Avatar Nutrition. Welcome to Avatar Nutrition, your personal guide to creating the healthy body you've always wanted! Avatar Nutrition uses a system built by Dr. Layne Norton, backed by science, and proven to show results after countless success stories. This system is based around the concept of flexible dieting - eating according to your unique macronutrient requirements rather than relying on wishful thinking and lists of . These macronutrient numbers are specific to the multitude of biological factors that make you who you are. Every person's body is different, this is why so many cookie- cutter diets have failed in the past and ultimately why Avatar Nutrition was created. A Unique Combination Of Science And Experience Based Pre- Contest Advice. Bodybuilder. The word seems more like a question than a simple word to me. What defines a bodybuilder? Is a bodybuilder someone who merely lifts hard? Is a bodybuilder someone who lifts hard and watches what they eat? Is a bodybuilder someone who competes in physique competitions? There will probably never be a good definition of the word . Some classes only have 2- 3 competitors! The simplest answer I can come up with is that not many people want to do what it takes to get onstage. Dieting 1. 2- 2. 0 weeks, never missing a meal, cardio everyday, and energy levels so low you don't feel like getting off of the couch, because you are constantly hungry. Waiting for your next meal does not appeal to the masses. I can personally attest to the physical and mental strain that contest preparation can put one through. However, I think another competitor at the gym I trained at summed it all up best when he told me, . I did boot camp for 6 weeks and it didn't hold a candle to how hard preparing for a contest was. Lack of information about how to properly prepare for a contest also hinders many competitors. More information is easily available for non- competitors than for those that take the plunge to compete. This article will provide competitors information on diet, training, tanning, posing, and other competition related topics. Pre- Contest Dieting. Obviously the most pertinent issue regarding pre- contest preparation is the diet aspect of preparation. The IIFYM diet brings healthy eating back to basics: carbs, protein and fat. Learn how to calculate your daily macro intake and find out â Track From Anywhere, No Internet Required. The original My Macros+. We know that you are not always eating in arms distance from a computer and that is why My Macros+. Flexible Dieting Plans. Using all of the tools Avatar Nutrition provides, build the body you want and create a way of eating you can stick to for life. Another aspect of a typical peak week that goes hand in hand with cutting water is cutting sodium, the results of which can be just as disastrous. Previous Next. Learn The Facts: Debunking The Biggest Nutrition & Training Misconceptions in the Fitness Industry; Strong Is The New Skinny: 10 Reasons Why Women. This article will provide competitors information on diet, training, tanning, posing, and other competition-related topics. The official website of Dr. Layne Norton, a renowned prep/physique coach and pro natural bodybuilder/powerlifter with a PhD in Nutritional Sciences. Going from Obese to Bikini Body — Briana Case Study (Plus: New Tools, 4-Hour Body Group) 294 Comments. Pre-Contest Dieting: Obviously the most pertinent issue regarding pre-contest preparation is the diet aspect of preparation. It is not enough to just clean up what. It is not enough to just clean up what you eat, it must be far more drastic than that. When you see the winner of a bodybuilding competition onstage, rest assured they tracked their calories, carbs, proteins, fats, and never missed meals. If you want to do well in a bodybuilding competition, you should expect to do nothing less. Before I begin talking about a proper pre- contest diet, we need to examine exactly how long a person should diet for a contest. The first thing that should be done is an . Look yourself over and be honest about your faults, strengths, and about how long you think it will take for you to get into stage shape. Keep in mind that if you think you have around 2. Aim to diet as slowly as possible. The severity of your calorie deficit will, to a large extent, determine how much muscle you retain/lose. Short periods of high severity dieting (more than 1. As a general rule of thumb, losing 1 pound of bodyweight per week will allow one to retain most of their muscle mass. One can probably lose up to 1. If one tries to push their body to lose more than 2 pounds per week for any length of time, then they will begin to experience quite a bit of muscle loss. It is for this reason that I usually try to give myself enough time so I only need to lose 1- 1. Depending upon how slowly you feel comfortable losing weight. For example, if someone is 2. This equates to 2. I recommend dieting for anywhere from 1. If one is naturally ectomorphic (has an easy time losing weight) however, they may want to diet for a shorter period of time, and I would recommend a time period of 1. If one is naturally endomorphic (has a hard time losing weight), then they may want to lengthen their dieting time to 1. If this is the first time that you have ever done a contest then you would want to also give yourself an extra week as you will probably experience a hitch at some point along the way. Diet Information. The diet one follows for the contest will be the single most important determining factor of how well they will place in the competition. A person can have all the mass in the world, but if they do not come in razor sharp on contest day, then the mass will mean little. Judges almost always go for conditioning over size. To design a proper diet one should give themselves adequate time to lose the necessary body fat to achieve that aforementioned shredded look. Being said, what kind of diet is optimal for a person to follow? The Diet Should Have 3 Main Goals: Unfortunately, these goals all seem to contradict each other. When the body is in a starved (calorie deficit) state, muscle loss can occur although a calorie deficit is required to lose fat. This calorie deficit will also cause one to feel less energetic. To get around the negatives, there are small adjustments and little tricks to aid in the accomplishment of the positives. Before discussing the diet, it is important to discuss the three macronutrients and their roles. Protein. Protein is probably the single most important macronutrient for the purposes of maintaining muscle on a diet. Dietary protein is hydrolyzed (broken down) into it's constitutive amino acids during digestion. These amino acids are released into the bloodstream where they may then be taken up by cells (usually muscle cells). Dietary protein is also important; amino acid availability is the single most important variable for protein synthesis to occur. This means that protein synthesis increases in a linear fashion (directly proportional to plasma amino acid concentrations) until the plasma amino concentrations are approximately twice that of normal plasma concentrations 1. To generalize for the less scientifically inclined, ingesting enough dietary protein is important for someone who is looking to gain muscle, or maintain it while dieting. Dietary protein spares muscle by helping increase protein synthesis (and thus induce net muscle gain) and by acting as a muscle sparing substrate as it can be used for glucogensis (synthesis of glucose). Dietary protein however, is not as muscle sparing as are carbohydrates when used as a substrate for glucose synthesis. Protein is also an . The body would much rather store amino acids than oxidize them as protein oxidation yields less net ATP produced per amino acid when compared to fat or carbohydrates. Therefore, it can be stated that dietary protein has a thermogenic effect on the body. Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates have probably gotten the worst reputation of the macronutrients due to the ketogenic dieting rave. Ketogenic dieting refers to reducing carbohydrate intake to practically nothing, while simultaneously raising fat and protein intake. With little glucose for the brain to utilize for energy, the body will begin producing ketones. Ketones are by- products of fat oxidation and the brain can use ketones for energy. This does indeed have a potent fat burning effect, as insulin levels will be severely reduced due to lack of carbohydrate intake. Low insulin levels correlate with high rates of fat oxidation. Indeed, the ketogenic diet may be the single best way to lose the maximum amount of body fat in the shortest amount of time. However, if you will quickly refer to our goals during a pre- contest diet you will notice that maintaining muscle is number one on our list, with fat loss second. If one has not properly scheduled enough time to lose body fat and they are in need of drastic measures, then using a ketogenic diet may be their only choice in order to become contest- ready in time. Unfortunately, they will not maintain an optimum amount of muscle mass. For those who have given themselves ample time to prepare, I do not suggest using a ketogenic diet. Instead, I recommend reducing carbohydrates, but keeping them high enough to possess the muscle sparing benefits of carbohydrates while still losing body fat. There are several main reasons that I recommend retaining carbohydrates. The first reason being that carbohydrates are much more muscle sparing than fats during times of stress when glucose becomes a primary source of fuel (i. When the body is in a low energy state, it may try to produce energy by converting amino acids to glucose. Carbohydrates prevent this since they can be easily broken down (and converted if need be) to glucose molecules. Carbohydrates then spare dietary protein from oxidation and these proteins can be stored rather than oxidized. Carbohydrates are also muscle- sparing during exercise. When one lifts heavy weights, the primary pathway that is used to produce ATP (cellular energy currency) is the anaerobic or glycolytic pathway (as the name implies this pathway operates in the absence of oxygen). The only substrate for this pathway is glucose, which can be obtained from dietary carbohydrates or by breaking down glycogen (the cell's stored form of glucose). If one is on a ketogenic or extreme . Since glycogen levels are low on a ketogenic diet, the body will actually convert amino acids to glucose and this glucose will be used in the anaerobic pathway to produce ATP. These amino acids will come from dietary protein, amino acids from the cellular amino acid pool, and from muscle tissue. The latter situation is where one would experience muscle loss. Dietary protein would be sacrificed for ATP production and the depleted amino acid pool would not bode well for protein synthesis rates, thus causing a net loss in muscle mass. Carbohydrates are also muscle sparing because they are a cause of insulin release. Now I know your thinking, . I did indeed say that low insulin levels are good for fat burning. Insulin inhibits lipolytic (fat burning) activity and must be kept low if one wishes to burn a maximal amount of fat. However, the pesky re- occurring theme of maintaining muscle prevents us from totally excluding insulin from our pre- contest diet arsenal, as insulin happens to be one of the most anabolic/anti- catabolic hormones in the body. Insulin binding to the cell membrane causes all sorts of reactions in your body that are beneficial to maintaining and gaining muscle tissue. Insulin inhibits protein breakdown and amino acid oxidation, thus promoting muscle maintenance or gain 1,2. Insulin also has an antagonist (inhibitory) affect with regards to several catabolic hormones, including cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that is released during times of stress such as dieting, lifting, injury, etc. Cortisol produces glucose by breaking down proteins, including muscle tissue.
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