To all the women who are NOT participating in body building comps, but ARE doing figure comps I need your advice. I'm a powerlifter and I'm not willing to give that up, but I've noticed that I need to seriously get my nutritional lifestyle in check in order to have the body I really want.

I was considering the velocity diet, but I just can't really afford it seeing as I'm a broke ass grad student. I've been researching carb cycling like crazy, but I want a woman's opinion on whether or not that's the recommended route.

So far it seems as though I should really just fuck around with different things to see how my body responds to certain fat loss "diets", but I'd still like to hear what you women have to say on what worked for you when you first started. Keep in mind I'm not looking to decrease my weight because that would imply I would be ok with losing muscle (definitely not), but my FAT is what I want to lose!

Thanks, ladies!

You are right with the idea of trying different types of diets to see how your body responds. Everyone will react differently to the ?fat loss? diets. It is crucial to listen to your body.

Losing fat while maintaining all lean muscle stores is often considered an oxymoron, they are two different goals. However, depending on your body type, diet, cardio, and workouts it can be possible to maintain lean mass or even gain during this time.

For me, carb cycling had great results; I timed my intake based on my workouts. I paired this with heavy lifting (2-3 rep max lifts) and very low steady state cardio. I was able to build strength and maintain lean mass while losing body fat. Not everyone will respond the same way I did, try different avenues and see what works for you.

thanks to both of you for your advice...

oleena: i actually almost bought that book and figured if i wasn't going to follow it exactly it would still be a good piece of literature to add to my life and my practice in the future. unfortunately I'm still in grad school and can't afford much haha- the velocity diet was me being desperate and impatient and i knew i didn't have the money for it, but i was seriously considering blowing what i had on it. i'm glad i didn't, but i still would like to purchase the precision nutrition eventually (if not very soon).

strengthhealth: so far since i've posted i've gotten myself into a groove of fasting tabata and eating clean every 2-3 hours and doing my usual MWF training (i actually do the heavy 2-3 reps too). i think i had weight gain from stress and i know i wasn't eating this well for a couple of months. i've already dropped a fair amount of the unwanted weight while still maintaining my lean muscle mass.

if anyone else has anymore helpful tips i would still greatly appreciate it

Ahtrl18,

I was just reading this post and figured that I could give you my insight on the V-diet, since I just finished it. Well, I read up in this forum post and someone mentioned Precision Nutrition. That is a great sight. I have two of the recipe books and before I did the V-diet, I used those books daily and will get back to them once I have done my transition phase of Velocity.

My goal before I did the V-diet was to lose fat quickly so that I can get back to my next goal which is getting stronger and building muscle. ALthough I was also thinking about training to be a FA. Anyway, I am on day 28 of the V-diet, and I can tell you, I am so happy that I did it. I am still eating for a trainer at my gym to do my body comp (probably in a couple of days), but I have posted before and after pics in the diet logs forum of the Velocity diet forum. Just look for Overcome77, or Heather's diet log. I thought that I would lose muscle, or at least strength from only drinking shakes for 28 days, and one HSM a week, but to my surprise, I was mistaken.

So, I think that if you could afford the V-diet, then it would help towards your goals. It definitely changes your taste buds, and programs your brain to want to eat clean. It might be expensive, but if you think of how much money you spend in a month on food, it is comparable.

Good luck with your goals!

I did the Velocity diet recently....AMAZING results...i only did it for 10 days...but have abs visible....very pleased.

Mitch

I could never do shakes for 28 days! Ick! I need volume! I need lots of food

Fred Hatfield Phd was a champion power lifter a number of years ago. He is a weight lifting and fat loss expert who is in the business now of fitness education; he is also the first person to squat more than 1000lb at 45 yo? and bw of 250lbs. He wrote an article on ZIGZAG dieting. You will get the information you need and the help your looking for to maintain as much muscle mass as you can while losing as much body fat as possible.

hope this helps some and it's free. please don't put your hard earned cash into diet programs. try and learn as much as you can about good nutrition. in a congressional inquiry (in approx 1995) it was found that 96% of all people that tried diets failed... this included Jenny Craig, Doctors Weight Loss, Weight Watchers, etc etc and nothing has changed. Think about it... weight loss is a multi billion dollar industry and the majority of people in america are getting fatter every year...