Former Bodybuilder Needs This!

[4themasses]

I was at the point of starting to compete in competitions around 1998 then I had my son, marriage and a house that needed serious remodeling.
That pretty much destroyed any time to commit to serious body building. It also purged many of the normal things I used to do...boating, skiing, rollerblading, biking.
At 5'9" I was around 185-190 pds. with 4% bodyfat curling 65 pd dumbells, benching 315 for reps and squatting with 405 pds for reps.
At 40 I have fallen way out of shape, had one more son, been divorced, remarried and added two stepchildren to the household. I have little time or control over the food we eat for dinners.
I need to get back into shape, obviously not where I was at 10 years ago, but just feel healthier for my kids who are great soccer players!
I know all about nutrition, diet, excersize. I was going to become a certified personal trainer as well. BUT, I need a kickstart since things have changed in 10 years for me.
Thanks in advance on the support I know I will receive from this sites members. I will need it!
Today is the first day of the rest of my life!

[liv]

Re: Former Bodybuilder Needs This!

Nice. Welcome.
Most certified trainer "nutrition" stuff that I have come across is about low fat and "healthy" carbs so it is interesting to see that you chose Atkins.
Hope it is going well.

[4themasses]

Re: Former Bodybuilder Needs This!

The reasoning behind trying this approach is first of all, I love eating beef, chicken and eggs . I'm not much of a veggie person, never was so it was hard to consume a good portion of carbs for energy for serious training. I used to eat like a horse weightlifting and had no problem consuming my six meals with the MANY supplements on top of it. It's just a lot of time consuming things to do to be that serious.
My body type doesn't deal with carbs very well so I don't need them. My biggest problem is cooking things at home for simplicity and also what the kids like or will eat. So pasta's and bread are ALWAYS a staple. If not that...PIZZA. So now I have to overcome this "lifestyle" for something different and hope my wife follows soon.

I remember back in...maybe 93-94 in one of my Muscle Media magazines (now it is Bill Phillips MM 2000, Body for Life) there was a series of articles called the high fat diet. I can't for the life of me find this one issue of many I have. Obviously as a bodybuilder the thought of eating fat was damn scary so no one took it worth a grain of salt. But this Dr. was stating the same principle of Atkins but trying to apply it in a bodybuilders world. Low and behold years later it is applicable and proven.

Like I stated, I just want to get back in shape, look good without a shirt on like I used to.

I have a different "view" on what my physique should look like. I won't be squatting weights to the point of hurling or pusing myself so bad my joints ache like ****. Just stay in shape! I still have my own treadmill, adjustable dumbells (5-85 pounds in one set - highly recommend) and adj. bench so that is a plus.

As a moderator, do you know anywhere on this forum if there is anything that kind of leans that way with this diet? While I want just fit, I'd like to see if anyone is using supplements such as creatine or anything with this diet.

Thanks in advance.....

[liv]

Re: Former Bodybuilder Needs This!

You can try a post in the exercise forum or the main forum and see what pops up - there are some people who have mentioned that they supplement with creatine but we really have not had any bodybuilder people here lately. (So nice to see you)
There may be some on other boards that are more general low carb oriented though where you may find more info so you can look around and see.

So you do not believe you need carbs for this kind of training?
We follow Atkins quite closely here so we recommend eating some carbs and some veggies always.
Do you do high fat?

[4themasses]

Re: Former Bodybuilder Needs This!

The kind of weight training I did before did require quite a bit of carbs, I believe more than the suggested amount than I personally needed.
I will intake carbs later in this diet but as in the later phases I will have to monitor the amount taken in vs. the amount needed while training. I believe as I lose body fat I will need to rely on more carbs BUT need to find that balance that works for me. It will be interesting since I've been wanting to challenge myself to this for years.
I don't like doing a high fat diet, at least for a long period of time. Once I hit my goal weight I plan on eating more lean meats. I usually eat very lean hamburger, steaks and chicken. Hard to say, again I'll have to monitor the results of what I do or introduce to my diet and see what works for real, not what was in a bodybuiling book. I know I was eating over 200 grams of protein a day, lots of carbs and very little fat - next to none.
It will be a nice experiment for me.