First Pre Contest Diet

[Jmac87]

I'm less than 12 weeks out from my first competition and I've never known any diet other than a bulk so any opinions/advice would be appreciated.

some info:
*5'8" 185lbs @11-12% BF
*I will be taking a pre contest cycle
*I go through almost 2 gallons of water a day
*Every Saturday evening I have a cheat meal
*Supplements include: whey, casein, multi (controlled labs), superpump (gaspari) xtend (scivation), purple wrath (controlled labs), glutamine.


9:30am
Morning cardio &abs
20 ounces water

10:30am
10 egg whites
2 whole eggs
1 slice of Ezekiel bread
10ounces water

12:00pm
2 scoops whey
2 tablespoons natty PB
10 ounces water

3:00pm
8 ounces of chicken
20-25 almond kernals
Broccoli
10 ounces water

6:00pm (pre workout)
8 ounces chicken
2 cups of brown rice
10 ounces water

6:30pm
Evening weight workout
20 ounces water

8:00pm
Steady state cardio
10 ounces water

9:00pm (post workout)
2 scoops protein
1 packet of oatmeal
10 ounces water

11:00pm
2 cups ground chuck
Broccoli
10 ounces water

12:30am
2 scoops casein w/ flax
10 ounces water

[Narkissos]

I'm less than 12 weeks out from my first competition and I've never known any diet other than a bulk so any opinions/advice would be appreciated.

some info:
*5'8" 185lbs @11-12% BF
*I will be taking a pre contest cycle
*I go through almost 2 gallons of water a day
*Every Saturday evening I have a cheat meal
*Supplements include: whey, casein, multi (controlled labs), superpump (gaspari) xtend (scivation), purple wrath (controlled labs), glutamine.


9:30am
Morning cardio &abs
20 ounces water

10:30am
10 egg whites
2 whole eggs
1 slice of Ezekiel bread
10ounces water

12:00pm
2 scoops whey
2 tablespoons natty PB
10 ounces water

3:00pm
8 ounces of chicken
20-25 almond kernals
Broccoli
10 ounces water

6:00pm (pre workout)
8 ounces chicken
2 cups of brown rice
10 ounces water

6:30pm
Evening weight workout
20 ounces water

8:00pm
Steady state cardio
10 ounces water

9:00pm (post workout)
2 scoops protein
1 packet of oatmeal
10 ounces water

11:00pm
2 cups ground chuck
Broccoli
10 ounces water

12:30am
2 scoops casein w/ flax
10 ounces water

1.) Have you competed before?
2.) 11% 12%? Which is it? Have you had your body composition assessed?
3.) What is the total calorie count of the meals represented above? What's the macro breakdown? How does the calorie count relate to your current LBM and TDEE?

[FireGuy]

Pics would help quite a bit as well. Also, you say you are doing nearly two gallons of water a day but the amounts listed add up to less than 1 gallon.

[Jmac87]

Thanks for the questions guys!
This is my first comp.
I've had two different numbers regarding my BF% from three sources in the last week, I need to find someone who I can trust to do it correctly.
I just went over the calorie count and it's just about 2500k/cal, 428g from protein and 120g from carbs. Looking at it I may need to take the protein down a bit.
My calculated TDEE is in the realm of 3200 but I also have subclinical hypothyroidism so who knows...
My water intake listed is only what I make sure to drink with my meals, I'm drinking nearly 2 gallons everyday.
I'll try to get some pics up soon...

[Jmac87]

Any feedback on the diet?

Took these yesterday





[IMG]http://image87.webshots.com/87/1/90/34/26481***40106955148bFXeGA_fs.jpg[/IMG]

[Jmac87]

http://community.webshots.com/album/579394735kZtyPT

[baseline_9]

Ok you have under estimated ur BF%

From those pics i would put you at no less than 15%

If u go on 15% then ur LBM x 15 = 2358 cals

Id shoot for around that nd make adjustments after 10 days dependent of pictures

[Jmac87]

Thanks Baseline, I'll have an exact number of my body fat by Tuesday and I'll take away one scoop of casein from my bed time shake to get my calories down.

[baseline_9]

300p 200c 50f

1200+800+450= 2450

IMO those macros look better than what u have now

Personally id rather keep the cals at or above mtnce and create a defecite via extra cardio

But the only thing u cn do is be consistent with a diet and make adjustments if required after a week or two

[Jmac87]

How would you recommend spacing the macros out?
Evenly through 6 meals? 50g protein per meal, 34g carbs per meal, 8g fat per meal
or...
Intake carbs morning, pre and post workout? 50g protein morning, 67g protein, 8g fat per meal x3

[baseline_9]

How would you recommend spacing the macros out?
Evenly through 6 meals? 50g protein per meal, 34g carbs per meal, 8g fat per meal
or...
Intake carbs morning, pre and post workout? 50g protein morning, 67g carbs, 8g fat per meal x3

This is kind of what i would do

Personally I would drop the carbs at breakfast to 60 and add 20-40g of dare i say it dextrose to an intra workout drink along with BCAA's and Glutamine (in u do add 40g dex just drop the carbs in the other meals to fit)

why - because dextrose will spike insulin levels which in turn will prevent the release of cortisol at a time where cortisol levels would normaly be elevated. While in a calorie/energy defecite I would personally like to keep cortisol levels down as low as possible


meal 1 - 60g carbs

meal 2 - minimal carbs

meal 3 - minimal carbs

meal 4 - 50g carbs (pre workout)

intra workout - 40g dextrose

PWO meal 5 - 50g carbs

meal 6 - minimal carbs


I would never claim to be an expert so please only read this as my opinion, it is simply what I have learned along the way and I am by no means preaching it

Im sure that Fireguy and Nark could help you out much better than I can

[Jmac87]

No matter your expertise, great advice! I never thought of approaching it in the way you explained.

The last two days I've deviated from my usual routine of 40g of carbs at breakfast, preworkout and postworkout. I just felt like that split wasn't working for me, every workout felt tougher and tougher.
These past two days I chose to take your advice and go up to 200g of carbs but I spaced it through each meal (roughly 30-35 grams). In doing so I felt way more focused in my workout today and showed less sign of fatigue which got my through my additional hour of post workout cardio. I'm going to try and stick with this for a couple weeks and see where it lands me and maybe sneak in some dextrose (start small at first) with an intra workout drink. If my progress isn't up to par of where I need to be then what you posted above is the way to go no matter how run down I get, but thats all part of the game right?

Thanks for the help and I'll keep updating.

[FireGuy]

How long are your morning cardio sessions and what is your HR during it?

[Jmac87]

Hi FireGuy, my morning sessions run a 1/2 hour @ 120-140 bpm... My post workout cardio runs a half hour to an hour depending on how I feel. Two weeks into implementing morning cardio and no additional weightloss. I'm stuck!

[baseline_9]

Morning Low intensity cardio is good to do as a base

IMO it should stay there and eventually go up to 45 mins on it

As far as your PWO cardio, if your follow the diet/ carb timing plan that I wrote above you should be doing some sort of higher intensity cardio like interval training

IMO the purpose of that cardio session is to burn as many calories as possible, LIC isnt the way to do that

How often are you doing cardio?

LIC 30-45min 5-6 x per week in the mornings
Interval training 3-5 Times per week PWO

U do that and see if you start to loose weight. Make sure ur doing plently of cardio and not loosing weight before u start slashing calories from food

[Jmac87]

Thanks Baseline, I've been reading your transformations post, great stuff (good pancakes lol).

I perform fasting LIC four days a week (excluding off day and leg days - I train hams and quads on separate days).
PWO is performed five days a week (excluding leg days)

I agree with putting in the interval training, now that I think of it I dropped my first 20lbs since October from treadmill intervals. From the persuasion of others (they meant well) I reluctantly went down to steady state cardio when I cut my calories.

I faced this 185 dilemma when I was bulking up to 205 over the summer. FYI I take 125mcg of synthroid per day and my body has seemed to gravitate towards 185 (homeostasis maybe?) ever since I've been on the medication.

[Narkissos]

at 185 lbs, with hypothyroidism, there's no way I'd suggest starting 300 gram of protein and working backward. (That is, unless your carb count were sub-150)

What multiplier did you use to calculate your TDEE?

[gbrice75]

You have some of the best on the board chiming in, so i'll sit this one out. =)

[FireGuy]

Thanks Baseline, I've been reading your transformations post, great stuff (good pancakes lol).

I perform fasting LIC four days a week (excluding off day and leg days - I train hams and quads on separate days).
PWO is performed five days a week (excluding leg days)

I agree with putting in the interval training, now that I think of it I dropped my first 20lbs since October from treadmill intervals. From the persuasion of others (they meant well) I reluctantly went down to steady state cardio when I cut my calories.

I faced this 185 dilemma when I was bulking up to 205 over the summer. FYI I take 125mcg of synthroid per day and my body has seemed to gravitate towards 185 (homeostasis maybe?) ever since I've been on the medication.

With the amount of time you have until the day of the show I would suggest creating a larger calorie deficit. If it were me I would do it with both a decrease in calories as well as adding in some more cardio.

[Jmac87]

Appreciate the replies guys!

at 185 lbs, with hypothyroidism, there's no way I'd suggest starting 300 gram of protein and working backward. (That is, unless your carb count were sub-150)

What multiplier did you use to calculate your TDEE?

At the moment I'm below 150 most days but I'm spacing it evenly throughout each meal excluding bedtime casein and 1 meal.
160carbs on leg days (2x a week) 120grams of carbs normal working days and 90grams of carbs on off day
I used the Harris-Benedict formula to calculate my TDEE factoring in 12% bf and multiplying my BMR by 1.725 for my activity level.

With the amount of time you have until the day of the show I would suggest creating a larger calorie deficit. If it were me I would do it with both a decrease in calories as well as adding in some more cardio.

One of the gyms I go to finally got a stepmill so the cardio is upped (along with the intensity) as of this week.

[Jmac87]

You have some of the best on the board chiming in, so i'll sit this one out. =)

I'm happy for that but chime in!

[Jmac87]

Just an update/bump: As of yesterday the carbs are cut down to 80 (from broccoli, peanut butter, protein powder and intraworkout shake). My guess is mt body is holding onto whatever carbohydrates I eat and I might be better suited at burning fat quicker than I am at carbs. In that I still need the calories so my ratio is 50protein/10fat/40carb

Its looks out of the ordinary to me but worth a shot.

[Jmac87]

Time for a big ol' BUMP and an update.

The past two weeks I've changed to a ketogenic diet and bumped up the cardio to one hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I seem to be shaping up better but I stepped on the scale and not a lb dropped, very disappointing. I've introduced T3 at 25mcg as of this week and hopefully this will do the metabolic trick that my crappy body hasn't been able to do on it's own.