Competition dieting: What type of foods can be eaten to satisfy carb cravings?

[depressive SP juicer]

try supplementing with synephrine 3x a day. it helps me curb my appetite. just becareful cause sometimes it suppresses your appetite so much that you'll have a hard time eating 3 meals, let alone 5-8 meals

 

[Primo57]

I feel your pain bro...I'm getting ready for a show at the end of June. Like said previously, crystal light is always good. Sometimes I sneak a few cashews in or some of those Sweet & Low Butterscotch or Jelly beans. Good Luck and give yourself a reward afterwards!

 

[Mike P.T.]

Crystal Light. Shit im not even taking that and it just popped in my head.

Note to self. Must get some.

 

[bodybuildr]

You can eat strawberrys for breakfast, they are very low on the glycemic index, I eat about a cup sprinkled with equal.

 

[Sassy69]

Stay away from the diet coke. I'm 12 weeks out from a show and my trainer has explicitly removed it from my diet & use of Equal is limited to 2 packs/day. I'm not sure about the other sugar substitutes/alternatives like Splenda or Stevia. As far as why no more diet coke --- maybe someone can correct me-- the phosphates inhibit protein processing??? Otherwise its just "bad" -- the general idea I've been following is consumption of only real food - I haven't had protein mix or bars in my diet at any point - the reason being are you ever really sure what is in anything that is processed? Another consideration is sodium content - even though it is small, its additional sodium.

For those moments when you are starving - sugar free/fat free jello and ice pops. If you get caught without your food with you or are starving and its not feed time, salt-free rice cakes.

But even these keep to a minimum. When it comes right down to it, try drinking water first. I actually started cruising muscle boards & chat rooms to help pass the time between meals. Just anything to keep my mind off my stomach. Also spent a lot of time w/ my trainer & another competitor fantasizing about the first meal we were gonna have post-show.

Ain't competition great? Just wait until the last week....
- for my first comp I ate boiled chicken & flax oil for a week.
- for my second comp I ate nothing but orange roughy for a week (DON"T DO THAT....)

But then, you get to look forward to that carb up the last couple days - I actually got a buzz from eating raisins because I was so carb depleted.

 

[HansNZ]

What types of foods can be eaten to satisfy carb cravings?

Answer: Carbs.

I have dieted down to a level where I had only 5lbs of fat on my body and I did it while eating plenty of carbs.

A keto diet is a choice (or should I say a fashion), not a necessity.

I find that I don't rebound after my diets the way other guys do. Their bodies store carbs as fat instantly the moment they start eating them again.

My 2c.

 

[SAF]

I AGREE TOTALLY!! SAF, you already look good, you are just going to ruin your physique if you keep your carbs that low for 4 weeks straight. That's for people who are still fat at this point. You are not fat. At the very least, keep them low like you have them for 2-3 days, then have a higher carb day (~300g).
Here's a couple of more tips for the last week of your show:
(1) Don't change your diet until friday. Maybe have a couple of junk meals on friday, and increase carbs a bit, but that's it. Don't decarb then recarb-up during the last week. I tried that in my show ~a month ago and it doesn't fucking work! I looked better a week out than the day of the show.
(2) Keep your water as high as you can until you cut it out. Cut it out on friday morning or friday night (depending on whether or not you are trying to make a weight class), take a diuretic (lasix, Hctz), then just sip until you go on stage. If your not trying to make a weight class at the weigh-in friday night, cut your water only friday night.
Good luck!

Ok, so if I keep my carbs low to say, 100g/day for 3 days, I can carb up on the fourth day? What type of carbs can I eat? Perhaps some brown rice, potatoes, and maybe one junk food meal, like Burger King. But wont doing this fuck me up in terms of dieting? I cant believe that I'm doing a show in less than four weeks and I'm scrambling to figure out what the hell to do with my diet. I should have hired a trainer or something

SAF

 

[SAF]

I AGREE TOTALLY!! SAF, you already look good, you are just going to ruin your physique if you keep your carbs that low for 4 weeks straight. That's for people who are still fat at this point. You are not fat. At the very least, keep them low like you have them for 2-3 days, then have a higher carb day (~300g).
Here's a couple of more tips for the last week of your show:
(1) Don't change your diet until friday. Maybe have a couple of junk meals on friday, and increase carbs a bit, but that's it. Don't decarb then recarb-up during the last week. I tried that in my show ~a month ago and it doesn't fucking work! I looked better a week out than the day of the show.
(2) Keep your water as high as you can until you cut it out. Cut it out on friday morning or friday night (depending on whether or not you are trying to make a weight class), take a diuretic (lasix, Hctz), then just sip until you go on stage. If your not trying to make a weight class at the weigh-in friday night, cut your water only friday night.
Good luck!

How do you expect me to ruin my physique if I continue on that diet for another 3 weeks? Do you think my body will start to cut into muscle? I've been taking glutamine, BCAA, and FFAA to help minimize any type of catabolic effects during my cardio and training sessions, so I think I'm safe. Not to mention that my weight has not even changed ever since I started dieting 3 weeks ago, which leads me to believe that no muscle has been lost.

SAF

 

[SirWanksalot]

Place a teaspoon of L-Glutamine under your tounge. Some Low-carbers swear by this trick when the urge to carb up comes on.

you can always try 5htp

 

[SAF]

Place a teaspoon of L-Glutamine under your tounge. Some Low-carbers swear by this trick when the urge to carb up comes on.

you can always try 5htp

Yup! I'm looking at my bottle of Solaray 5-HTP on my desk as I type this! I picked up some last night. So far, so good. The cravings seem to be low, almost nonexistent.

SAF