Four weeks out on pre-contest; hit plateau; need help

[Brydges]

Hi.

I'm exactly four weeks out from a contest. I've been on a diet where I eat the same foods at the same time every day, and when I plateau or think I'm heading for one, I drop my carbs and maintain from there at that newly-reduced level. Here is my diet as it stands today (I cut out 1 cup of oatmeal early last week):

7 AM:

Shake consisting of -
50 grams hydrolyzed whey protein
54 grams oatmeal
1 TBSP all-natural peanut butter

9 AM:

12 egg whites
54 grams oatmeal
3 flaxseed oil capsules (3 gms fat)

11 AM:

12 egg whites
8 oz sweet potato

1 PM:

8 oz. extra-lean ground turkey or chicken breast
2 - 3 cups green beans or broccoli

3 PM:

8 oz. chicken
2 - 3 cups green beans or broccoli

4 PM (during workout):

I add 2 TBSP Twin Lab Amino Fuel to 16 oz. water

6 PM (post-workout and post-cardio):

32 grams hydrolyzed whey protein

7 PM:

8 oz chicken
2 - 3 cups green beans or broccoli

I consume a ton of water (I literally drink a glass of water while I'm pissing during the day, as I work from home). Cardio is done 6 times per week in the evening post-workout for 45 minutes per session at 70% of my max heartrate and last week I began adding 35-minute morning sessions M/W/F.

I'm on various, shall we say, cutting supplements. Let's just say they're stronger than herbal tea. I started out on this diet at 260 pounds having never taken anything stronger than green tea or NO2) and I am now at 226 (5'11").

Aside from a four-pound drop when I shocked by body three weeks ago by going from a 4-day/30-minute weekly cycle of cardio to the 6-day/45-minute cycle, which was followed by a two-pound drop the last week, my weight loss has shrunk to around a half-pound per week. Before the four-pound drop (where my waistline visibly tightened up and my vascularity increased), I was stuck losing 1/2 pound or less a week for four weeks. Prior to that, I had been losing 1 - 2 pounds per week over about a 12-week period. I've been on this diet since November.

I need to drop another 5 - 6 pounds over the next four weeks and I'm wondering if switching to carb cycling can shock my body enough to get it out of its rut.

I clicked to a posted link from this site and read about the following carb cycle:

Day 1: 150 grams carbs
Day 2: 100 grams
Day 3: 50
Day 4: 125
Day 5: 200
Repeat.

I'm looking for feedback on whether or not people think this is a wise move. I guess at this point if I have plateaued, I'd rather take a chance than stand pat, because standing pat may mean losing another pound in total, and that is not enough. I've been dieting this way for so long my body might react strongly (read: positively) to this shock.

I'm also open to increasing the number of days or cardio in the morning, the duration of my cardio sessions, etc.

Thanks.

Steve
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[P-funk]

if all you have to drop is 5-6lbs then you shouldn't be worried. You will drop like 10lbs in the last week just from water loss.

Unless you mean you need to drop 5-6lbs of fat.

Scale weight means nothing. The real question is "what do you look like?"

 

[Brydges]

Hi.

I am concerned only about the scale in that I want to drop 5 - 6 pounds of fat, if that. I know I lose water weight right before the show, so I'm not counting that.

As for how I look, I don't think I'll come in totally shredded because of how my lower abs look (I have a six pack and I can see striations all throughout my upper body, including shoulders, chest, and lower back). What I want to get is as close as possible (of course) and I need to ramp up the process here in the last four weeks. Who knows? 5 - 6 pounds could be all I need to lose, if that. I know it sounds like a lot, but I'd rather err on the side of thinking I have more to lose than less.

 

[P-funk]

how is your training corrospoinding to your carb cycling approach? Are you altering what you are doing int he weight room on days where you are eating low carbs (like depletion workouts) and taking advantage of what you are doing on days when you are eating higher carbs (like heavier, more tension oriented workouts)?

 

[Brydges]

Hi.

I haven't started the carb-cycling yet, actually. I was posting to get feedback on whether or not I should switch from a constant carb intake (that I've been gradually reducing over time) to a cycling format for the last four weeks (or 3.5, as I know the last couple of days involve depletion/loading).

My training is going quite well. Mentally, I refused to let myself be or think weak, and even though I'm not getting the same reps with the same weights as I was before pre-contest, I'm still handling the heavy weights and maintaining muscle density. I'm mixing up the rep schemes, of course, adding drop sets or pre-exhaust, reducing rest times and whathaveyou here and there, but I'm blasting away with surprisingly great energy. This is the best I've ever looked and the biggest I've ever been, so that's encouraging. I'm not totally where I need to be in terms of condition, but again, it's the best for me yet.

So, again, the question is whether or not to carb-cycle to switch things up and shake off this recent plateau.

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