15 days out...

If you have information that leads to the arrest, conviction, and return of my abs call 1-800-lost-abs to claim the $250,000 reward

This is a photo 15 Days out from the 2008 NPC "Cruise to Cabo for Jimmy's Bachelor Party," taken right after completing only my 4th or 5th cardio session after my show in may (despite my promise to myself to stay leaner so I wouldnt have to work as hard come next prep.)

After my 2nd place finish, I've officially decided that I am not pleased with my current level of conditioning. Specifically I'm currently carrying some abdominal fat that I've never experienced before. Although I didn't get into it in my "feeling fat" post, when I sit my stomach folds are quite high in number, and when I bend to the side, I get some unsightly creases that I don't particularly care for. Abs? What abs?

I'm definitely not one to condone getting in shape for one day/series of days (ie "I want to lose 15 lbs for my wedding") as I always say, why not have your desired physique ALL the time?
But let's get real here, I'm going to a warm place where I'll be shirtless, and I'm going with a bunch of friends who I havent seen in years and all they've heard the last few years is "Ryan's a bodybuilder." I have to at least quasi-look the part before I go in for my fall/winter slumber and put on my winter coat of fat. Putting on fat is a normal part of the bulking process, but it's gotten a bit out of hand.

How I plan to get there:

Diet:

• I will still have my oatmeal and eggs in the morning, but I will employ a carb cutoff for my last 3 of 6 meals of the day. You may have heard "Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch, and a pauper for dinner." Well that's what I'm going to do but only with carbs, keeping my fats and protein up to preserve muscle. A typical evening meal will be chicken/tuna/beef/salmon with either broccoli or salad with a dressing of macadamia nut oil/red wine vinegar.
  
• I will keep my fiber intake high, as directed by Dr. Jonny Bowden, who lists fiber as the best fat loss "supplement" in this article.
• I'm going to limit my alcohol intake to 1 light beer per social function per day.
  

Training:

• My weight training will not change, still going heavy and hard with good form always progressing with increased reps or poundage.
• Cardio will be 2 sessions on non-training days: one 30-40 minute session on an empty stomach upon waking (hopefully) and one High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session in the afternoon. The HIIT session is a 2 minute warm-up, then 12 minutes of: 20 second max effort followed by 40 second cruising effort, repeated 12 times, then 2 minute cooldown.

Carrie said she was gonna do some of this with me too, but the girl is a genetic anomaly and stays lean in and out of the gym.
But with this program I hope come cabo we'll be the belles of the balls.