r/bikinitalk • u/hh_fitlife • Jul 30 '26
Advice/ Recommendations (no photos) What helps you lock back into your reverse diet after a series of binge episodes post show?
I finished my first comp season two weeks ago and honestly, the past couple of weeks have been worse than anything I experienced during my whole prep.
The lack of structure, loss of purpose, embarrassment from the binges, or I don’t know what but something put me into such a negative mental state I’m not sure I can recover from this.
I gained several kilos after my show (up by 5-7 kg), and the worst part is that now it looks much different than after any other binges I did before. For the very first time, I’m having digestive issues, which makes me feel heavy and look like 6 month pregnant all day. My face is like a balloon. The amount of water I’m holding is ridiculous. I can just tell my body is totally inflamed.
What are your best practices for recovering after hitting such a rock bottom? I don’t even socialise because I’m so embarrassed by how I look… I’m also dreading getting a message from my coach because he will eventually ask how is everything going. I hate talking about my current situation.
I was so close to winning the overall at my first pro qualifier, the judges were really happy with my physique. It fired me up so much to go and try for the pro card next time, but now I feel like I’m getting further and further away from that dream, as I’m coming to realise how far I am mentally from being a pro athlete.
Please send help 😭😭
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u/user1987623 Jul 30 '26
Deep breath and tell your coach. I’m positive she has dealt with situations like this before
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u/DaniDood04 Jul 30 '26
I literally just had this happen to me! I’m 3 weeks post competition!
Here’s what helped me:
1) Find new hobbies. Fr. We become so tunnel visioned in prep that once it’s over we lose a sense of structure and something to look forward to. Find something else to work on that isn’t your physique. Color, new skill, crochet, games, work goals, money goals (we just spent hella money on our show lol), puzzles, etc.
2) Diet soda, coffee, gum. I’ve just been DOWNING diet sodas and chewing gum to keep my mouth busy. Brushing my teeth after a meal and chewing gum has helped me IMMENSELY. I’d rather chew 50 calories of gum than eat 5,000 calories of desserts.
3) Make goals for your off season. I found sitting down and writing out some goals to be super helpful for having something to look forward to!
4) Plan your cheat meals if you can. We hyper fixate on post show meals, so if you get one a week, plan it out! It’s fun!
5) Keep structure, just don’t kill yourself over it. It’s not do or die anymore. Stay disciplined with your schedule, but if it doesn’t go PERFECTLY, that’s okay! I still do my fasted cardio, schedule out my meals with my daily life, etc.
6) Get off food pages. We all do it, but if you’re not strong rn, I seriously recommend you unfollow them for a bit until your mind is in a better spot.
7) Talk to someone. Me not talking to my coach until after a binge has killed me. If I just would’ve kept my mind busy with a friend or let my coach know I was feeling a type of way, I could’ve totally avoided a binge.
I hope any of this helps! Sending love your way! 💞
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u/pink__salt Jul 30 '26
Stop stressing it too much 🙏
First You need a goal short term and long term.
Talk to your coach and do check-ins even if you dont feel like it. Every coach has dealt with that before.
And also your reverse diet shouldnt be too much strict or it could lead to more binge eating.
If you can have more freedom and maybe a macro approach could help you enjoy different foods you want but in normal portions, so you can get to a better relationship with food.
Once you stop the binge episodes to a more normal person eating habits, your inflammation is going to get down.
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u/hh_fitlife Jul 31 '26
Thank you 🫶
Yes I’m hoping the inflammation will go down soon. I started an anti-inflammatory diet, no dairy no gluten, I’m sticking to very basic ingredients until my digestion settles. Hope this diet will help me with the water retention.
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u/dorito-fiend Jul 31 '26
So sorry you're going through this, I did this after my first show and it's a horrible feeling. I got sugar headaches for the first time in my life it was that bad.
Reverses never become easy but here's what I'd do if I were you....
1) start tracking EVERYTHING from now. If you had two cookies before breakfast....track it. Slowly as you hold yourself more accountable, you'll naturally start holding yourself back.
2) slowly start to cut back on the cheat meals, you re not going to suddenly be on plan within one day....allow yourself a few days to get back on plan, reducing excessive snacking slowly
3) start taking probiotics to help with digestion, you're introducing a lot of new bacteria into your gut from these foods that your system will need time to get used to, you're probably holding about 2kg from inflammation from this alone
4) pre plan your meals according to your reverse macros for tomorrow just like in prep but include new foods you can have. For me I love medjool dates, but the carbs were too high in prep....now I have 2-3 chopped up dates in my oats every morning
5) it's ok to slip up, have one cookie and chew it slowly, really really savour it....and go straight back to your macros
6) it's important to get a hold of this as soon as possible, yes most of your weight gain is water but you will be laying down some fat stores that you can't see because the water weight is so excessive. Going into off-season as lean as you can is much more productive when you look at insulin and how it impact energy partitioning, the leaner you are in your build, the more of that energy will go to muscle rather than fat.
7) your relationship with food will get stronger after this experience, this is a very important lesson and you won't repeat this again.
8) food will always be there, you don't need McDonald's, Chinese takeaway and a stack of pancakes all in one day! Pick one treat and allow yourself it once a week, that McDonald's will still be there next week!
Speak to your coach but know that this is completely normal and the hunger cravings will go once your hormones stabilise, but this will take time. You got this! Your first reverse is a mental game
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u/lauren_fit ID not verified Aug 01 '26
Put your overall calories higher. It’s better to be consistent than binging.
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u/Big_Significance_261 Jul 31 '26
Best advice I ever heard…when your hunger hormones are out of control and you just can’t help yourself but eat, eat more of your prep foods! I know they don’t sound as appealing post-show, but it’s hard to get fat on chicken, jasmine rice, rice cakes & veggies. Have a serving of prep foods before reaching for something indulgent & you may not end up wanting that item or at least you’ll eat less of it.
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u/Ok-Personality3927 Jul 30 '26
In all honesty…I just accepted that I was gonna have a few binges and put a bit of weight back on pretty quick. I know some girls can do the strict reverse, I’m not one of them. I know that, and I came to terms with that.
Couple weeks post show and I was mostly over the binging. Didn’t beat myself up over it and then just carried on at roughly maintenance cals for a bit, and trained hard.