Post Contest: Bloating/Retention or Permanently a Walrus?

[GrlMeetsBarbell]

Hi all! I competed in my first NPC competition this past weekend (it was amazing!). Weighed in at 108ish before my coach had me pull water and sodium. By the time I reached contest, I was eating just under 1,200 calories. I should also mention I didn't have any kind of cheat meal in the seven months I was working with her, and 0 refeeds during a 10-week prep (crazy imo, but hey, it worked for the stage. Just the aftermath that's murder).

- I went out after the show for a fried egg sandwich at a diner.

- Sunday I roamed around LA, and by that I mean I ate my way through the city (french toast, burger, Salt & Straw ice cream [best ice cream ever], four cookies from World's Best Cookie Dough, a slice of pizza).

- Monday and Tuesday I was back on my pre-contest diet from three-ish weeks out, with about a 100 calorie increase. Except on Tuesday night, when I did bad things with a jar of peanut butter.

- Wednesday I stuck to my plan until late afternoon when I promptly went apesh*t, ran out of my house, busted into the grocery store and inhaled five donuts, a poke bowl, a couple of chocolate bars, and a baby burrito.

- Thursday my diet was pristine 😇 To be honest, I felt so physically and emotionally awful after Wednesday that I know I won't binge again. It's not worth it.

I've done 45 minutes of cardio every day but Wednesday, and lifted twice since the show. HOWEVER, I'm sitting at 118lbs right now. And I've still got the spray tan so I look like a lightly toasted marshmallow? No abs, and my waist at the "narrowest" point is about 6 inches wider since Saturday.

How much of this do you think is retention/bloating? There's no way I put on ten pounds of fat...right? It was weird to wake up without a trace of abs, but tbh the aesthetic part of it is least concerning to me. I can rock a little fluff. It's just the idea of creating that drastic of a shift in such a short period of time that bugs. Not healthy. I mean, neither is starving for 12 weeks. And neither is eating Vons out of hearth and home, but I'm only (a very hungry) human.

So yeah...do you think it's mostly retention and bloating? If so, am I good to continue eating clean, cardio-ing, lifting as usual, and drinking a metric fu*kton of water every day? Pls hlep.

[bschermerhorn92]

Good morning!

The majority of that is just retention and bloating, the same thing happens to me after a show. After I pig out and become a garbage disposal for a few days I pack on a few pounds. The big thing is don't let this go on for too long, a lot of people compete then pig out and end up having a lot to work off because they go off the rails for awhile. Enjoy some downtime but set a start date that's very close to now and get back on it and get re focused. Those first few workouts post contest always suck but I'm sure you'll be looking back to normal very shortly, hang in there!

[Garage Rat]

Yes normal if you were on a restricted diet and manipulating sodium and fluids.
It's best to try and eat up slowly over some time.
I know how it is though your out to eat everything you craved while on your diet.
When i competed it wasn't uncommon to weight more than 20 pounds a week after a show and a waist size increase.
Not the healthiest thing in the world and couple times i got edema in my lower legs.
You could push down on the shin and leave an impression.
This is mostly from tons of sodium and fluids that the body retains like crazy when deprived and is flooded with them.
The good thing is when you get back on track you should get back to your normal self after a month or two.

[smokinal]

Absolutely what the 2 above said^^^

I'll add that I think we get used to seeing ourselves in this unhealthy state we call stage condition. Then, when we get back to "normal", it seems fat to us. In reality, in our 'fat' stage, we are probably still leaner than 90% of Americans out there....lol

[GrlMeetsBarbell]

Awesome, thank you guys!

[maeva27]

Half (or more) of that gain is probably water!
I also depleted water prior to my competition and was 108 pounds on the stage, it is not a sustainable weight. The following day I gained back 3-4 pounds and I didn't binge at all after the show. I wasn't water (and carbs) depleted anymore that's all.
I had pretty much 0 carbs (no refeed, no cheats) all prep so when I introduced them back into my diet I felt HUGEEE. fast forward 3 months later I eat carbs all day (I have a new coach) and I'm 125 pounds and look GREAT plus I'm strong again, but yeah my abs aren't what they were on show day It just took a while for my body to get used to carbs again.