Taking posing pictures - best time,water intake etc. questions

[Not So Big]

I was wondering what would be the best way to make you in the leanest condition for taking pictures. I will not be in contest condition or anything like that.. just to take pictures at the end of a bulk..but I still dont wanna be holding a ton of water or looking bad because of water retention or whatever other things theyre are. So, would lowering water intake starting 3 days before you take pictures be good? Would sodium/potasium loading/depleting and carb depleting and then carb loading even be worth it if your body fat was around 12-14%. Would it not make a noticable difference without 6- percent or less bodyfat. I probly just confused everyone, but hopefully you get the point of what im asking.. just looking for the best possible way. thanks brothas & sistas.

[Not So Big]

bump

[Not So Big]

come on brothas & sistas

[Mr. Someday]

At 14% bf, none of that is going to make much of a difference. Try running low carbs and high protein for a couple of days and take some Taraxatone, this should help reduce some of the bloat. Face it, there is only so good you are going to make yourself look after a bulk.

[Not So Big]

At 14% bf, none of that is going to make much of a difference. Try running low carbs and high protein for a couple of days and take some Taraxatone, this should help reduce some of the bloat. Face it, there is only so good you are going to make yourself look after a bulk.
Yeah that makes sense, I was just wondering because even with 12% bodyfat if you could get rid of water then you would look better then if you were bloated.. thanks for replying tho mr. someday

[Mr. Someday]

Yeah that makes sense, I was just wondering because even with 12% bodyfat if you could get rid of water then you would look better then if you were bloated.. thanks for replying tho mr. someday

At 12% I would still do what I posted above. I tried carb depleting/loading at that exact bf level and it did not do much, but Taraxatone will definitely pull some of the water out from under your skin and it's fairly inexpensive, legal & safe!

[str8flexed]

this is a question I answered for one my Q & A article. It was actually Scott LaPierre who asked me this question; and he ended up winning the Body For Life Challenge!!!!!
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QUESTION: I'm doing the 12 week Body for Life challenge and need some prep tips for my "after" photos to look their best. I have searched but haven't found exactly what I'm needing ... even tried posting on the message board. Do you have any tips for me? I've heard guys on the BFL challenge take water pills 3 days out. They also restrict their sodium and water intake … which I'm not really sure how and when to do. I'm 4 weeks away from the end of the challenge and want to be as prepared as possible.

MY ANSWER: First of all you are to be commended on making the decision to change your body and your life. It is not easy, but it is well worth it as I'm sure you have already discovered. Now, onto your question; assuming you have dieted correctly and your already at a low body fat, there are a few things you can do in your last week to make you look better the day of your photo.

The first thing that I would suggest is carbohydrate manipulation. Starting 7 days before your shoot begin decreasing your carbohydrate intake by 20-30g per day. At 2 days out cease further carb depletion and maintain that level of daily carbohydrate intake until the day of the shoot. Ten hours before the shoot, begin consuming 30-40g of carbs every 2 hours leading up to the shoot. If you are extremely lean you may even try eating something with about 20-30g of fat and a lot of sodium about 2 hours before the shoot as this will help fill you out.

You should also manipulate your sodium intake. Restrict total sodium intake to around 2g per day at five days before the shoot. Two days before the shoot reduce sodium to 1.5 g and further reduce it to 1g the day before the shoot. By reducing carbohydrates and sodium in the days leading up to the shoot, you will be "flushing" water out of your cells. This will "prime" your cells to store more water when you begin your carbohydrate repletion and sodium repletion on shoot day. Do not worry about water depletion. Your muscle cells are around 70% water and if you water deplete your body will react by releasing anti-diuretic hormones that will cause you to RETAIN more water.

So not only will you look flat from lack of water intracellularly (inside the muscle) you will look smooth due to subcutaneous (under the skin) water retention. This situation is clearly not favorable. Keep your water intake normalized, sodium and carbohydrate manipulation will maximize the amount of water that is stored intracellularly and minimize the amount of water that is stored subcutaneously.

You will also want to make sure that you are tan enough. I would definitely recommend applying a stain such as Pro Tan's Competition Color every night of the final week before the shoot. If you yearn for a darker and shinear color you may want to look into using a bronzer such as Dream Tan #2. Be careful with Dream Tan however, as it will make you very dark and I'm not sure how dark the judges of the BFL contest will want you. Best of luck to you!

[Not So Big]

mr someday, thanks ill try taraxatone when I decide to take some pics..thanks for the help

str8flexed, ill read your post later i gotta go to work but thanks for replying to

[Scott LaPierre]

this is a question I answered for one my Q & A article. It was actually Scott LaPierre who asked me this question; and he ended up winning the Body For Life Challenge!!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUESTION: I'm doing the 12 week Body for Life challenge and need some prep tips for my "after" photos to look their best. I have searched but haven't found exactly what I'm needing ... even tried posting on the message board. Do you have any tips for me? I've heard guys on the BFL challenge take water pills 3 days out. They also restrict their sodium and water intake … which I'm not really sure how and when to do. I'm 4 weeks away from the end of the challenge and want to be as prepared as possible.

MY ANSWER: First of all you are to be commended on making the decision to change your body and your life. It is not easy, but it is well worth it as I'm sure you have already discovered. Now, onto your question; assuming you have dieted correctly and your already at a low body fat, there are a few things you can do in your last week to make you look better the day of your photo.

The first thing that I would suggest is carbohydrate manipulation. Starting 7 days before your shoot begin decreasing your carbohydrate intake by 20-30g per day. At 2 days out cease further carb depletion and maintain that level of daily carbohydrate intake until the day of the shoot. Ten hours before the shoot, begin consuming 30-40g of carbs every 2 hours leading up to the shoot. If you are extremely lean you may even try eating something with about 20-30g of fat and a lot of sodium about 2 hours before the shoot as this will help fill you out.

You should also manipulate your sodium intake. Restrict total sodium intake to around 2g per day at five days before the shoot. Two days before the shoot reduce sodium to 1.5 g and further reduce it to 1g the day before the shoot. By reducing carbohydrates and sodium in the days leading up to the shoot, you will be "flushing" water out of your cells. This will "prime" your cells to store more water when you begin your carbohydrate repletion and sodium repletion on shoot day. Do not worry about water depletion. Your muscle cells are around 70% water and if you water deplete your body will react by releasing anti-diuretic hormones that will cause you to RETAIN more water.

So not only will you look flat from lack of water intracellularly (inside the muscle) you will look smooth due to subcutaneous (under the skin) water retention. This situation is clearly not favorable. Keep your water intake normalized, sodium and carbohydrate manipulation will maximize the amount of water that is stored intracellularly and minimize the amount of water that is stored subcutaneously.

You will also want to make sure that you are tan enough. I would definitely recommend applying a stain such as Pro Tan's Competition Color every night of the final week before the shoot. If you yearn for a darker and shinear color you may want to look into using a bronzer such as Dream Tan #2. Be careful with Dream Tan however, as it will make you very dark and I'm not sure how dark the judges of the BFL contest will want you. Best of luck to you!

Yeah, Layne knows what he's talking about. I really appreciated his help.

[str8flexed]

Yeah, Layne knows what he's talking about. I really appreciated his help.


thanks scott, I'm just happy it helped :)

you going to the arnold btw?

[Not So Big]

layne, I just read your answer to scott and let me see if I understand correctly.. Ill give you an example of what I would do in my situation.


Right now I am taking in 150-175 grams of carbohydrates a day, 250-300 grams of protein a day, and about 50 grams of fat a day. I am currently cutting because I want to get my bodyfat down lower after a 2 year bulk going from 130-205 pounds. You mite have seen my transformation pics from 130,150,180,205 and then down to 195.. but if you havent and want to I can post links. Anyway, now I am at 198 first thing in the morning after pissing. I am looking alot better already from the past 5 weeks of cutting, more vascular, abs showing more etc.. I want to take pictures when I finish cutting and hope to be around 10% bodyfat before I continue my bulk, this time going slower and putting on less fat.

Ok now onto the picture day prep..

8 days out: 150-175 carbs(what Ive been using now and continue while cutting)

7 days out: 135 carbs

6 days out: 110 carbs

5 days out: 85 carbs, reduce sodium intake to 2 grams.. I will switch to refridgerated chicken breasts for my protein source now since theres ALOT less sodium then the frozen chicken breasts have..

4 days out: 50 grams of carbs, 2 grams sodium same as day 5

3 days out: 25 carbs, 2 g's sodum

2 days out: 25 carbs, 1.5 grams sodium

1 day out: 25 carbs, 1 gram sodium

day to take pictures: wake up 6am, 3/4 cup oats (39 carbs) every 2 hours..

8am,10am,12,2pm,4pm and then how long after my 4pm meal should I wait intill I take the pic? Assuming 4pm is the last time im eating the 3/4 cup of oats for the carbs every 2 hours like you suggested.

Since im not going to be extremley lean and only around 10% bodyfat, should I have the 20-30 grams of fat and load up on sodium to fill out like you say, or would that not be worth it since im not going to be in 4-6% bodyfat like if you were going to be competing.

So, if im not going to be loading on sodium, or maybe I will depending on your answer.. but if I am not going to be how much would I want for the day of the pictures.. go again with 1 gram or what?


I am not sure about how much water to consume the last week, would 1 gallon of water a day be fine? I usually try to get 1.5 gallons a day on a daily basis but sometimes due to work or whatever I only get 1 gallon..



Hopefully I didnt make that confusing I tryed not to, so if you can review that and answer the questions id appreciate it.


maybe ill get to meet u at the arnold to. btw, do you recomend any videos to help with posing, or making a posing routine to music? it's so hard to..

thanks for helpin brotha from anotha motha


Scott LaPaierre, what did you win for the body for life challenge? isnt it like 1 million dollars? or a dodge viper? I have seen some ad's in magazines before for that contest. good job on winning to and the transformation must be awsome to get rewarded for changing your body.

[str8flexed]

he won 25 grand i believe.

Your plan looks pretty good; though it will work better; the leaner you are.

-Layne

[Not So Big]

he won 25 grand i believe.

Your plan looks pretty good; though it will work better; the leaner you are.

-Layne

do you think it will even be worth it then if im at 10% b/f? maybe I should just wake up one morning, have some oats and egg whites and take some pics 30-40 mins later..

I dont want to do the week plan if it's not even going to make much of a difference.. besides its just pics fo rme to see and maybe post on here i like to take pics every few month and will forveer so I can look at my progress and see how im doing all the time.

25 grand I guess my million was off by alot lol.

thanks for helpin

[Scott LaPierre]

thanks scott, I'm just happy it helped :)

you going to the arnold btw?

Am I going to the Arnold? Buddy, I'm in California. If I was closer, I'd love to go. I take it you're going? Hopefully at some point in our lives we'll be able to meet up and work out together. Honestly, despite the e-mails back and forth about your training, I still can't say you've convinced me to extend my workouts to 2 hours and perform 40 sets per muscle group. Hopefully we could reach some middle ground though and work out together :)

[Scott LaPierre]

Scott LaPaierre, what did you win for the body for life challenge? isnt it like 1 million dollars? or a dodge viper? I have seen some ad's in magazines before for that contest. good job on winning to and the transformation must be awsome to get rewarded for changing your body.

Thank you for the compliment; it did feel great to win, but not so much for the prizes as for what it meant to me at that time in my life. My brother and I never had much in common, except weightlifting, so winning felt wonderful because I thought of him throughout every workout and cardio session.
No, they did away with the cars and started giving out cash prizes. This year they're switching to 1 prize of $1,000,000. I won $25,000, $5,000 in supplements, a gold watch, the leather jacket, and media coverage. I was refunded for all the money I spent during the contest too. I think Body-for-Life is great. Even though I didn't follow the training in the book, I think the book is great, because all the proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation.

[Not So Big]

Thank you for the compliment; it did feel great to win, but not so much for the prizes as for what it meant to me at that time in my life. My brother and I never had much in common, except weightlifting, so winning felt wonderful because I thought of him throughout every workout and cardio session.
No, they did away with the cars and started giving out cash prizes. This year they're switching to 1 prize of $1,000,000. I won $25,000, $5,000 in supplements, a gold watch, the leather jacket, and media coverage. I was refunded for all the money I spent during the contest too. I think Body-for-Life is great. Even though I didn't follow the training in the book, I think the book is great, because all the proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation.
thats amazing, So how much weight were u at when you started and then finished? And how much time did u have for before and after pics? I should get really overweight like 300 pounds take some pics and then loose it all and try to win that million lol, j/k but now that you lost the weight are you keeping it off and getting in better shape?

oh yeah i was wondering when you win a prize like 25,000 did they take any taxes off of that or did u just get the whole 25g's?

[Scott LaPierre]

thats amazing, So how much weight were u at when you started and then finished? And how much time did u have for before and after pics? I should get really overweight like 300 pounds take some pics and then loose it all and try to win that million lol, j/k but now that you lost the weight are you keeping it off and getting in better shape?

oh yeah i was wondering when you win a prize like 25,000 did they take any taxes off of that or did u just get the whole 25g's?

I weighed about 195 when I took my before pictures, and 159 when I took my after pictures. The pictures were taken exactly 12 weeks apart (84 days). I was ready to take my after pictures right around 10 weeks though; that's when I looked my best. I had 2 weeks left though, and wanted to keep getting leaner, so I kept doing more cardio, but I really only lost muscle at that point; there's only a certain amount of fat you can lose naturally, and I had pretty much hit my limit.

Yes, I'm keeping my bodyat down. I look better now than when I took my after photos. Now I wigh 180, but my bodyfat is still pretty low. For summer I'm going really going to lean up again though so I can see my abs.

I received my $25,000 in 4 payments over the course of the year. They didn't take any taxes out, but I'll report it when I do my taxes in the next few weeks.