The Binge! The Sugar! The Reverse!

I’ve said this for years…. SUGAR IS A DRUG!

Ever notice that when you stop eating sugar, you don’t want it.  But the moment that you introduce that yummy bag of Oreos, or that box of donuts or fudge brownies after your show into your system, that it takes almost a natural disaster to happen for you to STOP eating anything sweet.

Let me tell you….the binge is real!  And I have experienced it several times.

After 10 shows, I have still yet to master the reverse diet (more about that soon).

It’s a glorious feeling spending 12-20 weeks in competition prep and in a constant calorie deficit.  Yeah right, but when you twiddle yourself down to the low body fat perfect image you have never seen yourself before you knew that the journey was worth it.  The diet, the hunger, the cardio, for months that you have worked so hard for.   Most any category you compete in, after the competition is when the REAL discipline comes in.

I have seen it done before, people keeping the body fat off after a competition and they look great!  But the will power you have to hone in on is miraculous.  Imagine, basically going back on show prep diet and not having a show ahead of you

But it’s something about not having a show that makes your mind think “Oh forget this I am eating whatever I want”,  “This won’t hurt, it’s just a box, I’ll start back tomorrow”.

And don’t get me wrong, the occasional cheat day(s), instead of meals, especially after your show are ok, but having 3-4 cheat days in a row can cause a disaster of extra pounds to load on and fast!

So what happens is lets say before you started losing, your maintenance calories per day were 2000 (the standard norm), while dieting you went all the way down to 1300 calories and reached your goal weight.  But now, you don’t want to be on a diet forever and you want to go back to maintenance calories at 2000 calories.  But your metabolic rate has also slowed down now, because your body is used to doing less with less.  So if you add on more calories without having a plan, you can gain fat fast in places you don’t want it.

The Advantages of Reverse Dieting!

Reverse dieting is known to bring your metabolism back to normal after a period of a calorie deficit (weight loss).  No matter whether it’s extreme for bodybuilding or regular life weight loss.  Reverse dieting can be beneficial in helping people who

• Have been dieting for weeks and weeks on lower calories than a “normal” everyday diet to lose bodyfat (for bodybuilding/weight lifting)
• Have been dieting for an everyday fit lifestyle, but you have come to a plateau or you don’t have a good energy source throughout the day

HOW TO DO IT!

Basically after your show, the easiest way to do it, is to

1. Remember the calories you are on before your carb up (ex: 1200)
2. After 1 or 2 days (according to your coach/yourself) Go back for one week on that 1200 calorie diet
3. The next week, add 100 calories (distribute these calories over Protein/Carb/Fat macros)
4. After about 4-8 weeks, you can up your calories and almost be at double what you started out at

So you have basically rebooted your metabolism.  Your body fat will still be very low and you probably won’t have gained a lot, if any, weight that you worked so hard to burn off.

You MUST plan ahead, hince the reason why I have always failed.

Tamara Miche’

Be Fearless ~ Pursue your passion!