Afternoon bloat and show time !

[MR-FQ320]

I didnt know which section to put this in at all, so im hoping i get a few responses, right, so, I seem to get an afternoon bloat between 3pm - 5pm is when it is at its worst, and i mean a beer gut with lots of wobbly fat jelly wobbling around, now I normally work out about his time, so it just spurs me on to lift more, and get some results, then i dry out and firm up and stomach deflates a little, in the morning is when i look best, no food, thirsty, no pump, so i do fasted cardio, a compound lift and i look OK, so my problem is this, my bodybuilding show will be in the afternoon 12-6 lets say, so i need to look my best, so do i not eat or drink, i guess the fluids will be out anyway, so lay off the food too ?

[MIKE_XXL]

Last weeks peek prep will take care of any of these concerns if done correctly. Dropping water is the main thing...i have yet to bloat up from food during carb up...i do however get the same thing when eating normal while dieting for a show...so you should be ok..

[MR-FQ320]

Last weeks peek prep will take care of any of these concerns if done correctly. Dropping water is the main thing...i have yet to bloat up from food during carb up...i do however get the same thing when eating normal while dieting for a show...so you should be ok..

Ok, thanks for chiming in Mike, i want to have a trial run before the show so I don't mess it up for real. I have read a few methods on how to carb up and I'm watching how my body responds on carb up days too.

Am I tapering carbs up or down ? I am carb sensitive. I am consuming about 180g total carbs on "low" carb days, and about 250 - 300 on high carb days ( less cardio ), I know I can soak up 300g of carbs no problem if I am depleted, so if I have 300g weds ( show on Sunday ) 250 thurs, 200 fri, 150 sat, I might look ok and not flat, eat 100g split up before the show. Or taper up from depleted - well weds is a high carb day anyway, 300-150-200-250-100 sun before show. Shall I just trial both ? I could have done with more time to experiment.

[bignath4607]

Night previous to the show and the day of the show u basically eat close to nothing then when u get ur stage time 1 hour before have something carby/sugary to pump the muscles and really pronounce the veins i told my mate i was bringing u over so feel free to peck his head mate

Sent from my iPhone using Forum

[MR-FQ320]

Nice one Nath, I'm looking forward to it, I'll drop you a text to find out address and time

[MIKE_XXL]

I dis agree to not eating anything...after a long time on carb reduced diet the body is like a sponge, you need to overfeed it cabrs and fill out the muscle cells with glucose and fluids, thats intracellular fluids, not to be confused with water retention as they are different things...i would be very careful running a trial to close to the show as it might hinder the results for the actual show...not to mention that i have done same thing twice for shows and it did not work the same...

Last week is very important as being flat will make you look soft and fat and not dropping enough water will have same effect, too much water loss makes you flat...whatever you decide to do stick to the plan 100% and do not deviate, there are few plans out on this forum but like i sad stick to one whichever one you pick...or hire a coach for the last weeks prep, if you never dialed yourself in this might be your answer...

[MR-FQ320]

It's not like I've been starved of carbs, just minimal to keep me going. I am taking in 100-150g per day normally, and one or two refeed days where it might be 200-300g carbs. This has kept me from looking and feeling flat, when it gets to refeed day I can soak up the 300g with no overspill to fat tissue, but the few days into the show do I taper down carbs and like Nath says stop 24 hours before the show, this will alleviate gut bloat while keeping muscles full. Or do I taper up carbs so I have 300g the day before the show and risk overspill

[scotty51312]

I've heard that a pre show meal helps to pull excess water from muscles to help digestion. Wasn't there a bunch of hype about waxey maize being good for this?