The Paul Burgess Functional Medicine podcast: Kristina Vassilieva How to make comp prep easy! Episode 33

Kristina Vassilieva How to make comp prep easy! Episode 33

Jul 24, 2015

Kristina is back with is today and she is sharing ALL the secrets of her second comp prep. This time it's quicker and easier!

This is what she talks about:

Contest Prep for Scottish Grand Prix: Drug Tested Event (European and World's Qualifier) 29th August 2015

How has my diet plan changed?

PREP STATS AND PLAN

WHAT'S DIFFERENT?

First contest prep was 16 weeks, drop from 78kg to 68kg stage weight
Aiming to: work on glutes and hams, come in tighter than before, need to practice posing and breathing more controlled
This prep has been 8 weeks (allowed myself 8 weeks to reverse diet, train hard and grow - THEN 8 weeks to diet down)
Lowered my calories more dramatically than before, from 3200 to about 2400-2500
Have learned that I need to really simplify my diet prep:

To be more time efficient
Less stressful
Takes less time to find, shop and cook everything, also to weigh everything out
Easier to find all the basic foods anywhere I decide to travel, such as Egypt - much more convenient! Grocery shopping is easy, even when there are limited resources and options
(MUCH easier to adhere to when travelling and pre-planning or prepping food for long journeys)
Alternatives or substitutes are very easy to estimate for the foods I've implemented
(Simpler to calculate and assess, quicker and easier to adjust and consequently accuracy and room for error is greatly reduced!)
Less variety makes it greatly beneficial for anyone with food intolerances: easier to determine if any food source is causing digestive issues, easier to deal with and resolve
Makes meal-prep so much easier for couples (with Ben, we can meal-prep and he can cook for me and vice versa without it being too difficult and stressful)
Makes adjustments much easier to make, simple and quick to increase or decrease portions, calories and macros
Allows me to mentally focus and commit more energy to other things with less stress and less time-consuming prep
This plan is far more enjoyable to follow as it leaves more time and energy to focus on other priorities.

First I simplified it to 3 different meal days (tried to mainly vary a cycle of different carb and protein sources)
But, then halfway through, I decided to simplify it even further by using only two days (one training and one non-training diet plan)
However, worth noting that I do not pre-plan non-training days and these rest days are rare, usually one day off a week

Having only 2 meal days, I try to stack a variety of 2-3 protein sources every day: usually chicken, mince/steak and tuna
I decided to cut out buckwheat with a strong preference to just using white potato and oats as carb sources for both days. White potato is main source.

CARDIO PROTOCOL

Have implemented LISS cardio sessions for the first 2 weeks of diet consistently (approx 15 minutes per day)
Biggest drop in weight has been first 4 weeks, from 78kg to 72kg, now feel already very lean and ahead of time, have stopped cardio for time being and allowing deficit to yield results
Will potentially be adding HIIT training for last 4 weeks to come, no more LISS

MACRO CHANGES

This time, very low fat and consistently high carbs (300g every day)
Fats taken out except x3 eggs every morning (approx 30g fat) = NO MORE NUT BUTTERS, NUTS AND SEEDS
Allows me more volume but lower calories for faster fat loss/results (focusing more on calorie intake)
Allows better performance
Better glycogen replenishment AND intra-workout HBCD carbs keep performance up
Number of food sources has been simplified:

Protein: Chicken, Tuna or White Fish, Mince or Steak, Cottage Cheese
Fats: Just Eggs
Veg: Spinach, Green Beans and Broccoli
Carbs: White Potato (not a fan of sweet potato) and oats, raisins. The buckwheat soon removed because the potato was higher volume and more satiating
Flavours: soy sauce or tobasco sauce, sometimes spices with chicken such as paprika, cumin, salt.
No Dairy (except fermented: cottage cheese, suitable for lactose intolerant)
Protein Powder in 15g halves (in oats and cottage cheese) - for taste and bump up the intake
Veggies are only greens
Started out with fruit (banana in post workout shake, and blueberries or cherries in oats but soon changed this to raisins to make meal better)
Took the post-workout shake out because I soon realised I preferred a larger portion of oats and raisins instead.
No rush for post-workout meal, usually about an hour post training because the intra-workout
Cottage cheese before bed stays constant

NOT THIS TIME: 5000iu Vitamin D every morning has been removed due to the amount of sun I'm getting
Multi-Vit - (3 x per day)
Omega 3 - 1g (3 x per day)
Vitamin C - 1g (3 x per day)
If fasted cardio, intra: BCAA, L-Carnitine,
INTRA-WORKOUT: 15g peptopro, 50g HBCD, 5g Creatine and 800mg Phosphatidylserine

TIPS: PREVENT HUNGER

Choose whole, healthy, 'CLEAN' foods
Wholesome food sources provide your body with the right nutrition including the right macro and micro nutrients, antioxidants, phytonutrients and enzymes

Phytonutrients are natural compounds found in plant foods such as vegetables, fruit, whole grain products and legumes
These plant compounds have beneficial effects working with other essential nutrients to promote good health

You'll find you won't be craving junk or ruining your diet with poor food choices
If your body feels nourished, you'll feel great mentally and physically
Never underestimate those SMALL variables that make a BIG difference to reaching your goals more EFFICIENTLY and risk-free