#77 - Preparing for the Holiday Season - Q4 Planning

Speaker 1: 0:33

What's up and welcome back to Talking Nutrition. Today's episode 77,. We are getting ready for the holiday season yes, already Now. I'm not trying to scare you here, I just want to get you ready. I want you to go into these last couple of months it's Q4 of 2023, right, last couple of months of the year, knowing what's going to happen. You go in with a plan. We're not going to fuck around. We'll get you ready, we'll get you to a good spot, but we do need to talk about a couple things.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Today is going to be potentially a bit of a shorter episode. We'll see, you know how it goes, but we're going to talk about October, november and December. What's coming up? How are we going to plan for different phases these next couple months? What are you going to work on? Three months is not that much, so we do want to be smart about, okay, what are you going to be doing? Spoiler alert we're definitely not going to be dining through Christmas. We're going to go back to maintenance, right, or even be in a small surplus to build muscle. We'll chat about that. We'll also talk about how many days we're really preparing for, if you think about it. We're going to talk about not thinking all or nothing. We're going to set you up to go through the holiday season stress and guilt free through preparing common sense, the moderation, applying that growth mindset we talked about. We're going to reflect a little bit. I wanted to do this episode early on and we're going to bring this back a couple times over the next couple of months Because, let's be honest, worldwide, the holiday season is an issue for a lot of people.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Now, let's not worry about that. We're going to make sure that you're among the 1% of whatever the number is, but let's call it 1%, because it's not a lot of people. Let's make sure that you are among the 1% who's actually fine, who's able to go through the holiday season. Eat healthy, eat the fun stuff, be flexible. We're going to get through this feeling good. We're not going to take 20 steps back. No, we're going to be exactly where we want to be. We're also going to be realistic.

Speaker 1: 2:50

Now, before we head into this episode, please do me a massive favor drop us a quick review and or rating. Spotify, apple, wherever you listen to us. It does really, really help us grow the show, and we do this for free. We don't do ads. We never will because, to be honest with you, I've been listening to a few podcasts recently that actually do have ads and it is the worst stuff ever. I can't stand it. To be honest with you, if you get into the episode, there's like five minutes of just kind of like this episode is brought to you by blah blah, blah and then there's like five sponsors back to back. It's nuts. So trust me, like we're not going to do that either, because I hate that stuff too. But I will ask you for one thing If you have not yet, go ahead to your app, apple or Spotify, wherever you listen, drop us a quick five star rating. It really, really does help us a lot and it helps us grow the show, reach more people like yourself, get through this holiday season, or you share this episode in your stories. Either way is cool. You pick that's my only rate that I'll charge you. Quick review or an Instagram story Sounds good, fair enough.

Speaker 1: 4:05

Cool Q4 of 2023, it's a little crazy to think about it. That is already Q4. It has been a year. It's been super cool. The podcast has been growing. We have a lot of cool stuff going on at OCS. We're building our team, as I announced in January. Earlier this year, the goal was all along right to build a team of coaches. We're starting that process now, which is really, really cool. I'm so proud of that and I'm so excited to serve and help more people get healthy right and just help them reach our goals.

Speaker 1: 4:47

I know this stuff is. I will say this it's gone from a passion to my responsibility as well, not in a bad way, but in a good way. I have to share this stuff right. I love doing this, but I see how much it means for people when they reach our goals. And, trust me, it's not about the macros and the fat loss and the muscle gain, whatever it is. Yes, that's stuff that we work on. That's stuff that people initially come to us for, but it's a life-changing shift in terms of mindset, in terms of habits people getting healthy, setting the example for their kids, breaking cycles of really unhealthy behavior when it comes to exercise and nutrition, breaking weird cycles in their families, actually being that person who not only takes action for themselves but for those around them. We have something really cool going on. I love this shit and I have to share it. So it's also through yes, passion still. It's still my passion, but it's also responsibility. That's why I keep showing up doing these podcasts, that's why I have to do this stuff, because I know how much this can help someone. And, to be honest with you, if there's only one person, listening to this episode from front to back, who will take away one little thing from this episode and who will apply it and who will improve this holiday season, then I'm happy. That's why I do this. And if you're that person, this episode is for you and every other episode after this one will be also for you. It's for the people who pay attention, for the people who are here to take action on this stuff.

Speaker 1: 6:30

Christmas does not have to be an issue. Halloween doesn't have to be an issue. Thanksgiving doesn't have to be an issue. However, you and me both because it's teamwork right we need to set you up with the right plan, going into it, knowing what we're going to expect, being realistic Because, let's be honest, let's not compare being at home usual routines, getting to the gym, meal prep, tracking, weighing, all those kind of things to going away, not making our own meals, not being in the same city, our usual routines, etc. Those are different things. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, but those are different scenarios, so let's not expect to be as perfect in quotes as we usually are, which, by the way, we don't have to be perfect anyway.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Before I ramble on it, I do want to pull out my notes, because here's the thing, guys what's the holiday season? What is the holiday season? I'm going to break it down for you. October 31st, we have Halloween one day. November 23rd, we have Thanksgiving one day. December 25th and 26th, christmas two days. And we have New Year's Eve one day, of course, december 31st. We are talking about five days. Five days. If you've been listening to this episode, you know I don't sugarcoat stuff. Right, I tell you how it is. Here's a big one. Five days October, november, december. We're really looking at five holidays. Now, of course, you're going to have your meanings, with work and school. There's going to be parties and those kind of things. I will say this because we have listeners from the US. We have people all around Europe. In Europe, halloween is not that big.

Speaker 1: 8:44

We also don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but still, right, no matter where you're from, what you celebrate, we need to do the thing. It's called extreme ownership over actions. We need to know that whatever we do has a consequence, good or bad, good or bad. We need to also be realistic. This is common sense. It's kind of like okay, well, I know that these are kind of like the things we work on for my goals, et cetera. By the way, I don't want you to be stressing around nutrition, being very diligent, we're going to practice flexibility here. We also cannot allow ourselves and this is where we do need to own our own stuff and be just completely honest with ourselves and say, hey, you know what. This is, five days that we're talking about, maybe a couple extra, maybe a few extra if we have a couple work things or whatever it may be. Let me now look at this. This is just completely, just random. Let's say we have 90 days in Q4, and we have seven days. I'm going to give you a few extra seven days of those 90 days. That means that only 7.8% of Q4 is actually part of those holidays or part of what you're celebrating. If that 7.8 is the issue, then I think we'll have to look at something else, because it's usually not.

Speaker 1: 10:17

I don't believe necessarily that it's the Thanksgiving's dinner, which, let's be honest, of course, I'm a big eater too. I can do my best and get a lot of catarousins. I know a lot of listeners here are probably the same. To really gain body fat, we need to really eat a whole lot. As much as yes, you can do a lot of damage on one day, don't get it wrong. You can absolutely overeat by a lot in one day. However, for the most part, I want to say it's maybe not that one Thanksgiving dinner, it's maybe not that one Halloween party or even the two Christmas days.

Speaker 1: 11:41

I think a lot of times it's that we are allowing ourselves to get away with so much shit for three months straight, even though the actual holidays, like we talked about, is like five days. We do not have to think all or nothing here. We do not have to go in and be like, hey, you know what, september, okay, now we're heading into October and November, december, while the festivities coming up and, trust me, I'm super excited for that too. Don't get me wrong I'm here eating, not eating the Christmas cookie and just eating salads and drinking water, right? No, we want to plan for these kind of things. We're going to talk about that today. But let's be honest here. It is really only a few days, meaning. This is the good news. Right, this is good news. It's like, hey, we can totally plan for it and be totally fine.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Remember, we talk about this all the time flexible dieting, 80-20 rule You've probably heard me say this a million times and you will still, over the next couple of years and beyond that. Mineral process foods most of the time. Hey, make better choices most of the time. 80% of the time, just about, and you're going to be okay. Get your steps in, hit the gym, you're going to be okay. Eat your foods and vegetables, drink your water, have some fun stuff. And moderation, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 13:03

We include the evenings out at the weekends, the holidays, the Christmas, whatever the birthdays. It's a process, learning how to where you can get there, but we need a growth mindset. So let's now look into, okay, what are we actually going to be doing? Because we do need to talk about periodization and I want to know what's your goal here. What's your goal going into this? It's hey, I want to lose a little bit more body fat for the holidays Fair if that's the case and you're actually ready, cool. If you're just coming out of a fat loss phase, cool. We're going to maintain the rest of the year.

Speaker 1: 13:41

Amazing, perfect timing, and I have a lot of clients, by the way exactly at that point we just cut right after summer. We started that right, we did a good cut. We're now reverse dieting, guess what? And that's either like kind of like now or maybe into like early November latest. But we're bringing you up. Why is that? We want to be a maintenance there. We're not going to be in a deficit during Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Like, no, like I want you to be a maintenance. We're going to have a lot of categories. I want you to go to the gym. I tell people all the time it's like when you have the Christmas dinner next day, get to the gym, like you're likely going to PR, like you're all you know, top top. You have a lot of energy right, lots of glycogen stored, like you're good. Use that energy. Go to the gym, go for a hike, do something that's active. But also be that person and we'll talk about this more down the road like as we get closer to Christmas. But hey, be that family member or that friend who says, hey, you know what like after a big fucking meal. You know what guys like. Let's go out and go to. You know, go for a walk or go into town for a little bit or have like a snowball fight or do whatever you want to do, you know, go skiing or sledding or whatever it is Like.

Speaker 1: 15:01

Be that active person, like be the one who takes action and who's also not afraid of saying, hey, you know what? Like let's just do something active, because fuck what someone else is going to think about it. And I'm saying this with the best intentions, because I my whole life, I care too much about what people would think. My whole life I spend, you know, thinking in my you know like, oh, I have a good idea, or I want to go do this stuff, or I want to suggest this. I want to say this, and I was too shy to kind of like mention it even and this is very unfortunate it's a very shitty place to be in. So I do get it.

Speaker 1: 15:43

But let's break through that, because people like I mean there's going to be two reactions people maybe don't want to do it, or they do, great, cool. So 50-50. People break your balls and they're friends okay, that's usually what friends do, but you still get to choose how to then respond to that and be like hey, you know, well, I'm going to go for a walk, you can join me or not, and that's cool. But if you are trying to do something for your health and you're like, hey, you know what, like I do want to do this stuff, or you know what, let's go to the gym Even if someone else doesn't want to go, be okay with that. Not everyone's going to like your ideas and this may be a little off topic, but it's going to come up right. So I already want a future pace.

Speaker 1: 16:28

I want to kind of like mention a couple of things for you, because those little tips, they do help. Get to the gym, do something active. Just go for a walk. Even you know it can really help. Trust me, if you go for even a 10 minute walk after dinner, when you've had that big dinner, you kind of you know, get moving, you're going to feel so much better. So this is already a little tip for whatever holiday you're going to celebrate Now, getting into this right, like knowing what do we need to do to go in prepared.

Speaker 1: 17:05

We want to make sure that you're going to go in stress-free, guilt-free, especially once you do have a little candy here and there. I can't wait for Christmas cookies. To be honest with you. It's like crack. They're super good. Christmas cookies and Christmas soda. I'm like I'm addicted. I will say I drank way too much Christmas soda last year. It was definitely it was like zero-cattery, but it was a lot. But okay, back to you.

Speaker 1: 17:33

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. There is like let's call it YOLO on one side of the equation or one side of the spectrum, sorry. And then we have completely optimal, right. Let's say, okay, bodybuilding like level, like professional bodybuilding, like getting on stage, strict, we don't have to be there and we don't want to be in YOLO mode either. Is it enjoyable? Let's talk about that.

Speaker 1: 17:57

On the YOLO side, people watching, like I'm making a spectrum here. We're like we have YOLO on the left which is let's just only like 100% enjoy, whatever. That's going to mean we're going to get drunk, we're going to eat only processed shit, we're not going to care, we're going to overeat, no limits, whatever. Okay, cool, that's going to fully benefit your enjoyment, kind of like wish, right, but it's by no means anywhere close to being good for your results and your goals. Cool, fair, and we have that out of the way. We need to look at the other end of the spectrum being like completely optimal for health, et cetera. Longevity goals where, hey, like, we're not going to have to cookie and we're going to just eat clean and whatever. Track everything, whatever. Okay, high in terms of what's optimal for your goals and how you're going to feel and whatever, but also a little right, it kind of takes away from enjoying. So we have two extremes. There's a whole lot in between. There's so much in between, and I always teach 80, 20, and it's a principle, it's a mindset. Let that be that mindset, let that be the goal.

Speaker 1: 19:14

Going into this, and I quote a client of mine, or a past client of mine, who was with us in 2020, I think even 2020, yeah, 2020, 2022. And I remember him yeah, this was Christmas 2020. He's like, if I need to worry about what happens between Christmas and New Year's, I think that says more about what happened between New Year's and Christmas. Right, it's like, hey, 80, 20, thinking longterm, those few days is it really going to make a difference or did you not really do your best the rest of the year? Hey, by the way, it's October 3rd right now, time it is recording. You have a lot of time to prepare for this stuff. You can start doing your best. If you haven't started yet, that's cool, no matter where you're at. But let's make sure that we think of that spectrum being completely like YOLO. On one side I had used the words, but you know what I mean and then on the other side, it's completely optimal. Right, let's go 80, 20. Let's allow for flexible foods evenings.

Speaker 1: 20:26

Are you going to track through Christmas? Probably not. If you really like tracking, be my guest, but I'm always going to advise people not to, because you do not have to. That's for your fat loss phases. Tracking muscle gain, reverse diets. That's where we're tracking Absolutely 100% of the time, and then there's going to be a day here and there, or maybe we take a break Through Christmas when we're at maintenance.

Speaker 1: 20:50

We're supposed to be at maintenance, you don't have to be. That's part of our program. We make sure that, hey, once you get back to maintenance, we're going to practice stepping away from tracking, because, hey, I want to see you do both. I want you to be on point with your targets when it's go time, when it's transformation season, but I also want you to show me hey, you know what We've tracked, we've used it. How much did we learn? Can we slowly move away from it Because, guess what? We're going to use a tool that we can apply when we want to and we can do without when we choose to, when the time is right, when the season is right, which is maintenance, and I like the thing that people are going to be at maintenance during Christmas. I hope that goes for you.

Speaker 1: 21:34

So, first of all, preparation going into this, we have a couple months. We want to think of what makes the most sense in terms of your periodization plan. We need to start there, actually, because we could go in thinking, hey, I want to do these things and create this habit, whatever. It is Cool, but what is the goal? What is the goal so we can work it back? Reverse engineer, create a plan for you. Are you currently tracking? If not, start right away.

Speaker 1: 22:07

Learn how to track, use chronometer, don't even worry about any other app Chronometer. That's almost a way to go Chronometer first. Get a good grip of what you're currently doing and then start to make changes. If you need help with that, you go to Instagram at your investors on the score. Ocs Hit me up, happy to help and no, I'm not going to try to sell. You Just say, hey, you know what I listen to your Christmas podcast, or your holiday season I'm not sure what it's going to be called yet, but your holiday season episode. Hey, I actually need some help with macros. Hit me up, talk to me, let me know what you need help with. I mean it, I'm here to help. So let's start there. Start tracking so that we can look at hey, okay, you now know what's coming in and what needs work. Amazing, like I said, applying common sense, we do know that all those categories are going to count. We can accommodate for that, we can plan for that. We can make sure there's going to be plenty of your budget and, hey, if we do know it's going to be a big one, we can do a little bit of category cycling. We can do this. Multiple tools we can apply here.

Speaker 1: 23:17

Practicing moderation is something you can already start to do. Now, again, we've talked about this. It's a few days and I know there's going to be candy at the office and whatever, and you're going to do Halloween with the kids, but we are still in control. And as much as this is difficult and I know there's a lot of people listening who struggle with this I used to as well. So I fully understand. But practicing moderation as much as also as grownups don't like those words. We all need to do this.

Speaker 1: 23:53

If we don't flex and train our moderation skill or muscle, I should say we're going to have a hard time staying consistent and successful long term. You need to train that muscle and that moderation muscle will also allow you to sometimes be flexible. But too much, too little of anything, it's never good. It was being a sweet pot, that 80% Extreme ownership. I talked about this earlier. We need to know that whatever we do has a consequence, good or bad, and we just need to own that. That's cool, it's fine.

Speaker 1: 24:35

Hey, if we decide, you know what, I don't care, I'm going to overeat, okay. If you're not sure enough, if that's your actual decision and you have thought about it and you choose to just go with the fucking mode, okay cool, there will be consequences, but go ahead. If you're like hey, you know what I'm not saying, right, I'm just kind of like painting pictures here. I'm giving you examples. If you're a person who wants to track I keep tracking and, by the way, maybe go from like, if you do really decide to do so, maybe go from macros to calories and protein. We just make it easier, right? Okay, you're someone who really wants to track because they like the data, which that's how I am Cool. That's fine. Try it out. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't. Either way, we're going to learn something here. The whole list goes on.

Speaker 1: 25:39

These were just two quick examples, but there's going to be we're going to have to play around stuff, guys and that's this whole growth mindset thing that I talked about that I want to get into now. Like it's that growth mindset? It's figuring things out, being resourceful, being proactive with stuff and doing something, and not just being in that mode of doing, but practicing the process. What is the process? And, by the way, I got this from the book mindset Check it out, but this is where I kind of steal this from. What is the process? It's not just doing. It's, yeah, number one, it's part one is like doing the thing, but then, two, we collect information, feedback, data, and I want you to start doing this.

Speaker 1: 26:28

So, before we even get into like, the next thing, doing, of course, right, we have multiple holidays coming up and I want you to be proactive here and I want you to put an actual effort into saying hey, you know what? I'm going to do my best to not be strict. I almost bit my tongue there. Not be strict. I'm going to start practicing moderation, trying something new and kind of like there's going to be point here too, but like that's one doing the thing. The days are going to come up, do the thing, have a plan going in, but no, like I said, collect information, data review, and this is something you can already do, because obviously we're going to have to go through the thing and see how we do and then only afterwards we can think okay, cool, so this went well. Disney's more work.

Speaker 1: 27:25

What should I do differently next time? Guess what? I think that if you think hard enough, you can visualize last year Thanksgiving, halloween, christmas, whatever it is. You can visualize and picture basically any, like you remember your last birthday or the last party you went to, or the evening out. Think about those moments, because they're not that different. Any holiday, vacation, birthday, whatever evening out, they're all pretty similar, all these special scenarios. It's going to be different than usual, it's going to be a little bit more flexible than usual, and that's okay. We're just trying to make better choices here, but as reflect on those moments, because that's like I can't give general advice here doing this podcast, because it's going to be different for everyone. Let's think about that. I want you to really reflect on this.

Speaker 1: 28:25

Help pause this episode and then continue afterward. Put a timer 10 minutes, whatever. Go to YouTube, put on like 10 minutes. What did I look up again last week? 10 minutes unguided meditation and then something with like white noise or music, just so you know, okay, as long as that music or the noise is going, you keep your eyes closed and you think about this stuff.

Speaker 1: 28:48

I didn't mean it, though it sounds a little bit more out there, but try to really kind of like think about stuff and I know this works. This is how I kind of like overcome or work on business related stuff and my own fitness and content, whatever it is. I do this all the time. It works. But try it out, actually think about this. Don't just skip this step. Actually do this stuff, reflect and think, hey, you know, okay, cool. So last time, okay, ate a lot, okay, cool. But I ate my proteins first and my veggies. Okay, nice, okay cool. That went well. But I did kind of overdo it afterwards with the cookies again, or with the chocolate or whatever it is Okay, and I actually remember that before we even went, I already kind of had too much candy, okay, fair.

Speaker 1: 29:40

So I used that as information to make a different slash, better decision this time. And these are the questions we ask our clients all the time, every single week. It's like every check. It's like, hey, how is your effort rated from one to five? And why explain, right, what went well, what do we like? What are we going to do next, next week or tomorrow, right? Or next time in this scenario, to be 1% better and how will you make that 1% better?

Speaker 1: 30:12

Think about that stuff and I can guarantee that if you do this, like I said, it's a little bit. It sounds a little weird if you've never done this before, but if you sit down in silence and close your eyes for 10 minutes, I'm sure that you can visualize stuff and you can come up with, even if it's just one step that you want to take to try. And then step three because, like I said, I was talking about the process. Doing the thing is then reviewing, collecting information, data. Then, because we're here to learn with a growth mindset, I'm going to look and, okay, how will I achieve that? What will I do? What do I need to learn? Who will I ask? Because if we can't figure it out on our own yet, cool, let's ask someone who knows their shit. Feel free to hit me up. Let's go online and look for resources, and it's going to highly depend on whatever it is that you want to work on. Let's be proactive there. Proactive, that's the name of the game. Where are we currently at? How many minutes in All? Right, cool Last bit Periodization October, november, december.

Speaker 1: 31:28

You might already know that we have a three-phase system or strategy that we repeat, which is we prepare, we transform, we maintain when you're going to start, the way you're at currently. I don't know there's a lot of people listening to the podcast. It's going to be different for everyone. I want to break them down, though, for you, but typically we start people off in our coaching program in the preparation phase like hey, we're not going to be dieting, we are building habits, we are building momentum. Do you struggle with anything? Is there any emotional eating involved? How are you doing the weekends? Xyz? Do we need to up your protein? Are you going to the gym yet? Do you lift your weights? Do you have a work program, like the storm and stuff, and we get a whole lot of stuff done.

Speaker 1: 32:15

It's a very cool phase as well, because we really see people change their habits and like is where we start to work. But we don't just jump into a phallus phase, whatever it is. So, either way, I do recommend like, if you're completely new, let's start there. Let's start there, because I don't think you want to jump into a phallus phase now. If you're not ready and, by the way, if you already have been cutting whatever it is okay, cool, and maybe you do have you're tracking, all you have, it's in place, amazing, cool Then maybe look at a different phase, Maybe just maintain for the rest of the year. I have so many people just maintaining for the rest of the year. It's great.

Speaker 1: 32:59

Even people want to lose more body fat. Guess what, when they then go into a cut and you know, come January their body's going to respond really well and they're going to have more muscle to reveal. So even though they are not dieting now, they are laying that groundwork. They're building strong, resilient bodies who actually they get to build the muscle, their metabolism is in a good spot, their hormones and I know there's a lot of buzzwords these days, but, like we need to be in maintenance, your body needs to achieve homeostasis, basically a state of balance, where it wants to be. You don't do that through under eating, and that also goes for your micronutrients, by the way. You need those, okay. So let's say you, at this moment, are right, october 3rd, you are ready to start a transformation phase, a cut, cool.

Speaker 1: 33:52

I do want you to ask yourself the following question, and it's are you actually ready or do you want to start a fat loss phase? Be honest with yourself Are you actually ready or do you want to start a fat loss phase? There's a difference there. If you want to go in great October, november sorry, fat loss, crank calories up. First week of December, second week, again Boom, there you go. Maintain, hell, you can even jump to maintenance, but don't try to cut through Christmas.

Speaker 1: 34:33

Go now, go hard for like eight weeks, take a break and you continue after new years. That is one way to do it. And then you maybe go for another month and then you reverse, diet back up. And I also want you to take this with a grain of salt, because I don't know where you're currently at. I'm just kind of like throwing ideas at you. Maybe, like a lot of my clients, you're at the till end of a fat loss phase or you're going to be soon Cool, good timing. Then let's reverse you slowly but surely, is that right? Yeah, let's reverse you up, bring it back to maintenance, so that I mean, it kind of depends when you start. If you start now, you're going to be there like early November. If you're an enemy maintenance, if you start late October, that's still cool. Go like four to six weeks at least. Take it slow.

Speaker 1: 35:33

It's not magic, but I will say, at the end of a fat loss phase, I've seen so many people do so much better when they are on point with that reverse diet. It's in my experience and I'm just speaking from my experience and I know there's discussions online, especially like bigger names in the space too, and it's like, yes, I know, but then again, these people are bodybuilders or people are GenPop bodybuilders. Sometimes I have to jump back up to maintenance. They have to do recovery diets to get super, super lean. Hey, we have a lot of people who are not there yet and also don't want to get that lean. They just want to get to a healthy body fat percentage. Guess what? As much as it's sure, because I've heard this one multiple times now it's like you know, reverse diet is just kind of like more time and a deficit, so for that we are spending less time. Doing less time bulking Sorry. So for that we are wasting muscle. It's like a lot of GenPop doesn't want to be in a fat loss or, sorry, in a gaining phase for a long time. We will always push for like a lean gaining phase for a couple of months, 100%, but not until we are at like a healthy body fat percentage.

Speaker 1: 36:45

So I want you to know if you're listening to the podcast. I know there's a lot of if and you know like conditions and different approaches. And if you're confused, hit me up, because this stuff nutrition, like it needs to be tailored to you. We cannot listen to a podcast and figure shit out. That is unfortunately how it is. We have many people listening and I can guarantee you that every single person needs a different approach. There's going to be similar things. You know stuff you need to work on, but then your struggles, your roadblocks, your face, your goals, your body, your diet history look, there's so many variables there. Okay, maintain is a great time. So if you're at the end of your cut, feel free to ride it out, depending on how long you've been going. Start to slowly go up, jump halfway in between where you entered your cut in the maintenance, make little steps, boom, there you go, and then to spend time and maintenance for the rest of the year.

Speaker 1: 37:49

I have multiple people doing like three to four month maintenance phases, which, if you think about it, it's not even that crazy, because where should we be living life? Not in a deficit. We need to be eating enough, and I preach this so much. And I still see people I have a lot of CrossFit friends at different CrossFit gyms Like you see, people under eat, even if they don't want to lose fat. They want to build muscle, they want to perform better Still under eating. We're still avoiding carbs for whatever reason.

Speaker 1: 38:22

A lot of people who want to lose weight. But, like, let's make sure that we once again to kind of like recap everything, let's make sure that we go in with a plan and that we also incorporate in that plan lots of time eating enough. Also, if you want to lose fat, well, definitely, if I want to maintain, build muscle, perform, but also if you want to lose fat, we need to spend time and maintenance. There's no magic to any macro splits or food combination or meal plan or whatever it is, or exercise. It's about how well do you periodize your nutrition, how well do you stick to your weightlifting training sessions and do a little bit of cardio and you cover your bases when it comes to nutrition.

Speaker 1: 39:12

But I think that's fat loss success really comes from spending enough time, eating enough, actually building muscle, actually feeding your body what it needs so that you don't feel a crap. All the time you have energy, your need is high, right, you're moving throughout the day. The more time you spend at maintenance, the better you will respond. If you do go into a deficit, guess what? We have a bunch of people who are going to be maintaining. They're going to stay patient. Guess what? January, a lot of them are going to be ready for round two and round two is going to look really, really good because they spend four months at maintenance.

Speaker 1: 39:53

Now, I hope this gave you a little bit of insight. And then we touched on a bunch of stuff, a lot of general stuff. But I want you to know, hey, we can totally go in with the plan with the right expectations, knowing, hey, you know what. It doesn't have to be perfect 80, 20. But there are consequences. We do need to go in with the plan. We need to learn, remember the process. We always want to keep that growth mindset. Everything is figureoutable.

Speaker 1: 40:23

Thank you for listening once again. I'm going to put this episode up right away because I'm a day late with our episode today. It happens We'll be back with a bonus episode on Friday. We're going to move that one too. Then I wish you a great holiday season, like a great Q4. It's been super cool. I'm grateful for you listening to me ramble. Grateful for you dropping that rating or review. Spotify, apple. I'm grateful for you just asking questions, the Q&A episodes. I'm just stoked, I'm just excited. I'm very grateful to have that chance by sharing my passion for nutrition my responsibility also, like I said, and fitness and health with you. If you're still listening, thank you, I know that you're a real one and that you're going to bigger this out, that you're going to put this stuff into action. Once again, do not hesitate to reach out. If you do need more help, hit me up on Instagram and then we'll chat. Cool, have an amazing week. I'll chat to you on Friday again.