insatiable appetite. is something wrong or do I just lack willpower?

[JJFigure]

The high GIs kill your diet. I'm refeeding today w/ instant cream of wheat, and not even enjoying the stuff after the first bowl (toooo sweet). Does that stop me from wanting to eat more and more and more? NOOOOO. I can hardly wait the 2-3 hours till the next meal. When I'm eating normally (low carb, high protein, moderate clean fat), I almost forget to eat. Almost.

 

[SteelWeaver]

VLC? You OK? Busy reading, or just busy?

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

VLC? You OK? Busy reading, or just busy?

Hey Steel, I'm here. School started this week and I'm taking 17 credits plus I'm working 13 hours a week so I haven't had that much time to read the boards. I'm happy to say that all my classes are awesome.
Now, the sort of bad news:

I've gotten really frustrated with the dieting thing. Its extremely stressful on me because I'm not as adequately prepared as I thought. I haven't even gotten to the hardest parts of the diet and I'm already feeling like its a serious stuggle. I think a lot of the reason that its so difficult is the same reason I fall so far offtrack when I have any opportunity to cheat (like when I went away): I have this f*cked up mentality that I'm either on a strict diet in which every gram and calorie counts or I'm NOT, so I can eat everything and anything in sight. In other words, I don't really know how to have a healthy, clean diet as part of my lifestyle. Largely because I was unprepared mentally for the diet (extreme deprivation+vacation=major cheating) I now have only 8 weeks to lose just about as much bodyfat as when I started this thing. Not only that, but I spoke to my trainer yesterday and she said she went to a competition this past weekend and saw that the figure girls definitely had 5-10# more muscle than I've got right now, pre-hardcorecutting when I'll lose even more. So basically I would have to work my ass off and diet really hard to come in at a low enough bodyfat, and even after all that, I wouldn't come in as good as I could be.
It was hard to come to this decision, because I really wanted this, but I need to be honest and realistic. This isn't worth the all of the frustration, deprivation and stress (not to mention money) that I would have to deal with in order to prepare for the competition. Its not healthy, and its not making me happy, and on top of that I won't even come in the best condition I could for all of the hard work.
I decided that I'm going to work on laying the proper groundwork so that I can be prepared to go for a competition in the spring. I want to get the clean, balanced diet down. I would like to try to gain at least 5 pounds of muscle, which really shouldn't be too tough for me. And I especially want to get down to a reasonable bf%, which in my mind is 16%, and then maintain that. That way, come January or February, I can take 12 weeks to gradually get down to 12% (or whatever) for a competition. I think this would make things easier on my body and especially on my sanity.
I really appreciate all of the effort everyone has put into helping me out and informing me about this competition, especially the diet. I hope I haven't let anyone down with my decision to postpone the contest prep.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Aw shucks, VLC. I really hope my long-ass post didn't freak you out or anything. I was just trying to help I just get so excited by everything I've learnt ... I want everyone else to, too.

Well, it sounds like you're comfortable with your decision, and that's the important part. In many ways, I feel it's a good decision for you considering your circumstances. I was a little surprised when you decided to do this show with so little time to prep. I gave myself 20 weeks for my first show, and still didn't come in lean enough - a good part of the time was spent just coming to grips with what I was going through. An incredible experience altogether, but definitely something you need to be willing to sacrifice a lot of time and energy for.

And, yes, it really is a lot of hard work. And expensive.

Are you intending to keep dieting from now? Or lay off for a while? I strongly suggest that you don't just keep dieting all the way til Jan/Feb and then carry on dieting for your show. I may be off base here, but if it were me, I'd go hard and strict for a couple of months from now, try and stay there for another couple, then drop what you need for the show. That way your body won't be all dieted out by the time you REALLY need to kick it into shape. And you'll have a chance to figure out what works for you diet-wise. And you'll be able to have a fairly normal Christmas

PLEASE keep us up to date on how things go - I'd be VERY interested to hear how it feels to try and maintain 16% when "normal" is around 20-25% for you.

Good luck to you girl, and enjoy school.

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

Thanks for understanding, Steel. Don't worry, your post didn't cause me to quit the precomp stuff. I found it really helpful, honest, and full of info, as all of your replies are. The decision was based on a combination of factors.

Are you intending to keep dieting from now? Or lay off for a while? I strongly suggest that you don't just keep dieting all the way til Jan/Feb and then carry on dieting for your show. I may be off base here, but if it were me, I'd go hard and strict for a couple of months from now, try and stay there for another couple, then drop what you need for the show. That way your body won't be all dieted out by the time you REALLY need to kick it into shape. And you'll have a chance to figure out what works for you diet-wise. And you'll be able to have a fairly normal Christmas

I'm not going to keep dieting, no. But I am going to try keep eating fairly cleanly. I'm going to eat pasta and have a protein bar on occasion and all the great stuff you can't have when you're precomp. I'm even going to eat the real cheat foods, like pizza and ice cream. The key to it for me is that I'm going to do it all in moderation - for instance, just one slice of pizza, and the small ice cream cones, and not both on the same day.
I actually joined up with a friend and we came up with some goals, both longterm and shortterm (a span of 2 weeks). She's somewhat new to lifting and eating healthfully. She weighs 220 and she's 5'6'' and wants to lose 60 pounds this year (4# a month). Her short term goal is drop atleast 5 pounds this month. My long term goal, as I've said, is to get to 16% bf and gain a little lean mass. I figure a loss of 3 pounds of fat per month should do it within a few months. My short term goal is to stick to what I said I would do and get back to 134, which is my "normal weight," 3 pounds from here. Somehow, when I'm over my normal weight, it comes off easily. Below that is more challenging. So, we're going to lift 4 days a week intensely and do cardio on our own 4-5 days a week for 45-60 mins a pop. (She's my twice a week lifting buddy for chest day and legs day).
We're going to drink 2 glasses of water with every meal and have no more than one non-water caloric drink a day. For instance, tea is okay but soda is not. Actually this is more her issue than mine. I'm pretty good about just drinking water. Anyways, also we're trying to eat 5 servings of veggies a day and 2 servings of fruit and take a multivitamin. I want to keep my protein over 100g a day, too. I think these are totally realistic and healthy guidelines that should aid my training and hopefully even let me lose some fat. I don't feel like its a diet - there's no deprivation. Its more a matter of making sure I get enough of things.
Oh, and the other part of our program is that every 2 weeks we're doing something to reward ourselves for meeting a goal and/or sticking to the program. We're thinking pedicures, going out to dinner at a nicer restaurant, etc.

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

Wait a moment, it just struck me that I didn't really understand what Steel wrote. Do you mean you think I should keep dieting for a few more months and then chill?

Either way, I'd love to hear your opinion/advice on my plans.

Also, I realized that 4-5 days of cardio when I'm not preparing for a show might sound like a lot, so I wanted to expand. I find that if I don't do cardio I get frustrated a lot easier and my temper is shorter because I have energy to burn. I can't stop lifting either. Lifting is meditation for me: I concentrate on the breathing and focus on contracting my muscles and executing the form correctly. It clears my mind and relieves my stress. when I exercise often I'm much more laid back, and a far happier person. Plus, I don't have to restrict my eating as much.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Sorry VLC - I was getting to this, then realised I should try and give the impression of working for a little while ...

Look, to be completely honest - I don't know. I haven't been doing this long enough. But from everything I've read, and questions I've asked and so on, dieting for a long time is a bad idea:

a) because it fucks up your metabolism
b) because it drives you insane

and thus,

c) ultimately results in frustration, anger, depression, despair, etc. etc. because eerything stops working.

Thus it would seem to make more sense to me to do it in steps, i.e. diet now, then ease up a bit for a few months, maintainence calories or a bit more, gain a bit more muscle, then hit the pre-comp. diet hard from a lower bf and fresh metabolism perspective.

I will never ever do a 5-6 month pre-comp again. It drove me insane, and it was hell. And it helped to destroy a few relationships, too.

Your plan sounds OK to me, for now (for a few weeks or so), but might I recommend that you make your *own* pizza, if you HAVE to have it? Wholewheat crust, fat free cheese, reduced oil sauce etc. And eat fat free frozen yoghurt instead of ice-cream? I mean, these are not such difficult options, and better in the long run. If you MUST eat bad carbs and fats - at least separate them. If you read up a bit on insulin and sugar and fat and anabolism and fat storage, you'll see why, especially on a hypercaloric diet, you don't want to mix fat and carbs, ESPECIALLY not simple carbs (pizza crust, lactose in ice-cream) and saturated fats (cream in ice cream and cheese).

You could do sprints/intervals on a couple of your cardio days if you want to do that much cardio - but I would say that that much cardio will be counter to your hope to put on muscle, and will make it more difficult to ramp up to a high level of cardio when comp-prep sets in.

It's nice that you have a training partner. You can motivate each other. Just be aware that if one is losing more than the other, or getting stronger faster, or worse, LOSING motivation, eating a lot of crap, etc. it can be UNhealthy for your goals. This game is so mental it's not funny. A little friendly competition is fine, but I know *I* do much better just kicking my OWN butt.

So, to answer simply. Yes, I think you should keep dieting a few or even a couple more months, then take a break, then go again for the show. But that's just my opinion. Some of the vets on this board may have better ideas ...

Good luck

 

[Gladiola]

I find that if I don't do cardio I get frustrated a lot easier and my temper is shorter

yikes, tell me about it!!!! I'm the same way except instead of short tempered - I'm kinda just stressed-out & "wound up" without enough exercise. Since changing to strictly Olympic Lifting workouts, I've had some tough times unwinding without my former workouts.

Have you tried yoga? That could help. You could also lift 5X per week instead of 4 & cut down on the cardio. Unfortunately you can't just do more cardio to make up for eating more - doesn't quite work like that - especially since you need to add muscle. But once you pack on those extra LBS of muscle, then you CAN, you MUST eat more.

 

[Gladiola]

Was thinking about this some more... .how about doing more workouts that are not lifting, but not cardio -- still anaerobic?! I thought of some workouts that could help you keep working those fast twitch fibers, but get you the stress relief.

Sprints
Boxing!!!
--Gloves & bags - jab punch 6X, hold while your partner goes, etc. Awesome workout & hi-intensity, anaerobic.
Tennis is anaerobic too

I suppose my mindset is stuck that you need to keep cardio very minimal if your goal is gain LBM and/or get strong -> since my coach & team mates are telling me to cut cardio way down so my focus is exclusively the fast twitch work.

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

Sprinting sounds good, I'll definitely spend a day on that. Still, I have a hard time understanding why I can't do 5 hours of cardio a week and build muscle at the same time if I eat right and train right, because I've done it before. Maybe it only matters when you're at a low bf or when you're eating so minimally that you can't have enough energy??