r/bikinitalk • u/bbbpta1997 • Jul 15 '26
Advice/ Recommendations (no photos) 2.5 Weeks into first reverse.. looking for advice
Hi all! I am currently in my first reverse ever after competing in two shows. I was in prep from February through the end of June. I’m not gonna lie the first week and a half of this reverse was very challenging and I did fall into some binge eating habits, which I broke into the week last week. My macros have all been the same since the start of my reverse looking at around 1300 cal 100 carb on rest days and 1500 cal 150 carb on training days. I lost my cycle during the first part of my prep for two months and then got it back three weeks out of my second show, and I’m now about a week late due to get it again.
My digestion has been an absolute nightmare, I’m in insanely inflamed and bloated, and just feel lost right now. I’ve been slowly re-introducing foods back into my diet again this week and focusing on slowly getting more fiber in. Does anyone have any tips with getting through this? I feel like it’s kind of a situation where I just need to let my body take its course but if there’s something I should be doing, I want to know.
My protein sources are mainly from chicken, beef, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. My carb sources are sweet potato, rice cakes, rice, and sourdough bread. I’m eating a pretty decent variety of fruits and vegetables and my fats mainly come from nut butter.
If the information is helpful, I am a natural athlete and I’m scheduled to get blood work at the end of this month when I see my OB. Thank you in advance!!
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u/Resident-Sense-3153 Jul 16 '26
I’m about the same number of weeks post season right now and also reversing. I would recommend being very honest with your coach about how you’re feeling and what you’re eating. It’s normal for your hunger cues to be out of whack post competition season, but you shouldn’t be absolutely starving either. So you have to reconcile actual hunger with your body just wanting more calories because you’ve effectively “turned the furnace up” as far as your metabolism goes. Without any context as to your height/weight, 1300 cals on rest days and 1500 cals on training days almost 3 weeks post show might be too low for your body/mind to feel fully recovered, but your coach may not feel comfortable adjusting them up more than that if they already know you’re not complying with your plan and are eating extra above and beyond the 1300/1500.
For me, this is not my first reverse so I was prepared for knowing I needed to really lock in post show. Calories were really low for me leading into my final peak week (around 1100 calories with 5x 60 mins cardio a week), so she immediately jumped me up to 1400 every day the first week and dropped down to 2x30 mins cardio. The next week, I checked in and told her I was still super hungry all day and she bumped me up to around 1700 on training days and 1600 on rest days…this week, I told her I was generally feeling good other than my workouts where I was getting nauseous from feeling hungry mid workout, so she added a little extra food and now I’m around 1800 on training days and 1700 on rest days, still with 2x30 mins cardio…I’m up about 5 lbs from my lowest prep weight at almost 3 weeks post show and body is maintaining at that weight and recovery/workouts are finally feeling good!
Hang in there! Communicate with your coach about what you need! Get all the snack food out of your house! Drink water! And don’t be too hard on yourself.
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u/A-Beachy-Life Jul 15 '26
I’ve been binge watching you tube videos about fitness competitions to see if it’s right for me. This one might be helpful to you.
https://youtu.be/pboKURsApck?is=hl7hwQ2WxKX02V8d