Why You’re Not Losing Weight

All right, let me— all right, come on in. Let me see if I can get this up. Come on in, guys. I'm going to give you a few moments. We are going to get you on the right path with your, your, your weight, your body. We're dealing with it all today. All right, let me try to get, uh, give me a minute, I'm having a moment of trying to get my screen together. I'm gonna try to open up, uh, Instagram one more time. All right, um, I want to do a quick training and I'm going to help you to build the, the right body. I know some of you all are, um, in a, in a place where you really want to get your body together, and I'm going to help you to do that. And I'm going to tell you the greatest thing that you're missing out on. Everybody trying to lose weight, everybody's trying to, um, starve themselves and, you know, do calorie restrictions. And, you know, I get it, I get it, you want to get your body together. But I'm telling you, there's a lot of people doing a lot of things wrong. They are drastically going in the wrong direction with their body. And it's interesting because, um, is interesting because you have, you have some people who are overweight and they can barely even eat any calories or else they'll gain even more weight. And then you have people who are thin who can eat, you know, 4,000 calories a day and still not gain any weight. There's a reason to that. There is a, there's a, there's a huge reason why there are some people who are able to eat so many calories and still not gain weight. And I want to help you out with that and, um, help you to understand what you're doing wrong. All right, um, so give me a minute. I'm trying to open up Instagram. Um, so I'm working while I'm talking to you guys. Welcome, welcome! I see you in the place. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your time. I want to always continue to give back and to bless you, you know, with, with your helping to add value, to make sure that you're going in the right direction and you're not going in the wrong direction. I can promise you that if you start to do what I'm going to talk about, everything is going to change. Trust me, I'm telling you now. Um, so just get ready and just, just make a shift. It's time to make a shift and do what, what you should be doing. All right, I got you guys in. That's great. Um, All right, um, what's going on, Kimberly? Hey, I see you, I see you. All right, um, I see you guys in the place. Come on in, Instagram. I, I've just added Instagram in also. Um, Instagram, when we— before we get off, make sure you go and subscribe to YouTube. I'm not always going to be on Instagram, you see. I decided to, to add you in. I know a lot of people is getting ready for the summertime, right? And, uh, you want to get your bodies together. And I really, ever since I've been in college, I've, I've felt so really bad when I see, you know, people in the gym, and, and I'll come back, you know, 10 months later and nothing's changed, same routine. And, um, most people are just in the wrong direction when it comes to weight loss. First of all, they trying to lose weight. And I'm gonna try to help you to reorientate yourself so that you're not like, oh, I'm trying to lose weight. Um, most people who are trying to lose weight, even if they do lose a little weight temporarily, they usually gain it back. It does not last. You have to address something totally different. We need to start building some things in our body. We need to have a different aim, and I'm going to talk about that today so you can know what you're doing, right? Um, because I know a lot of you all have tried losing weight, counting calories. Oh my God, if there's so many people who are just— they're not— they're, they're malnutrient. They don't even have enough nutrients for their bodies to function properly. And when they jump on a scale and they see the scale go down, they just automatically think they're in the right direction. And they, they don't have enough nutrients in their body to heal right, to function right. It's just You, you gotta— yeah, y'all gotta start paying attention to your health. You're, you're getting older, um, and you really— your health has to be first. This is not about, oh, I want to, you know, lose a couple of pounds to get in a dress or whatever. Um, you're, you're messing with your metabolism if, if you don't know how to do this right. And if you yo-yoing back and forth, you're messing with your metabolism. What you're going to do is lose weight, you're going to lose muscle at the same time. And then when you come off of this little quick fix, because it's unsustainable, because you're starving yourself, uh, you're gonna wind up gaining more weight back. Now you got less muscle, more weight. Now your body fat percentage has gone up. It's a disaster. We gotta move in the right direction. So we're not talking about restriction. We're not talking about shrinking your body. We're talking about building something. And the main thing that I want you to understand today is why you must start building muscle if you're over 30. And you're having some metabolic issues, blood sugar issues, if you're overweight, you have belly fat, you, you can't break through the cycle, um, even if you have like, uh, immune system problems, low energy, you know, can't sleep at night, joint problems, pain, inflammation, I'm telling you, if you start to learn how to build muscle properly, you are going to overcome a lot of your issues. And I don't think a lot of people realize that. And so, and it's not in like this bodybuilding type of way um, or you got to get shredded. I'm telling y'all, most of the stuff y'all see on the internet is not real. A lot of stuff is Photoshop. Trust me, okay? They say it's easier to become a millionaire than it is to get a six-pack, okay? You all— it's an anomaly. You're seeing a very small percentage of people with their bodies like that, okay? So don't think that it can't— it can't happen for you. So I'm going to help you to understand why muscle is the most underrated tool for fat loss, healing, and longevity. I'm going to talk about a couple of myths that keep people stuck from losing weight and building muscle, and the difference between, um, weight and body composition. It's a big one, y'all. Y'all have to know the difference. It, it's not about weight, I'm telling you. And then I'm going to give you my favorite exercises to building muscle. Okay. All right. So, um, yeah, make sure you stick with me. If you have some questions, I hope I catch them in the, uh, in the chat. All right. Now, um, first I just want to say muscle building is not optional. It is necessary if you again are over 30 or 35 years old, especially if you're over 35. When you age, you start to lose muscle. You have to get as much muscle as you can right now. I'm telling you, it's a 911. It really is. And I look, you know, I look at body composition. I look at how much muscle mass someone is kind of holding, and I can tell when someone is not— when the majority of their weight is, is fat and it's not enough muscle in there. That's going to be a problem. You're going to wind up with higher risk of inflammation and chronic disease. But you can build it no matter how old you are, what shape you're in. I'm telling you, it is easy. Now here's why I'm going to tell you the most important reasons why I think you should build muscle. I'm going to build a case for this because you need to know this, um, if you're going to, to live healthier and be well. And, um, and, and I got something for you at the end also. All right, um, number 1, it's going to increase your metabolism. So you will be able to increase your metabolic rate um, just from getting— I'm sorry, I'm looking at the comments while I'm doing this. Um, you'll be able to increase your metabolic rate just from building muscle. What that means is more muscle means your body burns more calories even when you're doing nothing. You see, while I'm sitting here talking to you guys, if I have more muscle mass than somebody else, even if they are walking, I still may burn more calories. I might utilize more energy. It takes, it takes energy and it takes calories to, to build muscle and to maintain muscle. Right? So it's, it's a, it's a metabolic booster in a sense. So you can literally be doing nothing, even when you're sleeping at night. There's some people who burn more calories while they're, they're sleeping because they have more muscle mass. So while you're doing nothing, sleeping, sitting, talking, um, your body is using more energy if you have more muscles, right? Especially for those who want to lose weight, because if you build muscle and then you do do cardio, you're going to lose more Uh, you're gonna lose more calories doing cardio with more muscle. Okay, um, number 2, this is important, it protects your joints and your future. When you age, the risk of falling and getting injured goes up. Some people still don't know how to fall. You know, one of the things we practice in martial arts is how to fall correctly. You have to learn how to fall correctly. If you fall the wrong way, especially if you're older, um, watch out. You know, even if you, if you have grandparents, your parents. Because if someone falls and they break their hip, they are— they have just increased their risk of dying, literally. There's some people who are over the— are like, you know, up there in age, I don't know, maybe 65, 70. If they— if they fall and break their hip, they could be dead in like 2 years. It's— it's statistical, okay? People with, um, more muscle— like, let's say you do have an injury. If you have— if you Uh, if you have more muscle mass, you're going to recover faster. Um, you're going to be less likely to break your bones. Okay, uh, but that, that hip, you gotta, you gotta take good care of your hips, and muscle mass will help you to do that, and it'll help you to not break a bone when you do fall. Okay, we practice falling. Like I said, I think, I think we should teach, um, even the elderly how to fall correctly. Okay. So muscle is literally a life insurance for your body. And also, a lot of people don't realize this, but what's— oh, I'm going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about— I see, I see a question. What's better, strength training or cardio? I'm going to talk about that. Just give me a minute. I'm going to actually go through that, um, because a lot of people actually got it wrong. Um, so number 3, it will improve your immune system, okay, and your hormonal health. Muscle supports the balance of insulin, cortisol, testosterone, and even estrogen. Okay, it helps also to reduce chronic inflammation and it improves circulation. So in short, more muscle is going to be better function. And a lot of people don't realize that, yes, muscles, uh, muscle mass is tied to your immune system. As a matter of fact, anything you're ever struggling with, any— even if you do have a bad habit. Let's— I'm gonna talk about a really bad habit. Let's say you smoke cigarettes. Let's, let's say two people smoke cigarettes. One person has a nice amount of muscle mass and the other person don't. The person who has more muscle mass will be more protected against the dangers and the risk of smoking cigarettes than the other person. Same thing if you wind up with diabetes. A person who has more muscle mass will be able to overcome or is more likely to overcome diabetes than the person who don't. And so I'm telling you so many reasons, um, to, to include muscle mass. Now also, it reshapes your body without needing the scale to drop, meaning you can literally change your shape even without losing any weight with adding muscle to your body. Have you ever seen two people that weigh the exact same and they look different? If you don't believe me, just Google some pictures of like 100 and, uh, there's pictures that can even— I mean, there's pictures if you Google it, like where you can look at somebody 135 pounds or 150 pounds or 200 pounds and one person has more muscle than the other. They totally look different. You don't even know. It's like they ain't the same weight. There's no way they're the same weight. It can make you look totally different with your body composition. Okay, and also a lot of people don't know this. One person might, um, okay, if you have two different people, um, one person can weigh more and have, uh, and have less body fat percentage. The other person can weigh less and have more body fat percentage. It happens, I'm telling you, because you can— some people lose weight and their body fat percentage actually goes up. How does that happen? Easy. If you are 180 pounds and you start losing weight really quick, um, starving yourself, you know, going crazy with extreme cardio and all of that, and you— and you just basically starve yourself, you know, like maybe you'd add some fasting, you're barely eating, you're eating, you know, grass, or, you know, a feather here and a feather there. Uh, you might lose rapid weight, but you have to ask yourself, am I losing weight, water, muscle? What am I losing? And a lot of people are losing muscle. So then if you, if you're dropping your weight and you're losing muscle, then at some point your percentage starts to change because now the weight is less now, and now you have less muscle. And so that means that the majority of your body weight is probably coming from fat. Listen, I've heard several people talk about it, even coaches. I've, I've done it. I have lost, you know, 5, 6 pounds, and then I would check my body fat percentage. My body fat percentage went up, and I'm like, oh man, I'm losing muscle, you know. And so, and it was— it's okay because my body fat percentage needed to go up, probably, you know. Sometimes I'm trying to get a little bit more fat on my body. Fat is okay. It— that's not the issue. Fat is a sub— especially subcutaneous fat. We're not talking about visceral fat. Fat is okay. Um, it's a buffer, actually. The problem is not having enough muscle. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, more importantly than being overweight, you gotta look at how much muscle mass do I have. It, it tells a huge story. Um, and then the fifth thing it does is it increases strength, confidence, and independence, okay? So it's not just physical, it's mental. You know, there's— it's just something different about you feeling strong, or when you can carry something, uh, you know, and you, you feel like, oh, I could get that. You know, it's not— it's not good feeling weak, like, oh, I can't lift this, I can't pick my grandkids up, I'm, you know, wobbling and weak. And you really not like old. You, you're not 80, 90 years old. You should be able to do certain things. People are like acting older than what they really are these days. It's like How old are you? You know, like, you 50 years old, like, you, you could bear it. You know, you— if you can't walk up the driveway without getting tired, if you can't walk up a flight of stairs and you, you know, if you walk up a flight of stairs and you breathing hard and stuff, it's okay. But— well, it's not okay, but I'm telling you, it's okay. But you got to start changing some things about that, okay? All right, um, so here, let me talk about just a couple of myths, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna get into this question that was asked about cardio or weight loss. Um, what's the best thing to do for weight loss? Is should we do cardio, should we lift weights? But first, a couple of myths, because I know a lot of people are thinking is, oh, I don't want to get bulky. You know, I hear that all the time, especially from women. Listen, you're, you're not going to get bulky. Those bulky women are probably taking something a lot of times. They, they really are. Um, your body's gonna naturally get big the way it naturally can, okay? Now, um, I, I wasn't going to say this, but I am going to say this now because it's important. But if you are trying to build muscle, it is important that you take creatine. Creatine is amazing for helping you to build, uh, muscle. 5 milligrams a day of creatine. All right, um, I think it's in milligrams. I, I never even pay attention. It's 5, whatever it is. If you, if you buy creatine, it's gonna be 5. I think it's milligrams, but, um, but listen, you're not going to like accidentally bulk up. Building noticeable muscle, it takes time, strategy, consistency. You're not just gonna get muscle overnight. You have to really be intentional about it. You're not gonna bulk up and look all bulky and stuff, um, the way you think you are, okay? Those are not— a lot of times that's not natural, okay? Um, but you will build strength, you will build shape, you will build tone, which is what you want. And, um, what you'll lose is excess fat, inflammation, and that soft, tired feeling in your body. If you feel like I'm too soft You can, you know, you— I, I know as women you want to have a sense of femininity, and I'm— that's why I don't like the whole crazy strong bulk looking. It just looks— I'm sorry, I'm just not a fan of it. Um, no, no shade to anybody who's like a, a bodybuilder as a woman, and there's some feminine looking bodybuilders, don't, don't get me wrong, but I don't, I don't— I'm not into like the, the woman that's like looking like a man, like her muscles as big as a man, like I'm talking about a big man, you know what I mean? I'm not into that. Um, I'm not telling you to do that. I don't think that's something you need to do, and it will require a, a overhaul of your life to do that. They have to be so dedicated. They got to take all kind of stuff. They got to eat a certain way. And honestly, I do believe some of them are just taking steroids. Um, there are some women I'm like, there's no way you could have gotten like that naturally. Um, So another myth is I need to lose weight first. You know what, I'm at the point now where, you know, if you're overweight, I'm— I don't even think I— you know, a lot of times to tell somebody try to lose weight, it's so stressful. And the only strategy most people have is I'm gonna cut my calories. And I'm not saying that that's not a, a strategy that sometimes works for people, is to cut just a little bit. But I think even more importantly you should just start building muscle. Forget trying to, you know, go on this crazy tangent that you're not gonna stick to. Do something that you are going to stick to. Okay, I'm going to dedicate myself to building muscle and just moving more. Because people, when they start doing that cardio, it depends— like, it depends on if psychologically you enjoy cardio. Some— most people don't enjoy running. If you don't enjoy running, stop. Stop getting on a treadmill thinking that you got to run 50 miles to lose weight. You don't. In the meanwhile, sister over Kamilah Stevenson getting her deadlifts on and lifting weights and just getting her steps in a day, you know, all throughout the day and eating clean, and she gonna outpace you a million times. You cannot outrun a bad diet. You can't outrun these issues. You can't outrun being sedentary all day. Lift weights, move more, keep it simple. If you do cardio, do things that you enjoy. Go ride a bike, go skipping, go running around with your grandkids, you know, go to the mall and go shopping, and, you know, go clean, clean up the house and vacuum. Go wash your clothes, go garden. You— there's so many things you can do with cardio. Like, it's not— you can find other ways than— because I can't stand when I see people running and they look like they about to die. Like, they just be— oh, like somebody's like got a gun to their head. Y'all don't need to do all that. You really don't. Run if you enjoy it. Like, I enjoy running. I've been— I've been running since since I was 5 years old. Um, I enjoy running. It does something to me mentally. But if you're not— and, and listen, I'm gonna tell you, my knees are, you know, have, have taken a hit from running, and most people do. So there's a lot of problems with the joints when you do that. Go swimming. Swimming is great on your joints. It's a great cardio. All right, now myth number 3, and that's, that's where I'm going to talk about this question: weightlifting or cardio? Um, and here is a myth: cardio is the best way to burn fat. False, zero with a big X. It's not, it's not that. I knew something was wrong when I was in college, and I would go to the gym and I would see people who were a certain weight, and I'm telling y'all, a year later, and every, every time I went to the gym, they were on the cart, they were just jogging away, and they would never lose weight. And I realized way back then, I was like, something's not right. Anyway, my mind and my own business, always hit the weights, okay? I've been, I've been hitting the weights since I was 10 years old. True story, okay? Um, probably shouldn't have been at 10, I don't know, but my stepfather gave us access to Bally's Gym. Uh, it was called Bally's, I think, before LA Fitness. Um, and so cardio burns calories in the moment. It will burn calories in the moment. But muscle will burn calories all day. Remember, like when you sitting, when you're doing nothing, when you're, you know. So if you love cardio, again, do the cardio you love, but do not skip resistance training. A couple of days a week can blow your mind. Shoot, one day a week can blow your mind. But even if you decide, oh, I'm gonna just do 15 minutes a day, do 15 minutes a day. You are going to get more results than you could ever imagine. And again, when you lift, uh, lift weights and you build muscle, the afterburn is going to be there. The metabolism boost, the shaping of your body, the strength is going to come with all of that. Okay, so weight versus body composition. Okay, let's unpack this for a minute. Okay, so remember, your weight is just a number. It does not tell you how much fat you're carrying. Okay, so when you're like, I'm 170 pounds, I need to lose some weight, How much fat are you carrying? How do we know you're carrying a lot of fat? Like, maybe you don't need to— like, maybe all you just need to do is start lifting weights, and because you're going to carry more muscle mass, you're going to— now your body composition is going to change, and then you're going to start burning fat because you're carrying more muscle. And then even when you're just walking, you're going to be burning more fat than the next person that's trying to run 50 miles on a treadmill who don't have any muscle building capacity. They're not— they don't have any muscle mass. So again, weight is just a number. How— it doesn't tell how much fat you're carrying, how much muscle you've built. It doesn't tell you how strong you are, and it doesn't tell you how healthy you feel. You see what I'm saying? Because strength is a thing. You, you got— you want to be strong. You don't want to be— can you imagine, like, if you're 200 pounds and you're weak? That's not, that's not good. I'ma just be honest with you in a loving way, that's not good. You can't be 200 pounds and weak. And that's why I'm telling you it's not about the weight, because if somebody is 200 pounds and strong and they got muscle, I don't have much of a problem. This is how you see thicker people who actually have good metabolic, uh, results on their testing and stuff. No insulin problems, no, you know, their blood work comes back great, cholesterol great. That's— and, and you wonder like, well dang, why I'm you know, I'm 20 pounds less than her, I'm 180, and I got all these pro— yeah, you, you do, but how much weight are you carrying? How much muscle have you built? How strong are you? How healthy do you feel? Again, your number don't tell you that, okay? So again, I've seen people gain 5 pounds on the scale and lose inches on their waist. Why? Because they gain— they— you heard that right— they gain 5 pounds on the scale, they lose inches off their waist, Why? Because they gain muscle, they lost fat, and they completely reshape their body. You can be 160, uh, pounds and be inflamed, exhausted, soft, or you can be 160 pounds and be strong, lean, energized, and confident. The number doesn't matter. Same weight, different body composition, different life. The scale is going to lie to you if you don't know what you're measuring, okay? And that's why it's good to focus on muscle not just weight, because that weight that you're losing anyway is a bunch of water weight in the first— oh, I lost, I lost 10 pounds in fat. No, you didn't. You did not lose any fat. You lost water. Especially if you went on a ketogenic diet, your body flushed out all the water, and now you happy because you get on the scale. Don't let the scale fool you. Pay attention to how you feel. Pay attention to how strong you are. Pay attention to your energy levels. Pay attention to your sleep. Pay attention to your, your nutrition. I don't want to say diet. How you're eating. Pay attention to are you doing processed foods and stuff. All right. So where do you start? I'm going to give you my favorite exercises that you can start with. And listen, you don't need a gym. You don't need fancy equipment. You just need the right movements. And you can start off with bodyweight exercises even. And then you can start off with bands or just light dumbbells. Like, they can— you can start off with 5-pound dumbbells if you're not into lifting weights. Now, if you can lift heavier, then good. Start with 10, 15, 20, whatever that looks like. But the best type of exercises are going to be compound movements. Why? Because they work multiple muscles at once and they help you to get stronger fast. And again, the goal— there's different goals, you know. When you get older, it's not just about like, like when you're in your 20s and you're younger, it may be about, oh, I want to look good, my body, I needed to just, you know. When you get older, yes, it is a little bit about body composition, but it really is about how strong you are. You do want to be strong. You do not want to be weak, okay? You want to be able to lift your grandkid up and throw them up in the air. You, you know, you can, you can do that. And if you could do that, why not do that? And if you're young and you like, oh, I'm not old, this ain't for me— listen, you're gonna look up 10 years later if you're not intentional about this, and you're gonna be like, oh my God, my body has changed so much. Especially if you sitting down a lot and you're not moving as much. You got to pay attention to this because the investment you make today it's going to be what your outcome looks like tomorrow. Just like wherever you are today was a result of whatever you did 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 2 years ago, 1 year ago, 6 months ago. It's time to make these changes. All right, top 5 exercises. Number 1, squats. I do squats every week. Again, you can start with your body weight, you can use small dumbbells, um, you know, uh, you can use, uh, uh, you can use machines if you do get to the gym. Like, you don't have to get to the gym, like I said, but if you want to, if you're big on like the exercise machines, that's fine too. But even just body weight, um, squats, you're using— you have to use your muscles, right? You got to use your muscles to go up the stairs, right? And you got to use your muscles to come down the stairs. Actually, that's where a lot of people, uh, when they get older, they don't have a lot of strength to go down. They can go up, but a lot of times they can't come down. They can't take that step down, right? So it's even good to practice. I love step-ups, like where I hold dumbbells and I step up and I step down. Okay, um, but squats, we're gonna stick to squat, squats. Um, it helps to build your quads, your hamstrings, your glutes, your core. And I love big muscle groups like the back, the back and, and quads and stuff, you know, because the more— again, it's all about more muscle mass. So you want to build the majority of your muscles in a place where you have the most muscle. All right, deadlifts. I do deadlifts every week. Oh my God, deadlifts are like— I think, I think if I have one favorite exercise of all of them I mean, you got to use every muscle in your body practically to do a deadlift. But you can do kettlebell deadlifts or dumbbell to start. You don't have to have the actual bar. Um, so I know that can seem intimidating, but it works your entire posterior chain— your back, your glutes, your hamstring. I mean, just be very careful for your form because you can mess your back up. You are lifting with your— I mean, you are lifting with your lower back and your— but, but a lot of people will try to lift with their back and, and pull something. You, you really lifting with your legs, almost like— think of it as you're pushing the ground down, you're pushing the floor down, um, below you. Okay, you ever did that machine where you put your feet up and you push it that way? That's kind of what you're doing, but you're standing up in a sense. Um, um, well, that's more of a squat, but what— but you still— it's still the same principle. It's like you're pushing your feet, you're, um, the, the force or the gravity. So it's like when you lift, it's like you're pushing, you're pulling up, but you, you're pushing your feet down. That's the best way I can explain it, okay? Um, push-ups, and it could be wall push-ups, it could be knee push-ups, or full push-ups, okay? I remember when I was pregnant, like, fat days after, I was, I was doing wall push-ups. I was like, I'm about to get this body back in shape. That was after number 3, because I got kind of scared because everybody like, okay, that number 3 gonna take you out, you know? And I'm like, I'm not speaking that over me. Number 3 not taking me out, okay? I'm doing these wall push-ups like 2 days after I come home from the from the, um, hospital, you know. I was like, should I be doing this? But I did. Nevertheless, um, wall push-ups, uh, like I said, knee push-ups, full push-ups. It builds your chest, your triceps, your core. Very, very great. Again, these are exercises that do more than one muscle at a time. Overhead press, all right, they can be dumbbells, resistance bands. Um, it strengthens your shoulders, your triceps, your upper back. And then rows. I love rows. It could be dumbbell rows or again resistant band pulls. Um, it's good for posture, uh, back, arm strength. Um, yeah, these are all exercises. These are— think about it, when people— them guys in jail, they be strong. That's all they be doing. They be doing pull-ups. I love pull-ups too, by the way, but a lot of people can't do pull-ups, so they got to do assisted pull-ups. Um, again, pull-ups work your, your whole upper back, your core. Oh my God, your core. You can't even do a push— a pull-up unless you have a strong core. And I noticed that when I had stomach surgery, and I've always been able to do a pull-up, but after I had stomach surgery, I was like, okay, my arm's pretty strong. So I went to do a pull-up and I couldn't do it because my stomach wasn't healed yet, uh, and I was like, wow, I didn't realize how much this— the core of your stomach is needed for a pull-up. Um, but yeah, these guys in jail, they, they get ripped just from doing like push-ups, pull-ups, you know, bench pressing. I love bench pressing also. It should be on here, but I, I chose overhead press instead because more people are likely to lay down and do bench presses versus the overhead press. I just— it's something about that overhead press, um, that, that really makes you strong. Um, it's, you know, it's just the gravity of, of sitting up and actually doing it. It just— it's— I love it. All right, so these are functional, uh, they build real strength, um, not just aesthetics. They really build real strength. You will get strong, um, and the point isn't to be perfect, it's just to start where you are, you know, with everything, and then, um, form yourself from there. All right. So, uh, really quick, um, as I close, I'm just looking at, uh, if any, uh, any question. Is doing pull-ups and push-ups different and different forms of dumbbells and leg— legs exercises— okay, I'm trying to make sure I'm reading this right. Okay. Is doing pull-ups and push-ups and different forms of dumbbell and leg exercises and walking 20K steps enough every day. And but why am I still the same after 3 months? First of all, that's a lot. I'ma just tell you now, um, I'm not sure, um, how much, you know, how much weight you have on you or anything. Um, but 20 steps a day is a lot of— it just depends on like what your activity— it— let me just say this because the first thing that when I read that, when I read 20,000 steps and, you know, maybe you're doing all of that. Like, first of all, are you fueling your body for this? Like, are you on a restriction? Are you doing intermittent fasting? Are you sleeping enough? So my main question is going to go into, are you getting enough recovery? Because if you're not getting enough recovery, then you're gonna— it's, it's a point in which you can overstress yourself. And if you have— if you're already dealing with chronic inflammation and stress and stuff like that then it's the, the point I'm making is not to overdo it. Don't overdo this. Less is best. Keep it simple. 2 to 3 times a week of weightlifting, um, you know, 8 to 10,000 steps a day. I'm, and I'm not saying maybe you built up to 20,000 steps a day, I'm not sure. But my question is, if you're doing all of that, you got to replenish your body also. If you don't, you know what I mean? And then you gotta— there's other steps to this, y'all. I didn't go through everything. Like, you got to have enough protein. If you're not doing enough protein, you cannot build muscle if you don't have enough protein. So it could be that you could be doing all of that and not enough protein, not enough calories. Because when you're trying to build muscle— I know y'all not gonna like to hear this, but sometimes you got to be in a calorie surplus. So you, you— if you're trying to build muscle, you can't restrict a lot of calories. You can't, you can't do that too much. I'm telling you, you're not going to build muscle. The body needs the calories to be able to build that muscle. So there's something you're doing wrong if you're doing that every day. Again, are you sleeping enough? Are you getting enough deep sleep? Okay, because it's the— it's the REM sleep that helps to restore the brain, but it's the deep sleep that helps to restore the body. If you don't get a— listen, I tell people all the time, you could do everything right and not get good sleep, it just thwarted everything you're doing. The lowest hanging fruit is to get good sleep. So if you're not recuperating and getting a good 8, 9 hours of sleep, again, you're building those muscles and tissue, you're building that stuff while you're resting. So there's something that's going on, um, that, that you, you, you may be doing, um, that's not getting you those results. Um, you know, so it's hard to say. It's, you know, it would take some digging. But listen, if you are— someone said thank you for this, please listen to her, you need muscles for everything. Absolutely. Uh, I appreciate, uh, that you are, um, responding. Uh, I've been diagnosed with autoimmune disease that affects my mom. Okay. But improving muscle mass will be on my list once I— yes, yes, yes, on, on the list. And just keep your body moving, um, as much as you can, as much as you can handle. Okay, um, all right, I was just looking to make sure I didn't have any other. Now, uh, real quick, uh, even if you have more questions about this and you're— you, you need that extra help, um, maybe you are stuck in a loop of like a weight loss obsession, maybe you haven't— dealing with low energy, poor sleep, um, you know, need to lose weight, can't— it's hard for you to build muscle, you're doing this plan, but you seem to not be building muscle, or you just starting over every other week, um, you just can't stick to it, um, I want to invite you to something that can actually, actually, um, create a lot of change for you. And it's more about getting your whole life aligned— your body, your energy, your focus, your finances, okay? And it's called 90-Day Health and Wealth Challenge. I'm doing a challenge, um, and we go deep into healing your metabolism and nervous system, building muscle, restoring energy, understanding how to eat, move, think, um, you know, what, what exact strategies, um, that, that you need to be able to burn fat. Or if you just, you hitting a roadblock and you like, just like the question that was just asked, hey, I'm doing these other things, I'm doing 20K, you know, something else is wrong. It could be your stress levels. You have to heal your nervous system sometime. And then also, yes, we're going to also, um, go into how to grow wealth, um, with clarity and confidence because it's the health and wealth um, challenge. So, um, it's not about a diet, it's not a temporary fix, it's literally a complete reset. You need a reset sometimes for your health, your habits, um, and, and what you get is a supportive coaching-led environment. Uh, I answer all your questions, I basically coach you through the process of getting your whole life in order. All right, if this message hits home for you and you are ready to stop circling and start building um, then I want you to go to breakbigbarriers.com. It's also a free training there, a real quick free training. Even if you don't— but even if you just even a little bit interested, go there, watch the training, and, um, and follow the prompts. Um, and if you just want to watch the training, that's fine too. Um, I'll explain in there, um, after the training, uh, what the challenge is, why it works, and how you can join us. Um, listen, your breakthrough is not going to happen by accident. Nothing happens by accident. It can happen if you say yes to the right structure. Okay? And so again, Break Big Barriers. Let me put it up real quick just so you can see it. Let me— yeah, here we go. BreakBigBarriers.com. Small little training for you that is also going to add value that you're going to appreciate. Go check that out. We got people in the group now and we're doing Q&As. Um, getting our life together, finances, finances together. Um, some people are having breakthroughs, um, in their finances, new jobs. I mean, life is responding to them. And I always tell people, um, you know, what's happening in your life is a response to you. It's— you're not responding like, oh, oh, this happened so that I got to do this. No, life is responding to you. It's like a mirror. And I tell people, like, think about it, when I'm— when you're looking at a mirror you're not getting back anything you don't put. Meaning if you don't smile, you're not going to see yourself smiling in the mirror. Life is a reflection of you, and if you want life to be different for you, then you got to make the movements. You got to initiate that. Just like when you're in the mirror, you got to initiate the move to see it back at you. All right, so it's gonna match your same energy levels. Um, so anyway, if you looking for more structure, support, accountability, the tools and the guidance, um, for this, um, and if you're ready to like stop going in cycles and starting and stopping and all of that stuff and you ready to, you know, lose weight, get, get on the right track that you need to be on, you know, um, and start really planning for your future. Our economy, we're in a real crazy time right now, so you really want to take advantage of this moment and know that you're making the right decisions. All right, so join me, um, breakbigbarriers.com. Just check it out, um, and, and you'll, you'll, you'll see the training and I'll give you some more information there. All right, um, I hope that this helped. You to know exactly what you should be doing. Um, I'll get back on and I'll continue to— um, sorry, I put that wrong one there. Um, I'll get back on and I'll continue to, um, just add value. Uh, please do, if you watch this again, or just even in the comments— and also the, uh, the, the website is in the description also of this video. Um, but if you get a chance, uh, put in the comments, you know, what is it that you want me to talk about more. I'm always looking at, you know, your comments and seeing what you're struggling with. And then Also, for those who are not following me, because I will not always be on the other platforms, please go to YouTube and subscribe to my YouTube channel because sometimes I'm just going to pop up and do my trainings there. And I also host my longer trainings there. That's where I'm really— we got a great community. We moving and shaking on YouTube, and it's amazing. And I do look at the questions. I answer them in the comments. I'm really engaged there.. And then I also do, uh, videos based off the comments. And sometimes I'll just start off and say, hey, I'm doing this video because I saw it in the comments and I want to respond and I want to answer the question. All right, so make sure that you go to @DrKamilahStevenson and subscribe to my page. Do me that blessed favor, okay? @DrKamilahStevenson on YouTube. Other than that, I'll see you at breakbigbarriers.com. Check it out, and I will, um, I'll be back on to answer some more questions and to do some more live trainings. All right, I'll see y'all. Have a blessed day.