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Carbing up before a show!!??

X

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whats up guys?
so im just over a week out from my first bodybuilding contest ever. wanted to compete at around 195 and im 201 right now so hopefully i can drop at least 2-3 more before then. Anyways i was just wondering if anyone could help me out in terms of carbing up before the show!? When is the best time to start carb loading to peak and come in at my hardest and fullest? and how much/what type of carbs should i be eating? I keep hearing different things from people i know but they've never actually competed and everyone on this site seems to provide great feedback so any help given is much appreciated! thanks a mil.
 
Natzo

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Hows the show schedule?
 
The_KM

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First, you need to understand that if you ask 10 different people, you'll get 10 different answers. So anything I say here could be completely different from what other competitors do.

Couple questions:

What style diet are you using right now?
Have you carb depleted yet?
What is your current water intake?

Don't manipulate sodium if you don't know how to manipulate your water. If it's your first show, you don't wanna put months of progress to shit because you used an exploratory approach. You know your body, construct a plan on your carb sensitivity, water sensitivity and so forth.

People carb up anywhere from 4 to 2 days out. They chose the most opportune times by microanalysizing their entire journey on the diet. So, if you are extremely sensitive to carbs and usually don't include too many on your bulk, then carb up 2 days out or less. If not, then carb up anywhere from 2-3 days out.

People have different methods to their carb up. Some use jelly, breads, pasta, pizza, peanut butter, rice cakes, potatoes and the list goes on. I assume you have a basic fundamental understanding of the GI/GL scale so set up the load according to that.

NOTE: Carbs draw water. If you eat carbs when in a depleted state, you will draw water. Keep a tight grip on your body the next couple of days.

That's all I got for ya... let others get a word in.
 
X

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wooo baby! thats some heavy duty shit haha i guess i'll learn as i go. thanks a lot for the help tho man. So to answer those questions:
What style diet are you using right now? I dont exactly have one. My diet consists of 3 chicken breasts, 3 cans of tuna, 4 protein shakes (50g each), 1 lean steak, and 12 egg whites in the morning and before bed. all that is split up into hour and a half meal intervals. I've been cutting carbs basically all together for the last 5 days aside from mixed berries with my eggs in the morning, and broccoli at 12:00.
Have you carb depleted yet? Yes, i think (as i mentioned above)
What is your current water intake? i am drinking approx 5-6 litres a day depending on how work goes. my job makes certain dieting tasks pretty difficult at times.
so hopefully that helps fill in some blanks. I eat pretty high carb intake in the off season. Sorry for my lack of knowlege when it comes to this stuff. It's my first show and it's tough to find the time to really tackle it from all angles.
 
The Creator

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So to clear things up before I go into detail, all you are eating for carbs right now are the mixed berries and the brocolli?
 
X

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yea man, thats been it for the last week. tomorrow (saturday) i'm thinking of carbing up and then depleteing maybe? not 100%. but ya just the mixed berries and broccoli! let me have it haha
 
The Creator

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Here would be my suggestion without knowing anymore about you

Sat: 200g carb
Sun 200g carb
Mon 150g carb
Tues 100g carb
Wed 75g carb
Thur 200g carb
Fri 300g carb
Sat "cheat meal" early in the a.m. with a medium sweet potato every 2.5 hours thereafter leading up to the show.

This is very variable as I know very little about you. You are at so few carbs right now, I dont know how you are functioning but maybe you respond well to fewer carbs. I am your same body weight when I compete and I did a very similar routine to what I mentioned. I would suggest you combine my advice with KM's advice and you should be off to a good start.
 
X

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right on brother. i appreciate the help big time! i cut my carbs because i remember always hearing thats what eveyone did before shows but maybe i took it the wrong way and instead of just reducing i cut them out altogher. so i'll follow the advice you gave me and i'll let you know how it goes man. I'm assuming those are all just clean carbs like sweet potato and brown rice? And i plan on dropping the protein shakes, tuna and chicken breast here soon and substituting with a strictly all fish diet. Once again this is just what i hear you're supposed to do from other people im competing with so if you know a smarter more effecient way to get protein a week out i'd love to know! thanks again man
 
The_KM

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Well, when you cut carbs, generally you will look a lot flatter. Do you think you've deflated a bit? The problem is, we haven't been following you since the get go, so we don't know much outside of the numbers you gave us. We need your opinion as well because what we're saying could adversely have the wrong effect.

Usually, competitors deplete carbs 6-3 days out and reenter carbs at 3 days out up until the contest. Is this what you have been doing?
 
X

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yeah i hear ya. I wish i found this site when i started preparing for the contest, its a huge help. But today is saturday and im exactly a week out. So i was planning on carbing up today and taking in 200-300g of carbs. Then deplete until wednesday or thursday and start loading again. I'm just confused by the word "deplete". Does that mean cut them out altogther? Or just lower my carb intake down to 50-100?
 

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The_KM

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That's a bit twisted but you should manage. Deplete means get rid of completely, or in a bodybuilding sense, very little. If I were you'd I remain in a depleted state and start your carb up earlier than usual. Gradually reintroduce carbs or your body will reject any influx of food.
 
jwill0214

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How did the competition go?
 
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