Help With Upcoming Meet Diet/Prep

Hey guys,
Beware, this is a long read:

I’m going to compete in my first comp, all 3 lifts, at the Ozark comp in MO March 13. I started Shelby Starnes’ Carb Cycling guide, from his Macronutrient Guidebook last week. I started at around 193, and right now am sitting around 188. I split my training into:

Monday- MP (5/3/1), BBB, mini-circuit of 3 exercises 3-4x through
Tuesday- 20 progressing to 40 minutes of treadmill at 3.5 mph/12.0 grade incline
Wednesday- Squat (5/3/1), BBB, several sets of DB lunges and Hamstring work with short rest periods.
Thursday- Same as Tuesday.
Friday- Bench (5/3/1), BBB, mini circuit like Monday.
Saturday- Deadlift (5/3/1), BBB, extra ab work.
Sunday- off.

My schedule is real damn hectic, I go to Physical Therapy grad school from 8-6 on Mondays and Wednesdays, until 4 on Tuesdays, and only until 12:30 on Thursday. I have clinicals 1/2 hour away at an ICU on Fridays, so it’s 7:30-1 that I’m unavailable.

This is a major problem as in school I get 10 minute breaks to walk between classes, no food allowed in class, NO tolerance for food in my 4 hour labs (2x a week), and a single 30 minute break on Mondays and Wednesdays for lunch.

Diet wise I’m doing moderate carbs on my lifting days (120g: 50g in the morning, 50g PW shake, 20g of berries’ worth to snack on in-between classes), and low carbs the rest of the days (60g of carbs, all in the morning). Protein is consistent, and fats are as well.

I have a PW shake of 24g whey, 46g dextrose, and I add 5g leucine. I drink 3-5 cups of coffee throughout the day, and recently started adding Chocamine to it. I also take 3 green tea 250mg EGCG caps to aid in the weight loss. And Z-12 helps knock me the fuck out at night.

I’ve been good with pre-packaging every meal on Sunday, but the stress of school combined with my ketosis is killing me. I’m getting 1-3 reps above the prescribed weights for 5/3/1, but my deadlifts sucked BALLS today. I had zero motivation what-so-ever to grind out the final weight. It was real discouraging. Only off day I’ve had this week.

I was originally going to try and get to 165, since
A) I pulled 545 raw at 190 a few weeks ago
B) I almost squatted 495 but lost it halfway out the hole
C) I only bench, full pause, 250 (due to shot rotator cuffs from sprinting in swimming through high school)
D) total of 1300 at 165 is well-within reach, but my body won’t let me.
E) I train with Mike Lane. If you went to the Raw Unity Meet or attended the Strongman Nationals comp, you would know the guy is fucking nuts (competes raw and this year pulled 677 at 179, drug free). He dieted down from 206 to 181 for that meet, in 5 or 6 weeks.
F) I also train with Justin Thacker on the weekends, at his gym. He’s an Olympic Lifter that is looking to join Derrick Johnson (another nearby lifter) at the 2012 Olympics.

I just feel like 165 is too much to get to at this point, and the fact that I couldn’t rip 470 off the floor today has made me extremely discouraged. I will settle for 181, but part of me is debating whether dieting down for my first full meet is even a smart decision. Maybe after I’ve done a couple or so it would be best, but I’m just not sure.

Can anyone lend me some advice??

Anyone?

Doesn’t seem like you gave yourself much time to get the weight down… 193 to 165 is a 17% loss in BW… your friend going from 206 to 181 was only a 14% drop in BW, which is a big difference considering it’s a norm for someone to dehydrate 10% of their BW at a major competition. The thing is - is it worth it? Is this some national-level meet, are you going to be able to set a record? Seems kind of silly to worry about dropping so much weight for your first full meet. It’s one thing to dehydrate for raw unity, but if it’s just another meet, is it worth cutting that much weight?

Also, I think judging performance that far out of competition is not the greatest barometer, as strength will shoot up after tapering off before the meet.

That’s what I’m struggling with. It’s not a huge meet, it’s just that totaling just short of 1300 at 165 would be considered a raw elite total. I thought that dropping 20 lb.s with a 5 lb. dehydration the day before may have been a considerable set up. I may just lean towards the 181 goal though. The only reason why I considered 165 was b/c I experimented with a diet last year around this time, due to missing a meet b/c of finals. I assumed a 24 hour weigh-in and was able to lose 23 lb.s in 23 days, and with a couple powerlifters judging/spotting at a gym, did an un-official 245 bench, 445 squat, and 475 deadlift at 174.

It was admittedly stupid of me to assume I could do this again, and expect to automatically succeed. Now I’m just questioning whether or not I should diet down another 10 lb.s just for the sake of remaining in the 181 class.

Thanks for the assurance man. I’ll do my best to not remain skeptical after today’s performance.

I would not drop that much weight to make my first meet. How long is the weigh in? I wouldn’t drop more than 6-9 lbs to make 181 of walking around weight for a 2 hour weigh in, and I would NEVER cut water weight for a first meet.

If you aren’t 1) making weight to qualify for nationals; 2) making weight to contribute to a team effort; or 3) making weight to take a record, there is really no reason beyond ego to cut.

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
I would not drop that much weight to make my first meet. How long is the weigh in? I wouldn’t drop more than 6-9 lbs to make 181 of walking around weight for a 2 hour weigh in, and I would NEVER cut water weight for a first meet.

If you aren’t 1) making weight to qualify for nationals; 2) making weight to contribute to a team effort; or 3) making weight to take a record, there is really no reason beyond ego to cut.[/quote]

Sound advice.