Bigshug - I hear ya man. Funny thing is, I'm not really pasty at all. People suspect I am hispanic or italian all the time. The camera and lighting are just for shit. Regardless, I will be a raisin come show time...
4play - I do a low carb, cyclical ketogenic diet. All sorts of variations but basically it includes:
-Several (2-5 days) of no carbs, for fat loss
-A carb-up (8hr to 2 days) for replenishing muscle glycogen and prob. regaining some lost muscle.
I don't screw around w/t carb-cycling too much: either there are carbs there or there are not. I've been doing the standard 5 on, 2 off for this show, which I hadn't done in a while.
I do NO cardio - I just lose muscle. I just drop the carbs alltogether, deal w/ feeling like shit most of the time (so shitty that I don't feel like eating, which can be good), and hit the weights like my life depends on it.
-Randy