Mood Overall well being during contest prep

[suboxone]

Hey guys, although I am not competing I am doing a contest prep style cut just to test my ability to follow a diet as mentioned in another thread under the log section

The past couple weeks out of nowhere my libido is completely gone, I am extremely irritable, and have waves of depression that come late afternoon everyday.

I just feel rundown, emotionless, and feel like I'm putting a ton of stress on my body. Currently week 9/16 and thinking of toning it down a bit seeing as im not actually 7 weeks out from a contest.

Is it normal to feel this way when doing a contest prep? I know low fat diets can severely impact libido, as well as low calorie diets with lots of cardio and training can be hard on the body and central nervous system.

I just didn't expect it to be this rough, and don't know if this is normal and you guys just tough it out, or if everyone reacts differently during a prep.

Any insite would be greatly appreciated.

Here's my cycle but I feel like it's not the issue, I feel like the diet is as only the last couple weeks have things gotten really rough .

Running Newport
Test E - 500mg a week
Aromasin - 12.5mg ed
Winstrol - 50mg a day

Have proper pct lined up

thanks

EDIT:

Current Macros/Calories

4 days of 1550 cals: 315P 15C 20F
1 day of 2650cals: 350P 30C 125F
Repeat

One refeed meal a week high carbs

Training 5 days a week
back/calves
Chest/abs
Off
Legs
Arms/abs
Shoulders/calves
Off

Cardio 50mins twice a day low intensity, AM fasted/after training

Current Weight: 178lbs started at 190

Current photo:

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[snowpatrol]

I don't feel that great when I'm dieting but I remind myself that no one is making me do it

If it makes you miserable go eat a donut instead of doing cardio...you and the people around you will be happier for it

 

[suboxone]

I understand no one is making me do it, and I'm considering slowing it down just because it's affecting my social life, and my life isn't bodybuilding nor is it worth it to me to be affecting my mental health as well as the people around me

I'm just experiencing depression which is really out of character for me, and the only thing in my life that has changed is the diet and training, and it's not that it makes me miserable I was so excited and pumped to do this and still am, just i feel so unlike myself, my personality and everything has changed

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[tren]

I don't feel that great when I'm dieting but I remind myself that no one is making me do it

If it makes you miserable go eat a donut instead of doing cardio...you and the people around you will be happier for it

Well said man. Now if only people applied this mentality to everything else in life we'd have a world of winners lol.

 

[No ego lifting]

Pretty normal man. I'm eating 600 more cals than you (but on dnp and t3, half as much test) and my libido is shot. I'm still good to go, but I don't have the urge past finding sex fun. Luckily no depression, but I'm sure I would be on 1500cals haha

 

[suboxone]

Pretty normal man. I'm eating 600 more cals than you (but on dnp and t3, half as much test) and my libido is shot. I'm still good to go, but I don't have the urge past finding sex fun. Luckily no depression, but I'm sure I would be on 1500cals haha

Okay thanks man, my main concern was just is it normal. And I've expressed to my trainer that as I'm not competing I feel the diet is pretty extreme, so going to make tweaks and will let you guys know. I appreciate the response, and the depression I feel like is just from mental exhaustion. I'm also finishing my last semester of engineering and have 5 exams in the next 11 days, the amount of mental stress from that is insane as well.




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[snowpatrol]

Okay thanks man, my main concern was just is it normal. And I've expressed to my trainer that as I'm not competing I feel the diet is pretty extreme, so going to make tweaks and will let you guys know. I appreciate the response, and the depression I feel like is just from mental exhaustion. I'm also finishing my last semester of engineering and have 5 exams in the next 11 days, the amount of mental stress from that is insane as well.




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Holy shit, I would not be dieting on 1500 cals while trying to keep my mental faculties and pass 4th year engineering finals

I strongly suggest bumping things up to 2500 per day for the next two weeks and if you feel like resuming once you're done your tests, proceed but maybe a bit more moderately...

 

[suboxone]

Holy shit, I would not be dieting on 1500 cals while trying to keep my mental faculties and pass 4th year engineering finals

I strongly suggest bumping things up to 2500 per day for the next two weeks and if you feel like resuming once you're done your tests, proceed but maybe a bit more moderately...

That's what I figured man, I'm just fried and beat down, I've already uped cals yesterday and today, and think I'm feeling better but am not sure if it's placebo or not. It was poor timing starting a 16 week cut and wasn't thinking ahead that I would have to be doing exams at the most intense part of the diet.

And going to proceed much more moderately, again I don't compete, I just wanted to see what conditioning I could potentially get my body to. Have advised trainer of this and he is aware of my needs/concerns.

I guess this answers my question, so thank you


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[Dream_catcher]

dieting is tough if you've never done it before.

but trust me you don't know what suffering is truly like until you get down to the last final stages. where your face gets sunken in and people think you might be sick.

if you're just suddenly feeling it, I will say you get used to it as your body will adjust to the new diet. as it goes on longer you'll feel a bit better as you keep going.
if it's affecting your personal life i'd say it's not worth it. but that's ultimately up to you. some people can overcome obstacles others turn around and quit. it just depends whether or not the end goal is worth the trouble.

 

[No ego lifting]

Damn dude, awful time to be stressing your body and mind like that. Eat for a few weeks!

 

[suboxone]

Yeah I feel the results are definitely worth it, they have been so far without a doubt. Just its a lot tougher then I expected to be honest. I underestimated it and was caught off guard. Going to work on maintaining for a couple weeks, recuperate and continue at a slower rate, I have no deadline or time frame I'm cramming to beat


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[Dream_catcher]

holy crap. 1500 cals with two 50 min cardio sessions a day?
of course you feel like crap.

even at my last 4 weeks I was doing 3 cardio session a day but they were 15-20 mins only
and I was eating more than 1500 cals.

perhaps you can still cut but just on a different diet plan cause that one is a little extreme.

 

[suboxone]

I agree, with all of you. I'm new to dieting and this so I just did as I was told, didn't really count calories or macros then decided to add it up and realized how extreme it is, especially for someone who doesn't compete


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[Dream_catcher]

i don't know your body as well as you do. but for dieting. first of all you don't just right into a low carb diet and lots of cardio it's a gradual decrease and you wanna make the most out of every bit of food while losing weight.
you don't want to do more than you need to.

i would recommend (if you add more food in and start over from there)
to slowly add more food in and decrease cardio. lower protein a bit and find a good balance where you can start from. lower protein and up the carbs a bit. decrease cardio but not remove it completely.
and just go from there. every week monitor your weight and adjust food and cardio. if your weight isn't changing drop maybe 20-25 grams of carbs. and make small changes. cutting is small tweaks to either food or cardio.
if one week nothing is changing lower a bit of carbs or add a bit of cardio. an extra 10-15 mins is enough. you only want to make changes if necessary.

this is how i diet for contest. it's what generally works for me and people I've helped. you might have your own method. but the important point is not to go crazy. based on that pic you probably still plan to cut more to see abs and striations so how are you gonna adjust to you're already crazy regimen you currently have? what more foods can you remove? and how much more cardio can you do than almost 2 hours a day?

just reset your baseline and go from there.

just wanna add. i also don't count calories or macros. i do it once in the beginning of prep to know where i need to start. after that i don't count anything but the weight of my foods. i use the same foods for the entire prep and just adjust the weight as i go. way easier and simple.

 

[suboxone]

Yeah I started at 30 min cardio a couple days a week, increased to 7 days a week, the each week increased cardio by 5 mins, eventually split it into two sessions, increasing each session by 5 mins a week, wasn't really losing weight until the carbs decreased significantly. And was feeling great to be honest most of the time just hungry which is expected, then my trainer had me start cutting down fats and that's when I started to feel like crap, diet is pretty much protein only.

To answer your questions I don't think more food can be removed, that's pretty much starvation at that point, and cardio can't go up more, well it can but it would be stupid.

I think where I went wrong is each week when I would weigh myself, I would make changes to diet even if I was already losing weight, rather then seeing how much I could lose at say 2000 calories and 35mins cardio twice a day, I would just decrease to 1800 and increase cardio to 40 mins twice a day.

And as you can see that gets pretty extreme pretty quick, so I guess this is a lesson learned for me. As I said I am new to dieting and still learning, went so long training hard but having no structured diet and just wanted to try my best to follow a strict diet. I did follow it strictly so the determination is there, but obviously the knowledge still needs a ton of improvement.

Maybe once I get re balanced and start again, I will create a log showing my starting point/plan and you guys could add in your knowledge



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[Dream_catcher]

best idea is to take a step back before you can continue forward in this case.

your fats should never go super low. carbs can go low or even none. and you can definitely drop some protein. but that's for when you cut again. right now i would just reverse diet a little slowly add things back in.

 

[No ego lifting]

I highly recommend eating closer to maintenance until your finals are over... Fuck your diet, this is going to affect your grades, and those are infinitely more important.

 

[suboxone]

Yeah man I am, worked my ass off my 4th year to be able to finish with straight A's not gonna blow it so I can have a 6pack for the summer. I'm 25 I got a long time to work on diet and training, if I blow these finals the impact could have long lasting effects on careers


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[No ego lifting]

Yeah man I am, worked my ass off my 4th year to be able to finish with straight A's not gonna blow it so I can have a 6pack for the summer. I'm 25 I got a long time to work on diet and training, if I blow these finals the impact could have long lasting effects on careers


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Glad to hear you made that decision, absolutely the right one. I can get away with being a miserable shit with a cloudy mind due to my diet... I'm firmly entrenched in the union, and have a partner with 20 years on the job in case I'm about to shit the bed. This was not so as a student or the start of my career!

 

[suboxone]

Just wanna say thank you to you guys, for giving me honest feedback and advice. I needed to hear this, I knew this diet was to extreme and I was asking too much from my body and mind right now and didn't wanna admit it to myself as I felt like I'd be failing. It's not a matter of me quitting, or not being determined, it's a matter of keeping my sanity and health in check.

I know if I work hard I'll be able to reach both my goals as far as school, and training just doesn't all need to be at once haha

Going to get back to a baseline not worry so much about my body right now, then when the time is right try again with a better plan and not such a "crash course" get results as fast as possible regardless of health consequences diet.

Cheers guys


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