# Contest diet



## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

Here is my starting contest diet plan

Wake up Black Coffee

45min walk

Meal 1 75gms oats banana, kiwi fruit, 50 gms 90+ protein

Meal 2 50gms brown rice, 200gms turkey

meal 3 200gms sweet potato 200gms turkey

meal 4 2 bananas 200gms turkey

Workout followed by 30 mins stationary bike

Meal 5 50gms 90+ protein 20ml udo's oil

meal 6 6 whole omega 3 eggs

Bed

So what do you guys think of this plan. Will be starting it 18weeks out so it will be subject to change. Works out at around 2800kcals first two weeks will have no thermogenics in use after two week i'll start 4i.u's of gh before morning walk. Will only add thermogenics or alter diet or cardio if weight loss slows. Look forward to your opinions guys, Dale


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

Well it's day 4 of the new diet and I've got to be honest i'm struggling a little but it does always take a couple of weeks for me to get into the swing of a diet. Already feel like i've dropped alot of excess water so i'm hoping for some decent weight loss this first week. Weight at start was 17st 7lbs my god i'm fat!! Hardest thing at the minute is getting used to getting up at 6 for my walk. That extra hour in bed makes such a difference!


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

Dale, put some PWO carbs in there or you'll lose muscle to replenish blood sugar after your training. Take a few carbsout of a couple of meals during the day, and then put them into the final meal, you are being too harsh and will lose lean tissue as a result.

I do not believe in the 'no carbs after X o'clock' approach. I have a small serving of porridge with supper all the way through a contest diet. All you need to do is make sure you are in a calorie defecit each day as a result of the cardio & other activity. Do not go down the starvation route.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

That is 3 bananas's a day.

Would it not be better to swap one banana for an apple, and the other banana for a green vegetable like green beens, apsaragus, or broccoli?

Banana's are very high in the GI and berries and apples are very low and probably will offer a better overall nutritional profile if other forms of fruits and vegetables are used.

Not to mention more fiber.


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

Cheers for feedback guys. Ninepack to be honest i'm one of those people who is quite carb sensitive if i had carbs late at night i would hold alot more water because of it. I'll maybe try swapping my third and fourth meals round so my two pieces of fruit are after my workout. Hacksii i will swap at least one banana for something else mate. I'm not doing starvation mate my diet works out at around 2700kcals


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

hackskii said:


> That is 3 bananas's a day.
> 
> Would it not be better to swap one banana for an apple, and the other banana for a green vegetable like green beens, apsaragus, or broccoli?
> 
> ...


I know what you are getting at Hack, but I would advise caution swapping a fruit like a banana for a green veg source as you are effectively dropping the carbs altogether. Green cruciferous veg is not absorbed as a carbohydrate, it's just 'passing through'. I find the worries over bananas being the wrong G.I depending on the state of ripeness a little o.c to be honest. Can the people who advised this in the first instance actually see a visual difference in a subject's condition by avoiding bananas if over ripe, or avoiding them altogether? I seriously doubt it. I have them all through a diet, and I have them very ripe indeed. The fact that the G.I is a bit higher is not really a big deal as the actual amount of carbs ingested from the banana is not going to cause that much of a glycemic load anyway.


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Hey Dale,

Keep up the good work matey.

I am sure you do it anyway, but for variety and sanity mix up some of those proteins and carbs with other selections such as Salmon, chicken, rotate the rice with cous-cous (you can get a wholegrain one) and Quinoa! Quinoa is an excellent source of Aminos.

I would like to see more cruciform veg in there, as ninepack says it passes through but they have a lot of phytonutrients and vitamins that just help you 'feel' so much better, and for a minimum of cals they will help keep you full with the extra fibre they provide. A 50g serivng with your main meals won't impact on your calorie deficit at all.

At 17 1/2 stone, what formula did you use to come up with 2700 cals mate?

I am asking because I am slightly heavier at nearly 19 stone and will cut myself in a couple of months, my calculations came out at 3300 cals.

SD


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## supercell (Aug 23, 2005)

Seems quite low on the carb front TBH. I weigh around 13st 4lbs on stage and will diet on around 3200kcals.

As far as your GH goes when you start it have it with a carb meal, not on an empty stomach before cardio (the worst time you can do it TBH) You need to have elevated blood sugar for GH to work best.

Agree with Ninepack about the carbs late at night. I must admit I used to think I was carb sensitive but that's actually a load of bollox. No one except diabetics are carb sensitive, its just BBers have a carb phobia in general. As long as the calories in is a little less than those expended you will lose.

By eating more carbs whilst dieting I managed to gain around 16lbs in 8 months and hit the stage leaner at 13st 4 than 12 st 2.

Also spread your udos out over the day and have 5g with every meal except those when you need carbs quickly ie meal 1 and your PWO meal. Also get some carbs in after training, its the best time to soak them up. As for fibrous carbs (veg) you dont seem to eat them. I call these 'negative calories' as they actually deliver less calories than it takes the body to partially digest them, plus it keeps your colon healthy and you regular.

Best of luck with everything. Ninepack knows his stuff, there is NOTHING he doesn't know about a contest diet. I should know, he prepped me last year and is prepping me again this year and I'm gonna come in 5 lbs heavier and shredded!!!

J


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Nine Pack said:


> I know what you are getting at Hack, but I would advise caution swapping a fruit like a banana for a green veg source as you are effectively dropping the carbs altogether. Green cruciferous veg is not absorbed as a carbohydrate, it's just 'passing through'. I find the worries over bananas being the wrong G.I depending on the state of ripeness a little o.c to be honest. Can the people who advised this in the first instance actually see a visual difference in a subject's condition by avoiding bananas if over ripe, or avoiding them altogether? I seriously doubt it. I have them all through a diet, and I have them very ripe indeed. The fact that the G.I is a bit higher is not really a big deal as the actual amount of carbs ingested from the banana is not going to cause that much of a glycemic load anyway.


I just felt the diet looked a bit light in the vegetable department and a little heavy in the banana department.

When I eat asparagus it makes me feel good, I dont know why and I hate them so I dont actually eat them.

I know a contest diet looks a bit diffrent than a ballanced healthy diet, but many of the diets I see in guys dieting have little if any fruits and vegetables (not all but many I have seen).

Again, I dont know anything about contest diet prepping.

But it seems from a healthy standpoint that the macro's should be spread around to offer the best nutritional profile.

But then again I have seen guys on MRE's and powders and shakes look pretty good too sooooooo

I do appreciate you correcting me Paul.


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

Hack, I wasn't knowingly trying to correct you, sorry if I came accross that way. I actually eat over a kilo of green veg every day when I diet (and no, that's not a typo). I have that in addition to the 300g or so of starchy carbs I take in from potatoes (sweet potatoes, and white potatoes), brown rice & oats. I even have some wholemeal bread & wholewheat pasta in the early stages.

You were right that the diet was a little low in the veg dept, but this can be added on top of the existing intake.

When James is dieting this year, he will be eating a lot more carbs than people will believe, but he will get a darn sight sharper as well. Russia here we come.


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

Cheers guys. I'll add salad to two meals then for now to see how it goes. So ninepack your saying stick with bananas. It's day six of my diet and i've dropped ten pounds. Obviously alot if this is fluid and food weight. Have to be quite low on the carb front guys as i let myself get that out of shape in the off season so i always give myself far to much work to do. But now i'm going to be a dad I don't want to be a fat dad!! SO i'm doing these shows to get back in shape and stay in shape. Weight is now 16st 11lbs and in my avatar pics i'm around 13st so obviously i've got alot of work to do. I'm hoping to be a little tighter and a little heavier this year


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

James why does gh work best with elevated blood sugar? I have very little experience with it but last time i used it i did it before breakfast and cardio and really dropped the fat. What effect does bolld sugar have on gh? Cheers Dale


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

GH elivates blood sugar, that is why guys use slin with GH as it makes you hyperglycemic.


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

hackskii said:


> GH elivates blood sugar, that is why guys use slin with GH as it makes you hyperglycemic.


GH has several functions in the body, some anabolic, some catabolic. In the presence of low blood sugar, it will assist in the replenishment of blood sugar by causing the cannibalisation of lean tissue as this is much more readily available in a short space of time than fat stores. As I've said many times before, blood glucose levels are survival mechanism number 1 as far as the body is concerned and as such it will take tissue from muscle to replenish blood sugar if it has to without hesitation.

I find HGH's lypolitic qualities are far over rated and feel it's better for helping muscle retention when dieting. In order to do that however, it needs to be administered under the right conditions as James & Hack say.

Dale, yes, keep the bananas in & just accept the fact that if you have let yourself go 3 stone out, then you need to burn the fat off with a lot of cardio, not by cutting carbs too low. Low carbs will ultimately end up in a slowing down of the BMR & fat loss will slow down considerably as a result. If the carbs are kept in there at a reasonable level, the body will see that there's sufficient calories coming in, and that fat stores are ok to use as there is no percieved shortage of food. Then all you do is burn the calories with cardio & weights.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

I lost 4" on my waist alone using 2iu a day of GH for 6 months with zero dieting, I saw no size loss in the rest of my body and at the time I was impressed.

I was using humatrope at the time.

HGH production is highest at night during REM sleep, it does not make alot of sense to me that the preferred food would come from cannibilization of muscle when there is rebuilding and repairing of muscle and other tissues.

I think the primary fuel during rest is fat.


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

hackskii said:


> HGH production is highest at night during REM sleep, it does not make alot of sense to me that the preferred food would come from cannibilization of muscle when there is rebuilding and repairing of muscle and other tissues.
> 
> I think the primary fuel during rest is fat.


Which has been one of my arguements against taking a heavy meal before bed to prevent nightime catabolism. I think it just prevents nightime fat metabolism, and nightime fasting is a natural method the body uses to detox from the day. Hasn't stopped me trying it out for myself of course!

SD


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

hackskii said:


> I think the primary fuel during rest is fat.


The bodies metabolic state shifts into a different gear during sleep, and I really doubt that fat stores are utilised during these periods. That defies the principles upon which the bodies energy systems operate.

As far as the eating before bed goes, despite popular opinion, the proof of the pudding is in the eating (no pun intended). I *always* have a carb & protein meal at supper (10 mins before going to bed) when dieting & I strip my bodyfat down to a level that few are capable of.


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## chrisj22 (Mar 22, 2006)

Nine Pack said:


> I always have a carb & protein meal at supper (10 mins before going to bed) when dieting


Do you also do that in the off-season stage, Paul?


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## ParaManiac (Mar 20, 2007)

Paul,what does that meal consist of?


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## chrisj22 (Mar 22, 2006)

PARAMANIAC said:


> Paul,what does that meal consist of?


I'd more than likely think porridge & a shake, as he firmly believes to 'book-end' the day with a similar meal to breakfast.

But; there is only 1 way to find out....


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

So then guys are we saying it's best to use my gh after my workout with my post workout shake and bananas?


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

chrisj22 said:


> I'd more than likely think porridge & a shake, as he firmly believes to 'book-end' the day with a similar meal to breakfast.
> 
> But; there is only 1 way to find out....


You are absolutely spot on there Chris, 'book end the day'. Porridge & Pro Pep for breakfast and supper. CNP are bringing out a whey isolate soon so I may use that at breakfast for a quicker release, but at supper & want slow release carbs and proteins. when dieting, it's only a small amount, say 30g of oats, but it's enough to aid sleep patterns that suffer badly when we diet & train so hard as I'm sure many who compete will concurr.


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## chrisj22 (Mar 22, 2006)

Prior to understanding the 'fasting' stage our body goes through during our sleep, I just used to have a shake & that's it. When Paul recommended porridge/oats with a shake before bed, I've settled to sleep a million times better & have actually not suffered from wreckless sleep I often used to experience.

I actually feel tighter in the morning since adapting to this approach.


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## Nine Pack (Oct 30, 2006)

Damn I'm good....


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## ParaManiac (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks gents,ive always been afraid of fat gains if i eat carbs before bed but i will heed your advice and replace my usual peanut butter and casein with small portion of porridge and casein and see how i get on.


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

Well got on the scales monday morning i'd dropped 15lbs. Obviously most of this is water. My postworkout meal is now the protein shake and bananas so either meal 3 or 4 depending when i get to gym.

Gonna start gh next week at 4i.u's per day in the morning about 15 mins after breakfast which is just before i go to work. I think i'm also going to order some creatine ethyl ester next week as I like the fullness I get from it. Also thinking of changing my post workout meal toa serving of cnp pro recover if funds allow


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

Weight this morning was 15st 13lbs so it's going down. Cardio has increased intensity and i've been doing 90 mins a day. Had cheat day on sunday all day and today i'm four lbs lighter than i was before cheat. 4lbs in 4 days is a little much maybe? what do you guys think what is the most weight you can drop per week and not lose muscle. Also i was off work a couple of days this week but was still waking up at 8 am and the gym opens at 9.30 am. so 90 mins between waking and morning cardio. If in this situation again should i have some protein or glutamine rather than go 2 hours without food?

On days i'm working I get up and take clen then run for 30 mins (run/walk but running further everyday!). But when of work i prefer to do cardio on elliptical trainer at gym to save my knees. Also i've been on clen since monday which may acount for large weight drop since monday?


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## dale_flex (Feb 17, 2008)

also is there any reason not to use eca stackon same day as clen?


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