26 days out from competition - 0 carb day

6:30am weigh-in 206.6
Body weigh is down 1 pound from yesterdays weigh-in. But it's up 2 pounds from after Yoga.

Today’s best friend (the mirror) tells me I’m still flat and have not carbed back up from yesterdays Yoga class. Skin still is on the dry side though.

Decisions, decisions, decisions… Plans this week is to have zero carb days. I am planning on going zero carbs on training days. (Today)Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I'm pretty lean right not, definitely 5% body fat. The belly button has changed, which tells me, my BF is around 5%.

When your this low, your body doesn’t want to give up the remaining fat (I have around 3 pounds left) so you have to put yourself into a survival mode, which forces your body to strip the remaining fat.

By just eating protein my caloric intake will be 1600 calories, that’s 50 grams of protein ever 2 hours for 8 meals.

Will I lose muscle, no. Will I lose size, yes, but only water weight held by carbohydrate in the muscle, which can come back with in 48 hours.

I’m going to do zero carbs every other day. I pick the training day to do this, so my body reaches into my carb reservoir (cup of water) to help contract the muscles doing my workout, to assure I’m emptying the glass, only to fill back up the following day, for the next workout… this will force my body to strip the remaining fat.

Zero carbs isn’t a healthy state to be in, because you need 60 grams of carbohydrates a day to just to fuel your brain and for your organs to function normally, but it’s only every other day and should be enough to rid the remaining fat

When you do carb depletion and limit your calories right before a show, followed by engorging yourself with mega calories (4000-6000 range) your muscle reacts in such a way, that they swell up bigger then ever, which will last for a couple of days.

But the trick is to limit your water in take during the carb up process, so that you don't spill over and remain tight and dry, full and thick, but make sure you take in enough water to allow your muscle to come back even bigger then before

A lot of times competitors don't get this right and they either don't carb up enough (which is more so) or they spill over and smooth out.

When you carb deplete, in a sense, you're staving your body from carbs and sometimes calories (remember your muscles are like a sponge) so when you put large amounts of carbs back into your body following a depletion, your body reacts in such a way, its mind boggling.

You swell up to a enormous size, while your skin is thin. By limiting your water intake your muscles (sponge) thirst for water, so its going to grab water from anywhere it can, like under your skin, so you skin get sucked in even tighter like saran wrap.

This is all for the days before the contest, but I’m slowly going to bring myself down, so my body graves carbs and will react as such.

By weeks end I should have got rid of the remaining fat or most of it and will probably go back to carbs everyday and decide if I’m going to carb deplete the week of the show or not

From this point on, it’s going to get interesting and I have to stay focused on my game plan… carb limitation can cause you not to think straight, so I need to keep reminding myself what I need to do

Let the games begin

Time for a protein drink