Average Dieting Time for 2nd Contest

[jauce]

I think I've seen from a few different sources that the amount of time a first time competitor should give himself to diet down is around 20-24 weeks. I competed last year and dieting for around 24 weeks and it worked out great.

During my first contest prep there was a lot of learning involved, what foods, timing, etc... the 2nd time I know I'm still going to be learning, however I feel that I have somewhat of a handle on what foods, what time, what workouts, what cardio, etc. So I feel that it shouldn't take as long to diet this time.

My question is, what about the 2nd contest? Should it still be 20-24 weeks? 16 weeks? I would think that if you diet for too long you would over-diet and lose all of your muscle. So I'm just curious from competitors who have competed a couple times, what's your average diet time after your first show?

[Eightpak]

It all depends on how much fat you have to lose and your genetics/build. Aim for no more than 1-2 lbs per week. 24 weeks seems like waaaay overkill to me, unless you have like 30+ lbs of fat to lose, which you should not have to get so overweight in the off season anyways.

[musclemass22]

If you stayed relatively lean from the last show I would think that 16 weeks would suffice. Do you think you have 16 or 24lbs of fat to lose? If you take the typical 1-1.5 lbs lost per week , you should be fine. If you blew up post-comtest, may want to lean towards 20-24. Just my $0.2. What show are you going to do? I was going to do the Liberty in Missouri but bailed and am doing the Bluffs Classic and possibly another one near that date. Good luck dude. Still working for UP?------Brian

[thepacman]

agreed with everyone. i think a lot of it has to do with whether you are natural or not as well. typically if your natural you will want to come down very slow to preserve your muscle. dieting to hard to fast will equal to loss of muscle mass as we all now. if your using steroids, then you can get away with dieting a bit harder as the drugs will help keep your muscle mass.

[jauce]

Thanks all for your replies... they make sense to me.

Brian - yep, I'm still working at UP. I'm planning on doing the Bluffs Classic as well... after I do the Kansas City Gold's Classic. The trouble is I'm getting married in May and I'm going on a little honeymoon to Vegas for a weekend. I don't think it'll hinder my dieting too much... I'll still be 16-17 weeks out. But I'll probably start dieting here within a month or so to make sure I get down to where I need to be.

[NoelFuller]

16 weeks