rookie 12 weeks out.....and fatigued! :(

[gigglepony]

Hello everyone! I am 12 weeks out from my first comp and for the past dew weeks around midday I CRASH! totally drag behind at work until I shove myself into the gym... Still lifting heavy and hard. 6x a week. Diet is tight as a drum. But I am wondering if there is anything herbal and harmless that a competitor might take to fire up that engine so she didn't come off as a total waste of space in the workplace as she shuffles around trying to keep busy...

any suggestions would be great!

[UCFBuilder]

im 15 weeks out and basically feel the same way..if im not in the gym lifting or doing cardio..i just tend tor drag ass during the day....those 5 hour energy things are pretty good..and i have been loading up on the black coffee with 2 packets of splenda..really helps for a little pick me up

[gigglepony]

this may be a stupid question...but is coffee okay to drink? i do miss my old energy drinks something terrible! mhmmmmm blue rockstar... :)

[UCFBuilder]

yeah why not...just black tho...u cant add any creamer unless u find a way to fit that into your diet..plain black coffee doesnt have any cals..and i just add 2 packets of splenda to sweeten it up..drinking some right now actually lol

[bigasssnowman]

Coffee, teas, and energy drinks are fine. I drink a diet blue or white rock star every day. at least until 3 weeks out.. You can also go to walgreens and get caffeine pills.

[gigglepony]

10 weeks out now...drinking 2 cups of coffee a day and I take stimerex with breakfast and my third meal..... straight up caffiene pills make me sick! Workouts are nowhere near as intense as they once was....I am concerned that this full body fatigue is really adrenal fatigue...i usually have a low sex drive in general, but now its practically non existent...i feel bad for my man :( you hear about roid rage and such with bodybuilders and I am def not using drugs but I have my own diet rage! Is this lowered energy, libido and temper come with the territory of competition diets or should I see a doctor....

[cassiegose]

10 weeks out now...drinking 2 cups of coffee a day and I take stimerex with breakfast and my third meal..... straight up caffiene pills make me sick! Workouts are nowhere near as intense as they once was....I am concerned that this full body fatigue is really adrenal fatigue...i usually have a low sex drive in general, but now its practically non existent...i feel bad for my man :( you hear about roid rage and such with bodybuilders and I am def not using drugs but I have my own diet rage! Is this lowered energy, libido and temper come with the territory of competition diets or should I see a doctor....

Sorry to hear that youre dragging.

I went through EXACTLY the same thing for my first contest. I was EXHAUSTED all the time, it took everything i had to get through my workouts, by the end of the day I was EXHAUSTED, my sex drive was non-existant, and my mood swings were horrible. A couple of things that may help (if you're not already doing them):

-take a multivitamin
-make sure you're getting atleast 8 hours of sleep EVERY night
-take a look at your calories to make sure they aren't too low. How many are you consuming daily?
-keep your fat intake around 20%-30% of total calories. Lowering fat too drastically can have a serious effect on moods

I'm not a doctor so i'm not sure if you're experiencing adrenal fatigue or if youre just experiencing the pain of your first contest prep. I will say that I went through the same thing for my first show. Oddly my second and third show were MUCH easier. I'm 3 weeks out from my next show and have MUCH more energy and don't have the mood swings that i Had for my first show.

Hope this helps. :)

[AniMaLizTik]

You guys are hitting it too hard too fast. prep should be a gradual transition IMO. At ~20 weeks out, depending how lean you are, just start cleaning it up a little. Deduct a snack here, a snack there, not so much peanut butter or what bread, etc...

Weeks 20-5 you should feel great, it's at the 5 weeks out point where you should only be tired, letargic, etc...

If you go from pure 100% offseason to Strict contest dieting in 1 day, you will feel the wrath 10 fold.

just my opinion

[gigglepony]

i started my contest diet feb 1st for a June 26th show. I am still holding ALOT of weight in my thighs. I have lost almost 13 pounds so far. I am taking in technically 8 meals a day...however, preworkout is just a 1/2 cup oatmeal and after workout is a shake with water and ice...so only 6 if you don't count those.... the only "fat" i'm getting would probably be from the ten almonds i get with my third meal... i do get one cheat meal a week....

[cassiegose]

i started my contest diet feb 1st for a June 26th show. I am still holding ALOT of weight in my thighs. I have lost almost 13 pounds so far. I am taking in technically 8 meals a day...however, preworkout is just a 1/2 cup oatmeal and after workout is a shake with water and ice...so only 6 if you don't count those.... the only "fat" i'm getting would probably be from the ten almonds i get with my third meal... i do get one cheat meal a week....


20 weeks (assuming i calculated that correctly) should be enough time to prepare assuming you don't have a ton of weight to lose. If you've lost 13lbs so far you seem to be losing at a nice rate. I'm not sure how much you have left to lose though. I wouldn't try to lose any more than 2lbs a week... the slower the loss the better as you'll retain more muscle.

How many calories are you taking in? What are you macros? I believe 10 almonds (this is totally off memory) has about 7-8 grams of fat. 1/2 cup oats has 3 grams and things like fish, chicken, red meat, all also has a small amount of fat. However if youre only direct source of fat is from the almonds I would bet money that increasing your fat intake would help with the mood. If you're doing 1600 calories I would try to take in atleast 320 calories from fat... thats about 35 grams per day. I wouldn't go any lower than 25 grams per day. You might play with your macros a bit and see if changing things up a bit helps with the mood swings and lack of energy. If nothing else add in omega pills a few times a day to increase your fat intake. Eggs, fatty fish, natty nut butter, flax, avacados, are also great sources of fats.

[gigglepony]

Yes you're correct :) I started 20 weeks out. I hired tracey greenwood for my contest prep being as how I have no idea what I am doing. she is teaching me how to pose and i'm just doing what i am told lol great advice from a great lady :)

i don't know the total caloric intake calculation off the diet I am on...it isn't much! lol

I am steadily losing and am holding the remainder of my fat in my "junk in the trunk" lol

just concerned about passing out before I hit the finish line.

[cassiegose]

Yes you're correct :) I started 20 weeks out. I hired tracey greenwood for my contest prep being as how I have no idea what I am doing. she is teaching me how to pose and i'm just doing what i am told lol great advice from a great lady :)

i don't know the total caloric intake calculation off the diet I am on...it isn't much! lol

I am steadily losing and am holding the remainder of my fat in my "junk in the trunk" lol

just concerned about passing out before I hit the finish line.


Your said your caloric intake "isn't much"... "Isn't much" as in you're eating 1000 calories a day or "isn't much" as in isn't much compared to what you were eating before you started the cut diet?

If I were you I could calculate your macros and figure out how many calories/carbs/protein/fat youre taking in each day. These figures are VITAL for you to begin to understand your body. If you don't know how many calories youre taking in how do you know when/where/how to adjust your diet when you hit a plateau? Also, how do you know how your body responds? Maybe you could make the same progress you're making now, have more energy, and consume a couple hundred more calories per day? Maybe you simply need to adjust macros and your energy levels would increase? Who knows... bottom line is I would figure out how many calories I was consuming. Thats just me though. :)

Hope this helps.