Today was a rather busy one for me and so the food had to be quick and simple. Sure it's best if you can make everything from whole foods but that takes time and at the end of the day my main concern was what where my total calories and macros for the day and for the most part I hit these goals.
I got a ton of exercise in today which put me in at least a 2000 calorie deficit which will help me get that last little bit of fat off before show day at the Vancouver Island Showdown on Saturday. I got in at least 7 miles of walking, a 1.5 hour weight training workout and over an hour of posing time.
Below is a screenshot of what my day looked like in MyFitnessPal...
Peak Week is here and we are in the final stretch with only 5 days out to the Vancouver Island Showdown! This is what all the hard work has been for and now I just need to tuff out the last few days of lots of training and not so much eating. It's do or die and I don't want any regrets or to leave anything on the table. I have stayed exactly to my program and in the end I should be exactly where I need to be in 5 days.
At this point in time my mind will start playing games with me, did I do enough, am I ready, am I lean enough, big enough... Some days are better than others but at this point there is not much more I can do so I hope the magic of peak week will prevail and it will all come together.
Over the next few days right up until Thursday evening it will be low calorie, low fat and low carb eating under 2000 calories per day and trying to burn as much as 4000 calories total via workouts, walks and posing, this should result in about another 3 pounds of body fat stripped from my body, those last little bits that make all the difference on stage and could mean 1st place or 3 place.
Starting Thursday evening it's time to start carbing back up by dropping protein and eating almost entirely carbs, this will fill me in for show day adding about 5-7 pounds of glycogen and water directly in the muscle. I am still in the mid to high 190's so I expect to walk on stage right around 200 pounds, this will be the heaviest I have been so far on stage and I hope to do it in as good if not better condition than past shows. At least that is the goal!
Even though this week is mentally and physically very hard, I also find it super exciting and look forward to each day to see the changes that take place in my body over peak week, I can hardly wait to see what Saturday will bring!
Almost in the home stretch now only a couple of weeks away from the Vancouver Island Showdown where I will be competing in Open Physique sand Classic Physique classes. In terms of how I feel I am doing, I feel right on track, perhaps the heaviest I have ever been at 2 weeks out weighing in at 198 pounds this morning. This could be a concern but I feel I am right where I need to be in terms of body fat and how lean I am. This week will be fairly hard cutting as have been my last several weeks but I feel pretty good and the fat is still coming off nicely.
I have been adding in a one day weekend refeed and this past Saturday I ate at least 400 grams of carbs and did my best to match my maintenance calories for the day so around 3000 to 3500 or so. My body managed the carbs well and did not retain too much water the next day. This next week will be aggressive in terms of my calorie deficit of around 1500 calories Monday through Friday which I am hoping for another refeed day on Saturday again and then starting Sunday I will be low carbing it right up till Thursday night when I will start my carb up for the show.
My body feels pretty good overall with no real injuries other than a bit of a sore foot which makes walking a bit painful at least at the start but I am holding in there OK and if need be I will substitute some biking that will reduce the stress on my foot. This week should fly by quickly as my days are full with lots of walks, weight training, posing and of course work. I hope to make a video this week where I blog an entire day from start to finish, at least the highlights...
I am sure most people will understand that Contest Prep is hard work and just because I may post lots of photos of delicious looking meals and an ever changing body that looks more and more conditioned week to week. The truth of the matter is I don't often talk a lot about the challenges I face and there are many along the way.
I am not complaining as for the most part I actually enjoy the process even with the hard parts, I like the challenge of seeing just how hard I can push myself each time and try and get in even better shape then my previous shows.
The reality is it's not always super fun and here are some of the hard parts that at least for me I find come up during contest prep...
Body aches and pains, the more I exercise the more my body starts to break down, all the walking and weight training and with a lack of food to help with repair my body really does get soar. I struggle with knee pain, foot pain and muscle and joint pain, usually it's just annoying but it can get so bad that I may have to alter what I am doing to make it to show day.
Fatigue is also a huge consequence of contest prep and cutting weight. Being in a substantial calorie deficit day to day with only a few refeeds along the way really wears down on a person and after a while the body starts sending messages to stop moving in the form of physical exhaustion. This is not an all then time feeling for me but it does come in waves and can be hard to get motivated when it hits me hard. This is when I push through even more as I find getting active helps me overcome the feeling of exhaustion.
Moodiness is another side effect of contest prep, being hungry, in pain and exhausted makes a person a bit short tempered so I really need to watch this and make sure I don't take it out on my family and the people I care about, even people I don't for that matter;)
And then there is the fact that I am self absorbed and so my family gets neglected at times. During contest prep I have a lot on my plate to juggle and I will have to say no to family and friends as there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Of course I have to give up many social functions and if I do go to them then I can not really enjoy them like normal as I am restricted in my food and drink so it can be tuff watching everyone else indulge and let loose while I eat my pre-prepared food and drink my zero calorie beverages.
There are for sure more challenges that come up but these are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head. So when you see someone that has made it to show day and you may think wow, that must feel awesome, yes it does feel awesome to obtain that goal but getting there does come at a cost. It comes down to what is most important to you in the end and for me I am willing to give up some of simple joys and pleasures in life in the short term to be able to look back and say I did my best and accomplished my most with no regrets.
We are now less than a month away from the Vancouver Island Showdown hosted in beautiful Victoria British Columbia Canada. I had a really great week last week, stayed on track with all my workouts, all my walking and my eating was on point hitting close to a 1000 calorie deficit Monday through Saturday with a bit of a well needed refeed on Sunday which worked out nicely as it was Father's Day and I was able to live a little as I ate close to 3500 calories with close to 500 grams of carbs. This did make me hold a bit of water the next day which was check-in day but not anything extreme. My body weight was 201.5 pounds and I was 9.6% body fat according to my home InBody body index scale but it always reads about 1.5% high in terms of body fat compared to the Pro InBody machines like the one in my Gym. Unfortunately the gym InBody scale was out of commission as it is waiting for a repair part so I could not check it as a second point of reference...
This week will be much like last week with the exception that I am adding in a 3 mile early morning walk to go with my regular 2-3 miles I usually do in the evenings. This will add in about 400 active calories to my day which should help me be able to eat at least 2500+ calories per day while staying in a 1000 calorie deficit with all my activity added up.
I also hired my posing coach Jeff again to get my posing back on point, it's been a couple of years since I hired Jeff and he really helps out a lot, why do all the work and then let yourself down in the posing department?
Tuesday, July 13, 2021 at 11:28PM ;)