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I have been in the competitive arena for about 10 years now & I have learned a few things along the way from great fellow Champions like Lee Williams, Ian Duckett, Bill Young & Ben Agboke. I think when someone thinks he knows it all they come to a stand still. You never stop learning in life and especially about your body!
I have done the works on diets; I was adamant that I had to diet on 50g of carbohydrates a day to lose the fat! The first six years of my contest diet I used to diet the whole time on 50-100 grams of carbs a day with no cheat! (Breakfast and p.w.o) Since being on the web forums, I read that a lot of the top guys were dieting on double my amount, if not more! This was so frustrating for me as you can imagine!
After several years of back to back competing in 2001 I had my highest placing to date and the following year it was in my hands to take the title but I placed 3rd and this destroyed me.
So for 2003 I put my ego aside & went to see forum regular & IFBB Pro Lee Williams and he convinced me to change my diet and later I was finally crowned the Lightweight British Champion.
Dieting has never been easier; I have tripled the amount of carbs than I did in the past and felt
much stronger & more with it. In the past I always competed in good nick but under carbed, as I believed I had to lose weight every week & if I didn't I had to up my cardio & when I could do no more than I could, I then would have to lower my calories. In the past I went from 1800 calls to 1300 calories & it showed! Where as in 2003 I went from 2300 calories to 1800 by the end of the season, I felt much better & stronger for it. I saw Lee once a month to keep me in check & it made me more determined to stick to the game plan to show improvements, Lee has judged & knows what judges are looking for. Friends in the gym have no idea of what judges are looking for & will appraise you as you might be better than most people, when in reality you might not be at the competitive level of condition or even size. I think in paying someone, you listen more than when your given free advice.
Lee wasn’t under my wing for 2006 as he unfortunately had personal issues so I had to follow my initiative, fortunately it was a Godsend as I took all the advice I had been given over the years from fellow athletes and put in what worked for me. I upped my calories a bit more as I wanted to come in fuller. In 2003, Lee didn't approve of my weekly cheats in which kept me sane for another week & gave me something to look forward to. I also kept my essential fats in to more than he recommended. I had been dieting on & off since January & my calories have been the same right till November, when I last competed at the Musclemania Worlds.
Sometimes I didn’t even lose half a lb a week & it was frustrating. But with each week that went by I could see the changes eventually. As I learnt, people drop their calories far too low as they want to lose 1-2 lbs a week and if they don’t they drop their calories even more. By the time the season ends, they are on calories requirements for a child.
At the end of the day you have to find the calories that maintain your weight then do some c.v on top of it to tweak your metabolism. The first month I just clean up my diet byI cutting all refined sugar & saturated fats. Then the following month lower my calories to maintenance. Once this stops working I will start being more active, walk to work, make sure I do the lawn weekly, shopping, take the kids out for a walk etc. Plus you can keep the woman happy lol.
I follow a balanced diet of carbs & protein and I eat every 3 hours, 2-3 protein meals from animal sources and I also have 2-3 protein shakes by Maximuscle as I have lactose intolerance. I eat as organic as I can especially meat! Each one being a different type, chicken, beef & fish. For fats, I use Maximuscle’s cla & efa's every day and oily fish once a day. I don’t drop carbs in the evening like most do. I just have less. I believe it's all about Calories, as long as its clean food and you have just enough for maintenance.
Since 2003 I’ve also followed the blood type diet, which has also helped big time. Now I know what foods disagree with my blood type! Every year I competed I’d change things the last week & on the big day my stomach would bloat out! It would look as if I hadn’t dieted!
With each show I did, I had a two day lay off the diet and training and resumed again. I ended up competing every two weeks for four shows & managed to better myself each time.
Off-season I don't count calories but I make sure every meal has enough protein, I eat clean all week and at the weekends I have what ever I like but still keep my protein up. I have a very slow metabolism so I have to watch my calories; I put weight on very easily. It's so frustrating when I see guys diet for a few weeks and I need at least 16 weeks, as I had to lose 2 stone. I used to gorge myself with food after the competitive season was over but have learned to control the amount of food that I eat in one sitting and pace myself. I have only put a stone on since November and feel better for it. 
I always change my training routines every 6-8 weeks but I don’t have a scheduled week off, I just listen to my body. A person needs to get out of their comfort zones & be pushed by using something different.
I used to do endless cardio sessions nearly every day from 30 minutes to an hour first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, 2-3 times a day with the belief it will attack that stubborn fat. What you will lose is hard earned muscle! So for cardio I was only walking to work and back for 20- 30 minutes every day! As the weight went down my metabolism got faster and I got hungrier sooner than my regular three, hour meal plans. I also could get away with more cheats. I found once my body fat got to 3-5%, the calories I was on didn’t help, some days it would hit you like a ton of bricks & just felt like death! I hadn't changed anything, I wasn’t on low carbs; it just shows you that when your body fat is as low as humanly possible it doesn’t matter how many calories you are on. The last week was always the killer, it’s like my body knows it's the last week. As for the last week of the contest diet; if your looking good why risks losing it for a 1% better look. I did this mistake for the BNBF finals & paid the price.
 
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