Holly T. Baxter

02/05/2025

I used to wonder if I was “doing it right” with my post-workout nutrition… Turns out, a lot of women are under-eating protein when it matters most—right after training. 💪🏼

In my latest article, I break down how much protein women really need post-workout based on the latest science (not bro-science 😅). Whether your goal is muscle, fat loss, or recovery—this matters.

Read here 👉 https://bia-body.com/how-much-protein-do-women-need-after-a-workout/

How much protein do women really need after a workout? A new study challenges the 20g rule, revealing that smaller doses may still support muscle recovery and growth in females.

01/05/2025

🔥 Exciting news for all my fitness friends! New research is shifting what we know about muscle growth—lengthened partial reps may lead to greater hypertrophy than full-range-of-motion exercises. Learn how this could change your workouts:

👉 https://bia-body.com/lengthened-partials-vs-full-range-of-motion-what-the-latest-research-says-about-muscle-growth/

A new study investigates whether lengthened partial reps lead to greater muscle hypertrophy than full range of motion training in resistance-trained individuals. Here's what the data reveals.

14/04/2025

Think you're training to failure? 🤔
You might be stopping too soon. Here's what neuroscience says:
https://bia-body.com/training-beyond-failure-myth-or-muscle-building-science/

Can you train beyond muscular failure, or is it a myth? This science-backed breakdown explains why failure is perception-based, the role of central motor command, and why drop sets don't actually push you beyond failure.

23/11/2022

🔥Why run a BLACK FRIDAY SALE when you can GIVE THANKS 🍁 🙏🏼

✨Like, Share, Tag & Follow Giveaway✨

With Black Friday right around the corner, I wanted to give thanks to my amazing supporters by creating my most epic GIVEAWAY to date!🔥

Whats Included👇🏽

▪️*A FREE trip to 🌞 Florida (You + x2 friends) ✈

▪️Spend the weekend hanging with me 💕

▪️In-person workout at private gym + Q&A 💪+ 🎓

▪️A lady's night out 🍸+👑+💄

▪️Complimentary entry into my next DIY Program

HOW TO ENTER👇🏽

❤ Like & Share this post
💜TAG x 2 friends you would like to travel with (or as many as you’d like for more chances to 🏆 win)
🧡Make sure you are ALL following my account

👉🏽Entry closes on Sunday November 27th at midnight.
👉🏽Winners will be announced on Friday, Dec 2nd! So keep an eye out!

🌟Total value over $10,000.
*combined flight value of $1500 USD 🇺🇸

IM SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS GIVEAWAY 🫶🏼🥰

22/11/2022

The use of nutraceuticals such as collagen for skin care has been rising, however regulations are still lacking on quality, absorption, and efficacy. We are asked about collagen all the time, so today’s post takes a look at what Collagen is & what the research says about its effectiveness.

What is collagen❓
Collagen is a type of protein. It is one of the most abundant proteins in the human body & is a major building block of bones, skin, muscles, ligaments & tendons.

🤓There are 28 known types of collagen, with type I collagen accounting for 90% of the collagen in the human body.

Collagen is composed mainly of the amino acids glycine, proline, & hydroxyproline. These amino acids form three strands, which make up the triple-helix structure characteristic of collagen.
Cells in our connective tissue called fibroblasts produce & maintain collagen. As we grow old, collagen becomes fragmented, fibroblast function becomes impaired, collagen production slows.

It is these changes, along with the loss of another key structural protein called elastin, that lead to signs of aging such as sagging skin & wrinkles.

👉🏽Supplementation with Collagen
There are a wide range of topically applied skin care products such as creams & serums that are marketed to help with aging, however many of these fail to reach the deeper layers of the skin, the dermis.

In order to casually & lastingly influence the skin aging processes, we need more bioavailable, short chain nutritional collagen peptides. These are essential for restoration of collagen synthesis.

👉🏽A number of studies have now shown, not just through subjective feedback, but objective dermatological measurements such as cutometry & corneometry, that oral collagen peptides can significantly improve skin hydration, appearance, elasticity, roughness, & density after 3 months of supplementation.

We took a look at a recent meta analysis which reviewed the available evidence from randomized-controlled trials (up until 2019), using collagen supplementation for treatment of skin quality, anti-aging benefits, and potential application in medical dermatology Choi et al. (2019)

Swipe across to take a look at what they found!

17/11/2022

There has been much debate over the years in the evidence-based community as to whether combining endurance training and resistance training in the same training programme will adversely impact on strength and hypertrophy progress.

This is commonly referred to as the “interference effect” or “concurrent training”, and is cited as the reason you should focus exclusively on either resistance training or endurance training at any one time.

Well, there is good news, according to to the research, it turns out the interference effect has been fairly overblown.

🤔Here is what we know

👉🏽The first study ever to investigate the interference effect back in 1980, found that concurrent training led to considerably smaller strength gains than resistance training alone (PMID: 7193134).

👉🏽A 2012 meta-analysis also concluded that concurrent training led to smaller strength gains, less muscle growth, and smaller improvements in power output and explosive strength compared to performing resistance training alone (PMID: 22002517).

👉🏽As more research has come to light on this subject, a 2021 meta-analysis broke the research down even further, separating studies by both the training status of the participants & the duration of the resistance training & endurance training sessions (PMID: 33751469, PMID: 34757594).

What are my takeaways?❓

▪️Your exercise selection should be based on your personal health & fitness goals.

▪️If you’ve avoided performing endurance-based cardiovascular exercise in fear of it adversely impacting your hypertrophy & strength training, we can all relax a little.

▪️Like most things, the degree of adverse effect likely occurs along a continuum ↔️

▪️For most individuals, provided you separate your resistance training & endurance training by a few hours or more, you are refuelling between sessions, your total protein & energy intake is adequate for your individual needs, & you are taking reasonably good care of yourself, i.e., sufficient sleep, recovery etc, it’s unlikely you will experience a significant negative impact to either training outcome.

If you’ve still got questions about the interference effect, drop your Q. in the comments below.

08/11/2022

You may have heard of “Calorie Cycling”, and wondered what it actually means, and if there are any advantages as a nutrition approach over “conventional” dietary approaches used for weight loss.

Calorie Cycling - also known as the “calorie shifting diet”- is a way of eating where you increase or decrease your calorie intake on a day-to-day basis, typically by eating more or fewer carbohydrates and or fats.

So why choose calorie cycling 🤔?

When you restrict calories for a long period of time you trigger a number of unfavorable hormonal changes in your body, such as:

⬇️testosterone (PMID:34613412)
⬇️thyroid hormone (PMID:16720655)
⬇️leptin (PMID:9435444)
⬆️cortisol (PMID:20368473)
⬆️ghrelin (PMID:17299118)

Which all contribute to reduced energy expenditure and increased energy intake.

The original theory behind Calorie Cycling was to combat these unfavorable symptoms of dieting by periodically raising your calorie intake to maintenance levels (and in some cases above).

Is calorie cycling “better” for weight loss🤔?

While Calorie Cycling isn’t inherently superior for weight loss, subjectively many people report finding it easier to adhere to than other forms of calorie restriction.

It’s been reported that when compared to a steady daily calorie deficit, calorie cycling offers the flexibility to eat more on days they’re exercising more vigorously or when appetite is greater, which can help increase adherence when dieting.

And as we know, any diet that allows you to maintain a calorie deficit over an extended period will cause weight loss.

Research has also suggested Calorie Cycling can lead to greater weight loss, improved adherence (PMID:24829732) and lower hunger levels.

Are there any downsides?

Calorie Cycling is a more complex method of dieting, as it requires you to micromanage the calories you eat day-to-day, which can be more confusing & time-consuming.

Calorie Cycling isn’t magic - when used in the context of fat loss, in order to lose body fat, you still need to create an energy deficit. If you eat in excess of your weekly calorie budget, it can increase the time taken to reach your weight loss goals.

08/11/2022

You may have heard of the term “Calorie Cycling”, and wondered what it actually means, and if there are any advantages as a nutrition approach over “conventional” dietary approaches used for weight loss.

Calorie Cycling - also known as the “calorie shifting diet”- is a way of eating where you increase or decrease your calorie intake on a day-to-day basis, typically by eating more or fewer carbohydrates and or fats.

So why choose calorie cycling🤔?

When you restrict calories for a long period of time you trigger a number of unfavorable hormonal changes in your body, such as:

⬇️testosterone (PMID:34613412)
⬇️thyroid hormone (PMID:16720655)
⬇️leptin (PMID:9435444)
⬆️cortisol (PMID:20368473)
⬆️ghrelin (PMID:17299118)

Which all contribute to reduced energy expenditure & increased energy intake.

The original theory behind Calorie Cycling was to combat these unfavorable symptoms of dieting by periodically raising your calorie intake to maintenance levels (and in some cases above).

Is calorie cycling “better” for weight loss?🤔

While Calorie Cycling isn’t inherently superior for weight loss, subjectively many people report finding it easier to adhere to than other forms of calorie restriction.

It’s been reported that when compared to a steady daily calorie deficit, calorie cycling offers the flexibility to eat more on days they’re exercising more vigorously or when appetite is greater, which can help increase adherence when dieting.

And as we know, any diet that allows you to maintain a calorie deficit over an extended period will cause weight loss.

Research has also suggested Calorie Cycling can lead to greater weight loss, improved adherence (PMID:24829732) and lower hunger levels.

Are there any downsides?🤔

Calorie Cycling is a more complex method of dieting, as it requires you to micromanage the calories you eat day-to-day, which can require more math & is time-consuming.

Calorie Cycling isn’t magic however. When used in the context of fat loss, in order to lose body fat, you still need to create an energy deficit. If you eat in excess of your weekly calorie budget, it can increase the time taken to reach your weight loss goals.

29/10/2022

⚠️ + 👀 = PLEASE READ CAPTION 🙏🏼

💕Rarely do I make the time to stop, slow down & acknowledge all of your incredible support for my Instagram page. Today however is an extremely special day, and I want to express my gratitude & gratefulness for your unwavering love & support 🙏🏼😭

💕Whether you have supported me from the beginning 👩🏼‍🎓or you have only recently started following👩🏽‍💻, your comments & appreciation, along with your abundance of likes and continuous sharing of my content, are what have enabled me to achieve such a huge milestone like this one 🎈200K !! For a page that is NOT here for entertainment purposes, and is almost exclusively to bring value and education - that is EPIC🔥…. in my humble opinion 😂

It is because of your support & encouraging DM’s & messages, that I have had the strength step into my own shoes, to be a more vulnerable & transparent person, and learn that it’s ok to speak out about important topics & values. Each of you have helped in some way walk through my journey of radical self acceptance, and this has allowed me to become the happiest version of me EVER 😭🙏🏼❤️

⚠️In the world of social media, where you truly have an endless number of influencers at your fingertips, you chose to follow me and support my personal goal and vision, which is empowering women through knowledge, science, and evidence based nutrition & training, and to help women grow to become the BEST version of themselves 🥰….
For that…. I am deeply overwhelmed 🥲

🙏🏼Please keep reading 👉🏽 please keep liking👉🏽 please keep commenting, and more importantly keep up your GROWTH mindset. We all have ONE life, so why not show up as the best version you can be!
👇🏽
I love you all ❤️ and may God do incredible work in all of your lives.

I am truly blessed.

*This video are just a few topic highlights from this years educational posts!

23/10/2022

How to Develop Radical Body Acceptance 🥰

The road to enlightenment is no easy journey, but I invite you to think about what your life might look like if you were intentional with your healing ❤️‍🩹

Imagine your life where you view the world without restrictions.
Imagine a life where you see yourself whole and healed from your struggles and hardship.
Imagine your life and what it might look like where you have the knowledge and skill to appreciate, rather than judge all of life’s profound perspectives and limitless potential 💕 Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?

If you are serious about healing and self improvement, the life you have just envisioned does not have to remain a fiction of your imagination 😍

With that said, here are some of the strategies I have personally used to overcome my 15 year year long eating disorder, and in the process, open my eyes to what it means to be happy. And please believe me when I tell you, the feeling is nothing short of FREEING 🥰

1. It’s ok if you don’t want to accept weight gain.
2. Grieve the discomfort of body weight changes.
3. Understand where your fear of having body fat comes from.
4. Acknowledge the harm and the pain that disordered eating behaviors have caused you.
5. Body acceptance could mean that you stop looking at the scale.
6. Start doing what you’ve been putting off.
8. Dress yourself in ways that are comfortable and honor the body you’re in right now.
9. Remove yourself from relationships that do not align with your new values.
10. Find and engage with a non-diet, recovery-focused communities

20/10/2022

Dietary fiber is the indigestible portion of plant foods and has two main components: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Their names reflect their ability to dissolve in water, or not.

Our bodies can’t break down either type of fiber. We don't possess the enzymes to break down fibrous material, however the bacteria in our gut use soluble fiber to produce short-chain fatty acids, which in turn, are used by the body as energy. As such, soluble fiber DOES contain a small amount of calories, which the FDA estimates at ~2 calories per gram.

Insoluble fiber however can’t be broken down by the bacteria in our gut, which means our bodies can’t derive any energy from it. Therefore insoluble fiber does not contain any calories.

This might have you wondering if you need to worry about “hidden” calories in your food? Stress less, if you live in the UK or Australia the calories from soluble fibre are included on food labels, so you won’t have been eating more calories than you thought just because you’ve been eating fiber-rich foods.

Unfortunately, this isn’t true for food products in the US - they don’t currently show the calories from fiber. Which is one of the big reasons we added this feature to our nutrition coaching app 📱

Simply go to your “display preferences” in the settings menu and turn on the “Macro Calories” feature and Carbon will include any calories from fiber for you!

In fact, I’d encourage you to INCREASE your fiber intake, as a high fiber intake has been shown to increase satiety (PMID: 26724486) and is associated with a whole host of health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and controlling blood sugar levels.

So how much fiber should you be having? I recommend 14g fiber per 1000 kcals. This equates to 1g per 71 kcals. So if we use a practical example, a 60kg female whose daily calorie intake is 2500, 2500 / 71 calories = 35g fiber.

While there’s no upper limit for fiber intake, if you are beginning to experience gastrointestinal discomfort, then it may be wise to track your fiber intake and lower the amount to help ease your GI discomfort.

Are you someone who tracks fiber? 🙋🏼‍♀️

19/10/2022

The program so many of you ladies have been asking for! 🍑 GLUTES & SHOULDERS 💪🏽 🔥

This NEW program went LIVE today on my workout builder platform 💕Click the link in my bio 🙋🏼‍♀️

Speaking from past experiences, it is easy to feel overwhelmed when attempting to put an effective workout program together!

I know your time is valuable, so let me do the hard work for you! Check out the workout builder ⭐️ $12.99 per month✌🏽

👉🏽Over 55 programs
👉🏽New programs being added monthly
👉🏽Programs for all experience levels
👉🏽Gym based & home programs available
👉🏽Unlimited program use
👉🏽Over 300 exercise demonstrations
👉🏽Customizable program features

Get warmed up 🔥
👉🏽Our warm up interface calculates how many sets and the weight you should perform.

Track Your Progress 📈
👉🏽Track individual reps, keep notes and personal records.

Customize your workouts 🛠
👉🏽Don’t waste a minute figuring out how to change your program, pick from our comprehensive exercise library based on your gyms equipment and personal preferences.

Learn Intensity Techniques 🎓 = 💪🏽
👉🏽We implement advanced training techniques such as myo reps, 21s, rest/pause and more.

If you are ready to start my new program with me next week, simply head over to the website by clicking the link in my bio 💕