All said and done...

Well, I made it.
Took 5th out of 9 competitors in the Novice Medium-Tall (I'm the second from the right) class Saturday at the Mr. Natural MN show.
I'm happy with that for my first show. I will get some video and photos this weekend from friends and family to show what I looked like in November at 242, January to start the diet at 232, and on stage at 181.
I really learned a lot about my body, and how it reacts. For starters, I only need 24-36 hours to carb up, 48 hours is way too long for me.
I do think I will do the same show next year, but I think I will work with someone during my prep and try to get really dry on stage.

I want to thank all of the competitors, they were really helpful and great guys. And to the board members at RX Muscle, who were very supportive through the process.

Now I have given myself a week to eat and rest, then it will be starting to get back into it slowly, get the off-season diet squared away, as I do not want to get fat again to give myself the best chance at being in top shape for next year.

I will keep this up, talking about my diet, training, supplements, and so on, so I hope to get more readers and get some commentary going on as well.

The final day

Tomorrow is the big day. Novice medium-tall class.
Today I am drying out and carbing up, hoping it works. I am only drinking one liter of tea today, and should have it done by about 5pm. Then tomorrow is just sips of water as needed. No sodium today as well. I get my spray tan tonight, and touched up tomorrow morning.
I think I am going to have eat my morning meal very early tomorrow to keep from having any bloat effect on stage.
Today I way 182lbs, I have dropped exactly 50lbs over the last 16 weeks. Yes, that does mean I was really fat! Hopefully, this will help me make better gains in the off-season, and make dieting for my next show a better process.

Final Countdown

5 More Days!
Yup, coming to the end, I will be showing up on stage Saturday morning. How will I look? Well, at least better than I looked 15 weeks ago. My biggest worry is probably the most common: at the bottom of my abs, and my lower back/rear hip area. I think that is affecting my back poses, and I am hoping that drawing out the water will help out.
So what am I doing this final week? Here we go:
morning - cardio for 60-90 minutes
first meal - brochilli, spinach, asparagus mixture with some sodium and spices to get the blood moving
I am taking in three gallons of water from Saturday until Wednesday, when I will cut to one gallon, Thursday will be 1/2 gallon, and Friday will be 1 liter. Starting Wednesday my water will actually be tea, it has been recommended to me and will help draw out the water.
second meal - cod with another serving of the above veggie mix
post workout is two scoops of Chain'd Out
fourth meal is chicken breast with hot sauce and a salad
fifth meal is another salad
My calories are pretty low right now trying to get that last bit of fat off...

Thursday I will start loading my carbs, I have brown rice and some plain rice cakes that I will eat with meal.
My supps are:
Zero Stim twice a day
Hyperdrive twice a day
Now Nutrition's Water Out three times a day
Chain'd Out once a day

Also, I am working on posing every night, trying to get myself as comfortable as possible, since I will probably be a bit freaked out my first time on stage.

Proof I suck at blogging

wow oh wow
It has been a long time.
Some updates:
I am down to 190 pounds, and am two weeks away from the big day.
My lower abs and upper thighs are still holding some fat, so I will continue to hit the cardio every day. These past few weeks I have really noticed the strength loss, and it is DEPRESSING!
Right now I am eating 200g of protein from fish, chicken beef, and 1 cup of spinach, to large salads every day.
For supps I am taking fiber every day, 2 scoops of ALRI Chain'd Out, ALRI Zero-Stim twice a day, and ALRI Hyperdrive twice a day, to go along with my joint, multi vitamin, vit-d every day.
I cut out the WTF, as I found out it was causing major distress to my system, and I spent too much time in the restroom about 5 hours after taking it.
Also, today I started sprinkling some ground cayenne pepper into my water (I use a little bit of Crystal Light in my water during the day for some flavor) to see if I can get some more themo effect during the day.

I also picked up some of Now Nutritions Water Out pills, and will take those for the last six days.

I am following the Palumbo precontest plan:
Sunday thru Thursday evening will be zero carbs, I will try to get 3 gallons of water per day, and keep my sodium fairly high.
Starting Thursday night I will have I cup of brown rice with my meals, and Friday afternoon I will cut water and sodium.

Keep your fingers crossed everyone!