The title says it all. Today is the first day of my contest preparation, a.k.a. the beginning of my strict diet. I have been eating fairly clean over the past year and used a customized diet to build lean muscle mass.
My "old" diet was designed to add lean muscle mass by taking into consideration body weight and body fat content and working with the body's natural insulin production. The result was a pretty solid meal plan that was divided into training days and non-training days. Training days consisted of 7 meals plus an additional during/post workout shake with the last carbohydrate intake around 2:30 in the afternoon. Non-training days, including cardio days, reduced carb containing meals to a total of three and increased the total protein intake. The result was a gain in 15 pounds of lean muscle mass.
My "new" diet reduced my daily intake of carbohydrates by almost half and increased my protein consumption by around 25%. The pre-contest diet also prohibits any "cheat meals", fruits, sugars and dairy products. What's left is basically a mix of oats, brown rice, vegetables, such as green beans, broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower, chicken, lean red meat and various sorts of fish, as well as whey protein isolate and casein (obviously both sugar free).
My current body weight is 286 pounds with a caliper measured body fat content of 6.5%. I am now 104 days out and will try to reduce my body fat to roughly around 3.5-4%, while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible. It is shear impossible to lose fat without losing some muscle mass, but I trust that this specific diet will minimize the loss of muscle.
In addition to this drastic change in my diet, I have also made some alteration to my training plan and increased my cardio. The new workout incorporates basically elements of FST-7 and was altered by me to focus on my weaknesses (upper chest, calves and forearms). While I am still doing fairly heavy weight, the emphasis is now also on reps (8-12), forced reps, shorter breaks, stretching/flexing the muscles in between sets reps and good technique.
Cardio went up from two sessions a week to 8 times a week, with a mix of elliptical trainer, steep incline treadmill and stair master. Since I am trying to lose fat without sacrificing too much muscle mass, I am trying to keep my pulse in between 110 and 125bpm.
My "old" diet was designed to add lean muscle mass by taking into consideration body weight and body fat content and working with the body's natural insulin production. The result was a pretty solid meal plan that was divided into training days and non-training days. Training days consisted of 7 meals plus an additional during/post workout shake with the last carbohydrate intake around 2:30 in the afternoon. Non-training days, including cardio days, reduced carb containing meals to a total of three and increased the total protein intake. The result was a gain in 15 pounds of lean muscle mass.
My "new" diet reduced my daily intake of carbohydrates by almost half and increased my protein consumption by around 25%. The pre-contest diet also prohibits any "cheat meals", fruits, sugars and dairy products. What's left is basically a mix of oats, brown rice, vegetables, such as green beans, broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower, chicken, lean red meat and various sorts of fish, as well as whey protein isolate and casein (obviously both sugar free).
A detailed version of my training plan can be found in the "FREE NUTRITION PLANS" section in the right side bar.
My current body weight is 286 pounds with a caliper measured body fat content of 6.5%. I am now 104 days out and will try to reduce my body fat to roughly around 3.5-4%, while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible. It is shear impossible to lose fat without losing some muscle mass, but I trust that this specific diet will minimize the loss of muscle.
In addition to this drastic change in my diet, I have also made some alteration to my training plan and increased my cardio. The new workout incorporates basically elements of FST-7 and was altered by me to focus on my weaknesses (upper chest, calves and forearms). While I am still doing fairly heavy weight, the emphasis is now also on reps (8-12), forced reps, shorter breaks, stretching/flexing the muscles in between sets reps and good technique.
Cardio went up from two sessions a week to 8 times a week, with a mix of elliptical trainer, steep incline treadmill and stair master. Since I am trying to lose fat without sacrificing too much muscle mass, I am trying to keep my pulse in between 110 and 125bpm.
Time to do some chest and cardio.
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