If your are really in shape question

[Anonymous]

I recently achieved a personal goal to compete in a fitness competition.

I did not win.

But I got to the competition level as I set my goal.

It was an intense experience and my journey was full of supportive people and competition.

I am a pretty normal person that took about 2 years to get this level and coming down is hard. The new friends at this level are saying 2-3 weeks off; keep diet stable and enjoy food, then 2-3 weeks to pivot back to training diet.

A competition diet is absolutely insane I have learned. I did it for 2 weeks. It was insane. You are basically dehydrated and just enough food to keep your heart pumping.

A training diet is your standard high protein low carb thing.

My question is how did those that went through hard core training balance a return to normal life? I achieved my goal, this body is literally unsustainable for any human other than short intervals. What is your balance and thresholds for how far you let your body go from (a loser like me - not elite) competition worthy to just content?

[Anonymous]

Dude this DCUM. Are you lost?

[Anonymous]

Are you a body builder? Marathoner? It’s a little hard to follow without knowing what you were doing

[Anonymous]

Lol. Thats the funniest and best and most DCUM response of all time.

Listen. Do you mean fitness competition like the bodybuilding thing where you put on self tanner and baby oil and wear a bikini? I have seen a bunch of guides on line for how to reintegrate to normal nutrition!! You’ll do great, just go and search those. Reddit has a few great threads too.

[Anonymous]

You can get a dexa scan and settle on an attainable goal!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you a body builder? Marathoner? It’s a little hard to follow without knowing what you were doing

This
Unless you are doing bikini comps, you should be able to stay close to what your race weight is

[Anonymous]

Why would you want to go back to your old diet? Yuck. Just add in a little more veg and water sounds like you've got everything dialed in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently achieved a personal goal to compete in a fitness competition.

I did not win.

But I got to the competition level as I set my goal.

It was an intense experience and my journey was full of supportive people and competition.

I am a pretty normal person that took about 2 years to get this level and coming down is hard. The new friends at this level are saying 2-3 weeks off; keep diet stable and enjoy food, then 2-3 weeks to pivot back to training diet.

A competition diet is absolutely insane I have learned. I did it for 2 weeks. It was insane. You are basically dehydrated and just enough food to keep your heart pumping.

A training diet is your standard high protein low carb thing.

My question is how did those that went through hard core training balance a return to normal life? I achieved my goal, this body is literally unsustainable for any human other than short intervals. What is your balance and thresholds for how far you let your body go from (a loser like me - not elite) competition worthy to just content?

If you're talking about what to do after a bodybuilding competition, I've seen many people fail at this. There are many (ex) fitness influencers who have competed and gain like 20 to 50 pounds post competition within just one or two months - a weight they were not at prior to competing. And some of these influencers didn't even get very lean to begin with (did not win in their class).

My understanding is that these people did not understand how to decrease your hunger levels back to normal post-competition. You should look up guidance (there are some from reputable coaches on YouTube) on what to do post-prep. Last time I looked into this, you can "reverse diet," which is slowly raising calories back to maintenance (adding 100 calories per week). I believe someone named Dr. Norton talks about this approach. This is very difficult mentally as your body wants to eat like 5000 calories post-competition, not 1200 + 100 calories, so your mental suffering will be prolonged . However, you will have less fat gain at the end.

Another method is to just allow your body to eat whatever it wants whenever it wants so your body can have normal hunger cues again ASAP. I'm forgetting what this is called, but a YouTube influencer named Stephanie Buttermore chose this approach.

I think there's another video made about this by 3dmj [a channel of 4 bodybuilding coaches]. I can't quite recall what they recommended but it was different than the two approaches above.

Personally, I have not competed in a bodybuilding competition but I am pretty lean and have maintained it for the past 4-5 months or so (visible 3 to 4 pack on a woman). I chose the "reverse dieting" approach and am currently on a "slow bulk" in which I eat 100 calories more than my maintenance. The "reverse dieting" wasn't too bad for me mentally as I would look forward to being able to eat more calories in the upcoming weeks.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently achieved a personal goal to compete in a fitness competition.

I did not win.

But I got to the competition level as I set my goal.

It was an intense experience and my journey was full of supportive people and competition.

I am a pretty normal person that took about 2 years to get this level and coming down is hard. The new friends at this level are saying 2-3 weeks off; keep diet stable and enjoy food, then 2-3 weeks to pivot back to training diet.

A competition diet is absolutely insane I have learned. I did it for 2 weeks. It was insane. You are basically dehydrated and just enough food to keep your heart pumping.

A training diet is your standard high protein low carb thing.

My question is how did those that went through hard core training balance a return to normal life? I achieved my goal, this body is literally unsustainable for any human other than short intervals. What is your balance and thresholds for how far you let your body go from (a loser like me - not elite) competition worthy to just content?

If you're talking about what to do after a bodybuilding competition, I've seen many people fail at this. There are many (ex) fitness influencers who have competed and gain like 20 to 50 pounds post competition within just one or two months - a weight they were not at prior to competing. And some of these influencers didn't even get very lean to begin with (did not win in their class).

My understanding is that these people did not understand how to decrease your hunger levels back to normal post-competition. You should look up guidance (there are some from reputable coaches on YouTube) on what to do post-prep. Last time I looked into this, you can "reverse diet," which is slowly raising calories back to maintenance (adding 100 calories per week). I believe someone named Dr. Norton talks about this approach. This is very difficult mentally as your body wants to eat like 5000 calories post-competition, not 1200 + 100 calories, so your mental suffering will be prolonged . However, you will have less fat gain at the end.

Another method is to just allow your body to eat whatever it wants whenever it wants so your body can have normal hunger cues again ASAP. I'm forgetting what this is called, but a YouTube influencer named Stephanie Buttermore chose this approach.

I think there's another video made about this by 3dmj [a channel of 4 bodybuilding coaches]. I can't quite recall what they recommended but it was different than the two approaches above.

Personally, I have not competed in a bodybuilding competition but I am pretty lean and have maintained it for the past 4-5 months or so (visible 3 to 4 pack on a woman). I chose the "reverse dieting" approach and am currently on a "slow bulk" in which I eat 100 calories more than my maintenance. The "reverse dieting" wasn't too bad for me mentally as I would look forward to being able to eat more calories in the upcoming weeks.

Hope this helps!

Thank you!🙏

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently achieved a personal goal to compete in a fitness competition.

I did not win.

But I got to the competition level as I set my goal.

It was an intense experience and my journey was full of supportive people and competition.

I am a pretty normal person that took about 2 years to get this level and coming down is hard. The new friends at this level are saying 2-3 weeks off; keep diet stable and enjoy food, then 2-3 weeks to pivot back to training diet.

A competition diet is absolutely insane I have learned. I did it for 2 weeks. It was insane. You are basically dehydrated and just enough food to keep your heart pumping.

A training diet is your standard high protein low carb thing.

My question is how did those that went through hard core training balance a return to normal life? I achieved my goal, this body is literally unsustainable for any human other than short intervals. What is your balance and thresholds for how far you let your body go from (a loser like me - not elite) competition worthy to just content?

The bolded is why I have no interest in following any body builders or fitness contestants or influencers. No normal person can ever look like that and be healthy, so why should the ideal/winning physique be celebrated or a goal? It's literally the opposite of health and fitness.

To the OP, please know I don't mean this a critique to you, just commentary on the industry in general.