9 Days into Prep and Things Are Going Well: a Little Too Well

The featured image was taken the morning of Day 8, with no pump and without flexing. 

I’m nine days into my four-week competition prep and because of my overly efficient metabolism, I already need to adjust the plan.

I wasn’t planning to do any prep posts until I reach that part the series of posts I’ve been doing about nutrition. But I thought I’d give a few broad strokes about the plan, where I’m at, and the fact I already must make changes because it’s going too well.

First, if you are familiar with any type of bodybuilding competition prep, then you may know that they are usually 13-16 weeks long plus peak week. While my prep is four weeks long plus peak week. Peak week is the competition week when you overload your body with water while cutting carbs, do a one-day dry out, then carb up and load up on water on show day. The overload and dry out helps to prepare your body to push all the water from both fluids and carbs into your muscles on show day, helping to give you the best pump.

The reason why my prep was only four weeks, on paper at least, was because I was able to keep my body at 7.5 per cent body fat while I was eating at a surplus and bulking. There will be a post about this eventually. This left me with only 1.5 per cent body fat to lose during my prep to reach body composition ideals for classic physique. When doing the math for my weight–there are benefits of being a Short King–that worked out to an easy 3.5 kgs including water. When you do the math, that is a 500-kcal deficit for the four weeks prep and peak week, knowing I will lose 1 kg within the first 3 days of my deficit because of the immediate drop in water weight when reducing carbs. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I thought after 18 days, I’d have to introduce refeeds every four days. Refeeds are intentional days eating at a surplus to restore glycogen stores and curb fat loss.

Well, I’m away ahead of schedule, dropping weight much more quickly than anticipated. This means, thanks to my ridiculously efficient metabolism, I have to adjust my plans.

Buy tickets for my April 19, 2025, show and donate to help offset the costs to compete.

I currently have only just over 1 kg left to lose with 24 days remaining until I’m weighed in. At the rate I’m losing, I could easily be there mid to the end of next week, leaving two weeks until competition to hold weight while not gaining water, which is impossible. Especially as the week before peak week, I’m planning to do a test run, which is guaranteed to cause me to lose more weight.

So, this Friday will be my first refeed, well ahead of schedule, with another one planned for next Tuesday. Then, I’m likely going to need to eat at maintenance or in a slight surplus for the rest of next week until my peak week test run begins on April 6. There is a Plan B where I begin to eat at maintenance, while preparing to go into a surplus until the test run, on Monday. It all depends on how extra my body decides it wants to be.

My brain is not enjoying this. I have all my meals planned well into May. The fact that I have to play it by ear gives me so much anxiety. I know how to easily bring my calories up each day while not wasting the food I’ve already purchased, and is some instances, cooked. I just really dislike doing it.

My own prep has also created a lot of questions in my head about other people’s prep. I’m currently watching a lot of video as research for my next food book, and things simply don’t add up. These men are literally twice my size, are taking copious amounts of performance enhancement drugs which helps with weight loss while I’m a natural bodybuilder, and their caloric intakes are much lower than mine. Like, they eat below 2000 kcals per day. During my deload weeks when I’m exercising at 50 per cent, my weekly average is 2200 kcals per day. Right now, during my full workout load, my weekly average is 2455 kcals per day. My ridiculous metabolism cannot be the only factor at play here. I have to assume that outside of the gym, these men don’t move, because the math isn’t mathing.

I chuckle a little bit because at first, I thought maybe I only need a two-week prep or maybe three-week prep period. But seeing other people, I thought, no way. And now here we are where my prep will work out to about 2.5 weeks when you remove the days I’ll be at maintenance or above.

How will this factor into future preps? I don’t know. All I know is, it’s been both a stressful experience because of the inability to properly plan for it, while also filled with fascinating lessons.