🤩 We only have 3 more days until our summer challenge officially starts! I am excited! You are excited! We are all excited! 🤔 But now what? What is the next step from here? I wanted to ask a few questions that you should have answered before Monday. 🤳 How am I tracking my protein intake and water intake? Are you using an app or a logbook? What app are you choosing? Do whatever is going to help make it easiest on you! I love using the 1st Phorm app because it has at least 6 different ways you can log food (and it super easy!) I have attached a graph of everything that comes with the app and the difference between standard versus premium. 🙂 But use whatever app you feel most comfortable with! Most app allow you to download your food log into a PDF, so you can forward that on to me when the time comes. 🥩 Do I know what my protein goal is? A great place to start is 1g of protein/lb of goal body weight. Example: If I am 200lbs and want to be 150lbs, I would set my protein goal to 150g of protein/day. ⚠️ Just be conscious that even if are eating a lot of protein, that does not automatically mean you are going losing weight. You must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. ⚠️ 💧Do I know how much water I should be drinking? The recommendation is 100 oz if you are under 200lbs and 120oz if you are over 200lbs, but pick something that is going to be attainable to you. 🥤Do I need to supplement anything in my diet? 🥚Our first priority should get our nutrition from whole foods. However, it is VERY hard to consume the recommended serving amount of fruits/veggies/protein all through food. It is a lot of food that you have to eat, and we live such busy lives that is hard to sit down to do so. I recommend having some kind of protein supplement on hand to make sure you can fill those gaps when you need to. My go to’s are: 🥤1st Phorm’s Level-1 Whey Protein Powder - slow digesting protein - great for helping you feel full and when you need something in between meals. 🥤1st Phorm’s Phormula-1 Clear - it is for post workout since it is quickly absorbed into your body, but it is great if you want a juice like drink and are trying to hit your protein goal.

I just added a FAQ Page to the 8-Week Challenge Course in the Classroom Tab! If you have questions that are not in there, reach out to me directly or put your question in the comments ⬇️

⚖️ Calories dictate the number on the scale 🪞 Protein dictates what you see in the mirror. ⚡️When you're in a calorie deficit, your body needs energy It's going to pull from somewhere. That could be muscle OR fat. How you ensure it pulls primarily from fat is by hitting your protein goal. One gram per pound of goal body weight is a great place to start. Here's why this works: 1️⃣ Protein preserves your lean muscle tissue during the deficit. 2️⃣ Protein is the most satiating macronutrient. This means when you eat protein, you stay fuller longer, and you don't crave as much. This will help you stick to your plan. 3️⃣ Your body burns 20 to 30 percent of the calories in protein just digesting it. So protein costs more energy to break down. To summarize: If you hit your calories but skip protein, you will lose weight. But some of that weight will be muscle. 😰You will feel weaker 😥 Have less definition, 🐌 Your metabolism will slow down over time. 🛑 That's not what you want 🛑 If you hit both calories AND protein consistently, while doing some resistance work, you will : 💪 Preserve muscle 💪 Be Leaner 💪 Stronger 💪 Have energy 💪 Look better at your goal weight 🍽️ You will also get to eat more long-term because more muscle burns more calories at rest. ⁉️And who doesnt want to eat more food?!?!