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The Show is Over - Where's the
food?
by
Shara Vigeant
You have
dieted for what seems like 1 year, step off stage in total
exuberance from just completing your first competition and
sprint to the bottles of water stacked off-stage that were
taunting you all day. After gulping a couple bottles of water,
you run full speed to the delightful little treats and snacks
that you have stockpiled for the past two weeks – the very food
you have been dreaming of, obsessing over and craving for the
entire diet. STOP!! Don’t do it!! Don’t eat that pizza,
chocolate bar, cake, donuts, ice cream, cookies, or whatever
sinful treat you have longed for all these months. Be strong
and say no. You will thank me in a week.
We spend so
much time preparing to get ON stage. But what about OFF stage -
after the competition? That is when all the information, all
the support and all the discipline seems to come to a screeching
halt. Post-competition is almost a ‘hush-hush’ topic, that
nobody wants to discuss. Nobody wants to be seen after the
show. You just know that after the competition people are
checking you out at the gym to see if you have ‘blown up’ – back
to your original size or worse.
It doesn’t
have to be that way. It is a matter of control and common
sense. You really must learn to appreciate all the hard work
you have done for the past 4 or 5 months to get on stage and
make it last. It is not worth ruining all the hard work within
a couple of weeks or days for a few moments of bliss on your
lips! I know that it is easier said than done to say no to the
food that you have been deprived of for so many months. I can
remember cutting out pictures of food that I wanted to eat after
my first competition, but I can also remember the extra 40
pounds I gained within a couple of months because of that food.
I put myself right back to where I started before dieting. I
felt like 6 months of dedication and discipline was wasted. You
should use the time preparing for competition as chance to get a
jumpstart on a permanent lifestyle change and eating habits.
After the
competition is when the real work begins. The following 6-10
weeks is the best time to gain quality mass and you should be
training ‘balls to the wall’ to take advantage of this window.
(Of course, training SAFELY, careful to not put too much stress
on your already depleted joints.) Many competitors however, use
this as an excuse to eat – everything and anything in sight.
Yes, you do need to put on some body fat to gain quality muscle
after competition, but it doesn’t have to be in excess of 15-20
pounds (depending on if you are male or female). It comes down
to the QUALITY of food you eat – it should be clean, quality
food. You must slowly increase your calories with clean,
quality proteins and carbohydrates. This will ensure you put on
lean muscle mass, not just ‘weight’ (fat with minimal amounts of
lean muscle mass).
It has been
said that some competitors develop ‘food issues’ and I am one of
them. I admit it. There are times when I obsess about food,
feel guilty about cheating or am too strict with my diet. But I
am slowing learning to view it differently – it is the fuel that
feeds my body and mind. Without it, I would not have the
physique I do. You are what you eat – eat donuts and you will
surely start to gain the physique of a person who looks like
they eat a lot of donuts. Yes, there are times when I just sit
down to ENJOY a nice meal and feel no guilt but I don’t make it
an all out binge. The one thing that bodybuilding has taught me
is the appreciation for great tasting food and enjoying every
single bite, rather than ploughing through a pint of ice cream
or half a pizza and then feel guilty and depressed afterwards.
Moderation is the key. You can eat your treats, but just be
wise about it. It is that simple. Easier said than done,
right? Sometimes you just have to talk yourself out of a
decision that you are going to make that will only be
detrimental to you physically AND mentally.
I know that
after the competition all you want to do is eat. It is like you
just got out of prison and the whole world of food is available
to you now. However, you have to think of stepping off the
stage differently. If a person, say on Weight Watchers or some
other ‘diet’ plan, reaches his or her goal, do they just STOP
doing everything they were doing to reach that goal and go back
to eating and living the way they were before? No! You have to
find a method to MAINTAIN your goal.
Your body has
been deprived for so many months without sugar, salt, dairy, and
other items. So think about it - by slamming in all of these
things at once, don’t you think that something nasty is going to
happen? Water retention and bloating are just a few things that
can, and will happen, if you don’t watch what you eat. You have
to SLOWLY reintroduce the foods that you have not had for months
back to the body.
Here are some
tips that have helped me, after my horrific post-competition
experience in 2001:
-
Immediately after the competition eat one or two small
‘treats’ that you just have to have and then go and eat a GOOD
meal (like a steak and potato). Avoid foods that are high in
salt or sugar. It will definitely give you a stomachache to
remember.
-
Drink
some water, but not TOO much otherwise you will surely
retain most of it from the salt/sugar you just consumed. (The
first year I made the mistake of drinking TOO much water,
thinking I had to re-hydrate and it backfired and I ended up
retaining everything I drank. The water retention was very
painful.) Slow and steady water consumption is the key over
the next week or two.
-
The next
day get back onto your diet! Yes, you read right. Eat
clean! After many months of bland food, your taste buds are
overly sensitive and you will find a lot of things too salty
or sweet anyways. By going right back to eating clean you
won’t ‘re-develop’ your taste for the other ‘enjoyable’ food
and will not miss it as much, especially when you will still
be able to see your abs 2 weeks down the road.
I am not
saying to completely deprive yourself - deprivation does lead to
binging. Just enjoy in MODERATION. You have to sit down and
figure out if you want to maintain a leaner look or if you are
okay with carrying a bit more body fat and then adjust your diet
accordingly. It all comes down to common sense and keeping an
eye on the scale AND the mirror.
Just remember
– every person (especially men vs. women) is different and every
person will have a different post-competition experience. It is
up to you to listen to your body to figure out what is working
and what is not.
(All of
the information above is based on my opinion and experience. I
am not an expert on this subject, but from previous experience
thought it would be helpful to those who have never competed.)
~ Shara Vigeant
(Shara is available for
personal training -
www.sharavigeant.com) |
