Q and A with Tad the Diet Coach: Specialized Contest Preparation for Figure, Bodybuilding

[kaotic]

Hey Tad,
Have a question about carb cycling, let's say for precontest dieting you have a client doing 3 low carb and 1 high carb. On the low days do you increase the fat (healthy fats of course) and on high day eliminate them?

[kaotic]

Hey Tad,
Have a question about carb cycling, let's say for precontest dieting you have a client doing 3 low carb and 1 high carb. On the low days do you increase the fat (healthy fats of course) and on high day eliminate them?

[Tad the Diet Coach]

Yes on low days fats and protein go up, on high days they are lower but I usually don't eliminate them totally.

[Frankieaustin]

Hey, I am hoping you can help me out. I am a 42 year old male and have been lifting on and off for 15 years (just for fun and girls). I found out 10 years ago I was born with a congenital ureteral obstruction. Long story short- right nephrectomy and left auto-transplant. Here is why I am contacting you: I can not eat (or digest) solid foods; therefore, I must blend my meals (luckily I bought a blendtek). I have 4-5 a day and I put bananas, chopped up chicken, eggs, egg whites, oatmeal, protein powder, pre-workout powder (in morning), blueberries, grapes, and milk. I am getting over pneumonia where I lost 29 pounds, so I find myself at a pathetic 163 pounds. Any suggestions for diet ( my training understanding is pretty good). Thanks, Frankie austin

[Tad the Diet Coach]

Hey Frankie, while I am not a physician and the only advice I can give you is just that advice, my first question is how much kidney function do you have now with only one functioning transplant? Second, why did you have pneumonia? Where you heavier before?

If you are looking to put on new muscle, it will be possible but you will need a consistent diet and one that takes into consideration your special needs. I don't think it would be wise to stress one good transplant kidney not to mention you will have to pay close attention to your recovery so how you workout and how often will be vital to your gaining any muscle at all.

[omarsinghesq]

Thanks so much for the reply Tad. I also have a follow up question. LIke I said in the first question, Im a little fat at the moment. So I have always read that for my metablolism about 12 calories per pound is the lowest I should go to try to get rid of the fat, as anything lower would just drive my metabolism into starvation and fat preservation mode. NOw when I calculate the total calories I should eat, it seems that should also be based on lean body mass right? It makes very little sense to calculate how many calories my body needs based on a number that includes the fat I want to get rid of. But then again maybe the calories have to be there for it to think it should be burned? See how I can argue myself either way?! Help me out man? I want to lose the gut but I dont know if I should be at 2300 calories or more like 1900.

[Tad the Diet Coach]

Hey Buddy,
Ok many calculators that calculate how many calories you should burn have many assumptions built into them. So when they say x calories per lbs they usually are assuming a range of body composition. So if you fit into the statisitical averages then great... the calories that come out of this equation will be relatively close for you. But if you don't fit into this statistical average then it will be off. The best way for you to determine how many calories that you need to lose weight is to use these calculators as a starting point.. for you let's pick 2000 calries a day. Use this for the first 1-2 weeks and monitor your body composition after 14 days. If you are climbing in body fat reduce your daily cals by 500, if you are maintaining then reduce by 250 cals a day. Hold this for 2-3 weeks then re-asses. Hope this helps buddy.

[omarsinghesq]

That helps a lot. I guess the answer to my question is that I dont need to feed the fat pounds. I used a calculator that told me that with my lean body mass i should be eating about 1979 calories, which is about the same as the number i got when I multiplied my lean body mass by 12 calories= 1940. I think Ill start somewhere around 2000 just like you said and then slowly reduce it using the carb reduction and protien increase like you had suggested. I think ill drop carbs by about 20 and increase protien by about 10 so that its not a drastic drop in calories but a nice significant change in the caloric make up. Sound good?

[Tad the Diet Coach]

Sounds good buddy!

[preppy]

hi tad, i am competing for the first time in 3 weeks and my diet is clean and good, im a lightweight and have been dieting since jan 1st, i can see my abs but wonder how i can get that drier tight look all over for the show as i think i am holding a bit of water and my legs still look ok but smooth, i am takin dandilion extract to see if will help, any advise would be great, thankyou

[Tad the Diet Coach]

hi tad, i am competing for the first time in 3 weeks and my diet is clean and good, im a lightweight and have been dieting since jan 1st, i can see my abs but wonder how i can get that drier tight look all over for the show as i think i am holding a bit of water and my legs still look ok but smooth, i am takin dandilion extract to see if will help, any advise would be great, thankyou

I don't know what condition your body is really in, but most people especially beginners think what they perceive as "holding water" but really it is still a thin layer of subcutaneous fat. Water will attract to the subq area especially if there is fat there. The dry and tight looks only comes from an athlete who is in the proper condition, lean, and properly diuresed. But if you are still holding onto some fat that obscures striations in the muscle then you aren't lean enough for that dry and tight look just yet. Pound your cardio harder than ever and watch your carb intake. Deplete your body hard and load up before the show. If you are lean enough then you will look great this way. If you need help with the details of this kind of prep then email me at tad@tadthedietcoach.com and we can talk. No matter what, good luck my friend.

[preppy]

thanks tad, this helps

[omarsinghesq]

Hey Tad,

thanks for answering my last question. It made a huge difference in understanding for me. So I have another question. I always read people saying they have a problem getting a pump while working out or even keeping it for a few hours afterwards. Ive never had that problem and in fact I have the opposite. When working out I get pumped extremely fast, like within a few sets of my first exercise. Its most problematic when I am training arms. My arms get so pumped so fast that It makes it hard to completely contract the muscle. I can take the pain, but like on biceps I cant actually get the weight to get up high enough and the arm just fails. I train alone and I dont screw around in the gym. I feel like a large bodypart or two smaller ones like bis and tris can be hit properly within 45-50 minutes if youre not screwing around. is it possible that Im not waiting long enough between sets? Or is this something that i should just train through? And if so, how do you do that? Ive thought about maybe taking longer breaks and stretching between sets but Ive also heard conflicting things about stretching such as why elongate a muscle youre going to contract and that its asking for a tear or a pull? Please help. My arms are my weakest part!

[preppy]

hi tad, i did send you a email but you responded to it with "not sure who this is" it was me its just the email you send it to is in my wifes name, anyway a big thanks if you can answer my email. preppy

[itsdante17]

Hey tad, I just need advice on weighing out my food. I thought usually everyone would measure out the ounces of meat for each meal after they cook it. But i just watched a video and the guy measure out 8 ounces of meat when it was raw. So should you measure ounces before or after the meat is cooked? And also, for carbs, Do they measure the grams of carbs they eat by the scale? (saying like a sweet potato on the scale is 80 grams total in weight) Or do they actually look at how much carbs are actually within the sweet potato, if any of that makes sense.

[royallen]

Hey tad. Great to have you here at md. I've read a lot about you and im looking foward to getting your opinion. Im 19 years old and I have cut down from 230 to 200. Im at 15% body fat at the moment, I payed $10 to get it taken and it was the hand test. You hold onto these handles and it sends electordes through your body. I read an article on tnation called the carb cycling codex. I calculated my own diet and it came out to 2700 calories. Id have 3 days high, med, low. A staple of 300g protein and 53g fat. Carb days were 326, 250, 187. Is that going to get me down to 10% bf? I do hardio for a half hour ed at 155bpm ends up coming out to 420~ calories burnt.

[Tad the Diet Coach]

Hey tad. Great to have you here at md. I've read a lot about you and im looking foward to getting your opinion. Im 19 years old and I have cut down from 230 to 200. Im at 15% body fat at the moment, I payed $10 to get it taken and it was the hand test. You hold onto these handles and it sends electordes through your body. I read an article on tnation called the carb cycling codex. I calculated my own diet and it came out to 2700 calories. Id have 3 days high, med, low. A staple of 300g protein and 53g fat. Carb days were 326, 250, 187. Is that going to get me down to 10% bf? I do hardio for a half hour ed at 155bpm ends up coming out to 420~ calories burnt.

Not sure what the question is... sorry this reply is so late. I have been a bit busy....