The first few days following a competition are hard. After having been totally focused on all the necessary preparations for weeks, show time comes, and then suddenly its all gone. Now that the focus is gone, training is easily stalled. Now that the need for the strict diet is gone, binge eating is a real and present danger. 

I woke up this morning bloated all over. Right down to my hands, feet, fingers, and toes. Joints swollen and muscles stiff. This has been the worst post contest binge eating I've ever had. Since last Saturday I've eaten everything and anything that came to mind.  Cookies, cakes, fried, glazed, and bbq. I'm pretty sure the bloating is a direct result of all the excess sugar and sodium I've stuffed in my face. In three days I've put on 10 pounds. That's enough for me. This doesn't feel good. I will stop the slide today with 12 hours of fasting, a few cups of coffee, and lots of water. 

My morning ritual was a little tough to get done as well. I didn't exactly spring out of bed when the 3:30 am alarm went off. Even though I had a full 8 hours of sleep, I still wanted to sleep more. I think this is another unwanted effect of the uncontrolled eating in the past few days. I got through it, but it didn't feel anywhere near as good as it did just a few days ago. 

Time to hit the reset button. Get this train back on the right track. I've decided to stay out of the weight room for the rest of the week. It has been more than a year since I've been more than two days without lifting. It's not that I feel overtrained mentally or physically. It's just that I want to put a bit of separation between what I've been doing, and what I'm going to do next. So this week will be all about enhancing my energy levels. Only feel good exercises, like kung fu and my dynamic mobility drills. Eating less (reducing calories, salt, and sugar) is also necessary to create more energy. Resetting mentally has to do with setting some goals and planning how to reach them. I've had a lot of back and forth thinking about what to do next. I suppose that's normal when you've fallen short of a desired goal like I did this past weekend. My task by the end of this week is to have settled on a new objective to provide the needed focus for my daily grinds. Other than that, one thing is certain. Life goes on, therefore, so must I.