First Show in 8 Weeks!!

[bossman_1986]

The last week of the show is where most people screw up because they make drastic changes. I would continue to drink plenty of water keep sodium the same and dont drop water until friday....timing there depends on how much you tend to hold through the day. If you are 5lbs heavier at night then in the morning that means you hold more...if you are only a few pounds out then you hold less. If you are natural then stopping water usually at 5-7pm is fine...if enhanced you may need to drop it earlier ie 1-2pm...that is an individual thing. Also on the friday cut any additional sodium which means eating foods with sodium naturally present is fine ie eggs just dont add salt or sodium laden condiments like mustard or hot sauce to your food. The easiest thing to do is to use Mrs Dash for seasoning on Friday and you have no worries. Now the most critical part where everybody screws up is carbs. Too much and you spill over and you will have to fight to pull off the water. Too little and when you do drop water you will be flat. The key is if you are lean you can get away with more carbs so do what is necessary now to get as shredded as possible. Also most guys tend to look much better a little flat as opposed to over carbed.
My suggestion is to have carbs only Wed and Thursday and leave them out Friday...that allows you to fine tune things Friday and if you did slightly spill you have plenty of time to remove excess water on Friday.

When you eat your once per week cheat meal...do you spill over or do you just look tighter? That is a good gauge to see how you react. My suggestion is to not go crazy with carbs on Wed and Thur and keep them to say 250g per day so 500g for two days...which isn't a lot so you shouldn't spill on that and again you have Friday to fine tune. See how you look Friday morning and if you are very dry you can probably go till the afternoon before dropping water.

The main thing you should do is document what you do and how you look so you can go over it after and learn from it. Take pictures each morning to gauge your progress the last few weeks and youll get an idea of what you need to do.

From the pic I would estimate you have 12-15lbs to go yet so dont waste time and push it hard to get down as much as you can...the leaner you are the less worry come the last week and the less you need to do.

P

good advice, thanks.

when I have my cheats, I usually do look softer then next day and feel really bloated so I'm pretty sure I'm carb sensitive, but sometimes I eat too much. I think if I eat a moderate amount and eat high fibrous carbs then I should be fine but i'll have to see. I have a cup of rice a day and look full and tight near the end of the week before my cheat, that's usually when I look my best tightness wise, but a couple days after my cheat is when I look my fullest.

[bossman_1986]

what should be eaten on show day?

pre-judging starts at 10a.m., so when do you recommend waking up and how many meals should I get in before? night show is at 5p.m.

[Praetorian]

Get up early....6am, if you are dry and you should be come saturday morning you can eat a high carb moderate protein meal..i usually have pancakes with bacon and 3 eggs. I add salt to my eggs and i use ketchup and syrup with butter on my pancakes. After that i will switch back to clean eating ie 4 oz chicken with 1 cup rice and tablespoon peanut butter. You wont retain water as long as you are dry in the morning. Also the only fluid i have in the morning is half a cup of coffee to help with digestion. After that no fluid until lunch time.

Make sure you take in adequate fiber daily or you will get constipated and thats not good day before or day of the show.

P

[bossman_1986]

Get up early....6am, if you are dry and you should be come saturday morning you can eat a high carb moderate protein meal..i usually have pancakes with bacon and 3 eggs. I add salt to my eggs and i use ketchup and syrup with butter on my pancakes. After that i will switch back to clean eating ie 4 oz chicken with 1 cup rice and tablespoon peanut butter. You wont retain water as long as you are dry in the morning. Also the only fluid i have in the morning is half a cup of coffee to help with digestion. After that no fluid until lunch time.

Make sure you take in adequate fiber daily or you will get constipated and thats not good day before or day of the show.

P

so cut out condiments with high sodium on friday and then have high sodium on show day?

should you have a sugar source with every meal on show day?

so no water until after pre-judging? or should i sip on a little bit of water with every meal?

[St]

What is the date of your show.

[bossman_1986]

What is the date of your show.

November 1

[Praetorian]

Cut out any added sodium on friday add some saturday.

P

[bossman_1986]

should you have something that's high in sugar about 30 mins before going on stage?

[Praetorian]

No not necessary...as i said vascularity is a combination of 1. Being in shape...ie shredded and 2. Blood pressure...which is directly related to sodium.

P

[bossman_1986]

Makes sense

First meal on show day you eat high carbs, sugar and sodium, should you have another one of those meals after pre judging for the night show?