You're doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach...Check. You've cut out all but 75 grams of carbs per day...Check.  You've added two additional protein meals to help retain muscle...Check.  You're changing course every five days out of frustration????  Hey, wait just a darned second!!! 

You may find yourself bewildered as to why you're not getting the results you desire out of your diet, but the answers may be much easier to find than you think. In fact, if you actually wrote out what it is you are doing, each week, in some form, you might be surprised at what you find.

It's actually quite common to be doing things differently than you imagine or truly believe you are in your head. In your mind's eye, you're taking one course, but in your daily life, you're taking another. Keeping all of the facts you believe to be true up in your head isn't the path to progress, it's the path to disaster. Take the time to assess what it is you are actually doing not what you believe yourself to be doing and you may be surprised at what you find.

What a good start toward seeing what might be going awry? Here it is....

1. Getting fixated on one kind of protein - Many aspiring bodybuilders make the mistake of eating just one kind of protein all the time. Chicken breasts are the most common, because they're cheap and easy to fix and keep in the refrigerator in quantity. The problem is, the body becomes accustomed to foods that it processes often. Protein is crucial for growth, so if the body begins to ignore or reject it (by way of food allergies) it can mean curtains for mass building. Try to vary protein sources and include 2-3 different proteins in your diet daily.

2. Viewing supplements as a cure-all or mop up for poor eating - Supplements, especially fat burners, aren't meant to be mop-up for overeating and bad food choices. Neither is chitosan, carb blockers, or other supplements that were created to tweak the diet.

3. Eliminating all fat in diet - Ridding the body of body fat is one thing, but ridding your diet of all fat can spell trouble. Sure, you'll get ripped by cutting either carbs or fat, but you can make yourself sick cutting out dietary fat. Looking stringy is the visual side effect of a diet too long without fat, but ill health is what lies ahead when you cut fat out of your diet for too long. And low fat may be making a comeback in preparations. For 10 years it's been cycling carbs, but prior to that, it was low fat. Every season has its favorite. Just don't get caught up in this one!

4. Making enormous dietary changes all at once - The mistake a lot of wannabe competitors make is making all the changes they need to make at once. Not only does this shock the body, but it sets you up for failure. Going from pizza and burgers to what you might eat at the end of your 12-14 week diet (fish and broccoli) in one felled swoop is probably going to end you. Not only that though... Jumping from dietary Shangri-la to dietary concentration camp is not going to leave you anyplace to go when you need to tweak your physique with small changes each week. Leave yourself both room and sanity.

5. Eating haphazardly and inconsistently - This is something a lot of people do and don't realize it:  They will eat well for 4 or 5 days, and make strides toward change, and then have a totally off the hook day of bingeing. They're back on it within a day or two, but have taken 4 steps backward and don't even realize it. You must remain on a diet for longer than 4 days to see results. Also, if you keep a daily log, you would see when you slip and not wonder two months down the road why you don't look like you've been dieting consistently!

6. Gauging progress by the mirror or scale alone - Scale readings alone don't indicate progress, but in combination with the mirror, a scale can be helpful. What's even more helpful is a body fat test using calipers, at least 3-4 times during a contest diet cycle. Body fat and muscle mass, in ratio with one another, are the only indicators of progress and success. And let's face it, the mirror never lies...it's just a matter of whether you do or not!

7.  Not tracking calories when going low carb - Cycling carbs is fine, and probably works for 85% of the people out there trying to cut body fat and get in shape for a competition, but it's a big mistake not to count calories while cutting carbs. The mistaken assumption about low carb is that it's open season on eating as much fat and protein you can eat.

8.  Overeating in between seasons - One of the biggest problems for bodybuilders who cannot seem to get into hard, ripped condition, is that they overeat in the off season. Since the off season is often the majority of the year, the body becomes accustomed to being in poor condition much more often than it does in good condition. For crisp cuts and creases, that's a problem! Try eating about like you do in the first phase of a contest diet. You keep the calories high, but keep the food clean. Give yourself a cheat meal once a week, and then get back on it . We guarantee that you'll look better than you ever imagined.