It's getting super close to the Vancouver Open Regionals now! 4 days out and still in a super low calorie and low carb mode for a couple more days. Getting my 6 miles of walking in (2 hours of walking), hitting a 1 hour workout and today I had a visit with my posing coach to get one last posing session in before the show.
I am down to about 185 pounds but a lot of that is due to not having much water or glycogen in me, when I do carb back up I should gain a good 7-8 pounds back.
At the later end of this video I have some exercise videos for you of me at my local gym that I walk to (Anytime Fitness Langley). It was a busy day with all the activity , working from home and my visit to Jeff my Posing coach but I got it all done.
Only 5 more sleeps till the Vancouver Open Regionals and today is going to be mostly about the eating side of things, I do throw in a couple walk and talk and weight training sets into the video along the way, but for the most part I show you the food I am eating, or lack there of food, as I am only allowing myself around 1500 calories total for the day.
Here is what I consumed...
Breakfast(210cal22carb7fat18prot):
Built Bar - Brownie Batter Puffs, 1 bar. (140cal14carb3fat17prot)
Getting real close now to theVancouver Open Regionals. I shot this video on Sunday so 6 days out technically but it will give you an idea of what my conditioning is like about a week out from the show. I always push things really hard the last week to get those last little bits of fat off, I can generally strip another 2 pounds of fat from the stubborn areas and that's about all I need to do now. I feel I am very close and I hope to come in as lean or maybe even a bit leaner than last years show with a bit more muscle added. Yesterday I was 188 pounds as compared to last year this same time I was closer to 182 pounds. So I am up potentially around 6 pounds of muscle if my body fat is in fact the same.
This week to get as lean as I can I have dropped my calories down to around 1500 per day at least till Wednesday and then I will need to start adding in carbs which will increase my food calories a ton generally up adn over 3000 per day as I need to at around 500 grams of carbs for the carb loading process. I also will be walking 6 miles and hitting my weight training each day for an hour or so. This will bring my exercise calories up to around 1500 per day, add that to my BMR and I am burning 3500 calories per day while only eating 1500 so that generates a 2000 calorie per day deficit.
I am really looking forward to showing off all my hard work at this years show. Last year I did not hire a posing coach, this year I have a couple sessions with Jeff my Posing Coach so this should make the presentation a little better also.
One of the most common comments or questions I get in my TRT related videos is going to be, "should I start taking TRT". Just as often I get the same comments or questions about "should I stop taking". In this video I talk about what might be happening when people have been on TRT for sometimes even a decade and then they all of a sudden decide they do not want to be on TRT anymore.
Most often the reason they give is because they don't want to be dependant on drugs, so in this case the Testosterone. Sure having to take a drug for probably the rest of your life is not an exciting prospect but you need to really weigh the benefits of the drug versus what This can lead to over thinking about the inconvenience factors of tacking a drug like having to inject every week and also the cost of purchasing it which with Testosterone is not really super expensive in TRT doses.
If you do decided to come off TRT, and you have been n it for a while, your body may not be able to make its own Testosterone anymore and the reason you may have gotten on TRT in the first place was because your body was not already making enough so that will not change now, if anything you will be completely shut down now and may not be able to make much of any of your own natural Testosterone.
Personally, I would strongly consider not coming off TRT if in the first place you really did need it, that is not going to change now even with proper sleep, eating, training and a healthy life style. If you went on TRT for esthetics reasons (so basically a high does TRT not as aggressive as body building doses), then again the artificial Testosterone will now have suppressed your bodies nature ability to produce Testosterone and you may now be in a situation where you are dependant on it.
That said, you will never know unless you come of the testosterone if your body can start making adequate levels of Testosterone but be prepared for that not to be the case.
Last year when I competed in this same show, the Vancouver Open Regionals. My expectations where just to make ti to the show in good health and see how it felt to compete again. I didn't have a lot of prep time last year as I decided a bit late but it was on y radar so I was slowly easing into it even before my actual contest prep. I was just starting to get my strength back in the gym so I was not at 100% in terms of muscle size and density, probably at least 5-8 pounds lighter than normal and that would be muscle mass. My main goal for that show was to come in nice and lean and not push myself too hard as I really didn't know what to expect. I feel I did meet my goals for that show so I was very happy with it even though I did not place all that high. The judges at that show for sure favored size over conditioning.
So here we are a year later and I have one show under my belt post Open Heart Surgery. I know now I can push myself a fair bit with the diet and training and that's what I have been doing. I also have had a lot more time to prep for this show. Officially my prep is a 3 month prep and so I am hoping to be able to bring more muscle mass with at least the same conditioning I brought last show, maybe even a bit tighter! Based on last year I was around 180 pounds at the end of my cut before carbing up. I am hoping to be closer to 185 pounds for this show before I carb up and so on show day I should be close to 195 pounds all carbed up to the max. 5 extra pounds may not seem like all that much but when it's in all the right places and you come in shredded it makes a world of deference!
I am starting to feel the push now at times, it comes in waves and when it hits I get a low energy fatigue feeling that sometimes lasts a couple of hours but generally I get my energy back or at least enough of it to make everything happen that needs to happen.
In terms of how I hope to place in this years show, of course I want to be first in every class I enter but even if I come in a bit bigger this year, I know most of the guys will out size me. If I can come in super conditioned with good esthetics than there is always the chance of pulling off a first place. it really depends who shows up for this show and how they look. Also what the judges are looking for? Last year size was key. This year, who knows?
Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at 7:32PM ;)
;)