The Most Simple Plan For Building the Body You Want in 2024
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Our lives are a whirlwind, and who needs more complications?
In this episode of Embrace Your Real, we're unwrapping the secrets to building the body you desire in the most straightforward and effective way. No fluff, just the essentials for the biggest impact. Join me for a chat on embracing simplicity in your fitness journey. We're exploring the minimal effective dose – the key to achieving maximum results with minimum effort. By the end of this episode, you'll have a clear roadmap on keeping it simple yet highly effective. Forget complex workout plans and expensive supplements; we're focusing on the basics that bring remarkable results.
What I discuss:
Resistance train at least 2x a week.
Focus on protein daily.
Use macro counting as tool in your tool box for when you get off track.
Move your body for 30 minutes daily.
Stop focusing on weight loss.
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] 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 get you 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. [00:00:21][21.0]
[00:00:26] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast. Today we are talking about simple. We want to simplify our routine when it comes to health and fitness. Our lives are very complicated there, chaotic there, stressful there, tiring, and so many of us are just wanting to simplify things. But we don't know how to do that. We don't have time or energy for all these complicated things. And I think that's oftentimes why we fall off track, especially when it comes to health of fitness, because we think that it has to be chaotic and it has to be more complicated. And oh my gosh, is going to add so much more stress to my life. And so today, I just want to chat with you about how to build the body that you want in the most simple, in the most effective way possible. No fluff, no fancy tools, and no expensive supplements. No waste of time, just simple and effective things that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. When it comes to your health and fitness journey in 2024, you can kind of think about this episode as your guide to the minimal effective dose for building the body that you want. So essentially, I'm going to share with you the minimal amount of things that you need to do in order to see results. Do these five things that I'm about to share with you, and this will set you up for success in 2024. Before we dive in, though, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Stephanie W she said helping me change. Julie, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading this amazing journey for me and so many other women. I lack the confidence and commitment in the past, but listening to your real talk and following the movement with Julie app for exercise has changed my life forever. It's only been a few months, but I'm seeing positive changes in all aspects of my life. My husband and my friends are noticing it too. Thank you and happy New Year! Love, Stephanie W. This was the sweetest review to head into the new year. Honestly, like Happy New Year! I'm so grateful to hear this and this is honestly my hope and prayer for this podcast. These episodes in general is that they not only help you with health and fitness, but that they're helping you in your life. Because that's what that's what life is all about, right? We want to show up as our most vibrant self. We want to be able to get into these deep, intimate relationships, feel confident, be able to have the energy to keep up with our kids, to be able to do the things in our community and our circles of influence. And that's ultimately what's most important to me. And so thank you so much, Stephanie, for tuning in. Thank you for taking time out of your day to leave this rating interview. If you guys could scooch over to Apple Podcasts now that we are in 2024, baby, if you could scooch over to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating interview, that would honestly mean the world to me and our team. It not only helps us out, just know how these podcasts are helping you, but people who stumble upon the podcasts. They oftentimes check out their reviews first before they decide if it's worth their time to tune in to the podcast. So it really does help us out in so many ways. And I thank you so much for taking your precious time out of your day to do so. All right, let's dive in to the most simple plan for building the body that you want in 2024. Step one I need you to resistance train at least two times per week. So it's a new year. I know so many of you guys are going to make these large proclamations that you're going to work out every day. You're going to hit the gym for a full hour. You're going to do, you know, cardio five times a week. You're not going to drink, you're not going to do all these things. And I'm not saying these things are bad. I'm just saying, well, the excessive cardio, if you guys have been following me for any length of time, you know, I'm going to steer you away from that. But know drinking, waking up early, working out daily, those are all good things. But I don't want you to overcommit yourself to a point where it's stressful and it's not sustainable. You don't need to follow these crazy workout plans that are unrealistic to stick with the long term. If you're just starting out at zero, I want to challenge you to stay committed to two days a week of lifting. You can reach your goals with that amount of exercise. Caveat you must be following and being very intentional with your nutrition. If you're only doing two days a week, which I'll get into next. But I'm just telling you, if you're starting out from zero, start from 0 to 2 days a week. That's going to be so sustainable. It's going to be able to implement into your life without feeling overwhelming, which overwhelm is oftentimes what leads people to giving up so quickly. Right? Working out two days a week, that sounds pretty manageable. It is. And that's why I'm talking about it. Because it is manageable, right? Going from 0 to 7 days a week, that's not going to be manageable. Even going from 0 to 4 days a week. That's too big of a jump when you're just starting out in order for you to stay on track long term. And when I say long term, I'm talking three months, six months, nine months, 12 months, 18 months down the road, you should only be adopting habits that are manageable. And if they're not, then there's no point in even trying them when you're just starting out. Once you get consistent with two days a week, add a third. And once you get consistent with three days a week, add a fourth. And I'm. Talking about over the length of months, right? If you're consistent with two days a week for month, month two, okay, three days a week for another month. Month three. All right. Four days a week. That's going to be sustainable. And I know you might be thinking, Julie, I can do it faster than that. I'm telling you, if you genuinely want to be sustainable, I'd rather you have quality workouts versus you just rushing through something because you want to get three or 4 or 5, 5 or 6 days a week. And I'd rather you have two quality sessions that are consistent versus you say, saying you're going to do four days a week, maybe you're doing four days a week, but the quality is so limited because you're just rushing through them. Or you do four days a week. One week you do one day a week, the next week you do two days a week. The next week. I mean, you're you're not consistent. I'd much rather you do two, four, six, eight sessions in a month versus you committing to four sessions a week and only getting five in the month. Does that make sense? Your goal here is to keep it low pressure. The more pressure you place on yourself, the less consistent you'll be when starting out. So keep it low pressure and you'll find yourself being way more consistent. This is why I'm a firm believer in my movement, which you look at because there's 30 minute, 60 minute workouts for every single workout. So you have options depending on your time constraints. And if you're just starting out with two days a week, that's a lower body and an upper body, or that's a lower body and a full body workout, whichever one you want to prioritize. I definitely get a lower body workout in there, and I definitely try to either get a full body or an upper body workout focus in there, all right? That way you are at least at the very least, working every single muscle group effectively and just starting out with that and then again, just being more consistent over time. So if you want to learn more about that, I will link it in the show notes that you can easily go check it out. But step number two, I need you to focus on protein daily. I have to be honest with you, I truly believe, and I've stated this before, that protein is the most important macronutrient of the three. So maybe at this point going from zero to counting all through macros, that's too overwhelming. I get it, I've been there. I've coached thousands of women over the last decade, so instead of trying to take on too much, just focus on protein and nothing else. And let me explain why I think protein is queen. Okay. When you eat protein, your body has to work harder to digest and process that compared to carbohydrates or fats. This process is called the thermic effect of food. So basically in simpler terms, it just means that your body burns more calories by day while digesting protein. And then the other two macronutrients carbs and fats. So roughly 20 to 30% of the calories from protein are used during the digestion and absorption process. While this percentage is lower for carbohydrates and fats, so carbohydrates is about 5 to 10% and fats is about 0 to 3%. This means that if you're eating 100 calories of chicken, let's say 20 to 30 of those calories will be burned just during the digestion alone. So consuming more protein. This can actually increase the number of calories that your body burns through digestion. But more importantly, protein also helps in preserving and building muscle mass, which is what we just learned is essential for a more efficient metabolism, right? When combined with resistance training a higher protein intake, this can boost your muscle growth and repair, leading to an increase in muscle mass, which again, as you start to increase your resistance training, that's when you're really going to see that muscle mass doing two days a week. I mean, you can yield results, but if you really want to see that muscle mass, that's going to be more 4 or 5, five days a week in terms of resistance training, but starting small, starting with this. And that's going to lead in an increased metabolic rate over time. Right? You can't build muscle without protein. You can't have a more effective and efficient metabolism without muscle. Therefore that's why I believe protein is queen. So if you are like how much protein should I start out with? I just basic will start. You try 0.8 to 1g of protein per ideal pound of body weight. So start there. That's going to be a great kind of starting place for you. If you've never counted protein before I guarantee, or probably less than that, unless you are just one of the very few that I've seen over the years who just loves protein. Naturally, as a society we gravitate towards carbohydrate and fatty foods. That's just what we tend to eat more of. And I think we've also been mis educated in terms of foods that are protein. Right? I hear all the time, oh, you just need to have more protein like eggs and peanut butter. Okay. Eggs are great. They're great. I'm not docking eggs by any means, but eggs only have about six grams of protein per egg. So I mean, if you have 2 or 3 eggs, you know, that's 12g, maybe 18g of protein that you're getting. But there are other foods out there that are high in protein. Cottage cheese is great. Greek yogurt is amazing, protein powder is protein bars, all different types of meats. Some cheeses are great. So just. Keep that in mind. And the more you are in tune and you're learning about protein, the easier it is for you to get more protein. But I also do have a free e-book that you can download. I will link that in the show notes. It's on my website. You just go to Julia ledbetter.com/free dash e-book again I'll link that in the show notes. But that's going to give you a step by step on how much protein. Well, in that whole calculation, we actually share with you how to calculate your macros to start out with. But for the sake of keeping it simple, I want you to just focus on protein. Even though you might have figured out your protein, carbs, and fats through that free ebook, just focus on your protein intake for each day and start there. Step number three I want you to use macro counting as a tool in your toolbox for when you get off track. So for some people, counting macros is in a day to day habit. I totally get it. That's totally fine. If you are one of those people. I do recommend using macro counting kind of as a tool to help you get back on track during any point in 2024, so for some people, when they overindulge once, it triggers them to overindulge all week long or all month long and they just completely get off track. Whereas for others, you know, they are just under nourishing their body consistently for too long. They have, you know, they've learned and conditioned themselves over time that they they think they only need 1200 calories. And and they're wondering why they're not losing weight on 1200 calories, really learning how to properly fuel your body long term. And I'm talking you know, I'm I'm not saying you're going from zero to counting all three macronutrients right away. That's that's going to be unsustainable. But over time, starting with protein and then slowly getting the hang of that and then adding carbs. Okay, I want to count my carbs, see how many carbs and eating it every day. And then once you get the hang of that, then, okay, how many fats am I eating every day and just seeing where you're at? That's a great starting place, and macro counting can be the best tool for that. Oftentimes, I think people think that macro counting is a fad diet. I've done episodes as to many reasons why it is not a fad diet. It is simply educating yourself how to properly fuel your body. Because when your macro counting, you can eat whatever foods you want. So you know, I will always advocate for more nutrient dense foods simply because it's going to make you feel better. You get your your micronutrients as well as your macronutrients in there. But I mean, if you want to fit in a slice of cake or a donut, like by all means this is this is your day to day intake and whatever is going to allow you to feel satisfied and also stick with it long term is most important. Again, macro counting doesn't need to be a lifestyle. It doesn't have to be something you do every single day. Sometimes you can just use it as a tool, pull it out in your you know and pull it out of your toolbox and use it when necessary. And just know that it is there. Because one of the biggest things that I have talked about on the podcast, and I will continue to talk about, is when you properly learn how to fuel your body, you feel so educated and empowered around food and that is key, right? That's going to be absolutely key. And you sticking with that long term, because when you feel confident around food, you're no longer cowering away because you have no idea how much your body needs. You feel like you need to eat less. And you're like, you know, I'm not seeing results eating less, so maybe I should eat more, but then you don't know how much more. And it's just this constant pulling forward and pulling back and pulling forward and pulling back without having the tools and the education when it comes to nutrition. And that's why I'm a huge advocate in macro counting, I do. I also have a program. So maybe you download the free e-book, but maybe you also want to check out my program. I will link that in the show notes as well. It's macro counting made simple.com. We really teach you step by step how to count macros in the most simple way, so that you have it in your toolbox. Again, it doesn't have to be something that you do forever. I believe that having that tool in your toolbox and learning it can be so beneficial for your entire life. Step number four move your body for 30 minutes daily. AKA you've heard it before. Honor your body with movement for at least 30 minutes a day. You know what I want out in 2024? I want out with punishing your body with movement in 2024. I want us to honor our body with movement. I want us to move our body however we want in whatever way we want. No guidelines, no rules, no requirements, just movement. Whatever. That looks like today might look different tomorrow. And that's the beautiful thing about honoring our body is we're honoring what our needs are from day to day. You don't need to crush hard workouts every single day to build the body that you want. Building the body that you want doesn't require that. On top of that, two days a week of resistance training, that's really all you need to do 30 minutes a day. With two of those days being resistance training, no pressure to burn a certain amount of calories. All you need to do is to commit to at least 30 minutes a day. This looks like walking your dog twice a day for 15 minutes. This looks like grocery shopping. This looks like pushing around that cart in target shopping or TJ Max or HomeGoods. It looks like scrubbing your bathroom floor. This looks like vacuuming your house. This looks like having a dance party in your living room at 12 a.m. because you can't sleep. Whatever it is like, it will look different from day to day. This might look like yoga, this might look like mobility, this might look like Pilates. Whatever it is from day to day, honoring your body with what it needs that day for 30 minutes. And you'll find that these 30 minutes of movement daily, that's what compounds over the long term. And that's what leads to amazing results. And it will honestly become one of the most simple and effective lifestyle shifts that you've ever made. To be honest, when I was intentional a few years ago, I found myself being very sedentary. I have a very sedentary job. Even though my job is workouts, my job is programing workouts, right? And so that's me sitting at a computer when I switched. Okay, I'm going to take an hour or an hour and a half of my workday and move it to a tread where I'm walking and working. That was a total game changer for me. I increase my steps. I was staying active more throughout the day, and it just made me feel better over time. And it was one of the simplest things to implement. So whether that's a walking pad for me, I have a treadmill in my basement. I did set up some ghetto Hoka box. Honestly, I literally just put my computer on top of a Hoka box on my tread, and that's what I use for my desk. I don't have a fancy walking desk. I literally just set it up and it's it's a I Jimmy rigged it. Okay. So it doesn't have to be professional by any means, but it's sustainable for me because I'm implementing it with something I already needed to do on a daily basis, which is work, and say, okay, what can I do to increase my overall activity? I'm just going to walk while I work. And so I do for an hour to an hour and a half, five days a week. And step number five, stop focusing on weight loss. Remember that the more you focus on weight loss, the harder weight loss will actually become. We have to shift our mindset away from, I'm doing this to lose weight to I'm doing this because I want to feel good. I want to be happy. I want to get more energy. So instead of focusing on weight loss, focus on energy. Focus on your happiness. Focus on prioritizing those things. So whether it's work, it's errands, kids, significant other, family, friends, community there are so many factors that pull us away from what we really want to do. And for some of us, we might not even be able to recall a time where we did something just to make us happy. That made us feel energized and excited, like we prioritize so often the happiness of others, and we fail to prioritize our own happiness. I always talk about this, but prioritizing yourself and prioritizing your movement and prioritizing your health is only going to benefit those around you. So never feel selfish about doing so, because when you're doing it, you're doing it with the intent so that you can serve others in your best capacity on a daily basis. So in 2024, I need you to start making you a priority. I want to challenge you to do a few things every single day that make you happy, that give you more energy, and trust me when I say it will transform the quality of your life. And I also guarantee when you start to feel happier, when you start to have more energy, you will become more consistent with your workouts, that you'll become more consistent with eating right and properly fueling your body, and then you'll actually build the body that you want without even really thinking about it, without even really stressing about it. How amazing is that? Like this year, I don't want your goal to be I want to lose weight. I want your goal to be. I want to feel happy and healthy and energized in my body. And I guarantee when you switch that mindset, you'll be able to get to the end of the year and you'll say, dang, I was happier, I was healthier, I had more energy, I was able to serve others in my best capacity, and I really didn't even try it. Try to do it like it wasn't something that was this big struggle because I had this burden of, oh, I need to lose weight. Yes, that might be a byproduct of you changing your lifestyle in your habits, but it doesn't have to be at the forefront of your mind. It shouldn't be at the forefront of your mind, because oftentimes that leads us to thinking and resorting to habits and things that do not serve us. And that only put this punishment mindset mentality around things. So I'm going to punish my body and I'm going to work out more. I'm going to punish my body and eat less. Instead of saying, I'm doing this so I can feel happier, I'm doing this so I can have more energy. I'm doing this so I can serve others in my best capacity. And as a result, you're honoring your body with movement. You're nourishing your body with what it needs, and you're speaking yourself lovingly. Like it really shifts that mindset. So there you have it. Those are the five simple steps to building the body that you want in the most easiest, straightforward way possible. No fluff is super effective habits that will completely transform you, your body composition, and most importantly, your mindset. So let me quickly recap what we talked about. Step number one resistance train at least two times a week. Step number two focus on protein daily. Step number three use macro counting as a tool in your toolbox for when you get off track. Remember that that's going to empower. Power and encourage you around food. It's going to put this positive mindset around food. Step number four move your body for 30 minutes daily. Doesn't have to be a workout. In fact, it shouldn't be a workout every single day. This is you dancing. This is you grocery shopping. This is you walking your dog. This is you taking your kids to the park. Being intentional with that 30 minutes. Even if you break it up into three, ten minutes, two 15 minutes, whatever it is. And lastly, step number five stop focusing on weight loss. I hope that this was helpful for you. I hope that this gave you some good tips and tools, tangible things that you can carry into 2024. Because I want this year to be the year that you feel your best, but you don't. Over complicated, it's you get to the end of the year and you're like, man, I feel so good. And the best part about it was that I didn't even kill myself to do that. Like, I, you know, I didn't even feel like it was a struggle. It was seamlessly implemented into my day to day. That's what I want for you. I want that so badly for you. So if you have a friend, a coworker, or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode or this podcast in general, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story. I love connect with you guys. We are shooting for more videos on the Embrace Trail Instagram page in 2024, so be sure to follow that. We're going to have tons of tips and tricks and all the the golden nuggets from each episode in a video format so that you can easily share it. You can save it to, you know, a folder on your Instagram so that you have all that inspiration there. But be sure to follow that. And that is all that I have for today. I love you so dang much. Let's get it. Let's go in 2024, baby. [00:22:01][1295.3]
[00:22:09] 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're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julia Ledbetter. Yes, it's within 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. [00:22:09][0.0]