I’m glad you bought the fully cooked roast beef as opposed to the uncooked roast beef…that’s a time saver!
Marketing kills me sometimes…
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I’m glad you’re hitting the big ass salads. I enjoy them, they make me feel a little more “normal” I’d say. Maybe it’s the volume of food. I’m not sure. They’re always satiating
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Yeah, they’re very filling. I think it’s all the lettuce, decent amount of fiber but also as it’s mostly water, combined with drinking water with it, good stuff. Wish I got into them sooner!
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Another 1500 calorie day down, 2 hrs of cardio in the books, and I am really tightening up to another level. I always thought I wasn’t a very vascular guy, but now I realize I just wasn’t lean enough. Lots of vascularity in the arms, shoulders, someone at the gym today told me I had veins popping out of my lats, and noticing some in my chest today, and this is all being totally depleted. The added sodium is really helping with body composition, even while being depleted my muscles have taken on a much fuller, harder and more vascular look. Very excited after these two hard days to get a refeed tomorrow!
REFEED DAY TOMORROW!
1800 cals - 225c, 180p, 8f
Why am I so excited about the refeed day, besides the fact that I get 225g carbs? Because I’m go all angel food cake baby, and I get to eat this whole…entire…thing…
I’ve never really thought about angel food cake as a carb up or refeed source, but found a recommendation by Chris Aceto and Jim Stoppani in some articles, saying it’s a perfect carb up source. All straight carbs and sugar, 0 fat and almost no protein. Pretty much sugar, flour and egg whites. This entire cake is 850 cals and only 185g carbs! I can’t wait. Topped with a little fat free reddi-whip, it’s going to be amazing. I’m eating it between 3 meals, which means I get to eat 1/3 of the cake every time at only 60 carbs a pop. Meals will be 1 cup egg whites, or 4oz chicken breast or lunch meat, accompanied by veggies or a bag of lettuce, with cake for desert, except for my usual pre-workout cream or rice and protein.
On my carb load day, the day before the show, I get 350g carbs. That means I can eat an ENTIRE angel food cake, plus a bagel, and two big bowls of cinnamon toast crunch. Hell. Yes.
I ALSO found little angel food cake desert cups, which will be perfect for the show day. I’m going to use them instead of rice cakes to put my Reese’s spread on. What a fantastic discovery.
OK back to business. With the 60minutes of LISS in the gym, plus the new 45min walk in the afternoon and 1500 cal days, I am tightening up really fast and getting to the final level of conditioning I’m pushing for. After tomorrow’s refeed day, there are two more LLLM cycles, which will hopefully put the finishing touches on. At the rate of improvement I’ve seen just after these past couple days, I’m feeling good about it.
Today was my LAST post weights LISS session. I originally started my cardio with post weights LISS and have been doing it for over 6 months, 4-5 days a week. Now that cals are so low and I’m doing so much cardio, I thought it would be beneficial to stop the post weights LISS to allow for better muscle recovery, and not risk any extra or fatigue or LBM loss. I haven’t been worried about it, but now that my low days are 1500 cals and I’m still doing an hour and forty five minutes of cardio outside of my workout, I think it’s a good way to keep a huge deficit going while allowing for better recovery. I’m going to keep up with the 60min fasted cardio, and 45min walk until peak week.
Overall I am feeling extremely confident in our plan for the final push, my physique, and the work I’ve done not just during this prep, but for the past two years since I got into competing. I’ve been relentless, even in the off season I had a plan. As Stu mentioned to me earlier today, I’ve had a plan of attack every day for 365 days since this show last year and haven’t strayed once, we’ve been extremely analytical in our approach and I’ve given my best every step of the way. At this point, while I really hope I can nab that pro card, if I don’t, I can still walk out with my head held high, knowing I truly gave every ounce of myself to this process for so long. With this final push, there’s no way we could dig any harder. No matter what happens in two weeks, it’s going to be a hell of a show.
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Usual last meal of the evening on a low day, protein cake! 230 cals.
Making the recipe work for my macros. I essentially follow this recipe from the T-Nation article, but instead of a whole egg I use 1TBSP of egg white, and a very small amount of protein icing. Comes out a little drier than it would with the whole egg, but for a prep it’s a fantastic last meal that makes me feel like I’m cheating.
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That is one name I don’t see a ton, who I really like. I’ve had success with his training programs and nutrition plans in the past.
Great to see your surviving these 1500cal days with 2hrs of cardio. It’s crazy what you learn about your body when you start pushing the limits!
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2 weeks and 1 day out.
Woke up tighter than ever, these past two days of 1500 cals and 2hrs of cardio have been tough but there’s no doubt they’re working incredibly well.
That being said, with today’s refeed day, we want to get a good bump, raise leptin, with the minimal amount we think is necessary to get the job done and keep progress moving. So, cals are still 1800, lowered carbs from 225 to 200.
Today’s breakfast was awesome
-Egg whites, veggies, roast beef and the usual hot sauce
-100g angel food cake, fat free reddi-whip and some syrup.
The Angel food cake is really, really good. For 60g carb and 300cals though, it was over way too fast and not as filling as I thought it would be. Very light and fluffy. I DO think it’ll be a perfect carb-loading food for the day before the show, max carbs with minimal food volume. It was great after breakfast, not gonna go all angel food cake today though. Going to have a fat bagel sandwich for lunch with a big salad, a big cream of rice pre-workout meal, then 2 slices of ezekiel bread with dinner and that’ll be that. Not as “fun” as I planned, but a bagel is gonna be amazing, and I’m eating to win.
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Starting to get that hard and dry look!
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Dude, awesome.
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Rob, your willpower is astounding. I’m so impressed and, frankly, proud…which is both weird and not weird at all.
That being said, you’re looking amazing even while being depleted and flat. In very excited to see you all full of glycogen and blood! Keep grinding, man; we’re all rooting for you.
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At what point in the prep would you say your conditioning was no longer maintainable long term?
Also, has your prep had any effect on your skin? Have you noticed you get less pimples (if you ever got any that is) perhaps a few popped out do to stress? Any dry skin?
During a couple of my longer cuts I noticed my skin got itchy at times. 
@MoreMuscle thanks man! Definitely seeing some fast and furious progress with this final push, new territory and really exciting.
@eric_reichelt thank you very much dude!
@IronAndMetal thank you very much bro, I really appreciate that and the words mean a lot. These past 4-5 weeks have been quite a challenge, mentally and physically. The first 2/3 of the prep I’d say were tough but manageable, but maintaining sub 6% body fat and dialing in for an additional 7 weeks after the first show have pushed me to the limits. I really appreciate your kind words and motivation man!
@xXSeraphimXx - Once I got to the point where I was doing a decent amount of cardio every single day and cals got lower, that’s when it becomes not possible to maintain, or worth it to maintain. Doing 30min of cardio every morning, two interval workouts a week and hitting the weights 5 times a week, being extremely restricted on cals/carbs, really changes your quality of life. I’d say 10% could be maintainable if I really kept nutrition locked down and did some cardio every now and then, but truthfully after competing for a couple of years and killing myself to get stage ready, I’m ok with maintaining at 12%. Plus, genetically, for me at least, I just don’t have a fast metabolism. Some guys can prep and get stage ready on 200g carbs, I can’t. I can stay lean but I REALLY have to work for it and keep carbs down, which sucks. I do think doing contest preps and especially doing them for a couple years can change your body fat set point and make it easier to stay lean, so I think I have an advantage there for the future. Once I got 4 weeks out of my first show, it became not maintainable long term.
Regarding the skin thing, no I haven’t noticed any changes. I had really bad acne in middle school going through puberty, after that it hasn’t been an issue. Not sure what your itchy skin might have been about, could have been not related to the cut, or a diet thing maybe.
Man what a day. 60min fasted cardio this morning, and the usual 45min fast walk in the afternoon. First time NOT doing post weights cardio in a really long time, even though my workout felt rough I still couldn’t help but feel like I was leaving the gym too soon and was missing something. I got over it real fast.
Breakfast was great, lunch was my usual big salad with a fat toasted everything bagel, and after that it all went downhill. I crashed HARD and have not recovered, gym session was really rough, worst one of the prep. Just moving from A-B was a serious challenge. One of those sessions where I really had to move slowly, take long rest periods. Strength was surprisingly good, but I felt more drained than I have throughout the entire prep. @The_Mighty_Stu said it’s probably because I had a big surge of carbs today, so the body produces more insulin to compensate, resulting in a larger crash than usual.
Refeeds this late in a prep are a double edged sword. High GI/fast digesting carbs, like angel food cake and bagels and such, are the best at raising leptin levels, which keeps the fat burning going when you get really lean. They also cause a big crash, so gotta deal with that. But, I only have two LLLM cycles left, then it’s peak week, so just gotta keep plugging away. I’ll probably avoid the angel food cake next refeed day and stick with bagels and cream of rice and pretzels, still fast digesting carbs but not as much sugar as the angel food cake, which I’ll save for my carb load day and top with some Reese’s spread.
When I wake up tomorrow I’ll be 2 weeks out, 1 week left of grinding and then another peak week. While this past week has been a hell of a challenge, it is very exciting and motivating to finally be reaching a new level of conditioning. Today I got out of a long, hot shower, and saw veins from my lower all the way through my upper abs, chest, shoulders, even some veins in my inner thighs. Quads looking much deeper. No choice but to keep pushing hard for the next week, so I can know I did everything I could when the time comes.
Tomorrow starts another 3 low days in a row, 1500 cals and an hour forty five minutes of cardio. Instead of doing post weights LISS this week, I’m going to find a room in the gym and get some additional posing practice in. I’m guessing some of the judges will be the same as last year, and the head judge last year was great. Very fair, gives everyone a shot to show their stuff in a good stage position, so I’m assuming pre-judging will be long and the overall will be longer, and I am planning on being on stage for the overall! Most shows don’t have bantam weight classes, it’s typically light, middle and heavy, so hopefully I can take the lightweight class and advance to the finals. Unlike the Hercules I did last year, this show is a typical pro-qualifier, so in order to get the pro card, you have to win the whole thing. Last year’s overall was like 15 minutes, which is foreverrrrr when you’re up there, especially after pre-judging and doing your routine. Gotta be able to hold the poses, smile, look like there’s nowhere you’d rather be and make it look easy. I’ve been practicing flexing my quads for 30 seconds at a time between sets lately, which is a good and sneaky way to get some extra practice in as well. Holding the poses in my upper body is no problem, but man the legs really get sore after a while.
Alright, time to dive in to meal 5, big ass salad time. Here we have:
-an entire bag of butter lettuce (20 cals and all fiber)
-1oz salad crunch toppers (shredded broccoli, carrots and red cabbage)
-5oz lunch meat combo of roast beef and turkey breast
-0 cal Italian dressing
-2TBSP apple cider vinegar (recently got into this, good stuff)
-Frank’s Red Hot
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Awesome work, Rob!
I love butter lettuce, especially with Thai spiced ground pork and butter on top!
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2 weeks out, 142 lbs, all the mandatories.
I’m glad I still have one more week to keep grinding it out, because doing our new rotation and cals for the past week really seems to be working, and I want to see what I can do after another week of this. I can finally say I really see improvement in my conditioning, if the show was next week I’d be ok with that. BUT, I am really glad there’s still two weeks because I still have some more progress I can make. I’ve been really looking tight, hard and way more vascular than usual pretty much all day for the past two days. I’ve never had great vascularity at all, I always assumed it wasn’t in my genes. But, now I realize I just needed to be leaner. But the past two days I’ve had spider webs in my arms and am starting to see them in other places too. My increased sodium also helps a lot with the vascularity and hardness. Ham split seems on point. But, I still have more room to go before really looking completely hard and dry everywhere. As much as I know I still can be a little leaner, I do think my quads will improve a bit when cardio completely stops and they can finally recover.
As hard as these days are, I really think they’re working and it’s really motivating to keep pushing for just one more week. I never thought I’d be this lean, and now I just want to keep going, I know I can still make improvements.
Another low day at an end. While cals and carbs are lower today than yesterday, I actually feel better today, guessing it’s from having steadier blood sugar without the big surges and crashes. Definitely keeping that in mind my next medium day, I’ve changed it around so rather than a usual “refeed” I do with higher carbs and no fats, I’m lowering protein a bit, adding fats and having lower GI carbs to hopefully prevent that completely drained feeling.
All new territory as I’ve never been this lean. I also a have a pretty significant caloric deficit right now. I checked out a TDEE calculator today, which is your BMR plus activity level, so it calculates (as close as possible) your actual maintenance. It calculated my TDEE as anywhere between 2300-2700 depending on the intensity of my exercise. Since I don’t do HIIT anymore, I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the middle for the amount of cardio and training I’m doing. So, that’s ~1,000 calorie deficit, which is a large deficit especially this late in the prep. So, I have to be really careful as I’m toeing the line of as deep as one should go. This means closely monitoring blood sugar levels, making sure I have a decent amount of cals before bed so my blood sugar doesn’t drop too much, etc. I’ve also been really cold all the time lately, typically I’m always hot and my wife hates how much I run the AC!
Today was back and biceps, and as drained as I felt moving around the gym, strength was surprisingly very solid and right on par. Little posing practice afterwards, and no more post weights LISS had me leaving the gym after about an hour and ten minutes, pretty sweet.
A week from today is the posing class with the show hosts, Anthony and Karen Monetti, both WNBF pros, outstanding competitors and really genuinely wonderful people. Looking forward to learning from them, and hopefully after another week I’ll be even tighter and have a great package for the class. I know they always post some photos on their Facebook page of the class, certainly couldn’t hurt to bring some scary conditioning!
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Think we are all impressed and equally envious. I have some experience of very low kcal diets and it involved living from one small meal to the next. Man, I was miserable! I also personally feel steady state cardio, including long walks, ramped up my appetite even more. So credit to you for handling all that LISS. People always ask ‘what training do you do’ and I say that’s the easy part. Most folks have the willpower to do a workout 4-6 times a week. The hard part is dietary compliance. So you deserve bucket loads of kudos for that one!
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I haven’t posted much on this thread, but I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration. I’ve been cutting down as well, though no where near the level you are. Every time I feel like pussing out I come on here to read your latest update. It really and truly helps get through the lethargy on bad days. Days where when the will is even there, but it feels like your body tells you “no” even when you’re just supposed to go walk. Anyways, thanks. Keep up the good work and know there are lots of people pulling for you.
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@JamesBrawn007 (I love that name BTW) thank you so much man, much appreciated! I agree that the diet is where most people have trouble, I think the key is making the diet ENJOYABLE which is why I’m all about figuring out how to make the most out of my macros in a healthy way. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I struggle. It really is a mental decision to stick to the diet, but especially deeper in a prep, it is genuinely hard to be around certain foods. I mentioned in a post a week after my last show I went to my best friend’s baby shower at a microbrewery where there was tons of burgers, fries, sandwiches, cookies, cakes, beers, etc. I did my best to look happy. Yesterday, I was talking to my best bud whose shower it was, and he said, “dude, my mother in law asked if you were ok. She said you looked rough, really thin in the face, and kept staring at everyone’s food looking miserable.” LOL! My wife and I also LOVE self serve frozen yogurt with the toppings bar. Since she prepped for 6 months, I have taken her a few times to get her fix, and man, it’s hard to be around that stuff. BUT, it’s almost done and the reward will be well worth it, plenty of time to eat after the show 
@DoubleDuce I really can’t tell you how much your post means to me and how much I appreciate your words, truly. I happened to read your post this morning at the gym, as I was half way through my 60min fasted cardio on the elliptical this morning, feeling like “how the f&ck am I going to keep this up” when I hopped on T-Nation to pass a minute or two of time, and saw your comment. It really motivated me to keep going and stay positive. So, I’m glad we can help each other! The stretch between shows, and especially the past couple weeks as I really make a push to come in hard and dry, have really pushed me to new limits, mentally and physically. There have been some moments where I truly feel like hanging it up, (knowing I won’t) but sometimes the mind just goes there. Reading your post really brought me back, so again, thank you!
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AAAAAAAND another day down. These days it’s all about just getting through the day until the next one, making it from one meal to the next. It’s really crazy how I thought I was “in Mordor” as I call it, but now realize there was a whole other level I didn’t even know about. Conditioning is getting tighter every single day, noticeable changes which is absolutely crazy, but being this lean is pretty screwy sometimes. Lately I’ve been getting absolutely freezing after I eat a meal (I’m cold most of the time these days) but after eating it’s like, a deep frigid cold in my soul that can only be cured with a very, very hot shower. Energy levels have been fairly stable though as long as I make sure to really be careful on my LISS. If I push even a little too hard I can feel myself getting a little woozy/light headed, so I really keep it at 115-120.
I will say that bumping the morning cardio to an hour, and doing it on the elliptical, has really really helped torch the stubborn fat and helped me look more vascular and dry. Still a little left to go but every day now I can see improvements. The big caloric deficit is also helping. I really had to shock my body and give it a reason to dig deeper than it ever has, so the long fasted LISS and deep deficit seems to be doing the trick. I’ve structured my meal plan really well I think, my biggest meals are breakfast, pre/post workout, and before bed. The other two are my 150cal big salads, this helps with energy level and making sure I’m fueled when needed.
Speaking of big salads, NEW ADDITIONS AW YEAH! My local Stop and Shop FINALLY started carrying the Walden Farms salad dressings!
There are other flavors but these are my favorite, they’re all delicious. Tonight for meal 5 I used the honey dijon to have a honey mustard salad with the turkey breast, so good, a nice change from the hot sauce. Thousand Island is also great, I’m going to make a “big mac salad” with it using ground beef during deplete week. My mom-in-law makes it all the time, she got the recipe from Good Housekeeping or something like that, but I’ll take it for sure, it’s delicious. Tomorrow I’m gonna take some Frank’s Red Hot and Walden Farms Ranch and make buffalo ranch chicken salad BOOM! As you can see, I’m really excited for these dressings. This deep in a prep, at 1500 cals, literally anything that makes food taste better is a reason to celebrate. When I saw these today I was so happy, I would have done a somersault if I had the energy, and if I knew how.
My last meal I’ve been making my protein cake, but I’m switching it out now for whole foods, consisting of a whole egg, some egg whites and 4oz chicken, followed by 4 Flameout. Lately I’ve been waking up starving, and the whole foods take longer to digest and fill me up more than the protein cake. I love the protein cake, but it’s not too filling, and at this point I need to feel as full as possible.
Today was shoulders, abs and calves, another session of feeling low energy but having solid strength. Tomorrow is my LAST leg session for the prep, which is the same as my typical leg workout, except no squats. Then, we let them recover.
I’m also cutting out my afternoon fast walk starting tomorrow, because the past two days I’ve been feeling light headed/low blood sugar symptoms while walking. I’m already riding the line with a huge deficit, and since I’ve felt these symptoms twice in a row now, I think my body is telling me, “HEY! You better watch out, you’re pushing it and I might just pass out on you.” So, I’m gonna listen. I figure with the 60min fasted cardio, training hard and 1,500 cals a day, that’s more than enough, and the extra LISS now seems to be doing more harm than good. I think this will also allow for better recovery in my quads which always feel sore, and better recovery for my muscles/body overall. It’ll also give me more time to work during the day and relax with my feet up.
After my first show I thought to myself, “it’s only 7 weeks, I can do anything for 7 weeks.” Well, once I was 2 weeks into it, I started feeling like, “holy hell, this is an eternity, it will never end.” Now that tomorrow is Monday, the actual last week of grinding, 6 days left to dig, it really feels like it’s coming, and it’s a good burst of motivation to finish out strong. I’ve been giving my best every day, but sometimes at this stage it felt like when I was 4 weeks out, it may as well be a year. Now, it’s around the corner, and I am so glad that I’ve pushed this hard and can know in my heart I’ve given everything I have up until now. The past week has been the most challenging yet, but has also brought some very significant improvements, and I’m really excited to see what the finished package will be after another week of this, plus a tan and a carb up. I haven’t been fully carb loaded in over a month since the last show, and with the way I’m looking depleted now, I’m really hoping I’ll be in for a very pleasant surprise come next Saturday morning.
Thanks again SO MUCH to everyone who is following along, for the comments, for the motivation. It means more than I can express through words here, especially at this time and I really, really appreciate it gang.
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Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooode!!!
Ok…you are looking like granite upstairs, my man. You pretty much have that un-natural look that the pros have. Somebody tell me I’m wrong…
Your ham sweep from the side is still gold (as is the ham-glute tie-in), and that ham split from the rear is just bleeping impressive. Your quad heads have become so much more separated. Hell, you can even begin seeing some slight quad feathering in these photos, which is pretty stupid since you don’t have a tan or great lighting.
Rob, man…you’ve made it to Mt. Doom. But it’s all good because, less than two weeks from now, Gandalf is going to send the giant eagles to fly you to IHOP, a BBQ joint, a burger joint, and then Chinese for dessert.
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