I have both Passover Seders at my house! I think @The_Mighty_Stu will allow me to eat the hard boiled egg!
3 Likes
āJew-foodā 
thatās fantastic! hahahaha
4 Likes
Iām glad I wasnāt the only one to giggle at this!
Also, @robstein do you have any reasoning behind almond butter vs peanut butter?
I love my peanut butter, and Iām consuming a decent amount of it right now as Iām doing no direct carbs, increased fat plan for April. Just wanting to make sure Iām not missing some hidden, secret almond gains by eating peanut butter.
2 Likes
Nothing magical I donāt think, but since I have it a couple times a day, Iām thinking cumulatively Iāll see more benefits. Theyāre both great, healthy choices of healthy fats, provided of course youāre doing organic or natural nut butters with no added sugars or anything. Almond butter has a little more fat that peanut butter (which is the primarily macro Iām looking for with the nut butter), a little more fiber, and a little bit better nutrient and mineral profile. I also find it to be more filling than peanut butter, just because of the consistency. I do LOVE peanut butter and in the off season eat more peanut butter than almond butter. I also really like all of the protein nut butter spreads that have hit the market recently.
Right now I primarily use āJustināsā brand almond butter because itās the cleanest and best tasting Iāve found. I also have Buff Bakeās birthday cake flavored almond butter protein spread, which I use a little less than 1TBSP of in my pre-workout cream of rice on my medium days.
1 Like
It also doesnāt stick to your mouth like PB does!
1 Like
Hey manā¦maybe I want to save a little bit for later! 
3 Likes
Lol, ew. Contrary to my love for PB, I am semi-allergic and detest the smell (especially, when in contact with water) HAHA
I will eat a spoonful of PB, or peanuts, and for the next hour will lose my ability to talk mid-sentence. I have to limit my consumption to when I am in the office and have no chance of talking.
1 Like
Medium day leg session today, felt pretty good to get some more carbs today. Not a ton, but I definitely noticed a difference.
Tomorrow weāre 4 weeks out, which means we have 3 weeks left to get some work done. Iāve made good progress this week on our new L-L-M rotation, and am definitely tightening up. In an effort to tighten up a little faster, weāve dropped carbs some more, but kept cals the same. My cals are as low as we want them to go, and Iāve made progress this week, so shuffling macros around seems like it should spur some more progress. My quads are the last piece of the puzzle. Looking back on pics leading up to the first show, they got better after we stopped HIIT two weeks out, and during peak week as we didnāt do cardio, and especially the day of the show after the carb up. So, if I can can get them looking nice and tight over the next 3 weeks before peak week, they should be seriously cut by show day (I hope!)
Carbs now are 50g on low days, all pre-workout, and 130g on medium days. I get a refeed every 9th day of 300g, coming Monday and Iām looking forward to it.
Made one more adjustment and moved to 6 meals a day instead of 5. Iāve had a lot of trouble this week trying to be productive with work. The first 60-90 minutes after a meal is manageable, but after that Iāve been fading hard, regardless if I do carbs or fat with the meal. So, my thought process is going to 6 meals will allow me to eat every 2.5 hours or so during my working hours, which should help. Since Iām doing mostly low days, I tried to make them as manageable as possible given the macros Stu gave me.
1690 cals, 74f, 50c, 180p
-2 eggs, egg whites, bacon, veggies
-chicken breast, grass-fed cheese, veggies
-egg whites, chicken sausage, veggies, Flameout
-preworkout - cream of rice, Metabolic Drive protein, 1TBSP nut butter
-grass fed beef, veggies
-8oz unsweetened almond milk w/ Metabolic Drive, 1TBSP nut butter
Hoping these new macros and lower carbs will be the final thing. Stu and I feel Iām very close to where we need to be, and 3 weeks is a good chunk of time. Thereās no way to say, āthis will work for sureā, but based on our progress thus far, weāre feeling confident and are hoping for the best.
Every time I get to the 4 weeks out mark, something happens. Not sure how to explain it, just a sense of, āalright, itās around the corner nowā. Iām already pushing as hard as possible in the gym and have never strayed from my nutrition, but being 4 weeks out gives a renewed sense of purpose. At 5, 6, 7 weeks out, I know itās coming, but it still feels like an eternity away, and sometimes canāt help but feel like ājust get through today.ā Now, it feels like itās right here in front of me, and itās easier to push those thoughts out of the way and smash through the wall.
My goal is to have it be lights out from the moment pre-judging begins before they call the first quarter turn. Thereās no way to know whoās gonna show up, or what will happen competitively, so now is the time to dig in more than ever, suffer through it, and continue to give my very best. As long as thatās the case, Iāll be content up there.
A nice treat coming my way tonight, we made our macro adjustments half way through the day today, and I did 5 meals. So, in order to meet my #'s, I get a whopping protein pudding tonight consisting of a little over 4TBSP of nut butter with a scoop of protein. Gonna do half peanut butter, half almond butter, and the usual Metabolic Drive. 
4 Likes
4 weeks out today! Lighting is a little glaring in the locker room, especially since my tan has totally washed off, but better than my bedroom, looks like the wheels and glutes are getting tighter.
For a 1700 calorie low day I feel surprisingly great today, the best Iāve felt in a long time. It could be a few things:
-First day doing 6 meals instead of 5, I ate my first 4 meals every 2-2.5 hours. So, this felt awesome, and while they were small meals, this may have sent a signal to my body itās not starving.
-As we lowered carbs more, I raised protein, and am now getting 1.5g per pound. While I spent most of my prep in the 1.1-1.2g per pound range, to leave room for more carbs, Iām now in very low carb territory and am getting plenty of good fats, around 65-70g a day. So, this allows me ~200g protein, today is the first day Iāve had that much and it feels great.
-I made another adjustment to the plan and am now having flank steak for dinner every night, I canāt remember the last time I had steak and IT. WAS. AWESOME. Flank steak, sugar free BBQ sauce and veggies.
So, a few changes have occurred, weāll see if the good feelings continue tomorrow. Iām definitely aware Iām still in the trenches of a prep, but I feel more like myself and more energetic, out of zombie mode temporarily so Iām loving it.
4 weeks from right now the show will be over, gotta push harder than ever and make it happen. Seeing the pics from today are encouraging, the adjustments we made last week definitely seem to be working and having just dropped carbs even lower, Iām really hoping with another 3 weeks of this, itāll all come together. Every morning I look in the mirror hoping to see drastic improvements, but it doesnāt happen that way, itās small changes over time. Gotta keep that in mind, stay calm, follow the plan and see what happens by next weekend. For now, weāre definitely keeping this rotation for the next week and weāll see how it goes.
11 Likes
Man I canāt believe how good Iāve been feeling yesterday and today, even after lowering carbs and cals, the new increased meal frequency and raised protein is really helping.
My treadmill decided to stop working this morning, a blessing in disguise. Went for a 30min fast walk outside, beautiful day, and itās so much better than the monotony of a treadmill. I know @BrickHead always did his morning LISS outside, Iāll be doing the same for the last three weeks of cardio.
Today is a low day HIIT day. I have 5 HIIT workouts left including today, counting on my extra energy bringing some more intensity to the workout.
Tomorrow is my first REFEED day in a week and a half. I previously was getting 350g, weāve lowered it to 300g. Still enough to get the job done without overflowing the tank. Hereās the menu for tomorrow:
-
Egg whites w/ ketchup, veggies, whole wheat everything bagel
-
4oz chicken breast, 1 serving pretzels
-
Microwaved Finibar, 1/2 scoop Metabloc Drive Protein frosting on top
-
Pre-workout - cream of rice, 1TBSP nut butter, Metabolic Drive Protein
-
Chicken breast and veggies, complete cookie for dessert.
-
Pre-bed - 3 slices of Ezekiel bread french toast, just soaking them in egg whites and cinnamon first, then in the pan, then topping with some Walden Farms 0 cal maple syrup.
290c, 200p, 25f, 2280 cals total. Gonna be a good day!
4 Likes
Looking really skinny man, keep up the good work!
2 Likes
Very untrained eye, but those pictures are pretty damn impressive, youāre back width took me flat out by surprise! Love following along and getting the āinside stuffā on a prep!
1 Like
LOL just what Iām going for, thanks man!
@Despade thank you very much bro, much appreciated!!
My wife said I was starting to look like a cancer patient yesterdayā¦ I think that means Iām heading in the right direction, right?
4 Likes
Sunken cheeks and orbitals? You have arrived my friend
1 Like
Yesterday was a HIIT low day, smashed my intervals against the wall. Added an extra 2, totaling 12 intervals, followed by the usual 20min LISS afterwards, the whole workout took 50 minutes. The HIIT workouts are the primary fat burners, have to take advantage of them especially as Iām trying to dig out the last bit of fat. 5 or 6 of them left, gotta make every one count.
Passover dinner was a great time, my parents and in-laws said my cheeks and chin are sunken in and how much longer am I gonna be doing this lol. Totally manageable until it came desert time. I ate chicken and veggies while they ate assorted cakes and brownies and stuff, but when youāve been at 5-6% body fat for long enough, your body REALLY doesnāt want to be there anymore. Looking at the deserts in front of me was a challenge. Hard to describe, not like I was tempted to cheat, but when your brain sees 1,000 dense carby fatty calories in front of you after being depleted for so long, it sets of a grand finale of fireworks telling you to eat it. At that time, I pulled up this picture of Mark Oakes, one of my favorite natural bodybuilders, also a lightweight:
This guy brings the best conditioning Iāve ever seen. Looking at that, itās easy to push the negative thoughts aside, stay motivated to keep pushing to the end.
Woke up today very tight, very flat, and very ready for my first high day in 10 days today, loving it so far. A couple adjustments to the meals, still getting 300g total.
Cream of rice with egg whites cooked in and veggies, 1 measured serving ketchup.
2 servings cinnamon toast crunch w/ Metabolic Drive protein milk.
4.5oz chicken salad w/ veggies and 1 serving of pretzels
I also chug about 30oz water before each meal, and drink extra water on the high day. This helps ensure Iām not holding any extra water by tomorrow. The scale weight will go up with the newly formed muscle glycogen, but I donāt want to look soft as a result of not drinking enough water. Drinking enough ensures Iāll pee out any excess and will look as tight as possible tomorrow. This is why we donāt cut water, especially the day before the show with the carb load. Nothing makes you look tight like keeping the water in! Hopefully tomorrow will give me a good look at my conditioning being a little more filled out.
I switched my cream of rice and bagel, so my pre-workout meal is gonna be a bagel with 1TBSP peanut butter and a serving of Metabolic Drive protein icing.
4 Likes
Excellent last meal of the refeed day, ezekiel bread french toast. 3 slices EZ bread, soaked in a mixture of egg whites, cinnamon and stevia, topped with just a little Metabolic Drive Vanilla Protein frosting and some walden farms 0 cal syrup.
Todayās numbers, 2390 cals, 300c, 200p, 20f, compared to the usual 1700 cals, 50c, 200p and 65f.
Refeed days are really important especially as you get leaner, and especially if youāve been on low carbs for a while. Today I also drank a lot of water in hopes I wonāt retain any extra, so hopefully tomorrow morning Iāll wake up with a good indication of the current level of conditioning with fuller, glycogen filled muscles.
Tomorrow Iāll be 3 weeks and 4 days out, low day with the usual LISS in the morning, then back and biceps in the afternoon. Tomorrow is the one day during the week I donāt do any post weights LISS. Morning LISS the past two days has been a 30 minute brisk walk outside as a result of the treadmill breaking, which has been great. Iām not going to drive to the gym for a 30 minute cardio session just to go back later again in the afternoon, and the walk outside feels a lot better on the body. So, Iāll keep doing that for the rest of my AM cardio sessions.
Very motivated to keep pushing and dial in these last details. The Saturday before the show, one week out, the show organizers are hosting a posing workshop class, a great opportunity to learn from them. Theyāre a husband and wife couple, both extremely successful WNBF pros. As itāll be one week out, I should (hopefully!) be at stage conditioning by then, and it gives me a good goal to shoot for really being ready early and make a good impression there.
2 Likes
Another day down, low day today with the usual morning walk, back and biceps this afternoon.
Weāve raised my morning walks to 45min LISS. AND, after much discussion with my wizard of a coach, weāve decided to stop HIIT workouts and come up with a new 6-day weight cycle. Not sure if heās still on the boards, I initially got the idea back in December from @GrindOverMatter as heās a natty competitor who really brings some insane conditioning to the stage, he stopped cardio ~4 weeks out of his show to put the finishing touches on his legs. Everyone is different and a good competitor (and coach!!) has to find what works for them the best. From last year, Stu and I learned that my body doesnāt respond well to high cortisol and stress, and adding excess cardio does not help me get leaner after a point. We feel that my upper body, hams and even glutes are stage ready right out of bed every day, and were rock solid at my show 3 weeks ago. The judges also said everything was on point, just quads need to be tighter. Very grateful to have an outstanding coach like @The_Mighty_Stu who works with me, talks things about, we can bounce things off each other, and doesnāt give the same cookie-cutter approach to every client.
Iāve been doing cardio for about 25 weeks now since I started cutting back in the beginning of October, so weāre thinking stopping HIIT, which is very taxing on the CNS and certainly raises cortisol, will allow my legs to finally recover. With twice weekly leg and HIIT workouts, theyāre always enflamed and my quads tend to hold inflammation more than any other part of my body. Most competitors stop HIIT and leg training about a week to ten days out so inflammation can go down and definition can come through. For me, I think weāll need to do it sooner. Because we had a very productive off season and the rest of my body is stage ready, weāre able to experiment with this in hopes itāll do the trick. Especially as Iāve been responding very well to our new diet rotation and lower carbs, weāre thinking with the increased morning LISS and new weight training cycle, things should keep moving in the right direction. If need be, we still have time to lower carbs more, or go full keto. But, Iām convinced that managing nutrition and recovery for my legs will be the final thing to really get my quads ready, rather than forcing HIIT and further stress on my body.
At this point, weāve tried a variety of approaches and Iāve given my best at every one of them. The plan from the start has been to taper down cardio into the last show and not be doing any as it approaches, knowing how my legs are. SO, hereās hoping for the best, fingers and toes crossed.
I had my refeed day yesterday and woke up nice and tight today without any fluctuation in weight, and was looking very tight and full in the gym once I got a pump going, definitely better than the package I brought to my show 3 weeks ago. Since itās been a week and a half since my last refeed and carbs are very low otherwise, itās the first time Iāve been able to see myself filled out in a while, and things are definitely moving in the right direction.
Nutritionally weāre still on the L-L-M approach, Iām making one slight adjustment tonight with my last meal. Instead of the usual protein pudding, consisting of 2TBSP almond butter and Metabolic Drive Protein, Iām having steak and eggs (same macros.) This will remove all incidental carbs from the evening, so strictly protein and fat, and should definitely be more satiating. The protein pudding is delicious, but steak and eggs should help me feel more full, and I believe Iāll also burn more calories digesting that meal (every little bit counts.) THATāS proper IIFYM!
3 Likes
Hey Rob
Interesting strategy. My only comment would be around cortisol control, something I need to be wary of myself as I train sometimes quite late into the evening. I think thatās the downside to the steak and eggs diet in general. Of course, if it makes your feel fuller and you are getting a better sleep then itās certainly worth it. Good luck man. Everything is well on course.
1 Like
Yeah, cortisol control is top priority right now. Grass fed beef, farm raised eggs, etc., all good to manage that. Some other things Iāve been doing include increasing vitamin C intake, and adding extra garlic to all my meals. The steak and eggs before bed isnāt really related to the cortisol aspects, it just makes me feel more full than almond butter and protein powder.
With adding steak back into my diet, aside from being DELICIOUS, I have a very wide variety of proteins and fats now in my daily nutrition, including whole eggs and eggs whites, grass fed cheese, nut butters, chicken breast, whey protein powder, steak and fish oils.
1 Like