 Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen, I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm on WW personal points. I am back, I am back with part two of my weight loss, mean comments and lifestyle Q&A. Last Sunday I put out part one, I'll go ahead and link that down below if you missed it where I answered all of the questions that came in on my Instagram and on YouTube. Today I will be answering all of the questions that came in in my Facebook group. If you didn't know I have a private Facebook group that is really great, very supportive, very loving, a great place to seek support, make new friends and get help on your weight loss journey. So I'll go ahead and put my Facebook group here on the screen for you. If you're not a member, we would absolutely love to have you. It's free to join and like I said, it's a really great supportive community. In my Facebook group alone I have 89 questions. Luckily some of these are repeats from questions that I answered in part one. So like I said, if you haven't seen that video, I'll make sure it's linked down below for you, but we're gonna deep dive into the rest of the questions on this Q&A. We're also gonna talk about some of the mean comments and questions that I get. So there's a lot to share in today's video. So if you're excited, give it a big, huge thumbs up. Make sure you're subscribed and your bell notification is turned on because I upload five videos every single week. Down in the description box, you will find nutrition coaching where I offer personalized to you macros and calories. This is how I've lost the majority of my weight. Well over 120 pounds, highly, highly recommend. No matter if you're on WW or not, you should still know your macros and calories. And I have one-on-one coaching for support and accountability. You'll also find links and discounts to my favorite healthy things. And of course my Facebook group, again, we'd love to have you. So we got a lot to go over. Let's jump in. So thank you again to everybody who asked questions and it's really important to me to help you on your journey. I want to be your biggest cheerleader, support and help in any way that I can. And these Q and A's are a great way to get your questions answered and maybe even get answers to questions you didn't even think of asking. So we're gonna jump right into question number one. I have my laptop pulled up right over here. So the first question is, my question is about non-starchy vegetables. Are they counted towards carb allowance for the day? This is in counting macros and calories. Do we not add them to our tracker like lettuce, cucumbers, celery, zucchini, et cetera? They take up a lot of my daily carbs and I love vegetables. So this is actually a really good question, but this is also a personal question. So it's really up to you whether or not you choose to track non-starchy vegetables. And when we say non-starchy, we're talking about the vegetables she mentioned. Starchy vegetables include corn, peas and squash like butternut squash, acorn squash, those are really considered to be a starchy vegetable. Also of course, potatoes. So for me, and what I recommend to my coaching clients is I do not track non-starchy vegetables, which means that I do not even enter them into my tracker. I do track starchy vegetables. So that's the difference, starchy versus non-starchy. And the main reason, well, really two reasons I choose not to track non-starchy vegetables is number one, they have hardly any calories in them. And it's just, in my opinion, not necessary to take the time to input them into my tracker. Even more importantly is kind of a point she touched on is that all vegetables have carbs. And I don't want to get in the pattern of not eating vegetables because they're carbs. And they take up some of my carbs for the day. I would rather freely eat vegetables because nobody got fat eating vegetables. Starchy, non-starchy, carbs, no carbs, nobody got fat eating vegetables. So for me, if I don't track them, I'm more likely to eat them. But like I said in the beginning, this of course is a personal decision. That's just what I do and what I recommend to my clients. The next question is, how do you like to use your protein powder besides in coffee? So I put out a whole video about how I make protein packed coffee. I'll link that video down below for you if you missed it. But I use protein powders in everything. Sometimes I mix them with water. Sometimes I'll mix them with fair life milk, just shake it up and drink it. I love a good blended up protein shake with some fruit or half of a frozen banana. And I also utilize protein powders a lot in baking. You can make protein muffins, chaffels, protein desserts. So you get that sweet treat or that meal with the added protein. There are so many ways to utilize protein powders that they're a staple for me. And honestly, I usually have between four and five different ones on hand. The next question is a multitude of questions. There are several in this and it says, how many meals do you eat in a day? Do you ever have protein shake as a meal replacement? Do you limit your bread and carbs and how many fruits do you eat in a day? So I personally eat between five and six meals per day because for me, that's the best way to keep my metabolism revved and going throughout the day. And I'm not entering one meal to another ravenously hungry. I'm pretty satisfied and fulfilled throughout the entire day. Do I have a protein shake as a meal replacement? Not generally. I usually use them in the form of a snack or in my coffee in the morning. It's not enough calories to keep me full long term or to be for me a meal replacement. I do not limit my bread but I do have a carbohydrate goal that I try to stick to every day and I do not limit my fruit. I eat generally two to three pieces of fruit per day. The next question is can you make a video about breaking through a plateau? Yes, this is on my list of videos. Let me know down in the comments if this is something you'd be interested in and if it is, then I'll definitely put it to the top of my list. Next is what made you decide to start your weight loss journey? So I actually talked a lot about my weight loss journey and the history of my weight loss in my How I Lost 100 Pounds video. So I'll link that down below for you. And even in that video and in several videos, I've mentioned that the turning point for me was actually seeing a picture of myself where I was literally stunned and shocked at how big I had gotten. And that was the point where I was like, that's it, you have to do something about your weight. But I did go a little bit more into depth in that video. So again, I'll link it down below. Next is do you think age slows weight loss? Absolutely, as we age our metabolism slows. That is just part of the aging process. Now there are several things that you can do to boost your metabolism as you age. And in fact, on my nutrition channel, I just did a video about four ways to boost your metabolism and lose weight over the age of 50. So I'll also link that video for you and my nutrition channel. If you're not subscribed, come subscribe. We talk all about nutrition and that will actually answer a lot of your nutrition type of questions and weight loss questions as well. But yes, a lot happens when we age. Some good, some not so good, but of course the weight loss is going to slow and it's gonna be a little bit harder to take weight off as we age. It's not impossible. It's just a little bit harder. Can you overdo the zero point foods and how do you feel about zero point foods? You can absolutely overdo them. You have to remember that there is zero foods, zero in the world that have zero calories. All foods have calories, including zero point foods on WW. And in fact, a lot of the zero point foods are pretty calorically dense. Things like potatoes, rice, lean meats, chicken, chicken and ground turkey have quite a bit of calories per serving. So you can absolutely overeat your zero point foods. So it's important to be mindful of portion size and control the amount that you're eating. And what are my thoughts on zero point foods? I don't love them. I honestly don't love zero point foods. I even love less when people call them free foods because like I said, no food is free, no food is zero calories. I don't love zero point foods. I think that it can make people think that these foods are foods that they can eat as much of as they want. In fact, I'd even heard that in WW workshops that you can eat all the zero point foods that you want. And that's just not the case because in order to lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit and you can put yourself out of a calorie deficit even with zero point foods. That's why it is so important to know your macros and calories so that you know whether or not you're overdoing the zero point foods. How and where do you get inspiration for meal ideas? You post more frequently than anyone I know on YouTube which is great for us. But how can you come up with continuous recipes like you do? They're all fantastic recipes by the way. Well, thank you. Thank you so much. I'm glad that you enjoy my recipes. When I started my channel, that was a big thing I wanted to do on a regular basis, share healthy recipes with you, low point, low calorie recipes with you. The majority of them come from the internet. I just scour the internet for recipes and I use recipes for inspiration. I generally make a lot of modifications to those inspiration recipes to make them more WW friendly and more macro friendly, calorie friendly. But I just find recipes on the internet and then I put my own twist and spin on them to fit them into my diet. When you have a splurge meal, what do you eat? And what is the one food that you just can't seem to make healthy and think it tastes as good or close to the real thing? So I no longer have a splurge meal or a cheat day. When I was following strictly WW, I had a cheat day every single week. And I talk again about that. I talk about that a lot in my big mistakes I made on WW video. That's another video I'll link down below for you. Definitely recommend watching if you're on WW or if you're struggling to lose weight on the program. One of the mistakes I made was to have a cheat day because what was happening is I was eating so much on that cheat day that I was undoing all of my caloric deficit for the week and I wasn't losing any weight. And at that point I had well over 100 pounds to lose. So it was an eye opener and a mistake that I made. And so I no longer have a cheat day. I no longer have a splurge meal. I just eat everything day to day in moderation. And is there a food or a recipe that just isn't the same if it's not the real thing? I would say that the one food that I find that I can't find a really good alternative, healthy, low point, low calorie alternative to is ice cream. Now, real ice cream is just so creamy and delicious. And there just isn't a lower calorie version that I've found that I like as much as the real thing. So I just enjoy the real thing in moderation. And I still do try other low calorie, low fat ice cream options. I just don't think they're as good as the real thing. Let me know down in the comments, what's the one food that you find that the real thing or the unhealthy version of is better than any other option? What made you decide to count macros? I wasn't losing weight. I wasn't losing weight on WW. I was having digestive and stomach related issues. My weight was doing a lot of this. I was never satisfied, never full on WW. And I started looking in and deep diving into why that was. Was I eating enough calories? Was I choosing the right foods? And I knew that in order to maintain a high metabolism, which is what actually helps you lose weight and maintain your weight, I knew that I had to eat enough calories. So I wasn't sure that that was happening on WW. So that's when I really started looking into macros and calories and realized that number one, I wasn't eating nearly enough. I wasn't eating the right foods. I wasn't eating healthy, sustainable foods, foods that I enjoyed. And that's when I made the switch to focusing on calories and protein first and WW points second. I also talk about that in my mistakes on WW video and my how I lost 100 pounds video. When you go out to eat, do you try to keep the points and calories low or do you save up all your weeklies for that? And do you treat it like a treat meal? So I always use all my weeklies. I recommend, no, you need to use all your weeklies on WW. That is the only way, the only way that you're going to even get close to eating enough calories. And chances are, spoiler alert, you're probably still not eating enough calories. But by using your weeklies, at least you're getting a little bit closer to a healthy caloric deficit. Like I mentioned, I don't have a splurge day anymore. I go out to eat when it suits us, when we choose to go out to eat. And my go-to for going out to eat, if I know I'm going, I'll work it into my day. I'll look at the menu ahead of time online, kind of decide what I want to eat and pre-track it. That way I know what's left essentially for the remainder of the day. And another thing that I do when I go out to eat, if it is a more high point, high calorie meal, is I'll ask immediately for a to-go box. I'll take half of my meal and put it in the to-go box, set it aside and just focus on eating half of the meal. That way I'm not overdoing it on points and calories, but I still get to order whatever sounds good from the menu. Whether that be a burger and fries, or a big juicy steak and a potato, I get to enjoy the foods I really love because that's a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. Just curious, I know you lived in Washington before you move. Did you grow up there? So I was actually born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, but we moved to Spokane, Washington when I was in the fourth grade. So the majority of my life I did grow up, or the majority of the life that I remember, I grew up in Spokane, Washington. In fact, my mom still lives in the same house that we purchased when I entered into a fifth grade. I did move a few different places throughout my adult life. I lived in Idaho, Montana, and then I currently reside in Arizona. What's more important, meeting your macros or staying within your calories? I'm having a hard time getting in all of my protein. It's all important. It's all important. Number one, calories. The only way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit. So you have to make sure, number one, you're eating enough calories every day that you're hitting your calorie goal and that you're not going too far over that goal so you remain in a deficit. Number two of importance is protein. It's important that you have a protein goal that you hit every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Between that and the calories, that is what is going to optimize weight loss, what's going to keep you full and satisfied. And then last on the list is counting the other macros, like carbs and fats. It's more important that you stay in your calories and reach your protein goal than stay in your carbs and your fats. I've been following your journey for a couple of years and enjoy your content. Do you have a goal size besides having a goal weight? By the way, you look amazing. Thank you so much and thank you for your support over the last couple of years. I don't have a goal clothing size. Honestly, I would say that the size that I'm in right now is something I never thought that I would be in. I generally wear between an eight and a 10 and I'm five eight. So I'm tall. So that is an optimal size for me. I honestly don't see myself getting into, say, a size six. I feel like that is way too small for how my body is to comprise and my height. I am not a petite person, nor do I want to be skinny. I want to be fit and healthy. So I would say that the size I'm at right now I'm comfortable with and I'm getting closer and closer to the goal weight that I set for myself. Friend Robin says, are you coming back to visit me? I may have to come see you when it cools down, LOL. My friend Robin lives in San Diego. So yes, I will be back if you didn't know my best friend Rachel lives in San Diego. So whenever I go there, I try to meet up with my friend Robin so that I can see her and see Rachel. My plan is to go to San Diego at least once a year. And on a side note, you definitely need to come visit. It's beautiful here. Was there ever a meal you fixed and filmed that after all was said and done, both you and Troy really didn't like? Yes, several, several meals. It wasn't that we didn't like them, but they weren't our favorites. Like we weren't excited about them. And a lot of times we didn't finish the leftovers of those meals. And there are a lot of times that Troy didn't like the meal, but I enjoyed the meal. So of course, not every meal you make is going to be chef's kiss 10 out of 10. There's going to be meals that you love. There's going to be meals that you like. And there's going to be meals that just aren't your favorite. Losing weight improved your relationship with your husband. This is a really good question. This is an interesting question. I would say that overall, no. I would say that overall our relationship is the same as it was prior to losing weight. However, my self-confidence and how I feel about myself and how I'm able to do more with my husband has substantially, substantially gotten better. But our overall relationship is the same, which I'm grateful for. I'm glad that the weight loss didn't negatively affect our relationship. So let's address a couple of the mean comments and questions that I've received. Why do you post so many pictures of yourself on social media now? This is a comment and a question that I've gotten several times actually. There are few reasons why I take a lot of pictures of myself, why I put up a lot of comparison photos from before and after. First of all, it's for me to see my results. Sometimes the scale doesn't show my results. So when I see it in pictures, which if you remember was the reason I started my weight loss journey was seeing a picture of myself, it's motivation for me. It keeps me motivated, it keeps me excited on my journey and it's a great way to see progress without seeing the number go down on the scale. And secondly, it's for motivation for you guys. This is a weight loss channel. My social media is revolving around weight loss, a healthy lifestyle, nutrition coaching. So logically I would be posting a lot of pictures of my transformation on my social media for motivation for you guys as well. If you don't like all the photos that I post or you don't like the transformation photos then you certainly don't have to follow me. You don't have to check out those posts. But I know that the majority of you, the high majority of you really appreciate all of the posts and things that I post on social media. And the other question that I get asked all the time and the mean comments that I get and comments on YouTube are why do you always promote products in your videos? Why are you always showing products that you're using? I will never understand the concern with this question either because how do you find out about products that are great for a weight loss journey, great for a fitness journey, products I like, products I dislike, if I don't share them with you? It's not that I'm selling you anything because I don't sell those products. I don't work for those companies, make money when that company's products sell. So it's not that I'm selling anything, it's that I'm sharing products that I enjoy, products that I love with you guys. And honestly, most of you are like, thank you, please keep sharing, share, share, share because that is how I have found products that have helped me lose weight, helped me sustain my weight loss, helped me feel satisfied on my weight loss journey and products that I've really grown to love. So I will never can stop sharing products that is part of my channel, that is part of my presence here on social media is to share products that I love with you guys and remember that I don't share products with you that I don't love, products that I don't use, products that aren't staples for me. I always test them out before I even tell you about them. So I can assure you that whatever I'm sharing with you, I'm not selling, but I'm sharing products that I love that have helped me lose weight and maintain my healthy, happy lifestyle. Do you have cheat days or cheat meals? How do you keep it so real? So I already addressed the first half of this question, I no longer have cheat days or cheat meals, I just eat what I want when I want in moderation. And how do I keep it so real? That is very important to me. I've talked about this several times that when I started this channel, my main goal was accountability for myself and to help others. And in order to help you, I have to be transparent, be who I am, be real, share real life, whether it's good, whether it's bad, whether I gain weight, lose weight, I have to be honest with you and be transparent. So keeping it real is the foundation of what this entire channel is built on. And it's very, very important to me as a human being. I know you say you go out to eat once a week. Do you eat clean or is it a cheat meal? So like I mentioned, I don't have cheat meals and no, I don't eat clean, I eat what I want. I kind of talked about how I navigate eating out and some tips and tricks that work for me. Do you feel that even though you use more than your set daily points each day and you are using more than your weekly extra points for water, vegetables, exercise, et cetera, it seems like you are still within WW plan points each week when you factor it all together. So she's basically asking, even though I go over my points daily at the end of the week and I still within my overall WW points including my weeklies, I honestly don't know. I'm going to say that there's a high probability that I'm well over what WW gives me for points including my weeklies because I focus on calories and protein first. That is number one for me. And honestly, it doesn't really matter to me how many points I use in a day or a week as long as I'm eating enough calories and protein that is what truly matters to me. And like I said, that is what has been a big contributing factor to my success. Do you have a food that you absolutely cannot have around or you'll eat the whole container, et cetera? How do you handle it, avoid it or do you just work it into your week? So back when I only did WW, there were a lot of foods that I couldn't have in my house because I would eat them all. I would eat them all on my cheat day. I'd eat the whole box of cookies, the whole bag of chips, the whole box of donuts. Now that I've healed my relationship with food, I can have any food on hand because I know that I don't have to eat all the cookies in one day. I can eat a cookie every single day because I can work it into my day. And it's been a huge contributing factor to my success and healing my relationship with food. You have to get out of the all or nothing mentality. You have to not restrict or eliminate anything because that's what leads to binging. And the minute that I stopped saying that I could only have these cookies one day a week is when I could eat these cookies every day and have them in my house and not overindulge. I started counting macros and now my weight has gone up the last two weeks. I've upped my protein and caloric intake, while my weight even itself out again. It's been two weeks of staying the same weight, gaining and losing the same pound. Yes, this is completely, completely normal. Number one, you're eating more calories than you've ever eaten before, especially if you were in such an extreme deficit on WW or any other diet plan, you're now eating more calories. So it's going to take time for your body to adjust. Our bodies are primal. They think they're still back in hunt and gather days. So if we are in such a severe deficit and we're not feeding our body enough, our body thinks there's a food shortage. And it's going to take time for our body to realize that there's not a food shortage and how that happens is by feeding your body enough calories and protein every day. Now, how long will it take? I don't know. It's going to depend on your body. Every body is different, but it is very normal to gain weight. It is very normal to maintain the same weight, to do a lot of this for the first few weeks of counting macros and calories. But once your body realizes that you're going to feed it enough, that is really when the magic starts to happen. Did you find it harder to lose the last 10 pounds to get to goal? And if so, what did you do to shake it up? If not, what do you suggest I do to start losing again? I've been stuck at the same weight for a few weeks. So I am not at my goal weight. I am not 10 pounds from my goal weight, but I will tell you that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less weight you have to lose, the longer it's going to take. I had one of my friends Dee from Dish with Dee here on YouTube. I'll link her channel down below for you. She actually sent me a DM and said that the last 10 pounds for her took six months. This is very common. When we start on a weight loss journey and we have a lot of weight to lose, it's going to come off quicker. And as we get closer to our goal, it's going to come off slower. You just have to stay the course because eventually the weight will come off. And one thing you can do to shake it up is change up the foods that you're eating. If you're somebody who eats the same foods all the time, change it up. Sometimes that's that little shake up that our body needs to start shedding the pounds again. What was the favorite meal you've ever made during your weight loss journey? I don't have a favorite. I have a lot of favorites. I actually have some recipe ebooks, four of them actually. Those ebooks contain all my favorite recipes throughout my weight loss journey. I have breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts. I'll link them down below for you. Those are my favorite recipes. Those ebooks I reach for all the time when I'm creating meals for me and my husband. I don't have one favorite recipe. I have lots of favorite recipes. If whole wheat pasta is one of my zero point foods, can I include fiber gourmet pasta as a zero point food? It has lower calories, carbs, sugar, et cetera, and a huge amount of fiber. So you can do whatever you want. That's the great part about WW is it's a tool. It's not a weight loss program. Not everybody does the same thing. That's why it's called personal points. Actually, everybody's plan is completely different. So you can utilize it as a tool. In my opinion, I would rather eat fiber gourmet pasta than traditional whole wheat pasta because of everything that you mentioned. The fiber, the protein, it's more like real pasta. The taste, the texture, everything is better in my opinion. So for me, if I had whole wheat pasta as a zero point food, I would definitely call fiber gourmet pasta zero points. But again, you have to work the program, use the tool however it works for you. I would like to hear about your exercise routine, weightlifting, et cetera. When did you start to incorporate more activity into your weight loss journey? So my activity is specific to me. If you didn't know, I work with a fitness coach who gave me a fitness routine for me. So for me to share exactly what I do isn't going to be beneficial to you because it's going to depend on where you are on your fitness journey. If you want a set routine, some accountability for fitness, I highly recommend hiring a personal trainer or a coach. I did jazzercise when I lived in Washington a couple of days a week, but it was really hard on my body because I had so much extra weight on me that I really didn't set up a fitness coach and a fitness routine until I had lost enough weight for it to matter. I needed it to be easier for me to do the exercises and honestly, full transparency, I didn't want to lift weights until a lot of the fat was off my body and I could see the muscle building because that's what motivates me. And if I have a lot of fat covering my muscle, it didn't make a lot of sense for me to enter into a strict fitness routine. Now that I've lost the weight, I'm ready to do the strength training a little bit more and build some muscle. But for the weight loss process, it's important to move your body. My recommendation would be to walk. Walk is one of the best exercises for weight loss. What has been the most aha moment for you during this weight loss journey? Honestly, the most aha moment or really the biggest NSV or non-scale victory for me was when I could cross my legs. I've been able to cross my legs for years and the day that I crossed them at the airport, mind you, I was like, I've done it. I've made it. Like this is the moment that I've been waiting for. This is one of the biggest moments in my weight loss journey. And really, truly to this day, one of the moments I'm most proud of. If you were to splurge, what would be your go-to dessert? Definitely cookies. I love cookies. This is why I eat crumble cookies a lot. I love cookies. So it would be a big, frosted, ooey-gooey cookie. If you had to pick between macros or WW, which one would you pick? 100% calories and protein. That's because that's what worked for me. That is really what was my holy grail for losing weight. I find that it is more sustainable long-term. I make sure I'm eating enough calories. I'm hitting my protein goal. I'm not hungry and unsatisfied like I was strictly doing WW. So 101 million percent would be calories, protein and macros. Do you have any tips for others with hypothyroidism and weight loss? Also, what was the biggest thing you did mentally to change your relationship with food? So as far as hypothyroidism goes, it's very individual. I am not a doctor, so I do not wanna offer any medical advice when it comes to hypothyroidism and weight loss. Definitely consult your doctor. Make sure that whatever program, whatever you're following, whatever medication you're taking is what's best for you. And as far as what I did mentally to change my relationship with food, 100% was stop restricting and eliminating. Realizing that I can eat whatever I want in moderation was the complete light switch to change my mentality and that is what really prompted and propelled my relationship with food healing. Today, my relationship with food is the healthiest that it's ever been and that is the one thing I did to start the process was stop eliminating and restricting and get out of a diet culture diet mentality. What time do you stop eating at night? I stop eating at night whenever I'm not hungry anymore. You have to remember that our bodies do not tell time. So it doesn't really matter what time you eat your meals. There are people that work swing shift in graveyard who eat all of their meals in the early waking hours of the morning. There are people who eat their biggest meal late at night. Our body doesn't tell time. So as long as you're not overeating your calories, it's not going to affect your weight loss. However, on a side note, if it affects your sleep, then stop eating a couple hours before bed if you're finding that it's affecting your overall sleep quality, but our bodies don't tell time. Many of us have dieted, yo-yo dieted for most of our adult lives and unfortunately the odds aren't in our favor as far as keeping the weight off. What do you plan to do differently this time around in order to maintain your weight loss? This is a fantastic, fantastic question. I can confidently say 100%, I will not gain my weight back for two reasons. Number one, what I do to lose weight, I'm going to do when I maintain my weight. I'm going to focus on calories and protein. I'm going to exercise and move my body and drink my water. And number two is healing my relationship with food. Understanding that nothing's off limits, that I don't have to restrict or eliminate any food makes this sustainable for me and makes me 100% confident that this time around I will not regain my weight. You have to find what works for you and remember, whatever you do to lose weight, you have to do to maintain that weight loss. Once you begin counting calories and really focusing on protein, how long did it take you for things to get a little bit easier? As a beginner, the protein goal seems overwhelming and I'm hoping it becomes easy in second nature. I would say that it took me a good two to four weeks to really get in a groove where I was eating enough protein every day and that it was really just second nature to add enough protein into my meals every day to reach my goal. Now I can reach my protein goal in my sleep. It gets easier, I promise, as time goes on and you'll realize that eating enough protein is so important for weight loss and feeling full and satisfied that it automatically will just be part of your new routine. I'm having trouble staying so disciplined. How do you keep your consistency by seeing results? I always say that motivation comes from results and being consistent is what shows results. I am a very results-driven individual so I need to see something good happening, whether that be changes on the scale, changes in my clothing, changes in my body, changing in how I feel. Do my knees not hurt anymore? Does my body not ache and hurt doing day-to-day activities? Once I see those things happening, that motivates me and in order for those things to happen, I have to say consistent. Being consistent is the number one thing that you need to do to see success. I'm having a hard time reaching my protein goals should I use protein powder and if so, which one would you suggest? I did an entire video on how I reach my protein goal every day, I will link that down below for you. Definitely utilize protein supplements. That is how you're going to get in enough protein. It's almost impossible for human beings to consume enough food throughout the day to reach their protein goal. You're going to have to supplement in some way. In that video, I talk about my favorite protein supplements and they're all linked in the description box as well so I'll put that video down below for you. I know your clothing size has gone down and your ring size, what about your shoe size? Any other sizes maybe hat or wrist? So if you didn't know my ring, I just got it resized from a seven to a five and a quarter which is incredible. The girl at the jewelry store said that losing a ring size, so going from a seven to a six is like losing 10 clothing sizes. That literally blew my mind. Now my shoe size hasn't changed, however, my feet are much more narrow now. So some of my shoes are a little big width-wise but they still fit me length-wise. My wrist has also gotten drastically smaller. I have the small Apple Watch band now where before I had the large and if you can't see I'm one notch away from the smallest notch on the Apple band. So I've noticed a lot of things about my body shrinking. Do you recommend the nutrition coaching certification that you received and do you feel that you learned good information and how long did it take you to complete it? I highly, highly recommend NASA and the National Association of Sports Medicine. That is where I obtained my certification through. It was a pretty pricey certification and it does have continuing education that you have to pay for and retake a test every two years. It took me a couple of months to get through the course but it was the best decision I ever made because it gave me the knowledge I needed to be successful and it has been such a blessing for me to help so many of you through nutrition coaching reach your goals. So honestly, best decision I ever made. Can you provide more information about your coaching service for macros and calories? What's provided with this service? Do you provide a list of foods that will help you reach your daily macro and calorie goals? So with the macro and calorie calculation I give you calories, your macros, fats, protein, carbs. I do give you portion sizes and serving size suggestions as well as some foods that you can eat to help reach your goals. It is very, very comprehensive and it is 100% personal to you so nobody's macros and calories looks alike. It's 100% personal to you and your health goals. As always, I'll link nutrition coaching down below for you where you can find my macro and calorie calculation. Can you show us the carb and fat macros along with the protein when you film a what I eat in a day? So I would be happy to share with you the macros of the foods that I'm eating. However, I get asked a lot, can I share the macros of my recipes? Here's the thing, depending on the ingredients that you use, brands specifically or whether you go low fat, full fat, that's going to drastically change the macros. So just simply swapping out a brand can change the overall macro. So it doesn't make sense for me to include all of the macros with my recipes. All you have to do is input what ingredients you're using into the recipe builder in the calorie tracking app and it will pop out the macro specific to your recipe. Now for the foods that I'm eating and my what I eat in a day, I can absolutely include those because those are specific to the exact brands and serving sizes in foods that I'm eating. So yes, I will start implementing that as well. What are some of your favorite YouTube channels? Well, I honestly don't watch a lot of weight loss. I'm very into beauty YouTube. I have quite a few beauty channels that I follow but for health or weight loss, I watch my friend Barrett Pasteur and I also watch Dish with D who I mentioned earlier in today's video. I also watch Bobby with Flav City because he talks a lot about real clean whole foods but the majority of the YouTube that I watch isn't related to health or weight loss. When you were in Washington, do you think the excitement and stress helped with your weight loss? When you decided to move to Arizona, are you happier here? The excitement and stress of moving definitely didn't help with my weight loss. Usually people stress E. So on the contrary, it generally leads to weight gain. For me, I'm not a stress eater but being excited and stressed out and busy didn't help with my weight loss. What helped with my weight loss was remaining consistent during those busy stressful times of moving and we are 101 million, one gazillion percent happier here in Arizona. I can't seem to lose my weight. I lose a few pounds and then I gain my weight back. It's like a constant yo-yo battle. Why is this? Chances are you're not eating enough and chances are you're not staying the course long enough. So back to the lady who asked about, hey, I've gained weight following macros, same situation. You have to give your body time to adjust and if you're not eating enough, you're not going to lose weight. You are going to constantly yo-yo, your weight is going to do a lot of this. That is why it is important to know your macros and calories and ensure that you're eating enough. And patience, patience, patience, patience, patience. You didn't gain all your weight overnight. You're not going to lose it overnight either. Have you ever had binge eating disorder? And if so, how did you overcome it? I've actually never been diagnosed with binge eating disorder, but I definitely binge ate all the time. I was in a really bad cycle of overeating. I talk about that in my mistakes I made on WW and my how I lost 100 pounds video. So definitely check those out. So this is a weight loss journey. How do you think you grew mentally? Example, self-confidence, letting your new body that you're in. This has been exponential. Like I always say, the mental side of losing weight is even harder than the physical side of losing weight. And for me, I have grown mentally so much, starting with fixing my relationship with food, not restricting or eliminating. I am 1 million percent more confident in my body. I love shopping for clothes now. I love going out in public. That was one thing that I avoided. I've shared this with a lot of my coaching clients that I hated going out in public because I was embarrassed at how big I was. And I felt like everybody was looking at me and I just wanted to be unseen. I didn't want people to see me. Now I don't care who sees me. I love going out in public. I love trying new things, going new places. The physical and mental part of this has been really the biggest factor in my success losing weight and keeping it off is being confident and proud of how I am in my body as it is, loose skin and all. Has it been difficult to do points plus macros or do you just use the WW app? So I get this question a lot actually. So no, I do not just follow WW. I follow calories and protein first, WW second. It is a little bit of a pain to double track. I choose to double track because I want the knowledge of WW points and how points versus calories plays out. Can I reach my calorie goal and stay within my points? For me, it's a lot of data. I'm also on social media and I have a channel relating to WW and weight loss. So I'd like to have all of the information to share with you. I also coach clients who follow WW. I coach clients who follow calories. My recommendation for you would be to double track both for a while and then determine which one works better for you. At that point, I would get rid of either WW or macros and calories and stick with just one. You don't need to double track long term. You just need to double track to make sure that you're eating enough on WW and of course to find which program you feel works best for you and is sustainable for you. And of course that's going to be different for everyone. Do you feel for WW, virtual or in person was better for you? When I was strictly following WW, I had to go to the meetings. That was the accountability that I needed. I needed to step on the scale in front of the coach and weigh in every single week. So for me, going to the meetings was the only way that I was able to stay on track, sort of stay on track on WW. Before WW, did you try intermittent fasting and what is your opinion on it? So no, I have never done intermittent fasting. I will never do intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is not a way to lose weight. It is a way to regulate your blood sugar. It is kind of the brother or sister to whatever weight loss plan you're following. I do not do it and I will never do it because honestly, if you have six hours to eat or eight hours to eat, you can still overeat in that six or eight hour timeframe. And even more importantly than that for me, and part of healing my relationship with food and part of stopping putting timelines on when I need to eat breakfast, lunch, or snacks is learning how to listen to my body, listen to my hunger signals, eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm satisfied, and if I'm not hungry, not eating. And with intermittent fasting, I am forced to eat all of my meals in a set timeframe which just doesn't work for the relationship with food that I want to have. I'm watching your try-on video. What do you wear under your dress? Nothing? A bra and underwear? I don't wear any shapewear or anything? I've thought about it. I've thought about it, especially with dresses that are a little bit more form-fitting, but at this point, I'm just embracing what's naturally under my clothing. How did you learn to do such beautiful makeup? Well, thank you because as you know, I get a lot of mean, rude comments about my makeup so I appreciate the nice one. I'm self-taught. I am not a makeup artist. I'm not licensed to do makeup. I just love makeup and I've just learned what works with my eye shape and what types of products I like to use. I love makeup. I love eyeshadow. I love glam makeup that is much more my style than natural makeup. So I've just played around with different products and techniques until I found the ones that worked for me. Do you eat on a regular schedule or wait until you're hungry? Like I mentioned, I eat when I'm hungry. I listen to my body. That was a mistake I made. In the beginning was eating on a schedule that is not for me a healthy relationship with food and it doesn't lend itself to intuitive eating which is all of our goals. Once we get to goal weight and heal our relationship with food, our goal is to intuitively eat. Eat when we're hungry, stop when we're satisfied. So no, I no longer eat on any type of schedule. What is the best way to overcome stress eating and if it happens, how do you get back on track? The best way to overcome any type of stress eating, boredom eating is to find something else to do with your time. More importantly, find something to do with your hands so that you're not reaching into the bag of chips. For me, if I find that I'm bored and I think I'm hungry, I'll ask myself if I'm truly hungry, I'll drink some water and I'll get up and do something else. And if I'm truly hungry after all three of those things, then I'll choose a healthy snack. Check in with yourself and ask if you're really hungry and go do something else for at least five minutes to kind of take your mind off of food. And if you're truly hungry, eat, but chances are you won't even be thinking about food after five minutes of doing something else. Is there a difference between keto and macros? Yes, macros are protein, carbs and fats. It's not a diet, it's not a program. It's strictly made up of protein, fats and carbs. Keto is a diet, keto is a program, keto is not a sustainable way of life. Keto is a high fat, low carb diet that is very, very different from macros. As I always say, I do not recommend keto or any diet that isn't sustainable long term where macros is just what food is made up of. So it's definitely very, very different than keto. Would you ever consider a video on one of your workout routines or the list of exercises that you do every day? So I actually share a lot of clips of my workouts in my What I Eat In A Days here on YouTube and on my Instagram. Would I ever film a complete workout routine? No, no, definitely not. I am not a personal trainer. I don't even know if I'm doing all the form correctly and I certainly wouldn't want to put misinformation out on the internet. And like I said, my fitness routine, my program is specific to me. The next question is, are you going to have children? This is a pretty personal question. And the answer to that is no. I am 46 years old. My husband and I have both been married before and chose not to have children when we were younger. And now we're at a point in our life where number one, we're too old to have children. And number two, we like our life the way that it is. We have four children. We have three four children. And that fills our heart and we are happy with that. Do you have your protein coffee before breakfast or after? So like I mentioned, I don't utilize protein supplements as meal replacement. So for me, my protein coffee is before my first meal of the day. It's what wakes me up in the morning. I usually have my protein coffee before I work out or at least the portion before I work out. So for me, it's kind of like a snack or a start to my day. Can you eat too much protein? This is another question or comment I see a lot. The answer to this question varies. It depends on any health issues. If you're someone that suffers with issues relating to how you digest protein, absolutely you can overeat protein. But for most healthy individuals, you cannot eat too much protein. You should focus on between 25 and about 35 grams of protein per meal. But overall, at the end of the day, a healthy individual can't overeat protein. And in my opinion, the more protein we eat with a well-balanced diet, carbs and fats as well, the more satisfied we are, the more full we are. And for me, the more weight I lose. I can manage hormonal changes in diet, eating all the wrong things at certain times in your cycle, for example. The week before my cycle is when I'm the most hungry. That is when I am the most cravy of not so good foods for me. So I just make sure that I allow myself because remember, I don't eliminate or restrict anything. I let myself have one cravy sweet treat, salty snack every single day when I'm craving it. If our body is craving a food, there's usually a reason behind that. So I give in to my cravings in moderation. I don't eat the whole pack of cookies or the whole bag of chips. I have a cookie or a single serving. And especially when I have hormone changes going on, I go ahead and allow myself to have those foods in moderation. And it's your favorite collagen. 1 million percent collagen for her. I talk about this all the time. It is a small business and it is a collagen formulated for women. I have noticed the greatest difference in my hair, skin, nails, skin elasticity, loose skin, since using collagen for her, I'll make sure that I link it down below with a discount for you. I'm worried that as I lose weight, my skin will be loose. Any tips that you could share on this issue, I'd rather stay thicker than have loose skin. I definitely can't avoid skin removal surgery. So loose skin is a side effect of losing weight. It's a side effect of gaining a lot of weight and then losing weight. In my opinion, my loose skin, my loose skin on my arms, my loose skin on my inner thighs, that's my battle scars. That is what I get for gaining a lot of weight and not living a healthy lifestyle, but that's also my battle scar of all the hard work I've put in to lose the weight. And the loose skin is just going to happen. And for me, I would rather lose 120 pounds, be healthier overall than worry about loose skin. You can't stop loose skin from happening and the only way to get rid of it is skin removal surgery. However, you can work out and build muscle that helps fill in some of that loose skin. As I gain more lean muscle, I find that my loose skin is less prominent. Is it still there? Of course. The only way that I'm going to get rid of it is surgery. I would rather have 100 pounds of loose skin than 100 pounds of extra weight on my body. I'm just split up eating throughout the day, more protein in the morning. So I make sure that I break my protein up throughout the day. I make sure that every meal and every snack has protein. When I'm planning a meal, I'm thinking about what protein I'm going to have. When I'm planning a snack, I'm thinking about what protein that I'm going to have. Everything revolves around protein and then I fill in the gaps with carbs and healthy fats. How to be at a social event and be successful. When I have a social event plan and especially when I don't know what food is going to be served, I make sure that I'm fueling my body throughout the day. Do not serve yourself all day to go to a social event because that is a recipe for disaster. When you get to that event, you're going to be eating all the food. It's better that you fuel your body, that you eat normal meals throughout the day, that maybe you choose lower calorie, lower point meals, but that you're eating throughout the day and that you're planning ahead for the social event. Saving a little bit of points, using your weeklies or saving some extra calories, but make sure that you're fueling your body throughout the day, not starving yourself just because you're going to a social event. And another thing to think about is skip the alcohol. Alcohol has no nutritional value and lots of calories. Skip that and focus on the food at the event and try a little bit of everything. Watch your portions, everything in moderation. I love your videos. I'd love to see you create some recipes for making ice cream in the Ninja ice cream maker that are WW friendly. It's coming, it's coming, it's coming, I promise. I just had a few other videos, including this Q and A, that I wanted to film first, but the Ninja recipe video full of WW friendly, calorie friendly recipes is coming, I promise. Let's go ahead and end this part two Q and A because this is another really long video with another mean comment, mean question that I've received. I don't really like the clothes that you're wearing now that you've lost weight. They're too tight and too short. This goes back to the same makeup question that I addressed in part one. It doesn't matter to me what you think about my makeup or my clothing. And clothing specifically is very personal. It's how we show our style. It's a form of self-expression. And just because I wear a clothing item that you don't like doesn't give you the right to bully, make rude comments, or even really say anything at all about the clothing to someone on the internet, especially if it wouldn't be something that you would come up and say to someone in person. I talked about this with the makeup too. If you wouldn't go up to someone in person and say, I hate your makeup, it's horrible, or I hate your dress, it's too short, then don't be a keyboard warrior and do it on the internet. And remember, just because I choose to wear something that's my personal style and I like, doesn't mean you have to wear it. But it also doesn't mean that you can bully, be mean, and leave rude comments to people on the internet. I'm a human being just like you are and I do not deserve, even though I choose to put myself out on the internet to be bullied, harassed, or to have mean, degrading, demeaning comments and questions asked. Be a good person, be a better person. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. And remember that hurt people hurt people. So when I get these mean comments that are just bullying and rude and disrespectful, I know that it's coming from someone who's truly unhappy with themselves and I just let it roll off my shoulder. I block, I delete, and I move on. But remember, whatever you say on the internet, make sure you'd say it in real life. So that wraps up part two of my weight loss, mean comment, mean question, lifestyle, Q and A. I hope that you got all of your questions answered and maybe learned a few things along the way. And again, thank you so much to everybody who asked questions. It means a lot to me and I hope that I helped you and answered all of your questions. If you enjoyed today's video, don't forget to give it a big thumbs up. So subscribe if you're not because I upload lots and lots of new videos every single week and of course any additional comments, questions you have, leave them down below for me and of course check out the description box for everything I talked about today. I'll link the products, the videos, nutrition coaching, as well as links and discounts to my favorite things and come join our Facebook group. We would love to have you. Thank you so much again for asking all of your questions. I love you guys and I'll see you next time. Bye.