What Healthy Living Means to Me

00:00Real quick, if you want to learn more about macronutrients and understand that methodology on how they can help you achieve your body composition goals of changing the way your body looks, I put together a free 15-minute training where I dive into macronutrients and how you can control your body for the rest of your life with them. That link is in the description below. Click on it after listening to the show today. This is another diet I'm doing. I'm doing the macronutrient diet. It's like I wouldn't focus on it as a diet. I would focus on it. Like, I am developing a better relationship with food. And by doing that, I am tracking my food to understand what I am eating, to understand what is going into my body, to understand how much I am eating throughout the day.

00:43And it just gives such a profound awareness to the amount of food that you are eating and what you are consuming on a daily basis versus you not knowing that. And a lot of people don't know that. What's going on, you guys? Welcome 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.

01:14I am your host, Nikki Stott. And welcome to episode number 74, where I'm going to share with you guys what living a healthy lifestyle means to me. And this was another question that was dropped in the question box that I placed on my story every once in a while, asking you guys what questions you would love to hear answered on this podcast that are worthy of long answers to bring to the show. And this was one of them. And I thought this was such a great question because this is personal to me and the journey that I have been on over the eight years of my fitness transformation fitness journey.

01:57And some of you guys may resonate with this, some of you guys may not. So, but I'm pretty sure that like 95% of you guys will resonate with this. And yeah, so let's just dive right into it. So this actually was like, I just shared on my story, or not my story, on my feed, I think it was like last week or week and a half ago, my before and after picture of when I was in like one extreme to like, like back in 2018 to like a whole nother, the whole opposite side of that,

02:34which is like a more balanced approach. And I also feel like my whole journey and like where I'm at now is just continuing to evolve even more. And so after like this recent contemplation of like, and thoughts of like where I was in that one extreme, and I've shared this, you know, when I was, I shared in recent podcasts when I was hospitalized, it was, you know, backed behind this photo that is on my Instagram. And where I was in that time period of my life. It was just such an extreme measure to be, to be taking with my body, striving towards the goal of like being a competitor and stepping on stage.

03:13And, you know, I want all the shows that I was a part of, and I beat the pros and I became and had this title of the number one women's physique athlete, natural women's physique athlete in the OSUB Federation in 2018. But like, dude, to get there, like I shared with you guys, and I shared in that post and shared in recent podcasts, it was up. It was insane. I look back now because my whole approach now is completely different. But that was one extreme. And you know what, I'm grateful for that journey that I had gone on, because I was able to feel what that felt like and experience what that extreme was like.

03:57And I know that some of you guys may not be competitors, but have that type of extreme mentality. And you're doing it in other ways when it comes to nutrition, when it comes to your fitness journey. So I get it. And I resonate with it. And but now, and like more contemplating on this, like, what does a healthy lifestyle mean to me? What does a healthy life mean to me? Is that now I'm here, like what? No, like five years later. And I have a way more balanced approach to my entire fitness and nutrition lifestyle.

04:33I am not as extreme. I am not pushing myself to go into the gym six days a week to do two cardio sessions and to eat 900 calories a day. I am now, you know, training four days a week doing no equipment cardio. Like I'm not getting on a treadmill or a StairMaster or an elliptical. I'm just focusing on getting out and doing walks every single day with my puppy Maverick and hitting like over 10,000 steps a day.

05:04Like that's my main focus when it comes to like cardio. And then when it comes to nutrition, it's like I have tracked macros for the last, you know, I've tried, I've been the whole nutrition eating right for the last eight years. But when it comes to really focusing on macros, it's been about five, five and a half years. And I have learned so much in that time period on macronutrients and how, you know, I've developed a skill set when it comes to looking at food and being able to know what it is because of being so consistent with tracking macros for the first few years or really getting into that ballgame.

05:46And weighing my food and, you know, knowing and learning portion sizes and knowing and learning what is on my plate and what, you know, this food group consists of. This is protein. This is carb. This is a fat. And now I'm at the stage of my journey where like I don't need to track every single day. And I know this is like an evolution to your journey too as well. And I've shared this in on my Instagram. So if you guys follow me, I've shared this. Inside of our Warrior Babe community.

06:18It's like, you know, when you're first getting started, macronutrients is hands down the best thing that you could focus on because it's not. And I wouldn't focus on it as like this is another diet I'm doing. I'm doing the macronutrient diet. It's like I wouldn't focus on it as a diet. I would focus on it like I am developing a better relationship with food. And by doing that, I am tracking my food to understand what I am eating, to understand what is going into my body, to understand how much I am eating throughout the day.

06:53And it just gives such a profound awareness to the amount of food that you are eating and what you are consuming on a daily basis versus you not knowing that. And a lot of people don't know that. And a lot of people come in and being like, I have no idea what I'm eating. I am not tracking. I eat like, you know, this, this, this, and this. And I was there, too, at the beginning of my journey. I had to pull out a whole log for the coach when I first started getting into bodybuilding. And I was like, I thought I ate healthy, but I was not eating at all.

07:27Right. And so getting into the world of macronutrients, it's not another diet. It's a skill set that can serve you for the rest of your life if you treat it as such. If you come in with that mentality and you, you, you live with that mentality as you are embarking on that journey of learning how to track macronutrients and stop looking at it as like a chore or like, I have to do this. Or it's another diet like that's just, that's just going to set you up for failure looking at it like that. So now this to this day, really in like the last, I would say year, have I not tracked every single day?

08:05And this is the way I go about it. It's like maybe I do track three, four days out of seven days of the week. And then and I'm putting myself in a deficit during those days. But, you know, the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I am living in maintenance. And guys, like getting here and remind you, this is like what a healthy lifestyle means to me. Like getting to this point, you have to do all of the things that I just said. You have to track macronutrients. You have to go down that journey for a couple of years until you really, really, really understand this world.

08:41Because you can't get to intuitive eating, in my opinion, without knowing food and knowing portion sizes and being able to be like, okay, in my brain, I've had about, you know, upwards of X amount of protein today. And you can only get that by consistently tracking macros, by consistently weighing your food, by consistently looking at food. You know, when you're weighing your food, your eyeball, your brain is looking at this and looking at the grams and you're learning. You're embedding this into your brain that this is what this looks like.

09:15Right. And so where I'm at today, like I wouldn't be able to do what I am doing right now successfully without all of these other steps. Hey, guys, love so much that you guys are listening to this podcast. If you ever want to have the video version of this, which usually has more effects and all that good stuff for those of you who are visual learners, check it out. YouTube channel Warrior Babe, if that's what you like. Either way, keep enjoying the show. And so when it comes to maybe like, you know, three or four of the other days of the week, I am still thinking in my brain, okay, I've had X amount of protein.

09:53Or my meals are very similar to what I would be eating if I had been tracking, right? Like I really don't veer much off of my normal meals. Okay. So when I'm in that deficit, I am just way more consistent with that number that is on the scale. Like I am down to the gram, right? I'm down to the ounce. Because that's what is necessary when you are in a deficit, when you're trying to lose body fat.

10:24That is what's necessary. Now, I say that for you guys who are looking to lose body fat. You have to consistently track down to the gram. You have to be aware of that kind of stuff. But for me, I live in maintenance majority of my time, right? Like for maybe 10, 9, 8 months out of the year, I am in maintenance. And maybe those other ones I'm playing around with like a little bit of a deficit to put myself into like a mini cut. These are all things that I have now learned years into my journey, you guys.

10:55So I don't want you guys being like, oh, it's a mini cut. I want to go into a mini cut. And you're like three months into your journey. Like, no, it's not going to happen. Or unless you're working with a coach that can, you know, knows if you're if this is the right place that you can go into. And we're strategically working together to do it. But anyway, so you really like I know my worry waves are listening to me right now. And guys, look, listen, if you are one year into your journey, two years into your journey, this kind of stuff really doesn't apply to you until you have really mastered the art of macronutrients, right?

11:27Like I think of the babes I know, like I can name off Ashley Hunter. I can name off Cheryl Beaver. I can name off Brandy McKibben. I can name off Lisa Brothers. I can name off so many women that have been doing this for years that could dabble into what I'm saying right now. And so. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause?

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12:29Take 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. Going back to where I'm at, right? Living this healthy lifestyle. This is what it looks like to me. It's like majority of the time I am eating the same thing. Okay. And it's just maybe I'm not tracking. And so I'm not as consistent with the number down to the gram on like the three, four days of the week.

13:05But when I do track, I'm down to the gram and I'm in a deficit. And so this is my world of maintenance, right? Because I can intuitively eat and then I can track and then I can intuitively eat and I can track. And this has really been a nice level for me to maintain my body, maintain my physique, maintain my leanness and feel good that I don't have to worry about tracking every single day. Right. And I want every one of you guys listening to this podcast to be able to get to this level.

13:36Like this is the next level of your journey. And I know that my journey is just continuing to evolve from here. Right. Um, so, you know, there is there. I know you guys are like, I don't want to track for the rest of my life. You don't have the track for the rest of your life. But guess what? You have to put in the work to get to that point. And it's all the things I just said. Um, and then there was another story that I wanted to share with you guys. What, you know, this is all embodied in what a healthy lifestyle means to me. So it's the crumble cookie story.

14:09You guys all know crumble, man. If you don't, every single week, crumble cookie. It is a franchise store throughout the U.S. I think there are throughout the U.S. And they have a new menu of flavors of cookies every single week. And, oh, man, crumble just has a place in my heart. This is a genius invention. Um, so I was with a friend who was really trying to focus on, you know, all of the clean foods and only having, um, clean foods day to day.

14:43And I'm like, dude, yeah, like I totally support that. I've been there, done that. Like, you know, they're just trying to really develop the habit of eating healthy food every single day. And I'm like, yo, go do your thing. Go do your thing. But I am not personally aligned with that and how I see my relationship with food nowadays. Right? Like, this person's just trying to stop, uh, the overindulgences of, uh, eating late at

15:13night or, you know, having, you know, uh, eating things that just aren't in alignment with where they are at right now and what they're trying to do with their body. And I'm like, dude, I totally freaking support that. But their thing is, is that they're just trying to eat healthy foods every single day and we're not, and, and eliminating the sweets. And I'm like, I'm here personally aligned with this aspect of my journey where like, I am going to allow myself to have that food in moderation.

15:43So, you know, I'll go and there's an option, a crumble where you can get one cookie, four cookies or six cookies. And in the last, I didn't get it last week. Um, I'm definitely going to get it this week, but prior to last week, I had it for the, for the previous three weeks from there. And the first week, it just started off with one cookie. And I think I only ate half of that cookie and then I threw the rest of the way. Then the second week, uh, it was the four pack cookies. And guys, like, I felt, I felt sick.

16:19I, I, it's not that I ate too much because I ended up throwing away, I think a good vast majority of the cookies, but, um, I, I indulged a little bit more than I should have. And I'm aware of that, right? I'm aware that, um, this doesn't feel good to my body. This doesn't feel good how I feel the next day. Like I'm, you know, I'm slower. I can't think right. Um, and then really just the moral of the story is like, I am allowing myself to have these things without jeopardizing my results, without jeopardizing, you know, having to restrict

16:55foods from, from, from what I, from my everyday, what I want. Right. And I know a lot of you guys feel this way too, but you gotta be aware of these things. You, a lot of people are not consciously aware when they go and wanting to have some type of thing, like a cookie or ice cream, all of these things, um, that at a level where they made me feel uncomfortable or it's too much, like some people just keep going. And then, you know, you know, when you finish it, I always joke with my word, but it was I'm like, don't be an asshole. Right. And what I mean by that is like, don't eat until you're overly stuffed.

17:28And like, you're not going to be able to do that a hundred percent of the time, but some of the times you'll be able to recognize, Oh, I'm starting to not feel like, I'm starting to feel good. I'm starting to feel pretty full. And so I don't need the rest of this. And so that, in that moment, like I said, you're not going to be like that a hundred percent of the time, but in that moment, I ate a little bit too much, but I ended up throwing away the rest of it. Um, and then this third week we got the six pack. Cause I, my, my friend and I shared this, right.

18:00And I had only one half of the cookie the first night. And then I was allowing myself to have some pieces throughout the rest of the days. And, and guys, and I say this, like, I, I know I've talked to women that are also in this phase of their journey where they either travel or they aren't tracking every single day. And, but they're, but they're really eating things every single day that they feel like they could have never had. And now they're overindulging in those things.

18:30And this is a part of your journey where you just have to be so self-aware that, uh, you know, finishing this full bag of chips just isn't what I would typically normally do. Right. And no, just because it's there in front of you and you feel like, oh, you, now you can have it doesn't mean you can. It's like, you need to be able to, this is where discipline really comes into play. It's like, okay, I'm only going to have, you know, a handful of this because I'm thinking serving size.

19:01I'm intuitively aware of that. And so I don't need the rest of it. You put it away. This is another disciplinary act that you learn in this phase of your journey, because this is where intuitive eating can really get fucked up. And it's not intuitive eating. It's you just being an asshole and eating whatever the fuck you want. Okay. And then now we're back to just square one of your journey X amount of years ago. Um, so you can't allow those bad habits to resurface and take control. You need to form a better habit in this situation that you're in that still calls a disciplinary

19:34action of you to stop eating, uh, when you know that you've had enough of X substance. And so with the cookie, like I only had to have a cookie. My friend ended up eating one of those whole cookie and we saw each other the next day and I was like, oh, I'm good. And he, he was like, oh man, I'm so like foggy. I'm so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm so like X, Y, and Z. And I'm like, well, how much of those cookies did you eat? And they were like, I eat this. Right. And so, uh, and then I ended up only having like another half or half of a cookie.

20:08And then I ended up throwing it away. I, there was like another full cookie. We split the six to three and I ended up not even eating a full one of those cookies. And so that's what a healthy lifestyle means to me. Right. Like at this phase of my journey, I don't need to overindulge in things that maybe I haven't had since the beginning of my journey or act it in a way before I started this entire journey where I would overindulge, where I would eat whatever I wanted. And you guys know from listening to this entire podcast that I, and this is a perfect example,

20:43I love sweets. And for a phase of my life and my journey, I cut those things out completely. And I, that's not the type of lifestyle that I want to live when it comes to my relationship with food. And when it comes to thinking about what healthy living looks like for me at this moment, like I said, I feel it's continuing to evolve. And there's some aspects of now when I'm recognizing in my journey is like, this has this amount of ingredients in it.

21:13And I actually don't want this because I can't read half. And I've had this along my journey, but now it's just getting louder and louder. It's like, I can't read half of this shit. I want like natural, clean, all, like I have a grass fed, grass finished, whatever, meats, right? I get from butcher box now. So I'm becoming more aware of like the contents of my food too, as well. The quality of my food, which I have spoken to that, but it's, I, it's like majority of

21:45my food now is coming from that. Um, and that's going to continue to evolve, but just taking it back a notch, this is what healthy living looks like to me personally in my phase of my journey and where I'm at right now. And I am allowing myself things that I would have had at the beginning of my journey, like these cookies, like every single week, but in a balanced respect to where I have the disciplinary

22:15action to be like, this is enough. Right. And you know, every single night I tell you guys, I've said this before, I have chocolate. I've dumped chocolate at the end of the night, every single night. And this is what balanced lifestyle means to me. This is what a healthy lifestyle means to me. And this is the respect of food, right? So that's all the respect of food. I think you guys understand it. Like that's just what it means to me. I'm not going to restrict things that I want. I'm not going to say no to the things that I want. I'm going to have it in a balanced, moderate way where I still can know that I'm hitting

22:51my protein, know that I'm hitting my carbs on the days I'm intuitively eating and know when to stop if I'm allowing myself to have treats. And like, that's an evolution aspect. Like some of you guys are not there and like you're far away from being there and that's okay. But let me tell you that where you're at right now and the journey that you are on, if you consistently keep working at things, that's your evolution, right? Like for me, it was the beginning of my journey, which was like literally sweets, everything,

23:24barely eating in my day to then getting into the extreme of bodybuilding and having such a regimented strict meal plan, X, Y, and Z. Oh, like this is all I could eat throughout my day. Then it evolved into macros and tracking macros and being really diligent with every single day of tracking and following that to a T, which I loved. And I think you guys, a lot of you guys think of that as a chore and I'm like, no, I want to get to like where I don't have to do that every single day.

23:56And now here I am and I don't have to do that every single day. And it's such a, it's such a beautiful evolution to me. It's, and to me, it's like a beautiful evolution of like the relationship that I have with food and how I know how to fuel my body. And like being able to have that and being able to master that type of skillset, it is an absolute game changer for you, for your relationship with food, but also for your health. And for the longevity of your, your body's lifespan.

24:31It's like, you think about that. I'm like, I know how to eat right. And so I know that like X, Y, and Z is good. I know how much I'm eating in a day, even if I'm not tracking. And like, I know that I can do this within the confines of allowing myself the food that I want, but also establishing how much I should be eating in a day and then working on top of that. And like these two things muster together for the longevity of my life.

25:03Like I am set. I am primed. Like I am golden. And now it's going to continue to evolve. Right. And that's with food. Exercise is another thing. I went from six days extreme through two days of cardio or two times cardio per day, six, six training sessions in a week for, for strength training, three, three times in the gym a day. And there are three, you know, you know what I'm saying to four days a week, four days a week and 10K steps a day, 10 to 12K.

25:35The one thing that I say I could do better on it and I'm maintaining my results. Like you guys follow me along my journey. Like my body has maintained so well. And I'm so proud of that because of all the things I've gone through and have experienced and have, and have, uh, trialed and arrowed with, with, and have, uh, explored and have, and all the things I've tried, like it has led me to where I am today. And this is what it means to me. The one thing I could get better at is stretching. I'm sure I'm making, I hope I made it.

26:07You guys all laugh because I know a lot of you guys can resonate with that one. Stretching is my nemesis. I don't do it as much as I should. And I know that that's a part of healthy joints, healthy, uh, being flexible, mobility, all the things that is a pillar to the longevity of my body too, as well. And I need to, I need to get better at that. But all in all, you know, and I still do strength training. Um, that is so important to me. You guys know that strength training is, uh, you know, to fuel your muscles and to build

26:38your muscles and to make them strong is like the organ of longevity to your life. Um, and the more that you have, the stronger you're going to be, but stretching is a big component to that. So that needs to be added to, to my, to my thing. And I know I've been saying that for a long time and sometimes it happens. Sometimes you guys have been saying, I know I need to eat better and it takes three years for you to actually start doing that. Right? So this is all encompassing of what a healthy life means to me and where I'm at in my journey. And I know it's going to continue to evolve. Um, and so I hope you guys enjoy that.

27:09I hope you guys maybe resonated with some points. Maybe you're at that point. I know I spoke to a couple of you guys who listened to this podcast and you guys are there. It's just trusting that you can do what I just said. You totally can. It's just being able to trust that you can. Um, and you know, trial and erroring it. Like, I'm not saying that now my intuitiveness is, is, is, uh, prime. It is prime now because I've been doing it for a year or so, but there has been trial, there was trial and error at the beginning of that. Again, this is what a healthy lifestyle means to me. And I hope that you guys enjoyed this podcast and I will see you in the next one.

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This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.