By Caroline Gick
This week, I’m going to get more specific about how I eat and how I train. I also want to talk about how I’ll be adjusting my diet and my workouts in the coming weeks as I get closer to my competition.
The entire program I follow—both training and nutrition—has been developed for me by Kiefer over a period of two years. He doesn’t create contest prep programs for individual competitors very often anymore, so this system is a hot commodity and I’m lucky to have it. As I go through the remaining eleven weeks of contest prep, my plan is to share my specific diet and training program, to give details about my progress, and to talk about the changes I’ll be making to both my diet and training throughout the course of this process.
The Diet
My diet is based on The Carb Nite Solution, and I always train first thing in the morning on both weekdays and weekends. Here’s the general structure of my diet as it looks today, eleven weeks out from competition:
Ultra-Low Carb (ULC) Days
Pre-Workout (caffeine)
Coffee with coconut oil: 1 mug
Post-Workout (protein/fat/carbs)
Post-workout shake
DH Blend H Protein: 10g
Whey Isolate: 5g
Leucine: 5g
Creatine: 5g
MCT Oil: 1 tbsp
Ripe Banana
AM Snack (protein/fat)
Ham slice: 4 oz
Breakfast sausages (cooked in coconut oil): 2 links
Lunch (protein/fat)
Low-fat meat (chicken breast, ham, turkey): 4-6 oz
Mixed salad greens: 1-2 cups
Salad dressing (1 carb or less per serving): 1 tbsp
Slivered almonds: ¼ cup
PM Snack (protein/fat)
Breakfast sausages cooked in coconut oil: 2 links
Dinner (protein/fat)
Lean meat (chicken, beef, pork, turkey): 6 oz
Low-carb vegetable*: 1-2 cups
*Broccoli, cauliflower, or zucchini cooked in coconut oil or butter.
Before Bed
Pre-bed shake
DH Blend D protein: 10 grams
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon
Carb Nite*
*Pre-workout, post-workout, AM snack and lunch all follow the ULC program outlined above.
PM Snack (4:00-5:00—carbs)
Decaf latte: 16-20 oz
Baked good (cookie, pound cake): 1 piece/slice
Dinner (6:00-7:00—protein/fat/carbs)
Example 1:
Hamburger: 1/3 pound
French Fries (regular or sweet potato): 1 serving
Example 2:
Breaded chicken: 1 large breast
Mashed potatoes (regular or sweet potato): 1 med/large
Carby vegetables (peas, corn, carrots): ½-1 cup
Example 3:
Indian dish (meat, sauce): 6-8 oz
Basmati rice: 1 cup
Naan: 1 piece
Follow with:
DH Blend H Protein Shake: 10 grams
Dessert (9:00-10:00—carbs)
Options:
Cookies: 1 large or 2 small
Pie: 1 piece
Rice Pudding: 1 cup
Other baked good: 1 piece
Nutrition Notes
I don’t have much difficulty eating pretty much the same thing every day. Honestly, I could probably eat a salad with chicken for lunch and a burger with broccoli cooked in butter every night and be happy for several weeks. There’s enough flexibility in this plan, though, to change things up from day to day for lunch and dinner to keep things interesting. I may not need this now, but I know the time will come where I will, at least from a psychological standpoint.
This week, I started getting super-specific with this diet, whereas my previous weeks were a little more varied. If you’re looking for ULC ideas that aren’t necessarily as strict as the ones I’m using, here are a few examples I made prior to getting started:
Tri-tip, red and yellow peppers cooked in coconut oil, mixed greens with salad dressing.
Roast chicken, mixed greens with salad dressing.
Mixed greens with chicken breast, topped with salsa and salsa verde.
My current program also makes it very easy to eat out. This may take a bit of tweaking for certain dishes, but it’s doable. Here are a few things from this week, which was more social than usual—and apparently, I was pretty hungry. I also never remembered to take a photo before I actually started eating.
Chicken lettuce wrap with fresh salsa (I didn’t eat the avocado here…instead, I ate almonds I had in my purse because there wasn’t much fat in the dish)
Bacon-wrapped meatloaf with broccoli and cauliflower (the vegetables were steamed—no butter or oil—but the bacon added the fat I needed)
Final Thoughts
I know that in a few weeks, I’ll be making changes, particularly with Carb Nite. As I get closer to my contest, there won’t be any burgers and fries, or Indian food—so I’m definitely going to enjoy that while I can.
I think it’ll be helpful if I share my stats at this point. I don’t have a specific goal in mind for weight, body fat percentage, or measurements. I’m going more by how I look and feel. I do, however, want to track my progress from today until I get on stage.
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 138
Body Fat %: TBD
Hips: 37”
Waist: 28”
Legs: 22”
Arms: 11”
Next week, I’ll go into all the nuts and bolts of my training program. Have a great week, everyone!
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