fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

My recent negative experiences with "Dr." Joe have led me to think a lot about the issue of rebounding.  In a sense my whole competition prep with him was a lesson in rebounding as I was set up from the very start for failure.  If you are preparing for a competition, I would urge you to look carefully at your diet and exercise patterns as you diet down for your competition and to make sure that you have a plan for backing out of your competition both in terms of your diet and exercise.  I am convinced that you can do this without putting on excess weight and without feeling miserable.  I have seen some women do it but I am convinced it is because they followed a few sound principles which I would like to share in this post.

1.  Make sure you eat breakfast.  Turns out one of the most common characteristics among bingers is that they don’t eat breakfast.  While mentally you may think that by omitting your morning nutrition you are saving calories, you are setting up a cascade of biological processes in your body that are going to lead to depressed metabolic rate, increased hunger, low blood sugar, etc.  Eat a good mix of protein, complex carbs and healthy fat -a couple eggwhites, a whole egg (good for you), and oatmeal or ezekiel bread will do the trick nicely here.

2.  Get your sleep.  Burning the candle at both ends will also set in motion some unwanted biochemical processes that won’t help you.  Believe it or not, folks who get 8-9 h of uninterrupted sleep have been shown to lose more weight so get your shut eye!

3.  Eat!  If you have been dieting on less than 1200 calories you are setting yourself up for a metabolic nightmare.  Walk away from any coach who has you dieting at low calories for an extended period of time.  This will depress your metabolic rate, likely lead to nutritional imbalances, and a myriad of health problems. 

4.  Nix the artificial sugar.  If you hold a Walden Farms Platinum visa card you are setting yourself up for a metabolic nightmare.  Artificial sugars DO have calories.  A packet of splenda is 2.5 calories and if you use multiple packages, you can do the math.  A cup of splenda has 96 calories and 27 totally wasted carbohydrates.  A number of recent studies suggest that the body does in fact react to artificial sugars much in the same way it does to sugar and appears to stoke the sugar fire/produce sugar cravings in some individuals.  A number of people have reported a wide range of allergic responses to splenda.  Walk away.

5.  Drink plenty of fluids including water.  Your body is primarily composed of water.  Water is essential for all of the fundamental biochemical processes that occur in your body.  It is essential for good health.  Many people are chronically dehydrated.  They cannot distinguish between thirst and hunger.  Often when you think you are hungry, you are actually thirsty.  Water has ZERO calories.  Drinking plenty of water has been shown to stoke the metabolism.  Drink up! 

6.  Don’t try to compensate (diet/exercise) for overeating.  Listen to your body!  Don’t over-exercise in an effort to burn off any food you may have consumed during a binge.  This is guaranteed to result in exhaustion and to contribute to subsequent binging.  If you do more cardio in an effort to compensate, listen to your body and if you are hungry, eat!  Do not purposely miss a meal or under eat as this strategy is guaranteed to back fire and lead to further binging. 

7.  Immediately following your competition take a few days off from the gym and allow your body to recover.  Your hard-won muscles won’t atrophy overnight -guaranteed!  In fact, by resting you will really help yourself to stay on track in terms of your diet.  Competing is extremely hard work - very stressful for your body.  Following competition, your body is tired/exhausted/beat up and will rebel and demand more food if you insist on overdoing it by going back at it full throttle in the gym.

8.  Remember you can’t put on a significant amount of weight by overeating in one day.  It takes a series of poor days to put on weight so if you do binge, get back on track in terms of your diet and exercise program as soon as possible.

Final thoughts:  if things do get out of control, take a deep breath.  You really aren’t alone.  You aren’t the first nor unfortunately will you be the last person to experience rebound.  Reach out to your coach and if that’s not working reach out to the greater community as help IS out there.  Anyone who has undergone the demands of dieting down for competition CAN get back on track and you CAN lose any unwanted weight you have gained.  Big hug!  I know - sigh - I HAVE been there!

One of the things I had heard the most about before even considering competing was rebounding.  This is the regain of weight following competition that causes some to go into an emotional and physical tailspin as their egos have become intertwined with their temporary/artificial competition physique.  As someone who was formerly obese this was something I worried a great deal about when considering competing as I had no interest in becoming overweight ever again.  While this certainly at least mentally put me on alert, the information did not translate, as information often fails to, into action.  No sooner had I left the competition venue did I find myself waiting at the train station to go home and worshipping the vending machines to which I am ordinarily immune.  I cannot say how much money I spent but I ate quite a lot of junk food including jalapeno potato chips, pop tarts, peanut butter cups, an almond joy bar, diet soda (give me a break!) and peanut m&m’s(burp!).  As soon as I got home after showering (a desire to be clean was the only thing slowing me down), I walked across the street and bought two slices of pizza, a pint of ice cream, a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies, more peanut m&m’s and gorged myself until I was replete.  Sunday was a repeat performance only this time I ate so much food I felt sick which was a good thing because this put me on notice mentally and helped me get back on track Monday and Tuesday.  I had been promised there was a backing out program but got no response to my emails.  I figured my coaches were busy with other girls’ prep and didn’t press as hard as I wish I had.  Unfortunately I got off course again. I didn’t let that slow me down I tried to eat well Thursday and Friday only to stumble again Saturday.  I suppose at this point I could have just throw up one’s hands and give up, right?   Sorry but no.  I just dusted myself off again and got right back on track.  I motored along back on track 4 days straight.  Fell off the bandwagon and climbed back on again.   I have been struggling the last few weeks to stay on track.   I am not sure what I am going to do at this point.  I am tired and frustrated and I have worked too hard to get where I am weight-wise.  Don’t worry I am too stubborn and have worked too hard to stay down.  I am just struggling to figure out how to stay on track.

If you have any advice, I would really love to hear from you!!  Many thanks in advance.

I competed in the NPC Ocean State Natural in Providence RI as a novice figure competitor last Saturday.  I had the time of my life.  Over the next couple days I would like to reflect on my experiences and share some insights I have gained.

First, I was truly blessed in that I met some absolutely amazing women with whom I shared the stage last Saturday.  I am so thankful that when I went to my competition I went focused on enjoying the competition rather than on "competing" per se.  All three of my new friends were novices, too, though one was brave enough that she had decided to compete in the Masters class rather than doing novice (you can’t do both at least at our competition).  One was two years older than me and a tall, poised, confident mom who had set up a Harley Davidson franchise.  Another was a personal trainer who had competed in novice here before.  The third had a similar history to me though she was much younger - she used to be overweight, lost the weight, discovered weight training and is now moving out of state to begin a new life and career in personal training - wow!   Truly inspiring! women!

Makeup - I used MAC NW45 foundation.  It was way too dark and didn’t match the JanTana On Stage.  I think I would have done better to have used the JanTana foundation I purchased.  I did 3 coats of the JanTana and I think that was about right in terms of how I looked on stage.
Make up - I am glad that I used stage makeup.  I think my makeup worked well on stage though I have to say I felt overdone off stage.  I used a very light color as a highlighter under my brows and it really lit up my eyes and face.

Suit - wise investment.  Lidia Conti’s suit would have looked cheap and horrid compared to the suits of the other ladies.  My suit a creation by Maggie Blanchard looked gorgeous, fit me perfectly and most importantly made me feel like a winner! and that’s what this should be about.  It wasn’t cheap but I am so glad I went with Maggie!

Pedicure - don’t waste the money unless you really want to have a pedicure; the judges can’t see your toes on stage and neither can anyone else.  Manicure on the other hand is essential - french tip looks great and you will feel great too!

Costume jewelry - essential as I found out everyone had the same basic stuff a ring, tennis bracelet and earrings.  Go to your local hooker store and get the jewelry there - it’s cheap and practical and they will have exactly what you need  My ring and bracelet stretch to fit and the whole look cost me $20.

Post competition eating - this has been my downfall and I will admit it upfront.  I was warned about this but I have to say head knowledge isn’t heart or in this case stomach knowledge.  When I left the competition venue last Saturday, I had every intention of eating clean and sticking to my program but I had to wait at the train station and I ended up devouring a ridiculous amount of junk food from the vending machines - honestly just about anything and everything and I am being quite honest when I say that.  When I got home after showering (I hadn’t bathed since Thursday night - pu!),  I had pizza and ice cream.   I haven’t eaten consistently well this past week but I am not going to cry about that.  I have been dieting hard since just before Xmas and I am LOL! very human.  I did workout last week.  I think the important thing is to get back on track and that’s what I did this morning.