Diet Departures Divulged by Vinny Galanti After being involved in bodybuilding over 23 years, I am training for my first pro contest. The Night of Champions is now 10 weeks away, and I find my self at a cross roads with my diet. I never before had problems with carbohydrates as I’m having now. Basically, what is happening is, when I take in carbs, I get flat looking, and watery. Carbohydrates have always worked well for me. When I warmed up at the Gold’s Classic in Jersey last year before the NPC Nationals, I carb depleted Sunday to Wednesday, and by Wednesday night I was ready for the contest. After carbing up on Thursday and Friday, I looked small and flat. I could not get a pump. This was the first time I recall this ever happening to me. My first reaction was to question myself. After being in this sport this long, I now have to relearn what to do? I ran into a prominent National competitor friend at the night show, and we talked about my carb problem. After taking his advice on removing all carbs from my diet, and replacing them with fats, such as natural peanut butter, almonds, and olive oil, I went into the East Coast a week later, in a tight and hard condition. From January to about 5 weeks ago, I was on my regular game plan like always before a contest. Again I was noticing that I’m not full or hard, or not getting a pump like I used to. I was eating 6 meals a day, I was eating all clean meals, cheating very few and far between, yet my condition should have been better. Again I was frustrated and confused. I contacted my diet guru friend again, and we set up a diet that in the last few weeks has changed my physique drastically. Basically I’m eating 6 meals a day. All meals are 8 ounces of protein with a natural fat. I don’t understand how it works, it’s all new to me, but all I need to know is what to eat, and when to eat it. What I have noticed is my body fat is dropping, my waist is getting smaller, my lines are getting deeper, and I get an awesome pump in the gym. This is all occurring with no carbs to help. I have never needed to change my diet like this, so it will be interesting to see the end results. Also, not worrying about a weight class will be a fun and welcome change. My energy level is at an even pitch throughout the day, I am not experiencing any spikes or lows. I used to sweat after eating carbs, and feel sleepy, like I could go into a coma, I just thought that was a part of the “diet”. This is an area of nutrition that I will touch on again in the near future, I promise to have more in-depth reasons as to why it is working. Below is my daily routine. Meal 1 Large rib-eye steak Diet Iced Tea Animal Pak Meal 2 Grilled chicken breast 1 tablespoon of peanut butter Meal 3 1 large piece of Tilapia fish Asparagus Half a cup of almonds Meal 4 Grilled chicken breast Broccoli Large salad with a tablespoon of macadamia nut oil and vinegar Animal Pak Meal 5 10 egg whites 2 yolks Mixed with vegetables Meal 6 Grilled chicken breast 1 tablespoon of almond butter