148: 10 Macro Myths BUSTED

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps after Babies radio episode number 148.

Hello and welcome to Biceps after Babies radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PRs. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife, and mom of four.  Each week, my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise mindset, personal development, and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel, and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you, my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in, now let’s jump into today’s episode.

 

Let’s bust some myths  0:49 

Hey, Hey, Hey, welcome back to another episode of biceps after babies radio. I am your host, Amber Brueseke. And today's podcast episode is going to be a fun one. And that is because we're gonna be busting some myths. That's right. All those things that people say why do people say the weirdest things? I don't know where some of these myths get started but people say the craziest things. And just because somebody says it doesn't mean it's true, right? We know that in a lot of areas of our life and we're going to be applying it to your fitness journey. So I am going to be busting 10 myths that I hear over and over and over again. And maybe you believe some of these, or maybe you've heard some of these, and you've wondered if they were actually true. Let me help you out today. And I am going to bust them for you. Because let's be real, reaching your goals. Your fitness journey is hard enough, without making it harder with some of these myths. And you're going to sense a theme. As I go through each of these myths and bust them, you're going to start to sense a theme. And I want you to see if you can pull out what that theme is, and then we'll kind of revisit it at the end of the episode. So without further ado, we're going to dive into Myth number one. 

 

Myth No. 1 You can’t count macros if you’re a vegetarian or a vegan 2:20 

Myth number one is that you can't count macros, if you are a vegan, or a vegetarian. Or I mean really, honestly, you can just insert any sort of restriction here, oh, I'm, you know, I can't eat a certain food or Oh, I'm gluten intolerant, or I can't eat dairy. So you know, I'm going to talk about vegan and vegetarianism, because that's what I hear a lot, but you really can just insert whatever dietary restriction that you have yourself. So the thing that I need you to understand is that macro counting is not one thing. Okay? It isn't one way of eating. Macro counting is about optimizing your diet, within the lifestyle that you want and or are forced to live with. Right some people, especially when we start talking about things like celiac disease, or we start talking about, you know, dairy intolerance, maybe it's not a choice so much as you know, your body doesn't feel good, or you suffer from inflammation when you eat certain foods. So whether it's a choice of foods that you want to eat, or whether it really is, you know, medically you need to eat this way. You can use macro counting to be able to optimize what you are eating. So macro counting is not one thing. It is about optimizing your diet, what you're eating within the lifestyle that you want to live. 

 

Pay attention to your protein intake 3:59

So the reason I get where this myth comes from, like the reason people think this is because traditionally, when people count macros, it's typically a higher protein diet, which can be more challenging to attain as a vegetarian. Many of the vegetarian options are higher in carbs, and lower in protein than something like meat. Meat is usually almost all protein and very little carbs and vegetarian sources are typically more carbs alongside the protein. And so it can be more challenging to get protein in as a vegan owner and or vegetarian. However, if you're a vegan and vegetarian, you still need protein, your body still needs protein. And so whether or not you're paying attention to it, your body does need you to consume protein. And so one thing is so important to understand is that there's not one right way to use macro accounting, there's not one right way to, you know how much protein that you have to consume. Again, remember the definition that I gave you. Macro counting is about optimizing your diet within the lifestyle that you want to live. If you want to live a vegan and or vegetarian lifestyle, will you have a more optimized diet if you're paying attention to the foods that you are eating? Of course you will, and you will likely feel a lot better. Vegans and vegetarians should be paying attention to their protein, whether or not you are counting macros. And that is because like I said, oftentimes, if you're not paying attention to it, you are likely under consuming protein. If you're not being intentional about it, you probably aren't getting enough protein for your body. And so there are many vegans and vegetarians who don't count macros, but they do pay attention to protein, because it is a very important part and an essential part of your diet. 

 

Analogy of the round hole and the square peg 6:03

So may use this analogy that I think will really hit home. And it applies to this myth that you can't count macros, if you don't eat dairy, if you don't want to eat protein bars, if you are a vegan, or a vegetarian, or any sort of  dietary restrictions. And it's this idea of having a round hole and a square peg. So you have this round hole and this square peg and you try to fit the peg into the hole, you are going to get frustrated, if you like keep trying over and over and over to fit this square peg into this round hole. It doesn't fit. And you can sit there, you can get frustrated. And you can say oh, well, you know that peg, it just needs to become rounder, we just need to change the peg and try to fit it in. Instead of doing that. What have we just recognized? Hey, we don't necessarily need to change the peg, let's go find a different hole, like let's adjust the hole so that the peg doesn't have to change. And that is what I really want to communicate to you is that instead of sitting there being frustrated and trying to fit yourself as a vegan or vegetarian into some idealized round hole that is macro accounting, what have you adjusted the whole to fit you, which is going to produce better results.

 

Utilize the tool of  macros counting 6:03

When you stop thinking about the right way to count macros, and start thinking about the most effective way to make it work for you, that is when everything changes. That is when macro counting becomes so powerful for you. This is what I teach inside of Macros 101, how to utilize the tool of macro counting. So it's effective? Yes! We want effective, we want results. And so that it fits the unique individual that you are none of us are the same. Why would some diet that is the same for everybody be the answer? It isn't. And that's the truth. And maybe that feels less cut and dry. Right? It feels? Oh, well it's less certain. It's not just these rules that I need to follow? Yes, it is. It's less cut and dry. But is it more enjoyable and sustainable to view things that way? Absolutely. And it's arguably less if you're sitting using a wall, it's less effective, whatever, arguably less effective, done over a long period of time is better than, you know, going balls to the walls most optimal for an unmaintainable short start. Maybe you've heard that the same consistency beats intensity every time. I want you to remember that as you get started on this journey. This is about, you know, optimizing for you. It's not about throwing everything at the wall, changing everything in your diet, and trying to get results as fast as possible. Because that's intensity and we think intensity is going to get us somewhere. But in reality intensity goes hard and then burns out. We don't want intensity, what we want is consistency. And that is how that happens by making macro counting work for you. So if you are vegan and vegetarian, you absolutely can use macro counting as a tool, you can and should be understanding how much protein your body needs and working with it. Now that doesn't mean that it's going to look the same for you as it is for somebody else who eats meat. And that's really important. It's a tool. It's going to be applied uniquely to you as a vegan or vegetarian. Also, if you are a vegan or vegetarian, I do recommend going back and listening to Episode 65, where I talked about my experience going on a plant based diet, and they give you some information about how to make macro counting work for you if that's something that you want to do as well.

 

Myth No. 2 Macro counting is a new fad diet 10:23 

Okay, number two, Myth number two. Macro counting is a new fad diet. And I hear this one a lot. In fact, it drives me nuts when I go, and I'm like googling something and I put anything about macro counting. And in the results, it's like, the macro counting diet, or the macro diet drives me nuts. And I get why, like people market it that way. Like I get it. People understand that. People are very familiar with diets they're very familiar with, there's a certain way to do things. And I get why where that comes from. But here's what I need you to understand. Macronutrients are the basis of any food that you've eaten your entire life. You've eaten some sort of macros every day of your life. And if you weren't counting macros, you just weren't paying attention to it. So is it true that macro counting as a tool has become more mainstream in the recent past? Yes, that is true. And I think the reason is that it is a couple fold. One, I think for a long time, there just wasn't really any desire from the general population to understand nutrition on a deeper level. Many people just want to be told what to do. And for many years, that was what people wanted, they just wanted to be told what to do. And so what happened, we have all these diets that just essentially tell people what to do. Now, macro counting has been used for a long time. But it was mostly in the bodybuilding world in the fitness competitive world. And it's only been more recently that it's really made its way to the general population, as a tool that's been used by you know, someone like me, who has no desire to step on a stage and compete in a fitness show. So it's definitely become more mainstream in the recent past. But unlike other diets, or even fad, you know, fad diets where they rise in popularity, and then fall, because people try them out. And they are unsustainable, and they don't actually work long term. Again, the basis of macro counting as a tool is based in science. And in the fact that macronutrients aren't going anywhere, like they're not going anywhere, right, you're going to be eating macros for the rest of your life. And so as we start to understand, again, I think people are getting smarter and wanting to understand this a little bit more. But as we understand that each macronutrient does something different in your body, it makes sense, it makes sense that by paying attention to these amounts, would be more optimal than not paying attention. Right?

 

Macro counting is not a diet 13:30 

So the truth is that macro counting is not a diet. However, many people turn it into one. And that's really what I want. You know, one of your takeaways is that macro counting is not a diet, and you can turn it into one. But that doesn't sound the same as saying that it is a diet. But what I see a lot of people doing is turning macro counting into just another diet, where there's a right way to do it and there's a wrong way to do it. And you have to have this much protein and you have to do this and this is the way it has to look. And no wonder people think it's a fad diet, because it is in that way, like when you're doing macro counting that way, then yeah, it is a fad diet. But that doesn't mean it has to be. And that's one of the things that I'm really big about and what you'll find as different in my coaching and in the way that I teach clients is let's look at it as a tool and figure out how to utilize this tool specifically for you. You know, for you and your body that's going to be different from your sister's body. That's going to be different from my body. Let's figure out how to utilize this tool in the best way for you.

 

Myth No. 3 You have to hit your macros perfectly in order to see results 14:38 

Okay, Myth number three. You have to hit your macros perfectly in order to see results. I want to tell you that I have coached thousands like literally thousands of women. And I've asked a lot of them what the secret to their success is. Guess what? I have never, in all of the years that I've been coaching, had a single woman tell me that perfection was her secret. That perfection was the reason that she got the results that she got. So when we start talking about being perfect with your macros, I get it. Many of you think that like, the more perfect you are, the faster that you're going to get results, and you want fast results, like I get it. We love fast results. But if that's you, have you ever considered that by expecting perfection, you actually get slower results. Because when perfection is not attained, you swing far the other way. You beat yourself up, you get frustrated, you tell yourself that you're never going to be successful, and then you end up quitting. And what is the only way? The only way to guarantee that you won't get results? To quit. That's the one way that's the one way to guarantee zero results is if you quit. Instead, what if you shift your focus from perfection to a question, what is my next best choice?What would happen if you did that, instead of expecting perfection? Instead, when that came up, you said, What's my next best choice? What's the next best choice that I can make? 

 

Balance and consistency and not perfection 16:42 

Now, of course, there's a balance. If your macros are all over the map, the real problem is that it's not that it's going to inherently reduce your results. That's actually not the real problem. That's what a lot of people think they're like, oh, if my macros are all over the map, it's going to inhibit my results. That's not the real problem. The real problem is that you will not have accurate feedback from your body, which makes it more challenging to make data driven adjustments with your macros. So of course, there's a balance, we're not looking for perfection. And we're looking for some sort of consistency so that we can get accurate feedback and data from your body to be able to make adjustments. Now, if you're somebody who is sitting there, feeling like Oh, it's so hard for me, that consistency is so hard Amber, I have always really struggled with being consistent. That is likely one of two reasons.

 

Being brand new 17:50 

Reason number one would be that you're brand new. And you're just on the initial learning curve. Everybody goes through it. Everybody who counts, macros knows that there is an initial learning curve, you're learning a new skill. Nobody hopped on a bike at five years old, and just like rode it, nobody ever really had to learn the skill of riding the bike. And the first couple times you fall down, and it hurts, and you don't do it right. And you know, you don't have your balance yet. But eventually, everybody learns to ride the bike. Some people may take a little bit longer, some people a little quicker. But there is some sort of learning curve to riding a bike. And the same thing, there's a learning curve to understanding and figuring out the skill of tracking macros, and hitting your macros. So if you're brand new, and it's feeling difficult, and you're struggling with consistency, Well, welcome to the club. There's nothing wrong with that, that is part of the process. So you can just kind of pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that you're in the learning stages. And that that consistency will likely be developed as you develop that skill of being able to track and count macros. 

 

Experiencing self-sabotage 19:00 

Reason number two, that you may be struggling with consistency is that you're experiencing some sort of self sabotage. Self-sabotage, is when you know what to do but you don't execute, right you have your macros set, you don't have to hit them. It's not a matter of not knowing how to do it. But even though you know how you don't actually do it. And this is where most women are. And that's because knowledge is as much as you think it is. Knowledge is not the key to the results that you want. If it was everybody who had the same knowledge would be getting the same results. So we know that that's not true. Your results are not a matter of the knowledge that you have, but or the application of that knowledge. And what happens with a lot of women is that they have the knowledge but they're not actually applying it consistently. And that's what we call self sabotage. 

 

How effective coaching can help self-sabotage 19:55 

And if that's you and that's something that you've experienced, which I would say it's a majority of the women who are struggling in their journey, then that is solved through effective coaching. Self sabotage, because they are blind spots, your self sabotage is blind spots for most people, meaning you can't see it to help yourself figure out why you're self sabotaging. And that is where effective coaching comes into play. That's why we hire coaches to help with our blind spots. And so effective coaching like we do inside of Macros 101 is how you get rid of self sabotage. It's how you overcome self sabotage so that you are able to develop that consistency that we need in order to receive feedback from your body and get the results that you want.

 

Come and join Macros 101 and be on its waitlist  20:47  

If you're not on the waitlist for Macros 101, this is a PS, definitely get on the waitlist, we open doors in about a month, a month from now we'll be opening doors for the last time in 2021 we won't be able to open doors until March, I think it's going to be March, I'm going to say spring, spring of 2022. So if you have been wanting to get coached, if you've been wanting to learn more about how to customize a plan to you, how to use macro counting as a tool, how to make sure that it is utilized uniquely for your body and your goals and your lifestyle. That's what we do inside of Macros 101. And if you're not on the waitlist yet, head to bicepsafterbabies.com/waitlist and you can get on the waitlist and you will be the first to know when we opened doors to Macros 101, it will be August 30th.

 

Myth No. 4 You have to eat over 140 grams of protein to be successful 21:40  

Myth number four, you have to eat over X number, I'm gonna say like 140 grams of protein to be successful. Higher protein tends to be a hallmark of counting macros and for good reason, right? Higher protein allows you to maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle loss. So it preserves your lean muscle tissue. It also helps you to stay satiated. Nobody likes to be hungry, I don't like to be hungry. And having consuming higher amounts of protein allows you to not be as hungry while you are creating a caloric deficit. But that does not mean that the only way to be successful is to eat 140 grams of protein or you know, whatever number you have in your head. Especially if you are sacrificing joy, lifestyle, you know food preferences in order to get there. 

 

Balance between effective and enjoyable 22:46 

I want you to consider that there is this balance between effective and enjoyable. So I talk a lot about this and I dive deep into this inside of Macros 101. But understand that we want our plan, we want the process to be effective. Of course, we want to see results. I'm all about seeing results. I'm all about hitting your goals. That's what I'm about. And we want it to be enjoyable. Because we know, in order for it to be effective, it really has to be enjoyable, especially if you want it to be effective for longer than six months, or 12 months. You know, if you don't care, if you just want to hit a goal weight, and then yo yo back up, then by all means you can do whatever you want. Do whatever crash diet you want to do. But if you're someone whose success to you looks like not having to diet in the future because you can maintain the results that you've gotten, then it's all about having that balance between something that's enjoyable and also effective. So then we can start to apply it to this myth and ask ourselves the question, how much protein are you able to consume that's actually enjoyable and attainable for you? And that's where we can start. Now over time, maybe could you learn to eat more protein? Could you learn to include more protein in your diet? Probably. But especially as you're starting out, set yourself up for success right out of the gate. And you know, maybe consider moving yourself towards optimal. Always within the back of your mind recognizing that this is a lifestyle. We're not getting on stage. We're not like, we don't want to just hit a goal weight one day and then never see that number again. If you're listening to this podcast, that likely means that you're somebody who you are in it for the long haul, like you want sustainable long term results. I doubt that there's anybody here who's like yes, I want to go on a yo-yo diet. It's not usually the people that I attract. I attract the people who want to change their body in a healthy way. They want to lose fat or gain muscle in a long term sustainable way not in a crushed it in this type of way.

 

Myth No. 5 You don't/can't eat nutrient dense food while counting macros 25:03 

Alright, number five. Myth number five is that you don't/can't eat nutrient dense food while counting macros. So this is a funny one to me. But there is a perception that you have to eat a bunch of protein bars, or a bunch of protein powder, or a bunch of processed food in order to count macros. This myth may come from the fact that it is easier to scan a barcode to enter something into, you know, My Fitness Pal, it's easier to scan a barcode than it is to go look something up in the database. And so, you know, for that reason, sometimes people feel like, Oh, well, it's so much harder to eat nutrient dense food, because it's harder to track. It also may come from the fact that people are trying to consume more protein, and they lack a variety of protein sources. And so their default becomes, you know, bars or protein powder. And they feel like they can't hit those protein numbers. Without those, you know, not natural sources of protein, or more, you know, processed sources of protein. I think the third reason this happens is because, and I don't see it as much as I used to see it. But for a long time, many people who are promoting macro counting, promoted it with this idea that, you know, by showing all these foods that they could eat that typically someone who's trying to lose weight couldn't eat. Because that was appealing to people, this idea was like the shock value of this idea that you can eat ice cream and get a six pack. Like, that's what I did, I ate ice cream every night for eight weeks, and I got a six pack. And being able to showcase that, like, hey, traditionally, people think that they have to cut out all the food that they love in order to get results. And with macro counting, you can actually eat the pop tart, you can actually eat the Snickers bar, you can actually eat ice cream and still get results. So I think you know, on social media, it perpetuates this idea that it's really fun to show Pop Tarts, it's not very fun to show like the other 80% of your food that's more nutrient dense. So for those reasons, I think this is where this myth has been born.

 

Nothing is off limits when counting macros just moderation and balance 27:22 

However, the beauty of counting macros is that nothing is off limits. If you want to eat whole unprocessed food, awesome, then you build your plan around that. If you want to have all of your protein sources, you don't not have any bars or protein powder to be able to hit your protein you don't have to, you can include other things to hit your protein. You can also adjust your protein, if you're finding it impossible to hit without bars, or protein powders and you don't want to do that. So the beauty is that this can really be customized to you and what you want. So what I would say, to this idea that you can't eat whole food, or you have to eat processed food, in order to count macros, is really come back to this idea of what kind of lifestyle do you want to live and how can we start with that and then use macro counting as a tool to optimize what it is that you want to do. Okay, for me, and for many of my clients, what macro counting allowed me to do was to find a balance. To find a balance between those fun foods like ice cream. And do I eat ice cream all day, every day? No. But I also don't cut it out of my diet. I'm able to find balance and moderation with whole unprocessed food from the earth while not cutting out or banning or restricting foods that I like to enjoy, like a brownie or a donut. And macro counting has allowed me to find moderation and find that balance. But that's not the same as saying that I you know, I or anybody who counts macros just sits there and eats Snickers bars all day long. That's absolutely not the case.

 

Myth No. 6 You have to weigh everything 29:13 

Alright, number six. I like this myth, because I love to debunk it. And it is this myth that you have to weigh everything in order to count macros, I have to weigh everything. Once again, we're going to come back to this idea that it is your plan. And your plan has to be customized to you and it has to be enjoyable to you. This myth gets perpetuated because is weighing your food more accurate? Yes, weighing Your food is more accurate than using say cups or teaspoons. However, consider your goal is not to be accurate. Your goal is to get results. Okay and sometimes we equate those things we equate accuracy equals results. But your real goal is not to be accurate, but to get results. So what if you focused on being just accurate enough to get results? Would that feel more freeing to you? Would that feel less restrictive to you? If you instead focus on going balls to the walls, and weighing everything and being super strict on everything, and bringing in that perfectionistic mentality. What if instead of that, you have the perspective of just focusing on being accurate enough, just accurate enough that you got results? How would that change things, I think that's such a great perspective to start to hold. Instead of burning yourself out, let's do the least amount possible to see results. Minimal effective dose, there's this idea of the minimum effective dose in medicine. If, you know, one Tylenol is going to solve the headache, I don't need to give someone seven Tylenol, right, I want to give them the smallest dose that is going to give them the intended effect. So if one Tylenol is going to take care of it, we're just gonna give them one Tylenol. And if I can give them half a Tylenol, and they're going to get rid of their headache, then let's give them half a Tylenol, it's not about giving them the most, it's about the minimal effective dose.

 

Myth No. 7 Going under your macros is better than hitting them 31:24 

Myth number seven, going under your macros is better than hitting them. And I think this, I think the sister or brother to this one would be that less is better. But there is this idea and I get it, because you've been told it for all of your life, that the less you eat, the more results you're gonna get. Right? Lower calories, lower calories, you know, that's what we're told a lot of our life is that if you want to create a caloric deficit, eat less and move more. And so then what people do is they say, Well, if you eat less, move more work, then eat a lot less and move a lot more work even better. And that's actually not the case. The best results come from fueling your body well, while still in a caloric deficit, not fueling your body as little calories as possible, and actually eating as much as possible. Fueling your body really effectively, while maintaining a caloric deficit. Okay? Again, it's that minimum effective dose. Just because a little bit is good doesn't mean a lot of it is better, your best results come from actually hitting your macros. Having that consistency, receiving data and feedback from your body and making adjustments based on your data, that is the best way to go about it. And that is the process that I teach inside of Macros 101.

 

Myth No. 8 Counting macros is restrictive 33:01  

Number eight, Myth number eight, I like this one, this is one I get heated up about a little bit, this myth that macro counting is restrictive. So here's the deal, restriction is a perspective. Two people can be in the exact same situation, and one person feels restricted and one person doesn't. It's just like, it's like imagine you're sitting in a circle and you're on one side of the circle and your friends on the other side of the circle. And in the middle of the circle is, I don't know what's in this middle circle, someone standing in the middle of the circle. And you're looking at the person's back. And the other person's looking at the person's front. And you start to describe the person that's sitting in front of you to the you know, your friend across the room, and you're like, you know, the person's hair is falling halfway down their back, and I can see you know, the shoulders and you know, the glutes, and I can see the calf and the back of her shoes and all these things and your friends like What the what? That's not at all what I see. I see a nose and eyes and you know, I see the quads and the chest and you're like what, we're looking at the same thing, but we see totally different sides of it. It's the same thing with something like restriction two people can be in the exact same situation. And one person feels restricted while the other one does it. Here's an example of what I mean. If you've ever gone out to dinner with your vegan or vegetarian friend, and maybe another friend who their doctor told them, they couldn't eat meat. So you have two friends, right? The friend who's a vegan and the friend who just recently their doctor told them hey, you can't eat meat anymore. Your cholesterol is too high, you need to cut out all meat. Do you need to go vegetarian? If you went out to dinner with those two friends, and maybe it's a buffet, and there's like burgers and fries and steak and you know, some vegetarian options, and both of your friends get the vegetarian option, because, you know, one is a vegan and one isn't supposed to have meat, do you think that they will likely feel the same amount of restriction? No, the vegan likely won't feel any restriction. Most vegans don't have any desire for meat. Like, I don't want meat, that's gross. I have ethical concerns, like no part of me wants that meat. Whereas somebody who maybe their doctor told them, you can't have meat, but like, loves it and really wants it, maybe sitting there with their vegetarian meal, just like really grumpy and resentful that they have to eat this vegetarian meal. Those two people are in the exact same situation, but they are looking at it completely different. 

 

Macro counting is not restrictive 35:57  

So macro counting is not restrictive. It may be that your relationship with macro counting is making it restrictive. There is a difference between what is and your relationship with what is. So what is your relationship with tracking? What is your relationship with your goals? What is your relationship with county macros? And I talked about this concept with Jody Moore back on episode 144, where we talk about your relationship with the scale. That's an awesome episode if you haven't listened to it. But we talked about how those emotions that come up really is a reflection of your relationship with the scale, not necessarily the scale in and of itself. And it's the same thing. Counting macros is not restrictive. There are many women who do have the relationship with counting macros, that they don't feel any restriction at all. And if you're somebody who is at this point, you're feeling restricted with macro counting, that doesn't mean macro counting is wrong or restrictive. It means we need to adjust your relationship with it. And you know, those are the types of things that coaches can really help you with, right, I help women through those mindset blocks inside of Macros 101.

 

Myth No. 9 Counting macros is only for weight lifters or women who are lean 37:18

Number nine, only weightlifters are women who, you know, are thin trying to get thinner, are the ones who can use macro counting. And I get it. Because so many of the people that you follow fit and probably fit into that category, right? And like I told you beget, or a while ago, macro counting came from the bodybuilding world. Because bodybuilders needed to get very lean, they needed to lose fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible. That's the whole look that as a bodybuilder is trying to get as lean as possible, while maintaining as much muscle as possible. And so macro counting was a tool that they were able to utilize to be able to get there. And so it makes sense that it would be very useful for somebody who is trying to maintain muscle mass or someone who lifts weights and you know, has that more athletic shape. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't any utility for someone who doesn't lift weights, because everybody should be trying to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Whether you lift weights or not. You want to lose fat, not muscle. That's not the goal, the goal isn't to see the scale go down, because you're losing muscle, the goal is to see the scale go down because you're losing fat. And by counting macros and paying attention to those macronutrients, you can make sure that when the scale is going down, it's actually fat loss that is happening. So I'm always going to advocate for women to lift weights, I'm always going to encourage you to strength train. However, if you don't choose to strength train, or you don't want to lift weights, that doesn't mean that macro counting is an ineffective tool for you, you still want to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. And by paying attention to your macros, you're able to do that. Now, the second part to that is that macro counting is only for women who are lean trying to get leaner. And I hear this from a lot of women who say, you know, I have 50-75-100 pounds to lose, is this going to be effective for me? And if you know my story, you know that I have not lost 50 pounds. That's not my story. However, there are many women who share their stories. And so what I've tried to do is bring examples of that onto the podcast so that you can hear from somebody who actually has lost you know, 50 pounds using macro counting, because here's the thing that's most important for you understand, if you have 30-50-75 pounds or more to lose, you will need to go through cycles in your journey. The mistake that most women make when they have a lot of weight to lose is that they just think it's just going to be one long journey. And they just start and they're going to keep moving forward and dieting until they reach their goal. That's the biggest mistake that I see women who have a lot of weight to lose make, when in reality, it's really important to go through these cycles of losing, maintaining a loss, and then losing some more and then maintaining the loss and losing some more. Because for many women, one, practicing maintenance is so incredibly important. And two, because of metabolic adaptation, if you try to just head headfirst into a diet until you lose 75 pounds, metabolic adaptation is going to counteract the work that you're doing and you're going to plateau, it's inevitable, it's going to happen. And so what most people do is try to fight it by lowering their calories even lower and lower and lower and lower and lower and that's a losing strategy. So instead, when we do cycles, where we do a fat loss period, and then a maintenance period, and then another fat loss period, you're able to work alongside your body, not bottom out your metabolism, and you're able to actually reach your goals. 

 

Recommended podcast episodes from women who have lost more weight  41:32  

So we have quite a few podcast episodes to listen to of people who have been there and done that and share their story.  And if you're someone who wants to hear stories from people who have lost more weight, I highly recommend checking out Melissa Porter's story, she's on episode 34, and Episode 124. And we'll link all of these in the show notes so that you'll have access to them easily. Another great one is Katey Chang, she is in Episode Number 26.  Becca Jackson is all the way back in Episode Number three, that's an awesome episode to listen to. And then another great episode is Episode 72 with Heather Robertson, and she really hammers home this idea of cycles of weight loss and learning how to practice maintenance. So we'll link all of those up in the show notes. But if you're someone who has more weight to lose, and wondering if you can do macro counting, 110% and we have a lot of examples to be able to listen to and get inspired from.

 

Myth No. 10 You have to eat low fat 42:33  

Alright, number 10. The last myth is that you have to eat low fat, if you count macros. So just like the higher protein myth, like that there's a certain amount of protein that you have to eat or it's not going to be effective, there seems to be this general myth that your fat consumption must be low while counting macros. Again, it's about finding a sweet spot with your bat macros, not too low, you won't have enough fat to fuel your body, while not too high that you're getting rid of that caloric deficit. So macro counting is not inherently low fat. It's not inherently anything. It's a tool. It is a tool that can be utilized in many ways. It could be utilized with higher fat with lower fat with higher protein, with lower protein, with higher carbs, with lower carbs. The key is figuring out what your goals are, how your body responds, and what type of lifestyle you want to live. Those three variables, your goals, your body, your unique body and its metabolism and all the things that go on in your body that are different from your friends, and the lifestyle that you want to live. And when if you think about it in terms of like three circles that three overlapping circles, if we can find a balance between what are your goals, and what is your body, and what lifestyle you want to live and we find this balance between the three, that is what's going to be effective for you. That's how we utilize macro counting uniquely for you and your body for what you want to achieve. And you know that's the sweet spot. That's the magic sweet spot. And that is why macro counting can be so powerful is because it allows the process to be uniquely customized to you. There's nothing cookie cutter about figuring out what works to fuel your body and reach your goals. And again, that's what I do on Macros 101. So if that sounds like something that would be interesting to you. Absolutely get on that waitlist at bicepsafterbabies.com/waitlist, we build that waitlist to be able to let those people know first when we open doors we only open doors for four days. It's a very quick enrollment period. And then we shut the doors and we get to work and so you don't want to miss it. You don't want to miss it. Make sure to get on the waitlist bicepsafterbabies.com/waitlist.

 

Recap 45:02  

So we'll go one more time through those 10 myths that I busted today. Myth number one, you can't count macros if you're a vegetarian or a vegan. Myth number two, macros are a new fad diet. Number three, you have to hit your macros perfectly to see results. Number four, you have to eat over 140 grams of protein to be successful. Myth number five, you don't or can't eat nutrient dense food while counting macros. Myth number six, you have to weigh everything. Myth number seven, under your macros is better than hitting them. Myth number eight counting macros is restrictive. Myth number nine, counting macros is only for weight lifters or for women who are lean trying to get leaner. And Myth number ten, you have to eat low fat. 

 

Theme: There isn’t one right way to count macros 45:59  

That's it, those are the 10 most common myths that I hear about macro counting, busted. I hope that that was really beneficial and valuable for you. At the beginning, I said that you were to look for a theme or to look for a pattern. as we were going through those myths. Did you catch it? Did you catch the pattern? If you didn't catch it, the pattern is this idea that macro counting isn't a diet, it isn't one thing. It is a tool. And just like a hammer, how you utilize the tool changes how what happens, right? If you take a hammer and you like to turn it upside down, and you use it to try and see something, it's gonna work very differently than if you turn it the right side up and you hit the nail. Macro counting is a tool. And it can be used in a whole lot of different ways. There isn't one right way to do it. And anybody who's telling you that there is a right way to count macros, there's only one way and you have to do it this way. Run, run, run run, because that just isn't true. There are just like there are many different metabolisms, and many different body types and many different you know bodies and lifestyles and all those things, there are many different ways to utilize macro counting. And the key is being able to customize it, being able to take this tool and figure out how to best use it for you. And that's not just one right way. So that is the key. And  that was the theme that I hope that you picked out through this podcast episode was that there isn't one right way to count macros. And with that, I hope that feels really empowering and exciting to you. Because that means that it can be uniquely customized to you. And something that is customized to you is always going to work better than something that is, you know, straight off the rack, right? A tailor dress that's made for you is always going to look better than you than one off the rack. And that's the beauty and power of macro counting is being able to be able to use it as a tool to help you get your goals with a lifestyle that you want to live.

 

Please continue to spread and support BAB’s podcast  48:16  

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of biceps after babies radio, if you did, Will you do me a favor and send this to somebody shoot your friend a text, send it to your mother in law, somebody who you think would be interested in this topic and learning a little bit more about macro counting, shoot it to them. And, you know, let them know what you learn and why they think they should listen to it. I'm really grateful when you guys share the podcast, it really means the world to me to be able to know that the content and information I put out there is so good that you would share it with somebody who you care about. And if you haven't yet left a rating and review on iTunes. Take five minutes please and do that now. It really helps the podcast to grow. It helps us get in front of more eyeballs. And that's always appreciated as a content creator. That wraps up this episode of biceps after babies radio. I'm Amber now go out and be strong because remember my friend, you can do anything.

 

Outro

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