Thought I would post this in case anyone finds it useful. I have used it following my last two shows.
Saturday night: go out for a treat (I usually have some sort of cake, coffee and a glass of celebratory champagne)
Sunday: go out for brunch and eat whatever I want. If I do the shopping on this day I try to remind myself that all the food I want will still be there the next time I go, and the next...
Monday: resume clean eating, except for a treat meal once per week (usually in the weekend). For this first week, I try to eat exactly what I was eating the week before the week of the show in terms of macros (bear in mind that the week of the show I have usually carb depleted, which is why I use the macros for the week before that instead), but I add back in things I didn't eat before the show: dairy, fruit etc.
I then back out slowly, increasing my grams per day/per week by 10g protein, 10g carb and 2g fat (about 100 cals). So if I was on 1200 per day for the first week, I'd increase to 1300 per day for the second week, and then another 100 cals on top of that for another 7 days etc.
Is this hard? Yes! I am constantly hungry and I no longer have the thought of getting up on a stage in front of a bunch of strangers to keep me on track. But I know that by keeping fairly close to my 'plan', I will add weight back on gradually, and this will make it easier for me to stay within 5kg of my competition weight so I don't have so much of a battle when it comes to my next show.
I try and avoid my 'trigger foods' as much as possible during this period. My triggers are white rice, white pasta, bread, and cereal containing dried fruit), so I don't keep these things in the house post comp. I can go through muesli by the boxful (I did this after my first show). Instead I have it if I go out for breakfast. That way, when I'm finished what's in my bowl, that's it - it's not calling my name for the rest of the day, tempting me to finish what's in the packet and then start on something else. Yes it's better for me than junk food, but eating huge quantities of anything straight after a comp isn't great for my waistline or my mental health. I'd rather gradually increase the quantities of carbs that I don't go bananas on (brown rice, wholemeal pasta, rice cakes, oats, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pulses) so I can feel OK about having a treat when I need one.
I still haven't worked out a strategy for exercise yet. I usually get straight back into the gym but then come crashing down a week or two later. I'm contemplating having a week off after my next show, while my cals are still low, then gradually increasing my exercise intensity as my calories increase.
Does anyone else have any strategies they'd like to share?
8 comments:
I haven't done it yet but will be in the future similar to what you have done Charlotte. Slowly introducing calories back into our diet is a much healthier way to go about it not only physically but also psychologically.
Have you thought if you're wanting to take say a week's break from training maybe just dropping the weight training but doing some sort of lifestyle cardio purely to keep stimulating the metabolism and for sanity's sake. That would be my suggestion Charlotte.
Thanks for the post, great idea.
Lia xx
Looking good hun :)
Good luck with your prep your going to do well:)
Em:)
Thankyou for the insight into your post-comp strategy Charlotte! I am going to print and put into my folder that I'm collecting all my info in, and refer to it to help me through my post-comp. I am VERY scared of the huge crash that everyone talks about post-comp... not to mention how scared I am that I'll go nuts and put on 10kg in two weeks! x
Thanks Lia, yes I was thinking something light and fun, like swimming or yoga.
Thanks for your post Charlotte! I will definitely be doing similar this time around. Last time I just ate and ate, not too badly but things like salad sandwiches and rolls that I hadnt had in what felt like an eternity.
Good luck with your prep for this season. Like i said to liz last night.... "Bring it on!!" :o)
Tara xx
Thanks for the post Charlotte-and very timely since so many gals have just gone through their first comp and are feeling the after effects heavily.
I think your approach is smart-slowly introducing the calories...but I imagine easier said than done. I hope to be able to take this approach myself-we'll see!
hi car how are you? i hope your hand is getting better- not fearing holding things in the sore hand are you? im thinking of you lots as i nearly had the same thing happen to me recently-every time i have a shake i check the water temp!!!!!! this is really inspiring your post comp stratergies its something i find hard to get thru so its good to see you have a plan-i shall make one too!
Hi Charlotte, looking foreward to meeting you for coffee and a chat in July :)
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