2 Weeks Out

I am currently 2 weeks out from a non-competition show called The Wine & Muscle Showcase.

I'm not exactly where I want to be, but I'm close to being able to declare myself "show ready". I'm using the showcase as a half-way point for my first bodybuilding competition, IPL 2024 Golden Heart Classic. I'm also using the showcase as a trial run for a month long cut and water cut.

What is that? During the month of May I am cutting my calorie intake - week 1 1600, week 2 1400, week 3 1200, and week 4 1000. The water cut is done during the last week. Starting on Sunday I only get 60oz of liquid and it goes down 10oz every day until Friday, where I only get 8oz of liquid for the whole day (same on Saturday). The water cut doesn't sound great. In fact, it sounds like a headache waiting to happen.

I am quite interested in seeing how my body changes with the cuts.

To the right, you'll notice a photo I took of myself at the gym. This is from 5/16/2024 at roughly 4am. It's chest day and I'm between sets. What am I in the middle of? Dumbbell flys with those 20lbs weights. What am I listening to? Switchblade Symphony's song "Bad Trash". I'm kind of wishing I had taken a photo the day before during arm day. My arms and shoulders were pumped up!

Since I'm wrapping up week 2, which is 1400 calories, I don't mind discussing what a typical meal looks like for myself. Let me start by providing my macros. Week 2 - 1400 calories. Fat >50g, Protein 90-100g, Carbs 150g

Breakfast

1 scoop MyVegan Tiramisu Pea Protein (+ water for a shake)

1 Breakfast Taco (see recipes for details)

1 IQ Protein Bar (for after my vitamins)

Lunch

3/4 can Nally Turkey Chilli

1 Pear

Dinner

12 medium Shrimp

1/2 can Black Beans

1 Apple

My final results are: 1377 calories, 111g protein, 166g carbohydrates, 36g fat

I want to state that this isn't a sustainable diet plan and I'm only doing it for my cut month. It's a pain in the ass to figure out how to make your macros every day when the caloric intake changes week to week.

I will tell you that I really love the breakfast taco that I came up with. I look forward to it every morning and I can't wait to be able to eat two instead of one.

What about snacking?

I get hungry. When this happens my go to snack preventative measures are: drink water or green/herbal tea, chew gum, have a sugar-free Werther's Original, or drink some flavored sparkling water (Bubly, La Croix, etc). It works most of the time. Sometimes, I just need something. In that case, I'll see what foods I have left and see if I can split it. For example: If it was the afternoon, I might opt to eat the apple I was planning to eat at dinner.

READERS - If you have any questions about bodybuilding, feel free to comment or reach out to me.

Below are the posters for the upcoming shows I'll be in.