"Kevin, you need to do a show, you work just as hard as we do and you'll love it"

That was how my gym mates convinced me to do the Lenda Murray NPC Qualifier on July 24 back around April. Since then I've learned more about myself in the last few months than I have in a lifetime, going from one end of the extreme spectrum to the other. From training 5-6 hours a day on less than 1500 calories (all from protein) for two months to gorging myself on fruits and simple sugars in attempts to spike insulin but have it backfire, it's been a crazy ride.

I'm not going to bore you with my tales of blacking out from lack of carbs, doing bench dips with 275 on my legs and pulling basically the whole left side of my upper body, staying in the dry sauna for 30-45 minutes in futile attempts to bleed water (which just bleed away from muscle tissue) and other crazy sh** I shouldn't have done or stupid advice I took, but in the end I barely managed to squeak through ****ght.

Right now I think I look ok taking into account what I put my body through, I've learn what works and what doesn't and now I know so that next time I won't make the same mistakes. Here's some tips I've learned the hard way (which is the only way I learn)

1. Calories in and calories out only works to a point.

I was on a 1500 and less calorie a day diet, where I hit my 200 gram protein and 60 gram fat macros just from eggs and fish. 0 carbs, only carbs came from green which were 4 servings of either broccoli or green beans steamed and that's it. I did this for 2 months straight, no cheat days, only one day of rest a week from training. Oh keep in mind I was still doing around 3-4 hours of lifting and 1-2 hours of cardio a day.

July 4th weekend was when I literally couldn't take it no more, I slepted that Friday right after work for around 14 hours, woke up still tired and feeling even worse. Had my protein and decided to shoot the basketball around to warm up for a run. Couldn't even reach the basket with my shots I felt so week, so I decided to just walk around a dribble. I remember the ball getting away from me and as I reached down to pick it up I woke up laying on the concrete. I couldn't remember what happened and I was out for about 4-5 hours. I was shivering (when it was 95 degrees outside) and couldn't stand up. I sat there scared sh**less for about 10 minutes until I had the composure to stand and walk. I immediately went to my semi-unriped apples from my apple tree and ate three. Instantly I felt better and then I knew what a horrible mistake I made.

The worst part? I looked worst than when I started, my body started burning muscle for energy instead of fat, so I was smaller, weaker and flabbier than before and for what? Oh and I was in high spirits and in a great mood the whole time I was on this diet (insane sarcasm here if you can't tell).

2. Diet based on your blood type.

The blood type diet really worked for me and I recommend it to anyone having intesine discomfort or overall bad health. When I cut oats, corn based, whole grains and dairy from my diet, I saw and felt vast improvements. No more bloating and terrible gas, my waist became much smaller and the water started bleeding from me.

3. Cardio is not the enemy!

A lot will say stay away from cardio, it'll make you smaller, it's useless, etc. You should know, every person is different, but again based on the blood type diet, my type of O loves intense cardio which is true. I love jumproping, stairclimbing and running believe it or not. When I listen to advice of doing intervals for 20 minutes, my progress stalled. When I went back to my routine of an hour straight of the listed exercises, my physique became better. Again, worked for me, may not for you.

4. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

For the longest time I ignored how I was feeling and how I looked because I was following bad advice. I kept telling myself, "It'll get better, just wait, the results will come". It's like a victim of a Nigerian scammer promising millions, the victims keeps giving all they have and telling themselves it'll all work out when it's just a recipe for disaster. In a way I'm glad I pushed myself to the breaking point, cause now I know what to do in certain situations. Such as when to eat carbs or when to eat red meat, when to lift heavy, when to do cardio, etc. From now on if the advice I take doesn't work immediately then I'll stop.

That's enough for now, I'm just wasting time here at work, it's around 10:30 and I'll leave at noon to check into the hotel and then do weigh in at 5. Right now I'm 192 with clothes (jeans, polo shirt and shoes) and my weight class is 176-191.