Managing Post Competition Weight Gain
Here is a great article from IFBB Figure Pro, Angela Mraz. I am four weeks out from competing myself and already thinking of how I will handle my post competition diet. Think I might print this out and stick it in my bag to read again while I’m waiting for the night show to begin!
Over the last two weeks you’ve been whittling down your weight - reducing calories, restricting carbs, and on those final 48 hours before you step foot on stage, you’ve given up drinking water — now you’re only sipping it (Phase 2 in the illustration below). Mentally agitated, physically depleted and weak, all energies are being allocated to visualizing mental snapshots of your poses and remembering to face the judges and smile.
(Phase 3) Pre-judging is over. Back in the comfort of your sweat suit you find a spot to wait out the five our so hours until finals begin. Did you get first call out…or maybe second, regardless your mind is reliving the minutes on stage, stacking up the competition and assembling it’s own judgment on how well your body did. This becomes the first challenging point. Your stomach’s demand to be fed can be easily quelled if you and others believe you did well in pre-judging. If you don’t believe you did so well, this can be a very difficult time. 1st, 2nd, 3rd…8th or 10th place (whichever), you leave the competition telling yourself that if ever you deserved a cheat day, it’s now or tomorrow (Phase 4). These extra calorie days may very well extend past "one" cheat day (Phase 4 through Phase 5) until you find the "motivation" to begin reducing calories to get back to your appropriate caloric intake (Phase 6 back to Phase 1).
So the question is, how can you avoid these caloric highs and lows, and follow something more along the lines of this?
The above graph shows consistency throughout the year. Phases 2 & 3 represent competition calorie deficits. Phase 4 is the same as Phase, your baseline calories followed up to and immediately after competition. Easier said than done? Not really! Let me explain how I do it.
1) The morning of my competition I’m bucketing my thoughts into two categories:
- Bucket 1: what I need to focus on for that day to do my best while I am on stage
- Bucket 2: Comparisons of myself against my competition so I know what I need to work on the next time I step on stage.
2) My "clean eating" consistency lies in bucket 2. Since I am already focusing on my next competition I know there is no room for "cheating" or elevating my calorie intake any higher than what my normal post competition diet is.
3) Personally, mentally…whatever you want to call it, I am never satisfied with my body. Not meant to be taken in a negative way, but more so in the positive light of "I know I can do better, therefore I will."
4) I continue to visualize women whose bodies I adore. I frequently visit Facebook, twitter, personal websites and use their photos for motivation on how I want my specific body parts to look like.
5) I only take one day off from the gym post competition and it’s that Sunday. The following Monday I am back at it, picking up where I left off.
6) Having the best possible body I can have is my passion. I allow very little to stand between me and achieving that goal.
I prefaced the above six points by saying this is how I do it. We are all unique so it goes without saying that people are motivated differently and hold different values. I can only implore that consistency be the rule of the day. Without consistency we allow obstacles to stand in our way and prevent us from achieving our goals. Staying clean year round is extremely difficult. However, by not doing so, you tend to take two steps forward then one step back. Working out is hard is enough, don’t make it any harder. And even if you come in first place, you still have to prepare for your next competition, because everyone is working harder to knock you off your throne!
Stay Fit
Angela
