, do minimum six months. Like if you're somebody who wants to put on some muscle and you're serious about building the muscle, do minimum. And then like upwards of like a year to two years. Like there's some people who, which probably would speak more to like competitors here. That get on stage, you know, feedback from judges is like you have to put on more muscle.

43:59A smart competitor would not try to compete in the next six months. A smart competitor would take that time off, build the muscle, do the work, take a year, year and a half, then come back and step on stage because you will build muscle in that timeframe if you do this the right way. Now, what I mean by that, if you do this the right way, lack of consistency or slow response here. Like if you're not consistent, if you're like overeating and like you're going way beyond

44:30your surplus or like you're not eating enough and you're not because it's like a it's a full time job up here in building. Like you're eating a lot of food here. And it's like you got to make sure you're doing that consistently throughout your days to acquire the results you want to acquire. But like if you're not having consistency and you're not abiding to your plan, you it will require more time from you. It's the same thing as what I spoke to in a cut phase is like if you're inconsistent, inconsistent results will happen.

45:00Therefore, an elongated delayed response time that you get to the result that you want to have. If you are consistent, if you show up, then you will experience the results you want in say a year's timeframe. Okay, I just need to put that there. And again, that's pretty much encompasses all of the building phases, like what you can expect, the goal, the timeline, who it's for, who it's not for. But it's not for everybody. It is a mental game here. And just as I said, the main difference between a maintenance and a bulking phase is like you're

45:34eating more food and like the ability for you then therefore to put on more muscle is highly likely to happen. Okay. So man, that encompasses really other than what a retraining your metabolism consists of, which is just another topic for another day. That encompasses the phases of changing your body composition and how you will have to go through multiple of those in order to achieve, you know, the ultimate goal of having your body

46:07looked the way you wanted to, you will achieve cool things in a cut, you will achieve cool things in reverse, you will achieve cool results in maintenance, maintenance, you're going to do and build the muscle. And then you're going to want to see the muscle, you want to want to drop the body fat, you're going to want to reveal the work you put in. So you're going to go into a cut, that would be your second one. And then you're going to do that again. And then you're going to and then the more that you do that dudes, ladies, dude, your

46:39body just adapts. It just adapts. And you're going to be like, five years into this. And your body if you do this right way, you do multiple things of it. I'm saying it because I'm literally speaking from experience. Your body won't look the same from where you started, you will put up more muscle and you will, this is how I maintain a six pack year round. No joke. I am so serious and unbelievably ridiculous, frequently consistent with this majority of

47:11the time. And I'm going through multiple phases of this. And I teach the women to do this. And side of work, do all of them do it? I will say majority of them do. The ones that don't, don't take this shit seriously. But if you so badly want to change your body competition, if you so badly want to keep to your word and build the confidence in yourself, do this multiple times. All right. I hope you guys enjoyed that podcast. I think that was by far one of my favorite ones that I have recorded to date.

47:46And it's a long one. Beautiful. Perfect. Well, guys, again, if you want any help doing this, I mean, it's a lot to unpack. I'm a professional in this. I understand this. My life's work is around this. It is my passion to share this information with you guys and to help women do it along their journey. You guys have your own responsibilities, your own jobs, your own life to worry about. That adding this on to know you're doing it the right way, you could totally do it. No, like I don't doubt any of you guys, but if you want somebody to do it with you and just

48:20to tell you what you need to do and you just do the work and you follow the plan, check out Warrior Bay, man. This is like all of my life's work and like love and passion is in our programs and our coaches are doing the same thing as well. All right. So links are below this podcast. But again, I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next one. 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.

48:51And 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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