Ellie Marie

How To FIT Alcohol Into Your Macros🍸🥂🍹

Now I am not condoning or encouraging you guys to drink on the daily, but I also am all about BALANCE💯


Social events, birthdays, holidays, these events usually all include some sort of celebratory drink, wine, beer, cocktail, etc💕


So Many of our clients ask if they can drink alcohol during these times while counting macros.🤷🏼‍♀️

The short answer is yes; you can drink alcohol while counting macros.👌🏻

So lets go over alcohol as it pertains to macros and how to track them.👇🏼


So I want to make one thing clear because marketing tactics have begun to take advantage of this.❌

Tracking alcohol is not as simple as looking at the nutrition label because alcohol macros are not listed, and if they are, they are not listed correctly.

Im sure you have all seen certain hard seltzers or light drinks claiming to only have 2g of carbs.🙆🏼‍♀️

This is NOT true. There are 2g of carbs ADDED to the alcohol content of that can.❌❌

So the white claw may show that it has 0 fat, 0 protein, and 2g of carbs, but a total of 100 calories.😱

But doing the math if you multiply the 2g of carbs by the four calories each that they have, it totals 8 calories - not 100 calories. So where are the extra 92 calories coming from? You guessed it - alcohol.💯



Doing the Math👇🏼



To track alcohol, we will be allocating these calories to carbs and/or fats. Never substitute alcohol for protein (because that’s just cheating).


IMPORTANT: If you are using a “mix” in your drink that has carbs or fat in it track that first. Then with the calories left over from the alcohol, do the math:


So depending on your intake and how you want to track your alcohol, you have three different options. Be sure to use whichever one fits your daily intake the best!

Option #1: Track Alcohol as Carbs
Im going to use the white claw example here, which is 92 calories from alcohol, and 8 calories from actual carbs.

 @ Huntington Beach, California

What Is Flexible Dieting?🤷🏼‍♀️


Little bit of history about me you guys 👇🏼

When I Say in my years I have tried evert diet out there, I have literally tried EVERYTHING 😭

I Started with calorie counting, doing everything to stay below 800 calories🙆🏼‍♀️

I did juice cleanses❌

I was fully raw vegan,😱

Fruititarian, ❌

Yeah guys ive done quite the number of diets,🤣

But none of them actually helped me. If anything, they all made me more obsessive, made me gain more weight, and left me feeling more defeated and confused than ever.❌

Which leads me to now where obviously something has worked, but what is it?🤔

Its the exact same approach I take with all of my clients✅

I work with a lot of extremely busy moms, business women, nurses, shift workers, real estate agents, women in military, their lives are not the same, and they definitely don’t all have the time to sit and eat 6 meals a day, with perfectly portioned servings of chicken and broccoli, NO ❌

In all honesty most of my ladies have to grab a snack and run to drop their kids off at school, then run to work, then pick up susie from soccer practice 👇🏼

Now when trying to lose weight or stick to a diet, its IMPOSSIBLE for them to now have to be super restrictive or strict with their special “diet plan”❌

They have to find something that works for them and their current lifestyle⬇️


Its called “flexible dieting” ✅👌🏻

This term has been around for a LONG time and is used interchangeably with IIFYM 🔥

And ironically, I really started practicing this way of eating during my NPC bikini prep 💥

Yes I ate pizza, pancakes, donuts, and ice cream all the way up to my show Day🤣🤷🏼‍♀️💪🏼


So first off, what is it? 👇🏼

Flexible dieting is not a diet. It’s more of a lifestyle.✅

I like to call it structured flexibility! 💪🏼

There is a little work that goes behind it, and a little bit of learning, bu it promotes the notion that there are no “bad foods” and allows you to choose any food, as long as it fits within your macronutrient needs.🔥


MOTIVATION MONDAY FOR PERFECTIONISTS, How you are sabotaging your own results 😱⬇️

Maybe you don’t know if you have a perfectionist’s mindset. If you have ever found yourself muttering or thinking one of the following:🙆🏼‍♀️


I know I am not going to eat perfectly so why try at all?❌

I might make a mistake with that exercise so I don’t want to try it.❌

I’m not going to try anything new because I am afraid I will make a mistake.❌

I’m not going to try anything new because I am not THE BEST at it, I won’t win, or I won’t succeed.❌

I know because I have had all of these EXACT same phrases run through my head.😭

So how does perfectionism make achieving your goals more difficult?🤷🏼‍♀️


Four Reasons Perfectionism Hurts your Fitness Progress👇🏼👇🏼

1. Perfectionism ruins your self-confidence.❌
Maybe you believe that if you don’t work-out or eat perfectly, youve failed completely, and then the only logical option is to give up completely..

Eventually these feelings will spiral and you will begin to identify yourself as a failure too.😭

Once you start this pattern of negative self-talk, you begin to lose confidence in your abilities to stick through trying times or situations.🥺

You’ve let a simple mistake or setback (maybe one cookie or a less-than-perfect workout) hold power over you.

Had you reframed your mistake as just that—one small slip up—you would be much more inclined to just move on and eat/train better the next time.🔥

You have to learn to BE OK with making some mistakes along the way. This means letting go of tying your overall performance or efforts with one specific bad workout or meal.👌🏻

I remember in the past if I would eat something that I deemed to be “unhealthy” I would no lie sit up and cry about it and reprimand myself for ruining my progress. 💪🏼

Now I just let things go and move on—aiming to correct my mistake the next time.❤️


if you’re just trying to see a jump start in your weight loss journey, there are some key things that you need to be doing RIGHT NOW to see those results

Lets get into those things 💪🏼

 #1 First thing when you wake up Start your morning off with some walking & water

Why? Walking first thing in the morning is going to help you get your steps up especially if you sit at a desk all day aka most of us
getting this movement in first thing is the morning is actually going to help suppress your hunger
And no it doesn’t have to be incline walking just regular walking

And why water? Water first thing in the morning is going to REHYDRATE your body for the 6-8 hours you weren’t gettin any fluids! Once you rehydrate your body you are going to have better digestion, clearer mind, and have an easier time waking up and getting started


When Should You Increase The Amount Of Weight You Lift?😱

So first lets create a scenario because I love telling stories🤷🏼‍♀️

Scenario #1👇🏼
You’ve been on a weight training plan for a while now and your results have stopped completely or just leveled off.🙆🏼‍♀️

Your gym lifting routine has become a bit easy and you’re not feeling any sort of push mid or post session like you did when you first started. And now you’re wondering what to do next🤔

BOOM this is a good sign! you’ve hit a strength plateau which means you’re now ready to lift more weights!💪🏼

The thought of lifting heavier weights is 99.999999999% of the time met with feelings of EXTREME hesitation and dread from my ladies,😱
Either out of fear of not knowing what to do in the gym, but more often than not that INCREDIBLE misconception of “I’m going to bulk-up”🥺

I literally hear this every day you guys. “Oh no I can’t use heavier weights I dont want my arms to bulk up.”❌
Or oh no I just want to “tone my booty” so I dont want to squat or deadlift those are going to make me look manly” But I promise you ladies (and men) Increasing weights is a natural progression in your workout routine that must be addressed in order to get the results you want.👏🏼
While some people may be content to lift the same amount of weight for months, or even years on end, they are doing their body a disservice by not challenging their muscles to continually work harder and become stronger.💪🏼💥



When first starting off with weight training, most women do WAY too much.

Say what?!

As women, we always feel like we have to do MORE.

Whatever we do, is never enough.

And when it comes to working out, if we are not SORE and SWEATING then the workout didn’t count.

So we feel we have to push even HARDER.

But this is the mistake.

The way that we measure our progress is on how long our workout was and how sore we feel the next day.

Being sore is very common especially when getting adjusted to a new routine...

BUT, if you are training steady and consistent your goal should be to NOT BE SORE.

Being sore does not indicate a good workout, more than anything it indicates you changed up something big in your program/training or that you are not paying enough attention to the things you need to recover.

It is a common misconception that feeling sore is a sign that you’ve had a GREAT workout

Being sore, more than anything, indicates that you have changed up some part of your workout or that you are not utilizing the proper tools for recovery.

Your goal should not be to make sure you feel sore the next day.

Your goal should be to focus on INCREASING YOUR WEIGHTS

LIFTING HEAVIER, constantly progressing in your exercises 💪🏼

Performing better, spending more time on your form and your mind to muscle connection 🤩



Don't chase soreness and sweat, chase progress. BOOM.


Swipe to see some MAJOR B***Y GAINS! 🍑💪🏼



So you’ve been dieting for a REALLY long time

You Get down to your goal weight..

Now what?
 I hear it all the time!

People say that they’ve been able to get the weight off, but as soon as they hit that number they end up packing it all right back on again 🥺

Has this happened to you?

Because it happened to me a lot.

You crash course, lose all the weight for an event, and then as soon as it’s ove, bam 💥 it all comes back.

You know that feeling like you’ve destroyed ALL of your hard work once you stop the diet, get off the supplements and resume normal eating habits?

Yeah thats what we want to avoid feeling… EVER.

And thats where reverse dieting comes into play

 Reverse dieting is used most commonly after a long period of cutting, which allows you to maintain your results without gaining weight, but increasing your calories


Thats exactly what we did with Mollie!

Mollie didn’t even realize that she was under eating for her activity level (which most people dont think that they are!) 🙆🏼‍♀️

But she was and it was keeping her from getting toned, and dropping body fat 🥺🥺


When Mollie and I first started working together back in March, she was doing a TON of cardio and running, and her calories were under 1700.😱😱

In the past few weeks working together we’ve been able to increase her calories to 2500 calories 😮 and 324g of carbs!!!!!🤩🤩🤩💥


I promise you guys carbs are not the devil haha 🙏🏼😉

Her cardio is down, she has lost 2 inches from her waist, weight is down 2lbs from the start, and her B***y is Popping you guys! 🍑🤩


She is getting tighter, ✅
Leaner, ✅
More toned, ✅
And most importantly her metabolism is REVVINNNGG!!✅

Super proud of you for all of your hard work and trusting in the process Mollie! You are unstoppable❤️
 @ Huntington Beach, California

how to hit macros at restaurants – without stressing over menus!🤩



Now I know that going out to eat takes away some of the control that we have around our meal (we never truly know EXACTLY what ingredients or portions they are using..)🤷🏼‍♀️


BUT

This does not mean that you cannot go out. ❌

This does not mean that you have to hide in the corner with your pre packaged meal while everyone else is ordering from the menu❌

This does not mean that you have to say NO to social events and gathering because you have to “eat Healthy” or “stay on plan” ❌

Because in My experience with teaching hundreds of clients the principles of successful macro tracking has proven time and time again that it is completely possible to hit macros at restaurants✅


ive done this myself with a 3 day trip to Miami just a week before my nationals npc bikini competition show, and I lost weight during that time, — even with a wedding!😱

If you are my client, then you get to count macros, but if you are learning to do it on your own, you will be confronted with the challenge of figuring out how to hit macros at restaurants. 👇🏼


So im going to share some of my favorite tips and tricks with you guys right now on how to eat out and stay on track! 🤙🏽

So tip #1: make sure you know where you are going ahead of time ✅

This way you can ESTIMATE YOUR MEAL BY USING SIMILAR NUTRITION INFO FROM ANOTHER RESTAURANT
💯


I always recommend utilizing more common chain restaurants such as Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chilis — all of which have detailed nutritional information readily available on their websites, and you can pre-log the meal in your diary using the nutrition information found online.


The idea is to get as close as possible! 🙏🏼

I always say to meet yourself half way, look at what you would usually order at a restaurant, and either find a way to adjust it, or choose the next best option that is more macro friendly, and we will get into this in just a bit

Continued on FB!

3 simple ways to start losing weight now😱🔥


Summer is coming, things are starting open up again, beach days are going to start happening, and most people are now more than ever focused on getting in the best shape ever!


The problem is we are all impatient. LOL
We want results ASAAP, and we want it to be easy and simple..

And im all about sustainability and long term success.. but I also know that in order to stay motivated, we need to make sure that we are seeing progress!




So im going to break things down into 3 super simple ways to start seeing results NOW!

 #1 increase your activity

Remember in order to lose weight we have to be in a caloric deficit and this will either come from adjusting your food intake, or your activity level

I always like to keep food high for as long as possible, and always increase the activity first

In all honesty, things have gotten much worse due to covid

Everyone is either working from home, going to school from home, moving around less etc

What most people dont realize is that even if you go to the gym 5x a week for an hour and you are weight training (which is what we want to be doing)

If that hour is the ONLY activity that you are getting throughout the entire day, your NEAT or (non exercise activity thermogenesis) goes down


and so the truth is that a majority of the weight loss is going to come from that NEAT, the walking, the moving around throughout the day

Thats why if any of you have gone on vacation to Vegas or to disney and youre doing a TON of walking sometimes you end up even losing weight! Its because youre moving throughout the day

And the reality is that Most people will only average 2-3k steps when they work an office job

2-3 thousand steps! Even if you dont have a Fitbit or an Apple Watch you can check your phone health stats and see

So a way for you to start seeing some results, start seeing some weight loss is to bump up those steps!

Get in an extra 20-30 minute walk, or shoot for 5-10k every day and by increasing your activity here you will automatically increase the amount of calories youre burning

STRESS🤬What are some ways we get overly stressed out during our fitness journey? 😱

 #1 when we arent seeing results and we feel that we are putting in 100% of our hard work

 #2 when we get overwhelmed with the diet/nutrition part of things

 #3 When we cannot find the time to get to the gym 6x per week or the energy to do HIIT classes or push hard in the gym

 #4 when we are completely confused on what we should be doing for our specific body

 #5 when we’ve tried literally every single diet out there and none of them ever work


These are all ways that stress will creep into our fitness journeys and they will keep us from reaching our goals

Why?

⁃MENTALLY when we feel stressed, it starts to create this negative feeling around the whole process so of course, our brains want to avoid any sort of negativity and we choose to prioritize other “positive invoking events” like going out with friends, indulging in a piece of cake, instead of sticking with our schedule
⁃MENTALLY we start to justify that if nothing has worked in the past, its not going to work now
⁃MENTALLY we feel defeated, frustrated, and confused so we try the same thing over and over wishing for a different outcome
⁃PHYSICALLY that stress takes a toll on our bodies, our energy depletes, we feel sluggish, and our weight goes up

We end up staying stuck in the same cycle, perpetuating our stress and feeling reluctant to start fresh

How this affects weight loss?


A couple of reasons
 #1 Stress causes many people to stress eat
 “We crave sweet, salty, and high-fat foods [when stressed] because they stimulate the brain to release pleasure chemicals that reduce tension,” like I mentioned earlier, wanting to feel that “positive feeling”

 causes the body to produce more of the hormone cortisol: cortisol is a stress hormone that promotes body fat and makes it harder to lose weight, especially around the middle. No good!