For the average male, this diet includes about 150 to 200 grams of carbohydrates per day. For the average female, the carbohydrate intake is about 90 to 130 grams. This is just enough carbohydrate to stay alert and fuel high intensity workouts. A larger drop would be overkill. The protein intake is often extremely high for large and highly active individuals - as high as 300 to 375 grams per day for men and 180 to 220 grams for women. This usually works out to about 1.5 to 2.0 grams per pound of body weight. Most people- except the world’s best bodybuilders, of course – would argue that this is far too much protein, which it probably is if you stayed at this level all the time. However, if you reduce your carbohydrates to 25-30% of your total calories and you don’t increase your protein and or fat to compensate, your calorie deficit will be too large. Whenever the calorie deficit is too big, you trigger the starvation mode. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of consuming this much protein, then you’ll have to make up the difference in calories with essential fats (for example, 30% carbohydrate, 30% fat, 40% protein). Keep in mind that the extremely high protein levels are temporary and they shouldn’t be maintained for more than 12-16 weeks prior to the contest or photo shoot. Afterwards, you would gradually shift back to a baseline diet with more carbohydrates and less protein for maintenance. Sample low carbohydrate menu Meal 1 – 7:00 am : oatmeal, 2 scoops whey protein Meal 2 – 9:30 am : oatmeal, egg white omelet with pepper, onion, tomato Meal 3 – 12:30 pm : small serving brown rice, top round steak, broccoli Meal 4 – 3:30 pm : Chicken breast, green beans, 1 tbsp flax oil Meal 5 – 6:00 pm : Salmon, asparagus Meal 6 – 8:30 pm : mixed green salad, olive oil & vinegar dressing, tuna fish This menu also uses the carbohydrate tapering method, only in this case, the starchy carbohydrates are cut off after 12:30 pm. Meals one through three have a lean protein and a starchy carbohydrates while meals three through six contain only lean proteins and fibrous carbohydrates. In addition, the serving sizes of the starchy carbohydrates in the first three meals has been reduced. B) Carbohydrate “Cycling” A low to moderate carbohydrate and high protein diet will cause much faster fat loss than a high carbohydrate diet. However, it may seem like the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. Fortunately, there’s a solution to these problems and it’s called “carbohydrate cycling.” or "carb rotation" as we like to call it at Sixpacknow. Some people refer to carbohydrate cycling as “zig zag” dieting, “Hi-low” dieting, “carbing-up” or carbohydrate “re-feeding.” Regardless of what you name it, carbohydrate cycling is probably the most powerful fat burning strategy on the planet. Nothing else even comes close. It is the only guaranteed way to overcome the body’s starvation response when calories and carbohydrates are low. Not only do you avoid a negative response, but you also invoke many positive responses that do not occur when holding your carbohydrates and calories at the same low level day in and day out. That’s the main problem with conventional low carbohydrate diets – they suggest that you drop your carbohydrates and keep them low. What I am suggesting is that you drop your carbohydrates for a few days, then increase them again before your body figures out what the heck is going on! Carbohydrate cycling has been a well-kept secret of bodybuilders and fitness models for decades, but anyone can use it to accelerate fat loss or break a plateau. The beauty of this method is that it allows you to get all the fat loss benefits of low carbohydrate dieting without the low carbohydrate side effects. Most important, it keeps your metabolism elevated and prevents you from going into starvation mode. In fact with this way this I managed to get rid of the excess body-fat and create a worthy physique and if you don’t believe me check my page at  www.sixpacknow.com/askpanos.html Why you shouldn’t stay on low carbohydrates for more than three days in a row After three days in a row on low carbohydrates, your glycogen levels will be almost completely depleted. If you were to continue on low carbohydrates for a fourth day, fifth day, or beyond, you would notice your energy and training intensity begin to diminish. You would also notice that your muscles would “flatten out” and become softer. Your metabolic rate would begin to slow down and your thyroid gland would decrease its output of thyroid hormone. Basically, your diet would become less and less effective the longer you stayed on low carbohydrates beyond the three day period. Your body is so “smart,” it simply makes changes in physiology and metabolism to compensate for the prolonged lack of carbohydrates (which it interprets as starvation). That’s why you have to keep your body guessing, by throwing in a high carbohydrate day every fourth day.