Day One, Week Two of My Twelve Week Cut for My First Figure Competition.

I’m writing last week off! I’m pretending it didn’t even happen!

I put in a lot of time and energy into figuring out my carb. cycle and first week of cutting. I read articles and blogs, talked to other competitors, and watched vlogs of competitors.   I came up with what I thought was a solid plan. What I didn’t take into account was my workout schedule and I didn’t check with Scarlet (my trainer).

So far I’ve worked out my diet stuff on my own with guidance and concurrence from Scarlet. And, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t tell Scarlet about starting to cut and carb. cycle because I didn’t think she’d be on board.  I panicked! I thought I needed to begin starving ASAP!

Here’s what happened this past week:

-I was ridiculously hungry on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

-My workouts were a joke!

-Tuesday was OK because it was my high carb. day. My workout with Scarlet was tough!

-By Thursday I was weak and I didn’t know how I was going to get through my session with Scarlet. But, on my way to our appointment I thought to myself, “It will all be worth it when Scarlet measures my weight and body fat!”

-I weighed in almost 1 lb. heavier (132.8 lbs. from 132 lbs.) than the last time I weighed and my body fat was up to (17.4% from 16.5%)!

How could that be?

I broke down and told Scarlet what I’d done. She smiled, and explained to me that I’d basically freaked my body out.  I shocked it into starvation mode.  It’s used to getting the fuel and nutrition it needs. I took too much away too soon! And, my body was like, “Holy Shit! She’s starving me out! I’d better hold on to every single molecule of fat in case this is the “new normal” and I’m not going to get fed for awhile. At least I’ll have a little fat stored to keep us alive until she feeds me again!

I understand that I’m going to be uncomfortable during my cut. I know I’ll be hungry. I know it will become fatigued and my workouts will become more difficult. But, I needed to ease into it instead of going all in ASAP!

It’s kind of funny that I got so worried about it.  I was actually losing body fat before I started cutting.

For the record I’m still in my cut. I’m taking the weekend to “reset”.  I’m not going to binge or anything.  I’m just taking my calories back to a surplus (~2500 calories) for a couple of days. This will hopefully reassure my body that I’m not starving it to death.

Then, starting on Monday, I’m going to return to a calorie deficit. Only, this time, it’s only going to be a 5% deficit and I’m not going to carb cycle for now. I’m just going back to 40/40/20. I’m going to do this for a week and see how I feel next Saturday. Hopefully I’ll at least be back to where I was.

Going back to my favorite macro calculator:

My current (next week) workout schedule:

Monday: Group Power (teach)

Tuesday: Weight Training with Scarlet (lifting) Indoor Cycling (teach)

Wednesday: Group Power (teach)

Thursday: Weight Training with Scarlet (lifting) on my own-shoulders/back

Friday: Boxing

Saturday: Group Power (teach) or Indoor Cycling (teach) / Weight Training (lifting)-legs + Posing Practice

Sunday: Weight Training (lifting)-biceps/triceps/chest/-/ HITT (during lifting workout)

My main take away from this past week is that I can’t compare myself with other people. I can only measure what works for me.

Just because someone on the internet might be close to me in height and weight it doesn’t mean that their “cutting” macros will work for me.

I have no idea how active they are. I don’t know how many calories they’re burning on a daily/weekly basis. I don’t know their body composition.

I’m going to have to figure this all out trial and error style (with the help of my trainer). I have to trust my body and my trainer!