Workouts have still been great for the most part, I have managed to maintain my strength through this whole ordeal. The only reason I mention this is because in the past my strength would diminish rapidly as I near the competition. The differences between this round of dieting and the past rounds are: I immediately have a protein shake right after my workouts (practicing what I preach), take CLA (a muscle sparing, fat burning "fat") and I think this is the most important factor....I get plenty of sleep! My energy levels have been for the most part, right there when I need them during my morning workouts.....there have been few exceptions but overall I would rate my intensity during this period excellent. 

In the past I used to rate my physical ability during my work day, it was for the most part...horrendous, poor and very lethargic at times. This time around, it has been so much better....more energy, not so tired during the day, work habits haven't slowed down and I haven't been so grumpy at night even with a 3 year old son around!  Again, I have to attribute this to the reasons I gave above. 

So, the last few Sundays I have been having cheat meals mainly because of the Easter Holidays and when I would weigh myself come Monday  I would be slightly higher in weight and also at the same time lower in BF%! This brings me to my next subject, carb loading. 

My usual routine during my last week of preparation includes 3 days of carb depleting and 1 day of carb loading. I would carb deplete from 200 grams of carbs down to 100 grams of carbs then on Friday, the day before the show I would increase to 300 grams or 1.5 x my normal amount. this seems to work to an extent but what I have learned from my last show is that if I carb load 3x the amount from 200 to 600 that I am so ripped and my BF will drop a good 1/2 percent that it is just so unbelievable. Now I found this out by accident and a day late, during my last show in 2004 I cam in at 4.25%. During the competition day I kept a slow flow of simple sugars flowing through my body. When I got home that night my wife had my favorite desserts waiting for me, cheesecake and apple crisp and I ate the whole thing while watching TV in bed!!, the next day I expected to be bloated but I could be more wrong, I was friggin ripped to shreds. 

So with that said and the fact that each Monday following my recent cheat days I have been looking more cut than the day before leads me to believe that I will need to increase my carbs not by 1.5x (or 300 carbs) but to 3X or 600 carbs, I may just drop it a bit to 500 carbs for the fear of what we call "spill over" which can have us looking too smooth. 

So here are my BF results, the first chart shows where I was at this time 2 years ago during my last show and the second graphic is of course the most current. You will see that I have more muscle and less BF going into this show... a good thing.  

And here are some photos from Sunday morning, with 2 weeks to go I do expect to be more cut come competition day from carb loading and using the right tanning supplies.

So there you go, a couple more reports left to go and I am golden!

See ya,
Steve