If you had 9-10 months.

**CaliPump** · 08-05-2003, 06:00 PM

If you had 9-10 months to prep for a contest what diet would you follow how would you eat? How high would you let your body fat get, when would you start cutting? It looks like I will have that amount of time before a contest. What would you do?

**Rickson** · 08-05-2003, 07:46 PM

I would pack on as much muscle as I could not being overly concerned with diet until 16 weeks out but you know your body better then we do.

**saboudian** · 08-05-2003, 08:13 PM

Its all about you. Some people lose fat easily, some don't. If this is your first contest, give yourself 1 week for every BF% you need to lose and then add 6 weeks, you will thank yourself later for the extra time you give yourself to diet down.

Its not easy dieting down to contest shape as many know. You really just can't predict how your body is going to respond since your BF has never been that low before, and you just have to try different things. Since everyone is different, it is often hard to give advice without knowing you and not being able to see your progress every week. So just keep readin up and begin your experiments, every time you try to diet down, it gets easier and easier cuz you learn more about your body and how it responds and how you should react.

**CaliPump** · 08-06-2003, 01:30 PM

This is what I had considered......not even worrying about diet and just eating like a horse till Jan, talking about eating 7-8 thous cals a day. Then in Jan cleaning up the diet not cutting yet, just eating clean, keeping calories high in the 4-5 thous range but just good carbs, low fat and high prot. Then 3 months later starting in Apr begin cutting with a goal of 4% bf in July. My guess is come Jan I would have around 15-16% BF. Cleaning up the diet and starting cardio (low intens 3 days week) in Jan I could keep my gains and maybe drop to 13-14% bf. Then in Apr begin tapering off cals cranking up the cardio to include a hiit routine so that in that 12 week time frame from APR 1 to July 1 I could drop the additional 10%. Also considered doing a cycle from the Jan - Mar 12 week period using enth, var, and eq. I was thinking that would add even more muscle and b/c of the juice would cause me to drop a little bf as well.

So what do you all think about that? Thoughts, suggestions? Also I have never cycled before so I figure I could see muscle gains in the 15-20 pound range with a reduction in bf, is this a correct assumption?

**saboudian** · 08-06-2003, 08:44 PM

Alot of this stuff is just trial and error bro, even if you do come up with a game plan now then i guarantee you will still be constantly changing it anyways.

Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time to lose BF and try different diets and if you have time, then practice different strategies for peaking. Too many guys underestimate their BF and overestimate their ability to lose fat EFFICIENTLY. A few less weeks of bulking isn't really going to make much of a difference anyways compared to the difference that 3 more weeks of dieting can make, especially if its your first contest.

**Tobey** · 08-07-2003, 01:34 AM

Pre-contesting dieting can be one of the most reguress forms of dieting. Even if you have your present diet down pat this time right before a comp can really play mind games on your head and requires the ut-most attention. I would talk around with some of the more expereinced competitors here on the board. Their advice can really help out more than you know. Advice on general dieting is all fine a dandy but here in this instance you do not want to leaqve nothing to chance. I do think that diets are indiviually specific and what nesscearly works for one will not hold true for all. Sounds like I'm typing in riddles don't it? Ha! But that is just it, this is somthing that you really need to pay close attention. That is why of all the really advanced competitors had to go through several comps before they really began to improve everything form their dieting techiqnues to thier posing routines,ect. Good luck
IC

**CaliPump** · 08-07-2003, 03:17 PM

So basically it is somewhat of a trial and error process for each individual? I definitely understand that there is no exact formula for achieving success in bodybuilding, thing is I don't want to wing it either. I personally have never competed nor cycled so that is why I threw out their, what if you had 9-10 months to prep? I did not want to know what you would do if you where me, but what you would do if you were you? That way I could get some ideas based on the experience of others. I was hoping to learn from your past success and failures and approach this in a somewhat scientific manner. Of course I already have some ideas, that is why I have already mentioned one of them prior.

**CaliPump** · 08-07-2003, 04:10 PM

just thinking....should i move this post to the competition forum.

**Tobey** · 08-08-2003, 02:57 AM

It might not necessarly need to be move but you might want to post the same question in the comp. forum. I would list a few more specific though as to your present age, weight, BF%, training routine ( as far as cardio is for sure) and any other areas that you feel are important. That will at least give one a little more input ojn how to better answer your question.
Tobey