Cuts = Cutting out the Fats! Competition Diet Advice on Definition Cuts on Stage

As a competition approaches, you must lose enough of your stored body fat to reveal optimum muscle separation and intramuscular detail - cuts. The easiest, and most universally followed, precontest diet involves reducing daily caloric intake. And the best way to reduce the number of calories in your diet is to progressively eliminate fats.

Cutting back on fats makes good sense, because one gram of fat is more than twice as concentrated a source of energy than one gram of either protein or carbohydrate (fat is nine calories, protein and carbohydrate only four). So, by replacing one gram of fat with one gram of protein or carbohydrate, you've already markedly reduced the total calories in your diet.

If you don't know how to time your peak, I suggest starting your first diet two months (eight weeks) out from your scheduled competition. At first, you'll only cut out a relatively small amount of fat, but you should progressively eliminate more and more until you're down to nearly zero fat intake about two weeks out from competition- Be sure to write everything down (including the amount of everything you eat and your relative daily physical condition) so you can adjust your diet to peak more perfectly next time.

Obviously, you'll need to know which foods in your diet are highest in fat. Mainly, we are talking about animal-source foods. In a hierarchy of meat sources, pork is more fatty than beef, beef more calorie-dense than poultry with the skin on, full-skinned poultry more fatty than the skinless type, and skinned poultry higher in fat than fish. Merely dropping from one meat category to the next lowers calories, such as replacing beef at your main meal with skinless chicken breasts, and finally to broiled fish.

Following are additional tips for reducing the amount of tat in your diet

» Avoid full-fat milk products. To reduce tissue bloat, you should actually eliminate milk products the last month.

» Never fry foods. The food always soaks up extra oil.

» Avoid using oil or commercial dressings on salads. Try lemon juice and / or wine vinegar instead, or low-cal dressing from a health food store.

» Don't put toppings on potatoes. Dry baked potatoes are very low in calories, while all toppings are relatively high.

» Use a wide variety of herbs and spices in your cooking. Every new ingredient (none of which is high in calories) gives a new taste treat.

» Avoid using butter or oil. Steaming is the best way to cook vegetables.

» If you eat bread, avoid topping it with buffer; peanut butter; or concentrated jams or jellies.

» Keep the sodium content of your diet low.

» Drink plenty of fluids. Water is vital to fat metabolism.

» Be consistent. Every time you break your diet, a competitor in your next show won't. You don't cut up cheating.