Falling Apart!

[figurehopefull]

Ok so I have totally hit a downfall these last 2 weeks. I was doing so well with dieting for shows and maintaining an offseason.
I decided to take a week off from any kind of routine or eating plan....and now I have lost it all. For the past 2 weeks I just cant seem to get on a routine. I will either eat good for 2 days and then binge for a day, or I will just not eat for a day and then over eat the next day. I try to stick to something normal and then 2 days later I have a binge problem again. Whats going on????

Its like if I am not getting ready for a show or something I just cant seem to stick to anything. Should I just pretend I am doing a show so I can stick to a diet??? Whats going on here?? It is like once or twice a week I am having this binge problem where I just stuff as much as I can in my mouth and then for 2 days I feel bad about it so I try not to eat too much.

:fit:

[The Big Sexy]

First you need to understand that there isn't an off-season - you work on making your improvements in the "off-season" - and then bring it in during your prep.

My best suggestion would be to hire someone to write a diet for you. It will be more formal - and because you are paying for it - you will listen to it and follow it. It will be a task, complete with sending photos to your guy/gal coach every week. You will have weekly goals, etc. for you to focus on.

[sassy69]

Sometimes you just need a fucking break. So give yourself some time off, but own it. IMO it doens't help anyone to get into this evil circle of 'on a diet / cheat / cheat / feel like shit cuz you cheated / eat because you feel like failure / try to diet again / 2 good days / cheat / cheat/ feel like a failure / binge for comfort / repeat. I tend to take a little while to pass thru the phase of "I dont' feel like being on a structured diet" to "OK I'm ready to focus again because I'm in the zone and nothing tastes as good as feeling lean".

A lot of it is managing your behavior and your relationship w/ food. Its taken me most of my adult life to manage that, but more importantly, just simply to own it when I fuck up and get myself back on the wagon. Sometimes it helps to have some target events to get you focused on the short term - e.g. a weekend night out dancing or someone 's wedding or a weekend trip - whatever it is that makes you focus. I don't do well when Ihave a wide open and very long schedule of nothing but 'work / train / diet" w/ no 'fun moments' or tangible reasons to not let it all hang out and start wearing nothing but sweats. I've always found the big goals are easy, but the day to day stuff challenges me like nothing else. But at least be honest about it and own it when you want to let it go, and then focus when its time to get goign again.

[figurehopefull]

The whole needing something to work towards is what gets me. When I dont have something to work towards, its like I dont know what to do. My bday is in a month, so I think I might make a goal towards that. And more of a healthy goal then I lose weight goal. I could stand to lose about 10 pounds, but I need better focus on diet and my eating choices.

I had a really bad eating disorder in high school. So bad my parents actually took me to a doctor about it. I mostly got over it, but Im not gonna lie, it still flares up about 5 times a year. The whole binge/purge thing. But 80% of the time, I just binge cause I refuse to purge. Its a whole mental game that I have yet to win, but I am still trying daily. I just need goals to focus!

[sassy69]

The whole needing something to work towards is what gets me. When I dont have something to work towards, its like I dont know what to do. My bday is in a month, so I think I might make a goal towards that. And more of a healthy goal then I lose weight goal. I could stand to lose about 10 pounds, but I need better focus on diet and my eating choices.

I had a really bad eating disorder in high school. So bad my parents actually took me to a doctor about it. I mostly got over it, but Im not gonna lie, it still flares up about 5 times a year. The whole binge/purge thing. But 80% of the time, I just binge cause I refuse to purge. Its a whole mental game that I have yet to win, but I am still trying daily. I just need goals to focus!

Then pick some intermediate goals - keep in mind that physique is not just about the 12-16 "on season" prep. People go sloppy all off season and then come running around looking for drugs to help them gain muscle becaues they are all about the season and dont' have the patience to take the long view and understand that the growing happens in the off season. The on-season is just when you strip down to show off what you've got. If you got nuttin once you strip down, that means you need to spend an off-season or two building sumthin'.

I'm going to venture you might like a slow, clean bulk approach so you don't get fat and sloppy off-season. Its a lifestyle, not a season. Sometimes it takes a change in your mindset - if you set a goal of gaining 5 lb of lean mass w/ a gain of 5% bodyfat to support that growth (i.e. you gotta gain some fat to gain some muscle, but you can keep it under control). Set up a targeted training program to focus on building up whatever it is you want to improve in your physique and set up a idet to support that and then keep it in your mind that you want to gain efficiently and not gain additional sloppy fat. You can measure "progress" by meeting scheduled increases in weight pushed, or focus on improving your form & execution of the core moves - squat, push, pull.. Something. Step back and look at what you need to improve since and establish a 4-8 week plan to set a near-term goal and framework to move forward in.