[Naomi]

Hi Lisa- No, that is way too long to go without eating, then to do both a weight training and cardio session. A few reasons: Phase 1 is focused on muscle building, so you do not want to be in acaloric deficit, or too much of a caloric deficit so that your body has the building blocks to build. Another reason is that going that long without having anything in your system (even if you eat late the night before, your body has already processed the food/drink during the night while you were sleeping) your blood sugar is going to be pretty low, and you won’t have anything to fuel your workout so that you can lift as heavy as possible. Even when I workout in the afternoon/evening, I have a pre-workout meal or snack about 30-45 min before working out so that I can have good energy and strength for the workout.

I would suggest you have – at the very least – a pre-workout protein shake and put a scoop (5g of BCAAs in your protein shake since it is your first ‘meal’ of the day and you are doing strength-training and cardio). You could put a half a scoop of protein powder in your shake and once scoop of BCAAs, and maybe half an apple (roughly 45-50g). This will be counted as your first meal of the day (or ‘breakfast’). Then about 30-45 minutes after your strength training and cardio, you’ll have your post-workout shake as usual (count this towards your daily macros), then follow the rest of the meal plan throughout the day.

I hope this helps! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer- I would personally recommend that you continue with the squats and not replace them with leg presses. Just don’t worry about going super low for right now. When I started squatting, I didn’t break parallel for a long time (looooong time). Even now, if I am fatigued and on my last set and can’t go as low as my first few sets, it’s fine. I just keep going until I am finished my set but I only go as low as my poor tired legs will allow me at that point. It’s the same thing you would do for a push up. Until people gain good upper body stength, they can’t go super low with a push up, but you wouldn’t wait until you are strong enough to do a full push up to start doing push ups. As you get stronger, you can go lower.

The same is true for squats. Only go as low as your strength will allow you with the squats, and as your legs get stronger, you’ll be able to go lower.

It may also be a tight low back issue, so just do the best you can with what you have to work with and make sure you are stretching your hamstrings and lower back regularly. Maybe see a chiropractor or sports message therapist to target the reason for your limited range of motion?

[Naomi]

Hi Nancy- all nuts are not created equal, lol. Macadamia nuts are higher in fat, calories and carbs than almonds, so you’ll have to adjust the portion size. As long as you are weighing and measuring accurately, and entering all of your food in MyFitnessPal, you should be able to guage the right amount of macadamia nuts to stay within your outlined macro perameters 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Sunny- the post-workout protein shake should be included in your daily macro intake, not in addition to 😉

Hi Echo- the goal is to get as close to the calories, fats, proteins and carbs outlined in your meal plan. Unsweetened almond milk is only about 35-40 calories per 8 oz., so if you do or don’t “make up” the macros from the milk, it’s not a huge deal. That being said, still try to hit all of your nutrition numbers as close as you can — does that make sense? So if you are ‘short’ 35-50 calories at the end of the day, maybe try to have an extra ounce or a few more grams in some other area without going over on your fats, proteins or carbs. I hope this helps! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Janice- correct, drink the post workout shake after lifting.

[Naomi]

Hi Lisa- just try to eat one of your daily meals as close to post-workout as possible, which should help your muscles recover from the workout 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Carrie- does the top serloin that you buy have a barcode on it? Sometimes even fresh cut meats from the meat department have barcodes on the packaging. I find that scanning barcodes in MFP is the safest bet when trying to be as accurate as possible.

[Naomi]

Melanie- the health of the baby and having a safe and healthy pregnancy should be your number one priority, yes.

[Naomi]

Hi Melanie- You don’t have to do any running at all, the cardio examples given are just options: “In this phase, you will be performing cardio three days a week, for 30 minutes a session. The workouts below are options for you to choose for Phase 1.”

So you can pick any other cardio that is safe and not painful for you to do 🙂 Good luck!

[Naomi]

Hi Dayna- for best results, I would recommend sticking as close to the plan as is. You can do it!! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Tasha- you can replace the leg extensions with sissy squats instead 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Shaunisty- I believe this is a question best asked of your OB, so if you can call your OB with a list of Nicole’s supplements and caloric guidelines that would be best.

[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer- weigh all foods after cooking, except oatmeal (weigh oatmeal dry) 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Katrina- this recommendation is made to minimize the amount of overall sugar intake in order to increase the chances of getting results during the Challenge.

[Naomi]

Hi Sandra-

The alternate exercises are to allow a wide variety of individuals of all levels to paticipate in the Challenge. If you need to work up to an execise, or if you have an injury that prevents you from being able to do an exercise, alternate exercises are provided. It’s all on an individual basis, so just do the best that you can do with where you’re at on your exercise journey. Remember to challenge yourself during the workouts, but not at the risk of injury or doing something your body is not yet ready for 🙂

Good luck!!

[Naomi]

Hey! The most mportant thing is to get all your workouts in, first and foremost. So whatever you need to do schedule-wise to get your workouts in, aim for that. Here are the different options in order of ideal first and least ideal last:

1. Cardio in a.m. on lifting days, lifting in afternoon/evening. So in a perfect world, ideally you should do your cardio session in the morning, then try to put as much space between your cardio and weight lifting session as you can (4-8 hours) for example doing cardio at 6 a.m., then weight lifting at 2 p.m.
2. If you have to get your cardio in the same workout session as your weight training, do cardio AFTER your weights. So weight lifting workout followed by cardio session.
3. If you absolutely can’t get yoour cardio in on the same day as a weight lifting workout, you can do your cardio on your “rest day.” However, I strongly advise against doing this if at all possible so that you can giev your body a full day of complete rest. Rest/recovery days are just as important as your workout days when it comes to overall progess 😉

I hope this helps! Good luck! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Nicole-

Definitely don’t count them as your lifting days. If your goal is to follow the Challenge, then follow all the strength-training workouts in the challenge. My best advise to you is to:
– don’t do any extra cardio that is outlined in Phase 1 of the Challenge
– lift as little as possible and as light a weight as possible while teaching your strength training classes (you can explain to your class what you are doing and why if you need to, I am sure they will understand and be supportive! 😉

I hope this helps! Good luck! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Courtney- the cardio option you are referring to, I believe, is “Mixed Machines” and is as follows:
WORKOUT 2: Mixed Machines
Duration: 30 minutes
• 10 minutes Stepmill at Level 8
• 1 minute Stepmill at Level 15
*Repeat 5x, then move to:
• 10 minutes Treadmill at 8.0mph repeating this cycle: 20 seconds run/10 seconds rest
*Straddle the treadmill, taking your feet off the belt entirely
• 10 minutes Treadmill incline walk at 3.5mph, incline 15% (30 seconds with hands, 30 seconds without hands)

Hi Beth- if you absolutely have to do cardio on a rest day due to time/schedule contraints then yes, you can. But try as much as possible to save your rest days for complete and total rest and recovery so that you can hit it hard for your next workouts 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Rebekah-

Yours is a very specific and unique situation, so my best advise to you would be to minimize the weights you use during teaching BodyPump as much as possible so that you can focus on your heavy, muscle building workouts for the Challeneg. Also, minimize or completely eliminate any extra cardio — you will get plenty of cardio teaching classes! 😉

I hope this helps, good luck!

[Naomi]

Hi Kay-

There isn’t a way to run through all the exercises, so you will have to click back to the main screen, then click on each exercise to view the video. Good luck with the challenge! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Roberta,

Thank you for your question! Everyone’s body responds differently to the intensity level of the workouts they are doing and the nutritional guidelines set forth in the challenge. Since this isn’t an individualized, personalized workout and nutrition plan, Nicole has come up with different general guidelines and perameters based on height and weight ranges. Even someone who weights 130lbs can tolerate and even see ideal results on the same caloric intake and macros as someone who is the same height and weighs 15lbs heavier. It all depends on someone’s muscle density, body fat percentage and metabolism, as well as how heavy (workout intense) each person is lifting.

Beyond the ranges set forth in each Meal Plan outlined in the nutrition portion of the challenge, you can adjust your own calories and macros if that’s what you choose to do and if you feel it’s necessary based on your own body’s response to the workouts and nutrition.

I hope this helps answer your question! Good luck!! 🙂

[Naomi]

You’re welcome! Correct, no more icon meals.

[Naomi]

Here is another place you can find all of Nicole’s parterships and promo codes: Promo Codes

[Naomi]

Hi Stacey!

Nicole’s promo codes are:

Polar.com: NICOLE16 (caps)
– for a discount off select heart rate monitor items only
Selfiez.me: nicolew
– for a discount off magnetic phone cases
@shoppinkivy (on Instagram) or search for Shop Pink Ivy on Etsy: NICOLE15 (caps)
– for $15 off any order
sixpackbags.com: nicolew5
– for 15% off any bag

I hope this helps! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Marybeth- I am so sorry about all that you are dealing with this year through the holidays, but we are here for you and I hope this challenge has helped you be able to channel your stress and feelings in a positive way, and hopefully make some friends and pick up some great health habits and tips along the way!!

I would strongly urge you to please still upload you final pics, even if they aren’t in the same location and you aren’t wearing the same thing!! Please do this, for several reasons:

1. you NEVER know, you might have made more changes than you think and could be in the running as a winner! You just don’t know!! 😉

2. you have worked so hard and come so far and embarked on this journey with so many emotions and expectations. You owe it to yourself to CROSS THAT FINISH LINE!!! There is something you do for yourself when you complete something that you set out to do. It instills a confidence and trust in yourself that you wouldn’t get if you didn’t finish. It is a gift you are giving to yourself. Do this for you, if for no other reason.

3. you will always wonder, girl! And you may at some point eventually just wish that you had uploaded those darn pictures! LOL! Don’t let that be the case, because you won’t ever have THIS exact opportunity again (though we will have more challenges 😉 )

4. you have nothing to lose by uploading them!

I really hope you will cross the finish line of this journey you started 30 days ago and upload your final pics! 🙂 Good luck and we are thinking about you through these holidays as a single mom and first one without your mom. xo ~ Naomi

[Author]

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