Hey VA!...."peak week" is going well, i start "carbing up" tomorrow!!! (thank GOD!)...i do have a question for you,...i'm starting to freak out because i'm holding alot of h2o in my legs ( noticable edema, tightness ) is it due to the excess H20 i am consuming? (2gallons daily)....i plan to drop my h2o on fri evening...but should i drop it earlier?...i don't think i will expell it all in time!...my cuts(legs) show slightly but should be out more...my bf is about 7-8 %...all the excess h2o makes my legs look like i have some cellulite!...how is that possible with such low bf!!!....should i cut my h20 on fri to just one gallon?....i guess i'm just ******** out because it's almost show time...what should i do?....kat....

Kat - How did your warm-up show go??

John makes several good suggestions. If you have been consuming extra sodium that would contribute to water retention. You will want to lower sodium intake beginning on Wednesday. For the most part I would say that your 2/gal a day water intake is not too high and is not the problem. Many many folks here have followed a plan that included high (2+) gal/day water intake and it did not cause water retention, in fact the opposite is true. When your body senses that it is getting enough (or a little too much) water it tries to get rid of it. With-in 4-8 hours of a significant decrease in water intake you will have expelled any extra water that you have been drinking and the rest left will get drawn into your muscles as a side affect of the carb-up. Cutting back water too early would minimize the natural elimination affect of this plan and could cause the inevitiable rebound (when your body will start to retain more water) to come too soon. If you cut back on Friday night that rebound will not happen until Sunday or later. If you cut back on Thursday, for example, that rebound could start to happen on Saturday - yikes - you don't want that!

So here are a couple of other questions. Are you taking natural diuretics? You should be taking extra Vit C and could also add Taraxatone both of which work as mild diuretics. If you plan to use the beef/grapefruit plan on Thursday and Friday the grapefruit will also help with diuresis. Also make sure that you are taking a calcium and magnesium supplement in adddition to your normal vitamins. You need to keep all of your electrolytes in balance and with the restrictive diet and extra water consumption they will be off kilter if you don't supplement to keep them in balance.

As John said you do not want to work your legs anymore this week. Any direct leg work or even cardio that works the legs will force blood and water back into your legs and you do not want that now. One thing to try is to elevate your legs slightly when resting (watching TV, reading, sleeping, etc) and see if that helps reduce what you feel is water retention. It should. Also stretching and flexing is ok and should help bring in detail.

It is more difficult for women to get defintion in their legs so your situation is pretty common. Towards the middle of the week you want to lay off any fibrous carbs such as broccoli and the like. At this point in the game they can cause some mild water retention, so avoid them.

Stay the course - you have looked awsome in your past showings and I'm positive that you will look great again this time. That last week is a bit of a roller coaster - so hang on tight but keep the faith!

Are you doing anything different this time that we should take into consideration? If you want to cut back a litle from the 2/gal a day you could probably do that, say to 1 and 1/2 gal a day - but I would not go to less than that. You want to be continually drinking (about 1/L per waking hour) and continually eliminating water to keep your body in the "I have to eliminate water" mode.

If I dont' respond fast enough on the board you can email me at mmilas@ ps2consulting.com.

Kat - I sent you a PM.

hey Va...well i'm back from my show...i came in second...but there was only the two of us in my wt class...(125 below.).i weighed in at 116 they lumped the light wt class and mid wt class together...needless to say the mid wt girl kicked my butt!!...she had the total packaged! size and cut to the bone,....me on the other hand, did not look so good!!! i got nervous becaause of all the h20 i was holding so i stopped drinking alltogher on fri... of course that back fired on me and i held in more h20!!....last year i tapered down to no water on fri and i was really dry so i don't know why it didn't work this time?....i took plenty of vitamin c and teraxadone....but i was real smooth....so my next plan of action is not to carb load so early maybe wait until friday....i been carb free since sunday....for some reason i look better when i'm depleted then carbed up (tighter more vascular )VA i almost gave up last night and said "screw it" i don't want to do southern states!!..i almost ordered a pizza!!!...i was very discouraged when i seen that other girl, she had told me took third place at southern states three years in row!!...and she looked real GOOD!...so i'm kind of freaked out right now!!....thanks for listening and your advice...it feels good to vent a little.........kat

Glad that you did not order the pizza! Rememebr my theory - you win just by being your best and competing! So lets work on making you your best for this next show. We can try to drag in Aram, Sully and ETX three guys who know their stuff.

Perhaps we can determine the most likely cause foer you being smoother than you wanted to be. What was different in you prep this time from the contests where you had done so well? Can you lay out your final week plan in detail? Food, supps, water, etc?

Hang in there and hold your head high - never worry about the person stabnding next to you - just go about the process of being your best.

thanks for replying so quickly....my diet this year was the same from last year.....the only thing different is i continued my supps up until the show (ultra 40, mass )last year my trainer told me stop all supps during peak week...but i kind of disagree...right now i have been depleting since sun. no carbs at all!!...(i loaded pretty good on sat night, had a big ice cream cone! on doing this till fri morning...ive been taking in 3oz of chick x7 (every 2 hours) and taking my supps with my protein meal..h20 is about 2 gallons since sunday...i plan to load up with white rice all day fri (every 2hrs) should i do some grapefruit with this? and how much?...my protien is dropped on fri only x5...i will continue drinking water this time (up to a gallon) stop at 7pm?...do i start up in the am or just drink 8oz of OJ?....

....my reply was processed by accident and i didn't get a chance to finish!!....i know it sounds real exteme to carb deplete for so long but when i do this my legs start to come in...the question is..will friday be enough time to load up?...oh yeah i tried the muscle goo before i went on stage as opposed to pop tarts (last year )...didn't notice any difference but still will use it sat moring....what are you thoughts?...kat

Katwmn, Congrats. I know you sounded kind-of down.But hey you didn't give in with the pizza-that's a big accomplishemnet in itself. I really don't have any great advice, unfortunatly. I was carb depleted all week too before my first show and came in very skinny and sringy. I did not carb losd at all-BIG mistake and it cost me 1st-well that and my sucky posing. Good luck in upcoming shows

Kat, good day, congrats on even doing a show as alot of people are that scared, anyway, it sounds to me you are carb sensitive and if you are more defined when less carbs are in then do just that

If I were you I would stay away from the trick related stuff, e.g. goo and pop tarts and OJ and stick to the basics
Thurs/Fri 1/2 grapefruit and 3 oz 96% fat free beef, cut water at 3-6pm on Friday to sips or the equivalent of 1 litre thru Sat AM

For carb up I would do it Sat AM with white rice and oats, maybe some honey added toward stage time

Most of all stay upbeat and confident, no sense in getting depressed over competing against yourself. This is supposed to be fun, not stressful

thanks everybody for your advice and encouragement!!....back to back depletions can cause you to loose your MIND!! ....i'm going to stay the course and remember to have fun!...i'm extemely type A and a perfectionist so it very difficult for me to loose or fail at something i pursue...but i need to remember that a small % of people actually bodybuild to compete...just to get on stage is a feat in itself!....i am going to try the h20 scheme and keep drinking instead of tapering off....i have a question regarding the beef?...why not chicken?...last year my trainer had me eat a big t-bone steak, sweet potato and a salad the night before the show...his reason was i needed the fat from the steak to fill out...i did the same last week and i think it backed fired?...any thoughts on this?....kat

I was wondering the same thing about the beef. I did chicken last time. I normally don't eat beef and was afraid of how my body would react. I think anyone who getts up on stage is a winner. I too am a perfectionist, so I know how you feel in that respect. I am never satisfies w/ how I look and honestly probably never will be. I am still trying to decide what my diets going to be like for my final week.

Kat - You may in fact be a little carb sensitive but I think that trying to stay with zero carbs until Friday might be a mistake - at least I know that I could not do that - some carbs are needed for your mind and nervous system to function properly. If you have not tried the lean beef and grapefruit plan you might want to consider that. Several members here have had very good succes with that. It basically entails going to meals of just lean ground beef and grapefruit for every meal on Thursday and Friday. Some people do that and nothing more until the last minute, others add in other carbs like white rice to help with the carb up. You need enough carbs in you on Saturday so that you are getting good muscle contractions and the feeling of a decent pump as you practice posing and warm up. Too few carbs or too little water can cause trouble. You, however, know your self better than anyone so if you have had success before with low carbs that surely remains an option for you.

Take a look on the BI main site for an article by Anthony Bussaco for more detailed info on the beef/grapefruit plan.

Did you try the Maddog coaktail before pre-judging? That works as a decent last minute carb blast that helps improve vascularity. I found that to work better than the goo for me, but the goo does taste pretty good - lol! You could use both. You can start eating the goo a little earlier on Saturday morning as it takes a bit longer to be absorbed and to do it's thing.

I don't want to overwhelm you with options. Sort through some of these suggestions (from me and others) and decide on your plan then stick with it. Being uncertain or making a bunch of last minute changes is usually not a good thing - leads to more stress and uncertainty.

Good luck - at the vary least you will have learned a lot from these two contest experiences and will be able to pat yourself on the back for sticking with it and trying your best to be your best. You are already a winner in our book - and gosh you have won before so there is no doubt about your dedication or perseverence. And you are right - low carbs will make the best of us just a little more "crazey" than normal...

Could someone tell me exactly what the "goo" is?

hey mussy....the "muscle goo" we speak of is BI muscle provider protien ( 3-4 scoops ) 1/2 c of honey, 1/2c peanutbutter (natural)...you don't have to actually measure it out just mix it up to a thick consistency...there is some other things on muscle goo mentioned in the bb prep portion of this forum...i check out your pics your very lean, whatever your doing stay at it....as for posing...do you know any bodybuilders at your gym that might be able to help your posing?...it won't hurt to ask...i have another idea too...maybe you can track down some old videos from blockbuster (pumping iron, pumping iron "the women" )..i know they are out dated, but the are true classics...and inspirational too...they show some awesome footage of the first women in bb...lots of posing too....good luck...i hope ya feeling better with your tooth!....kat

Thanks, Kat, that's a good idea about checking out the vidios. I have checked at my gym-no luck. One of the trainers said he would help-for 20.200 a half hour. I was able to print off the mandatorys from the Ocb website. As far as the muscle goo-dies it make a diff? I was very srtingy at my last comp-not full looking at allI got some pain med and antiobiotics for my tooth so hopefully that will start to help.

hey mussy...not too friendly people at your gym huh?...i had several people approach me to give me advice and even help with a routine...we became friends (these people are the trainers that work there!)they were glad to help for free!...now i'm helping this guy get ready for a show...it's a cool network....try to scope out people that look like serious bb's maybe they did shows in the past and strike up a conversation, people love to "brag" about there accomplishments before you know it they will start posing for you!...don't get me wrong, i don't want you to stalk out people!LOL...it just seems to me that bodybuilder's are all drawn to each other or connected in some way.....as far as the muscle goo is concerned....if you are very depleted and need to bump up your glycogen stores to fill out more, the simple sugars and the fat from the muscle goo is good for that...i heard on the panel that people seem to think the protien in it makes them harder....i like the stuff because it's not "junk" to load up with as opposed to candy bars, pop tarts, etc....it will make you more vascular because of the high glycemic sugars in in, i was eating two tablespoons of it every 20 min before i went on stage, i don't know if it work for me because i was bloated from h20 retention but i will try it again for this show coming up...ive been carb depleting for 4 days up until fri, so hopeful my muscles with "suck it" riht up!.......talk at ya soon...kat

Thanks Kat, there's not reaaly anybody at my gym that I know of that competes. I have to go in the am-because of kids, husband etc., so it's mostly the older crowd and mommy trying to lose the " preg. fat". I may try the muscle goo. I tried the candy bar route the first time as wasn't impressed plus I don't normally eat that stuff. I sure do have to find somebody in a hurry-I don't even have a routine down yet. Have the song taped off but I want a good routine to really show off my strong points-whatever they are. What show do you have copmming up?

hey mussy...i have a show this weekend in fort lauderdale..it's called "southern states" it's a national qualifer ..the creme of the crop show up, so i'm very nervous about it.....iv'e been preparing for a year for this show, so it means alot to me, i hope i can at least place...if not i'm going to overdose on lots. lots of pizza!!!....kat

Wow Kat, good luck! sounds like a big show. Relax as much as you can, Im sure you'll do great. Have you decided on a finalized plan for carb-up and h2o? Pizza sounds so good right now-it's definatly one of my weaknesses. - Shelly

hey shelly,...i'm going to start with the beef/grapefruit scheme today...i hope eating the grapfruit doesn't throw me off...i need to come in lighter this time since they changed the wt class this year ( 115 for lt wt ) and i'm at 115 today, so hopefully i will loose some more...as for carbs go, depending how i look tomorrow i will start up with white rice (20g) every two hours until 11pm...now i'm going on day 5 without any type of carbs,i'm looking cut, dry and vascular hopefully i can maintain this...as for my legs concerned....that's another story!...they seem to not budge!....good luck working on your rountine, what kind of music are you doing to?....last year i picked a popular song and when i went to do my routine, 5 other girls had the same song!!...what a bummer!...if you pick a slow song you will not go wrong, it gives you a chance to hit your poses and move into transitional poses, if the song is to fast you tend to move fast and dance around, the audience like it but i think the judges like the slower posing music....have fun talk at ya lata...i'm going to have a piece of grapefruit!!! it's going to be heaven!!...i haven't had fruit in 12 weeks!!!....kat