12/5/18
HAPPY HUMP DAY, EVERYONE!
As of today.. I am 6.5 weeks post show. I think.. Or 7.5. LOL. Aparently I cannot count properly.
Anyways... Things have been going really well. By far the best post show experience I have ever had.
If you follow me.. And have followed me for a while... Then you know that I normally struggle pretty bad post show. Last year I blogged about my experience... & I was hiding food from Tony. I was waking up in the middle of the night eating. I just couldn't adhere to my plan. It was so hard.
And because of that... I was on a really restricted macro plan my entire off season to avoid getting overly fluffy. Therefore I was super hungry and felt like I was in contest prep IN MY OFF SEASON!!! My calories staying in the 1200's (aside from my refeed/cheat meal).
NOT AN IDEAL or productive off season at all!!!! I was so worried about starting contest prep because my calories were already low, and I was already starving!!!! Normally you would want to start a diet when calories are at the highest point and you are sick of eating (if that's even possible LOL).
12/7/18
And now it is Friday!!!
I hope everyone has had a great week!
Mine has been a little wonky! I got a small dental surgery on Tuesday.. So that threw my vibes off slightly.
But I will manage...
Okay.. Let's get into some post show/diet tips...
1. Mentally prepare youself for the post diet phase.
I personally think it is the hardest part of the journey. Your appetite is high due to being in a calorie deficit.. And when you no longer have a goal or deadline... It can make it very difficult to stay motivated and stick to the plan. So get yourself ready for the challenge!!! Know that you are going to be hungry. Also know that it is okay! Being a little extra hungry isn't going to kill you.
2. HOW TO LESSEN THE HANGRY-NESS..
Increase your calories/macros from PROTEIN and FATS (still give yourself some carbs around your training)... But definitely have most of your increase come from protein and fats. This will help satiate you. And it will help keep the inflammation down.
Another thing you can do is drink lots of water, tea, coffee... All of the marvelous zero calorie drinks. I currently am obsessed with coffee!!!! Which I find funny because I used to HATE coffee!
OOO! Another great thing... VEGETABLES!!! EAT THEM! You ate a ton of them during your dieting phase, don't stop eating them now. They will help fill up the tummy. You can mix them up too! If you ate a ton of asparagus during your diet.. Switch over to green beans :)
3. Lower the cardio!
I know this seems weird.. And can be scary to do.. Most equate cardio as staying leaner... Which means if you lower the cardio.. You might gain weight. EEK! But that's not always the case. Cardio is more activity. More calories burned... Which means your body is going to want to refuel. Meaning you are going to be hungrier. So if you lower the cardio... It can lower the appetitie. Plus, cardio is extra stress on the body. And after a intense cut/dieting phase (which is a lot of stress on the body)... You want to start to lower that stress and focus on recovery.
4. FOCUS ON RECOVERY
As I mentions in the tip above... After a contest prep or dieting phase... When you are burning the candle at both ends trying to lose the weight and get as lean as possible... Now is the time to focus on recovery. Bring your body stress levels down. Get "healthy" again. I put healthy in parentheses because going through an intesese calorie deficit isn't always the healthiest thing... That is why there is an off-season/improvement season.
There are differnt ways you can focus on recovery... You can lower your training volume. After my shows this year I went down to only training 4 days a week (versus training 7). You can also lower the intesity of training... Meaning don't go to failure, don't do an drop sets or super sets. All this too will lower your calorie output, which can also lower your hunger levels.
5. Embrace the OFF-SEASON
The off-season consists of training heavier (due to gaining weight, eating more, and having more energy & some fluff around the joints/tendons), higher macros, gaining weight, losing some definition, and overall improvements!!!! Most of that sounds amazing, except for gaining weight and losing definition. We all work so hard to lose weight and GET SHREDDED! So why the heck would we want to do the opposite?!
Well... The opposite is needed! It is a very important part of the journey and the process of becoming your all time best! So we have to EMBRACE IT! & that means we have to change up how we view things like the scale number and our body. We have to see it as a positive thing, because it is!!!! If you are following your macros and eating good food... There is no reason why you should get overly fat.
Something that can really help with embracing the off-season is focusing on your performance over your weight and lack of lean-ness. Just put your all into training... Which includes your food and supplement intake, hydration, sleep, etc... The better you eat and take care of your body, the better it will perform, which means the better you will continue to look!!!! WOOOO!
Well... I think I'm going to cut this blog here. There are some tips for post show / post dieting phase.
I hope they help! & don't hesitate to email, comment, and/or message me if you have any questions or need any help! :)