I have gotten a number of questions about my nutritional plan and how it is going. I guess there are a lot of you out there that struggle with this.

A few things about me and nutrition. When I started powerlifting I was 200 lbs. I always wanted to be a shw. In order to reach that goal I had to do some serious eating. I ate myself up to 328.5 lbs. You definitely develop some intersting habits doing that. I always made sure to get enough protein in, but after that, it was a free for all. Pretty fun actully.

In the past couple of years I had gotten as low as 260 (I was actually 242 for about 15 seconds at a weigh in). Looked good and felt great there. That was pretty much a challenge to myself. During the course of about 10 months I was able to compete in four weight classes, from shw at 328.5 down to 242. I hit a top ten lift in each class which was a goal for me.

Still, I had some unfinished numbers I wanted to hit. I want the 600 raw in three weight classes as well as a 900 equipped. I know these are lifts I won't hit in the 242's. I'm really hoping to put those behind me soon. Anyway, as soon as I got off the strict diet, the weight started coming up quickly. I knew I had to get on a plan that I could follow consistently.

For almost two years now I have been following a backloading plan. It's a very easy plan to follow. I am not measuring foods constantly and do not have to eat every two hours. Training and recovery is hard enough, I don't want to have to struggle with my diet as well.

With backloading my strength is better equipped and darn close to raw as when I was 45 lbs heavier. When I am stricter with my plan I can get lean"er" pretty quickly. But right now I am in a bit of a down cycle. I don't care about being leaner as much as I care about hitting my numbers. So as long as my weight is under 285 I am lenient with myself in the evenings. It's a nice change from trying to be so strict. However, I weigh myself every morning. If it says 286, bells and whistles go off. I tighten things up quickly. This weight lunk alarm has worked very well for me in controling my weight.

When I reach my current lifting goals I'll really tighten things up. I am going to make the move down to 250. The thought does not scare me. It's just another goal. I just know it's hard to serve two masters. It's a fine line to dance with maintaining strength and taking weight off. It's just not a battle I care to fight presently.

In other words, when the sun goes down all bets are off!

Boston Area Bench Clinics linked per permission of Elitefts.com
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Fighting the battle of the bulge,
Vincent Dizenzo