Pre-Contest Diet help

[jnuts]

Hello ladies,

Please help me out w/straightening out my diet flaws etc. I'm 16 weeks out from a Figure Contest. I've been trying to add some muscle the last few months, now its time to get my BF down. I'm 5'5 134lbs. aprox. 18-19% BF. Lift 3x's per week, cardio 4 x's per week, first thing in the a.m. on an empty stomach. Supplements: Multi-vitiamin, flax, thermorexin.

Meal 1- (post workout) 1/2 cut oats, 1 scoop whey protein.1 cup coffee w/non-dairy cream & splenda.
Meal 2- 1 can tuna, 2 cups steamed veggies(broc.,or green beans)
Meal 3- 1 scoop whey protein, 1 Tbl. natty p-nut butter or handful of almonds
Meal4- Chicken breast, green salad w/cuc, celery, carrotts and newmans dressing or Udos' w/lemon
Meal 5- 1 scoop whey protein, 1 Tbl. natty p-nut butter.

(sometimes during mid-day I have another coffee w/skim milk & splenda)
1- 1 &1/2 gal. H20 daily.

Mrs. Jnuts

 

[The Shadow]

conside doing 3 if not all the cardio days on lifting days as that will double your days of complete rest.

Also cross train the cardio

DO sprints tradmill bike rower, etc,.....vary it up a bit

Add some rala and yohinburn and a good fat burner

 

[jnuts]

thanks, right now I usually do cardio Mon-Thur & weights M,W,F complete rest on Sat. and either light cardio or a sculpt class on Sun. I also teach a Sculpt class on Thur. evening.
do you think I should take more days off? My cardio is usally a cycle class, HIT and/or a step class.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Your cardio is 4x a week for how long? Intensity? Mode?

I'd keep weight training 3x a week. Have AT LEAST one rest day there - rest meaning NO activity, no light cardio, no light lifting, no yoga, no nothing. Cardio could stay the same, 4x a week, but have at least 2 of them be 30min HIIT workouts. And really kick up the intensity on the intervals, HARD. This will help your metabolism, plus help maintain muscle. The other 2 workouts should be 30-45 min mod-intense - Spin class is good here.

Also, being 16 weeks out, you don't want to add TOO much cardio now - need to have somewhere to go when diet stalls. Diet will help you lose BF now.

Diet - Is that the diet you have been following to gain muscle? If so, how much muscle did you gain? It doesn't look like much food - not enough to grow on. Looks pretty good for a cutting diet, do you know the breakdown of the ratios? It looks a little light on the protein side......but can't quite tell. It looks like you are going to be hungry for 16 weeks...be prepared.... lol

 

[BrickGirl]

If you are 16 weeks out from a contest and are already doing cardio, you are in for a world of pain. When you start dieting for a contest you should have been off cardio for a long time now, because the cardio you are doing now is your baseline now, thats the same as doing no cardio but any cardio you add in is gonna have to go on top of the cardio you are doing now. I would completly stop the cardio and see if 3-5weeks off of it will be enough for your body to adjust to a zero baseline.

 

[jnuts]

Daisy, Yes, I do 4 cardio sessions, thats it, 2 HIT and 2 moderate. Protein is 120 grams per meal, sometimes more if still hungry, yes, this is my cutting diet.

Brickgirl-I'll try it, I'm so accustomed to doing cardio, this a complete mind change. Thanks, I'll see what happens

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Since you are accustomed to doing cardio now, and you were on a bulking type diet before, your diet should help you lose fat now.

I know how cutting out cardio can be hard, mentally. Maybe cut out 1-2 days of it...and do just 2-3 days of 30 min HIIT, that is it.

 

[jnuts]

Thanx, DG

When I do cardio now, its usually for 45-55 min.s 1 day cycle class, maybe 2 interval classes mod. intesity and 1 HIT for 45 min.s The contest I'm doing May, 20th is Natural and I hear they don't want the figure girls to look to lean or cut, more a toned look. my trainer doesn't want me to look to muscular which I'm against but this is an amateur Natural show. I comp. in 2 NPC shows 2 summers ago and the figure girls were very lean, 8% BF and very cut. I'll try and reduce my cardio to just 30 min. HIT's . I'll let you know how it goes

 

[jnuts]

The reason I think I need at least 3 cardio workouts is because I see results much faster in my upper body where my hips, and butt hold on to fat, even when my BF was down to 14% my butt and hips where still holding BF. Any ideas?? Or will the HIT's and clean diet eventually get those stubborn areas..................Frustrated

Mrs. JNUTS

 

[JJFigure]

The reason I think I need at least 3 cardio workouts is because I see results much faster in my upper body where my hips, and butt hold on to fat, even when my BF was down to 14% my butt and hips where still holding BF. Any ideas?? Or will the HIT's and clean diet eventually get those stubborn areas..................Frustrated

Mrs. JNUTS

LOL - when I'm at 10% bodyfat, my butt and hips still hold fat, let alone at 14%. For some of us, it just takes a lot of patience and very low levels of bodyfat before we really get that lower body definition.

 

[smb_69]

jnuts -
1) dump the carrots and replace it with apple w/peal..
2) dump the creamer - you can add a little of heavy whipping cream instead.
3) you need some fiber - add some Phsyllium hask or some of this

http://www11.netrition.com/lowcarbsuccess_flaxomeal_page.html

excellent product that we use around my gym.


GOOD LUCK!

 

[jnuts]

JJ Figure- I guess its the ol estrogen the holds the fat on those areas, its the last to go and you're right it goes down slowly w/patience. something that I don't always have when training hard and eating right.

smb_69-thanx, will do, carrotts are high GI, is that why? not too much natty pb?? was more worried about too many fats than anything....

 

[Daisy_Girl]

For fiber, you can also NOT limit your greens. Veggies such as broccoli are virtually calorie-free, nutrient-dense, high in fiber and keep you full longer. I try to get my fiber from food - I rely to much on supplements for other things, it is nice to get fiber from more natural sources. You can also add Bran to your oatmeal - it ups the carbs, but it almost all fiber.

I think the fat looks fine....

Let diet and HIIT do it's job now....don't kill yourself with cardio now. You have to have somewhere to GO TO when your body acclimates to the diet. You have 16 weeks to prepare....that is a long time. Take the next few weeks, cut back on cardio days, eat clean, lift hard. See where you are then, then add in more cardio IF you aren't losing.

ALSO, HIIT should really be only 30 min or so - if you can go all out on intervals for 45 min, you aren't working hard enough on the 'work' intervals. Do 5 min warm up, 20-25 min intervals, then 5 min cool down. And on the work sessions, those last couple seconds you should be feeling like you are going to DIE. One day, I almost fell off the back of the StepMill because my legs gave out. LOL