3 Frequently Asked Workout Questions Part 2
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Do you have questions running in your head about weight loss and changing your bodies?
You don’t have to look far to find your answers! In this episode of Embrace Your Real podcast, going to have some real talk to address your pressing questions.
What I discuss:
Whats the best exercise routine for losing weight fast?
What are the best exercises for toning my body?
How can I get a flat stomach?
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Episode 281: 5 Frequently Asked Workout Questions Part 1
Episode 32: 9 Things You Need to Know About Getting Abs or a Flatter Stomach
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Movement With Julie Workout App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/sales-page-577257291672448024184
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Free e-book: www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook
Macro Counting Made Simple: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-6bda1ca8?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_pub_influencer-6bda1ca8_dp_DgsIam9salgfi
Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk. And actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Oh, and welcome back to another episode on Embrace Your Real podcast. I am really excited about today's episode. So back in the fall of last year, I did a kind of a frequently asked questions in terms of workouts, and I thought that I would continue this series. I'm constantly getting questions regarding working out and exercise and movement, especially in particular dumbbell workouts. And so I'm going to just continue this series throughout the year. It's not going to essentially be, you know, on a weekly basis, but I thought that I would do part two of this episode, and I'm going to get super clear on some questions that I most frequently get asked in my direct messages, as well as just ones that I see on a day to day basis in my community, as well as on my comment section on all of my social media platforms.
And so today we're going to be addressing these three pressing questions. Number one, what is the best exercise for losing weight fast? Number two, what are the best exercises for toning my body? And number three, how can I get a flat stomach?
So those three questions, if you've had those in the past or if those sound interesting to you, that is exactly what we're going to be talking about in today's episode. I know you might be surprised by some of these answers, and so be sure to tune in for some real talk on weight loss and changing your body. In the part one episode that I talked about that I did a few months back, I answered the following How long should you work out for? What's the minimum days you should work out? What's the maximum days you should work out? What do your rest days look like? And what happens if you skip a week of workouts? So if that interests you and you're like, I want to tune into those answers. That was episode 281. I will for sure link that in the show notes that you can easily go listen to that after this episode. Like I said, this is going to be kind of just a series, an ongoing series throughout the year that we will do not necessarily on a weekly basis, but probably every few months I will put together, you know, part three, part four and whatnot, and they're not in any particular order. So I will definitely be sure to link all of those in the show notes as this series grows more and more episodes.
But before we dive in, I wanted to share this reveal comes from Courtney Ivey. She gave a five star review and said, Love, I seriously love this podcast. And Julia, I've been listening to her and using her app for about a month now, and it has been life changing. After having a baby a little over a year ago. I've been struggling physically and mentally and this podcasts and the movement with Julia have been a real game changer for me. Thank you so much, Julie, for what you are doing. Well, thank you. I am so grateful that not only the podcast is helping you, but that you're inside the movement with Julie App and you're doing these workouts alongside of me on a week to week basis. I am so grateful for you and so proud of you for prioritizing yourself post-baby. I know that that's a very difficult time and lots of life changes, lots of body changes going on and mental changes. And so I'm just proud of you for prioritizing your movement so that you can become the best absolute version of yourself for your littles.
Okay, so let's dive into frequently asked question number one of this Part two.Frequently asked question number one What is the best exercise routine for losing weight fast? Now, first of all, I hate to break it to you, but there is really not a best exercise routine for losing weight fast. And in fact, there really is actually no best exercise in general for losing weight. Now, I know what you're thinking. I have a fitness app. I talk about movement with Julie all the time. What are you saying? That there's no best exercise for weight loss? Well, let me explain and let me first start off by talking about the lose weight fast part. You have to remember that rapid weight loss is not only very ineffective, but it's not sustainable long term. If you want to lose weight and gain it all back within a month or two, then yes, there are plenty of things that you can lose weight quickly, but this would also include messing up your metabolism, disrupting your hormones, interrupting a great positive relationship with food, and instead having a negative and toxic relationship with yourself and with your body can also make it more difficult for you to lose weight again in the future. And plus, if you lose weight too quickly, you're likely to also lose muscle mass along with fat. So you might be losing weight, but you're also losing muscle. And when you lose muscle, you lose the tone of your body, which means you're losing weight but not changing your body composition. Those are two very, very different things. And I'm going to be doing an episode on this in the future, in the coming weeks, so be sure to stay tuned. Just kind of the difference between weight loss and body composition are vastly different, and I don't think that this is talked about enough. And so people just automatically have these goals of like weight loss when in reality they really want to change their body composition. That's ultimately what they're looking for. But they don't realize that. You have to remember that a healthy amount of weight to lose per week, I mean, is anywhere from £2.5. So like half a pound to a pound. This means in a month, healthy, sustainable weight loss target. Could be around £4. And this is honestly going to vary from person to person. And I personally don't like having that target weight loss goal just because I know for me, like I fluctuate so much even from day to day. And so you have to remember that there are so many other forms of measurement in terms of monitoring your progress, which I've talked about in another episode. I will link that in the show notes below and I'll talk about it briefly in a little bit. But please remember that this is going to vary from person to person. And also kind of on the other side, if you haven't been honoring your body with movement and you haven't been nourishing your body with what it needs and you start doing these things consistently, you actually might see more changes in your body. You have to remember that every single person's body is different and the amount of weight that you can lose is going to be vastly, you know, influenced by many factors age, gender, starting weight. What are you doing on a daily, weekly basis? What is your job? You know, are you actually hitting your targets in terms of your protein, carbs and fats, all of those things. And plus, you also might be changing your body composition. So you might be you might look and appear slimmer and more toned, but you actually might have gained weight in terms of the scale. I know for me, like if I look back at my, you know, my progress photos even from 2014 to today, I am about £40 heavier than I was, maybe about 25 to £30 heavier than when I was in terms of stage weight when I competed. But my body looks vastly different. I'm stronger and I have more muscle on me. And then when I compare, you know, my today's photos to even back in the day, like when I was in college and I was at my my skinniest, my unhealthiest, I, you know, gained definitely 40, £45 heavier today. And yet I look stronger. I look leaner because I've put on and I've totally changed my body composition. And so you have to remember that that that's it's going to vastly change not only from person to person but also your body composition. So there's kind of the answer to that.
And then to answer kind of the part of the question, like what kind of exercise is best for weight loss? Well, my answer is going to be any exercise is great for weight loss at the end of the day, weight loss and really, you know, body compositional changes is going to really depend on calories in versus calories out. You know, you can do whatever exercise you want as long as you're eating less calories than you're burning in the day. But again, this is really only going to lead you to lose weight. This isn't going to lead you to change your body composition. And these, again, is where I feel like people are very confused. They say that they want weight loss, but in reality they actually want body composition changes. And so it's important to know the difference. Losing weight isn't going to get you a more toned butt or toned arms or thinner waist. Changing your body composition is what's going to do that. And you change your body composition through, you know, eating the proper amount of protein, carbs and fats daily. You change your body composition through resistance training. You're building more muscle. And so all in all, there's really no best exercise for losing weight. Fast. Fast is not good. And it's really not something that you should aim for. And there's no best exercise for for weight loss, period. But if you want to change your body composition, that's a whole different ballgame. And like I said, I'll be I'll be talking about that in a future episode. But the best thing that you can do to change your overall body composition is to resistance training and to properly nourish your body. By utilizing, you can utilize the tool of macro counting that can be very, very helpful.
Frequently asked Question number two What are the best exercises for toning my body right? So women want to get a toned body so they do more cardio to burn fat and lose weight. So they think, right. But like I said before, burning fat and losing weight really isn't going to tone your body. You can burn fat and lose weight all day long, but if you aren't working towards building your muscle, you're not going to have a toned body. So let's kind of chat about cardio now, cardiovascular exercise such as running or cycling or rowing or whatever it is that can be helpful for improving cardiovascular health. It can be helpful for burning calories, but it's not really enough on its own to change your overall body composition. And it likely will not give you a toned body. If you're just strictly doing cardio, you're not doing any sort of resistance training. Now, cardio can help to reduce body fat and it can, like I mentioned earlier, helps you increase cardiovascular fitness, but it does not directly build muscle. Let me repeat that again. Cardio can help to reduce body fat and increase cardiovascular fitness, but it does not directly build muscle. Building muscle, though, is crucial for achieving that toned, defined physique. And this requires resistance or strength training exercises in addition to cardio. Right. In fact, you really I mean, I argue this all the time. You don't need. Need to do any cardio at all to get a more toned body. And this is because cardio, you know, burns calories that can help you lose weight, but it does not specifically target or strengthen the muscle groups that you want to lose. With that being said, the most important thing that you can do for toning your body is to continue to challenge your body. And this is where, you know, staying committed to a resistance training program can be very, very beneficial. You need to continuously challenge your body in order to change your body. Your body adapts to the stress that it's consistently place under. So if you are repeating, you know, doing similar workouts, using the same weight, your body is going to adapt to it, and then it won't need to build any more muscle to perform the workout. And when it's stopped needing more muscle to complete the workout, you stop seeing changes in your body composition. And this is why inside the movement. Julia I'm constantly finding new ways to challenge your body. Now I understand that, you know, you're probably working out at home. You don't have access to an entire weight room full of weights. So we're constantly challenging our body in different ways so that we can not only find it enjoyable, which leads to further consistency, but also you're challenging your body on a weekly basis. But with that being said, we are continuously working the same muscle groups in terms of variation. So whether it's a tricep extension or it's skull crushers or it's tricep kickbacks, you know, or it's bicep curls or hammer curls or chest brace, you will see those foundational movements from week to week in same programing. So it gives you the opportunity to to increase, you know, and utilize progressive overload so that you can continue to build more muscle, get more talented, change your body composition. If you want to learn more about my app, I will always link it in the show notes sale.movementwithjulie.com. I don't want to place too much emphasis on that, but I just I want to again just remind you that resistance training is going to be the route you need to take if you want to change your body composition and just know, again, I will be doing an episode on this in the future. But body composition, change and weight loss are two entirely different things. Thus you need to, you know, likely you're going to want to change your body composition. If so, resistance training is the way to go.
Frequently asked Question number three How can I get a flat stomach? I get this all of the time. I understand it where women, for whatever reason, society has, as told us over the years, you know, having a flat stomach is sexy and that's something that we want to achieve. And so we say like, you know, doing more crunches, that's going to give us a flat stomach. Well, I personally, if you if you follow me, I'm in my Julie on my Instagram, on my TikTok, on my Pinterest, wherever you follow me. I have personally actually stopped doing a lot of the traditional crunches over the last six months, and I've instead swapped out kind of all my core exercises and also my programing inside my app to more deep style core training. And I personally never felt stronger in my midsection before. With that being said, right, you won't be able to see the muscle first unless you're focusing on your overall body composition and you really can't target where you're going to lose weight first. And this is something, if you've ever heard the term spot reducing, that's what people are talking about. You know, it's really comes down to like genetics, like some people lose weight, you know, lose weight first in their thighs while other lose weight first and their boobs or their face or their stomach or whatever it is. You know, whatever body part it's it will change vastly different from person to person. And this is the reason why I really, you know, trying to target your stomach or trying to target any part of your body is going to be the most effective. Now, you can definitely, you know, train it consistently so that you're constantly placing challenge on those muscles week in and week out. But another key part to building a strong core is the foundation, which is nutrition. And you guys have always I mean, I'm sure you've heard this saying abs are made in the kitchen like so cliche, but it's so, so very honest and it's so true. Like a balanced diet actually can lead to a flatter stomach for a few reasons. For example, a healthy gut is very, very important. And this is really only obtained through a balanced diet. Cutting out carbs or not eating enough calories can actually cause you to be really bloated. And if your stomach is bloated and inflamed, you're never going to feel like you have a flat stomach. Right. Plus, not eating enough fat is going to kill your digestion system. Drastically. Slowing it down can lead you to back up right when your digestion is slowed. You know what else? Get slowed down your metabolism. And so by eating the the proper amount of protein, carbs and fats, that's ultimately going to ensure that you are not only, you know, building your body composition for what you want your goal is, but you are decreasing your fat mass. You will likely decrease your bloat, increase your metabolism, and then you'll. Find yourself, you know, feeling leaner or, for lack of a better term, having a flatter stomach. Right. And and so I cannot place enough emphasis on nutrition. It is it is the key. It is the pillar. It is a foundation. And I've talked about this before, but when I was in college and I was significantly reducing my calories, I was restricting, I was not eating. I was really only eating like maybe ten foods and like that's not I'm not being facetious. Like, I genuinely believe I had maybe about ten foods in my daily staple that I was eating from from week to week. And that's really sad. I mean, to think about it, man, I restricted so much, but I was bloated all of the time and I could not understand. I didn't understand why am I so bloated like I'm or do I'm restricting myself to, you know, eight, 900 calories a day. I'm doing all this cardio and I just could not understand why I was so bloated. And it was because I was drastically slowing down my digestive system. I was drastically slowly killing my metabolism. Thank goodness God has made our bodies amazing and in the sense that they're adaptable. And so, you know, if you feel like you've been in that place and you're like, Yeah, that's me and my metabolism, I feel like a shot. I it is the coolest thing. And I have talked about this on episode 46. I talk about reverse dieting. I need to do another episode, a more recent episode on reverse dieting, because it is amazing how our bodies are created in the sense that our bodies are adaptable. So if we can train our metabolism to, you know, increase our metabolic capacity, then we're able to eat more and yet still either maintain or even lose weight. Like I know back in the day I was only eating eight, 900 calories and I literally could not lose I could not change my body composition. I was like at a standstill because I completely shot my metabolism. But through over the years, I've done, you know, over four reverse diets and I've been able to increase my metabolic capacity. And so now I'm actually able to lose weight, surprisingly. I mean, not surprising if you think about, like just how amazing our bodies are. But I'm able to, you know, lose body fat by eating 1700 calories, 1800 calories, which is, you know, the good thousand calories more than I was eating in college. And I wasn't budging anything. And so it's amazing what can happen overall when you are nourishing your body and you are giving your body exactly what it needs. If you want to learn more about that, you can learn more by going to the Shownotes or going to makro Counting meat. Simple icon. They have a whole academy on this that really teaches you the ins and outs of that. But one last thing on getting a flatter stomach. I don't want you to obsess about it. Please, please, please remember that having a flat stomach is not the end all, be all. And even like I just said, I have never had a stronger midsection right now than, you know, doing and implementing pelvic floor and deep core exercises. But I even look back at my 2014 pictures and I had visible abs like I mean, I'm talking like I almost had an eight pack in terms of my abs. And when I look at my core today, I don't really have visible abs, but my core is stronger than it's ever been. And that's because I've been focusing on those deep core movements. But also I have my nutrition in check. And I know overall that if I want to decrease my body fat, then I'm in a class, I'm in a deficit. And I have been able to, over time, through my reverse diet, be able to lose weight on a higher number of calories than I could have ever imagined, simply because I've been able to bump my maintenance up. My maintenance calories is well over 20 to 2300 calories a day. And so I'm in a core deficit by, you know, being in 1800 calories, eating 1800 calories a day. I'm in a deficit there. So I know that's kind of getting science and nerdy on you. And again, if you want to learn more about all of like the macro accounting and the nutrition ins and outs, I do have a course. I will link it in the show notes below. But I also talk about kind of just just mindset work around like getting abs and having a flatter stomach. And I really go into detail in terms of like my competition days and how it was just so significant in my life because I didn't realize it at the time, but I was so unhealthy in my mindset. So I talk about that in episode 30 to 9 Things You Need to Know about Getting ABS or a flatter Stomach. I will link that in the show notes below so that you can easily go listen. But let me kind of recap what we discussed today. You should never work to lose fat fast. I just don't think it's it's not sustainable, it's not enjoyable, and it's not the most effective route to go. Any exercise is great for weight loss, but resistance training is really what's going to change your body composition and ensure that. You are building the body that you want. And again, just going into there is a vast difference between weight loss and body composition change, which be on the lookout for a new episode with that. Another point that I touched on today was the best way to get a more toned body is really through implementing progressive overload. So continuing to place new stress on your body so that it's continued to force to build more muscle to be able to perform the movements. And I really I talk about that on tons of other episodes and how inside my app, even though we do, you know, different movements from week to week, the foundational movements are the same. And so you are actually able to, you know, increase progressive overload and get stronger from week to week. And then the last point that I touched on is the best way to get a flatter stomach is to really stop focusing on getting a flatter stomach, like focus on changing your overall body composition and focus on your nutrition. I did touch on how I personally stopped doing like traditional crunches and sit ups, and I've really been implementing a lot more deep core and pelvic floor exercises, and that has strengthened my core. But at the end of the day, I won't see any like visible abs or any of those things unless I decrease my body fat. And the only way to decrease my body fat is to focus on eating in a collect deficit, eating less calories than I'm burning on a daily basis. And so really going back to the fundamentals of nutrition.
So I will link the two episodes that I mentioned in today's episode. First, frequently asked questions, workout questions, Part one. So I was episode 281 that I did last fall, and then episode 32 that I just mentioned. Nine Things you Need to Know about getting abs or a Flatter stomach.
And then the other two things that I mentioned in today's episode are the Julie app. So Sale dot movement with Julie dot com. If you want to learn more about my workouts and my demo only workouts. And lastly, nutrition. If you want to do a deep dive and really learn in due prioritizing how to properly nourish your body, you can check out macro accounting made simple dot com. I hope that this was informative for you. I hope that this gave you maybe like an aha moment or just. Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. That is always the goal here to either educate, empower or just encourage you in some way, shape or form.
And so I hope that this episode did that for you. If you have a friend or a coworker that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link and send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this posted up on your story. Be sure to tag me so that I can encourage you and thank you personally for tuning in. Also, if you haven't left your rating in review on the podcast, that would mean the absolute world to me. If you could switch over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating on this show, it just helps us know how this show is helping you and it also helps other people find this show. And our goal is to always continue to educate, empower and encourage women. And that can be done by you leaving a rating interview and encouraging someone else to tune in maybe for the first time ever.
So thank you again. I love you so much. I mean it and I'll talk to you. And next all right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do.
So. Julie A Ledbetter. Yes, it's with a in the middle for that daily post workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check.
The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode.
Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women. That I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.