Q:I am not in contest mode right now so I’ve been way more lax with weighing/measuring as well as timing of my meals. I still eat very clean mostly because I enjoy it but I’ve been training a lot less. I train about 5 days a week for one hour currently — all cardio weight training (no traditional cardio). Oddly enough, I don’t find myself getting the cue to eat like I did when I was training for the contest. If I forget to bring food to work, I can easily go without food whereas pre-contest I would be ready to kill someone if I went even 10 minutes without calories. All this to ask, does this mean my metabolism slowed down? Is it because I’m not as low in body fat? How should I interpret this change in my relationship to my eating?
A: WOW, great question and thank you for asking! It is normal, post contest to not be so specific with your weighing, measuring and timing your meals, as it is life and you can’t carry a scale with you everywhere. I am sure that now that you have gone through a prep, you have an idea of what a serving size is. Weighing your food day in and day out, I am sure has given you an idea of what a typical serving is so really unless you are pre-contest and have to be precise and accurate, there is no need to weigh your food, unless you are trying to to lose weight or focus on another fitness /weight loss goal. It is normal for you to not be ravenous, as you were pre-contest because you are not doing as much cardio and your metabolism is not up as high as it was. Now there are two sides to this, the first is you want to be sure you keep your metabolism up and get in your meals and moderate cardio but on the other side, it is LIFE and hard to be 100% all the time. When you are preparing for a show or in full focus, you do not let anything get in your way where as when you shift to reality, things change, life goes on, you do the best you can but there is nothing that compares to the metabolism and mindset of pre-contest. Now when you are out and about and do find yourself hungry, this is where your smart meal choices/food options comes into play. I totally understand where you are at and that is exactly where so many of us are! You can’t explain your mindset, mentality, metabolism, focus, determination, etc that you have when you are in the heat of a prep and then when you shift to not being in the heat of a prep, things just change and that is the way it is! There is no way to keep that momentum and be that 110% on ALL THE TIME like we are in prep. That is just not realistic, practical, healthy, or fare to anyone around us or ourselves! We tend to be a little OCD when we are in prep, as you have to be, but in LIFE you really can’t be that way all the time. Just know you are normal. Now, unfortunately, your metabolism has slightly decreased from the lack of ALL the cardio and not eating every 2-3 hours on the dot but just know that as long as you are making smart choices, doing the best to prepare your meals and eat every 2-3 hours, weight training and doing some cardio, you will be fine and this is what you call the lifestyle! Making smart choices, being prepared and planning ahead, staying active but also allowing for things to come up and being flexible, using your knowledge to make smart decisions! I would do the best you can continue with the tricks and tools I have taught such as always keeping protein powder with you and maybe even a small bag of almonds. It is key to keep something in you every few hours to keep you from getting too hungry and also to keep your metabolism up as much as you can to keep you lean and burning throughout the day! Making smart healthy food choices when out (lean proteins, clean carbs and veggies) and just knowing that if worse case, you fall off the wagon, pick it right back up and start a new day… Just know you are normal and going through a normal process of the shift from go go go to being somewhat normal…
Thanks for this question as it is a great question!
