Metabolic Damage ---> It continues....

[Crystol88]

Originally Posted by jewelofnile69

NOTED! Thanks, Erik! This is a good point as it will keep me from playing mind games with myself.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Crystol88]

Sooooo, this may irk a few people, but the point (from the guy who knows, Scott Abel) is pretty salient (from FB today):

Ok, this post goes out to those mature enough/intelligent enough to accept the "actual" truth - First the relevant point -> you need to think of your metabolism and your physical body to be like a bar of soap - the more rigorously, regularly, and exhaustively, they are put to use, the faster they will wear down, and wear out -> THEREFORE - the revelant lesson - is to stop claiming your thyroid iss...ues, your adrenal issues, and whatever other 'victimology status' you can come up with - ARE THE CAUSE - of your lack of progress and results from diet and training. -> THE ACTUAL TRUTH -> is that your regimented diet and training ARE THE CAUSE of your thyroid issues, adrenal issues and the rest of it! Like the bar of soap above - when the metabolism cannot respond, recover, and adapt - it wears down and/or wears out - the consequences of which are illness or injury! Now, I know the way to get a gazillion FB "likes" is to appeal to people's "denial and desire" -> by creating 'false truths' - but just because 100,000 people want to beleive a false truth - that will never make it true. So my post goes out to those mature enough and intelligent enough to at least "consider" the "actual" truth

[fitbecks]

Excellent post ^^

A pity more people aren't willing to open up their earholes and really 'hear' this!

[jewelofnile69]

Originally Posted by fitbecks

Excellent post ^^

A pity more people aren't willing to open up their earholes and really 'hear' this!

Agreed!!!

That's why I luckily always knew that what happened to me was because of ME....not anything else. Especially because I never had ANY issues before ever competing.

[Eboney]

OMG OMG!!!!!!!
I went back and read my plan from LAST year and I NEVER REALISED THIS....
i had that EXACT DIET TO A T pretty much!!!!!
fish....beans...fish oil caps......for the last 5 weeks of my plan.I never knew WHY I was taking SO MUCH fishoil....u just do as ur told though right...
Im pretty dissapointed to b honest.....i blew UP after my last show,nothing SO drastic but i did gain weight SO fast that i had to go to the doctor and get prescribtion diuretics....it took me a while but i decided to b honest about this and write about it.Its almost like i felt ashamed of myself for gaining weight after my show....


BUT that was LAST year and tings are VERY different this year.NEW COACH,Im getting fed WAY more food,a huge variety of food and not nearly as much cardio...oh and i look MUCH BETTER

But this did happen to me
Ive learned that competing is all trial and error though....Im happy i came forward,i LOVE U GUYS FOR BEING SO SUPPORTIVE

[sassy69]

Originally Posted by Crystol88

Sooooo, this may irk a few people, but the point (from the guy who knows, Scott Abel) is pretty salient (from FB today):

Ok, this post goes out to those mature enough/intelligent enough to accept the "actual" truth - First the relevant point -> you need to think of your metabolism and your physical body to be like a bar of soap - the more rigorously, regularly, and exhaustively, they are put to use, the faster they will wear down, and wear out -> THEREFORE - the revelant lesson - is to stop claiming your thyroid iss...ues, your adrenal issues, and whatever other 'victimology status' you can come up with - ARE THE CAUSE - of your lack of progress and results from diet and training. -> THE ACTUAL TRUTH -> is that your regimented diet and training ARE THE CAUSE of your thyroid issues, adrenal issues and the rest of it! Like the bar of soap above - when the metabolism cannot respond, recover, and adapt - it wears down and/or wears out - the consequences of which are illness or injury! Now, I know the way to get a gazillion FB "likes" is to appeal to people's "denial and desire" -> by creating 'false truths' - but just because 100,000 people want to beleive a false truth - that will never make it true. So my post goes out to those mature enough and intelligent enough to at least "consider" the "actual" truth

To reinforce two good terms that informed folks apply to lifting for progress & results that also IMO applies to anything you expect from your body:

Periodization
Active Recovery

Basically controlled phases, no extremes in either going to the edge or stopping completely - just consistency, small changes, some scheduled recovery time. No drama, no quicky results, but consistent spurts of progress in response to sufficient energy supply and recovery time.

[lil mama]

LOL AINT THIS THE TRUTH ......THE TRUTH is always a bitch and it will slap ya in the face a few times before we admit to ourselves that we are the cause of our mental breakdowns and physical breakdown Thanks Crystol and Abel

Originally Posted by Crystol88

Sooooo, this may irk a few people, but the point (from the guy who knows, Scott Abel) is pretty salient (from FB today):

Ok, this post goes out to those mature enough/intelligent enough to accept the "actual" truth - First the relevant point -> you need to think of your metabolism and your physical body to be like a bar of soap - the more rigorously, regularly, and exhaustively, they are put to use, the faster they will wear down, and wear out -> THEREFORE - the revelant lesson - is to stop claiming your thyroid iss...ues, your adrenal issues, and whatever other 'victimology status' you can come up with - ARE THE CAUSE - of your lack of progress and results from diet and training. -> THE ACTUAL TRUTH -> is that your regimented diet and training ARE THE CAUSE of your thyroid issues, adrenal issues and the rest of it! Like the bar of soap above - when the metabolism cannot respond, recover, and adapt - it wears down and/or wears out - the consequences of which are illness or injury! Now, I know the way to get a gazillion FB "likes" is to appeal to people's "denial and desire" -> by creating 'false truths' - but just because 100,000 people want to beleive a false truth - that will never make it true. So my post goes out to those mature enough and intelligent enough to at least "consider" the "actual" truth

[Crystol88]

You got it down to a "T" Beni!

You too, Sassy! Common sense is something we commonly lose touch with when there's a show date looming.

Hmmmm, could this wisdom have something to do with being on the other side of or dang close to 40?

Eboney, I know how young you are so stay on top of this, k? Health and wellbeing FIRST.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[fitglam]

Originally Posted by sassy69

Basically controlled phases, no extremes in either going to the edge or stopping completely - just consistency, small changes, some scheduled recovery time. No drama, no quicky results, but consistent spurts of progress in response to sufficient energy supply and recovery time.

I've had to learn the hard way that this is the only way to do it.

Any extremes in my approach = HARSH rebound, sooner or later. But inevitable.

[Miss Silly]

I"m still in the recovery process. I was in denial for a long time about the fact that the fight with my body (and food) became increasingly worse with every year i competed. I think it all came crashing down on me when I busted up my knee in gymnastics back in november (not from anything cool either, but because i crashed into a cement wall LMFAO). I couldn't sustain my stupid over-training regime. Nor the aggressive diet. Even once it finally got through to my thick, stubborn skull the cause was in fact my training and eating, i was STILL in a sort of denial about wanted to get better (even just "normal"), take a year off, just to be able to compete again.

Now, about 6-7 months later, and with a lot of intensive mental/emotional work, i'm able to see things with a greater perspective. Realistically i'm still a good 40-50 lbs above what even a "healthy normal" weight would be. And to be honest, i still struggle with loving my body 'unconditionally', so i'm still deep in the process and a lot more work needs to be done. I realize now that my body likely won't want to ever go back to stage-levels of bodyfat and i certainly want to stop the cycle of contest-lean followed by huge rebounds. I'm much more okay with that now, and hopefully i can find my outlet in other ways since i still love the fitness division. The good news is that my weight has leveled out and has been easily sustained and this level (albeit not my favourite size LOL), when previously just to maintain my weight meant something very, very aggressive in terms of diet & training. I'm still eager to eventually get to just a "normal" size, but i'm working on accepting my body as it is NOW, not "once it gets normal".... (still a work in progress....). I've had to work through all the internal struggles of worrying what other people will think, even avoiding certain social situations, and feelings of shame when i had to buy new clothes to fit, etc. Most of the time, i realized, no one actually gave a shit about my size. It was all in my head. And the few people who did judge weren't actually quality friends anyway.

But anyway, the point of my post is, that i have a suggestion for those who are in a similar boat who may be lurking about this threat *w*. Being an athlete, especially a competitor, has been virtually rolled into a huge part of our self-identity. So this contributes to the emotional/mental blow that it is to realize how badly you got your health & body into a jam and how difficult the recovery process is. We suddenly find ourselves feeling lost....even more so when part of the recovery means to actually stop training and dieting for a while----things that seem to be part of our very essence. Now what??!! All our focus gets poured into our panic and anxiety.

Something that i have personally found tremendously helpful during this period is to use up some of that intense focus (that we're so good at ;-p) by shining that onto something else that we deeply love and that we can do without focusing on diet, training, or our body. For me, working again with my horses and dogs (something i've neglected considerably during years of competing) involved something meaningful and challenging to me, but not dependent on my aesthetics or my diet. Pick something YOU love....learn to mix music, learn photography, learn how to paint, take agility classes with your dog, start sewing clothes and costumes for your kids... or go back to some hobby that you perhaps put on the backburner....anything that gives you a deep sense of enjoyment and pleasure just simply because it does.

With a word of caution though, this is not to be confused with avoidance. Avoiding dealing with the emotional healing required during this period is not healthy either.

[Crystol88]

Originally Posted by Miss Silly

I"m still in the recovery process. I was in denial for a long time about the fact that the fight with my body (and food) became increasingly worse with every year i competed. I think it all came crashing down on me when I busted up my knee in gymnastics back in november (not from anything cool either, but because i crashed into a cement wall LMFAO). I couldn't sustain my stupid over-training regime. Nor the aggressive diet. Even once it finally got through to my thick, stubborn skull the cause was in fact my training and eating, i was STILL in a sort of denial about wanted to get better (even just "normal"), take a year off, just to be able to compete again.

Now, about 6-7 months later, and with a lot of intensive mental/emotional work, i'm able to see things with a greater perspective. Realistically i'm still a good 40-50 lbs above what even a "healthy normal" weight would be. And to be honest, i still struggle with loving my body 'unconditionally', so i'm still deep in the process and a lot more work needs to be done. I realize now that my body likely won't want to ever go back to stage-levels of bodyfat and i certainly want to stop the cycle of contest-lean followed by huge rebounds. I'm much more okay with that now, and hopefully i can find my outlet in other ways since i still love the fitness division. The good news is that my weight has leveled out and has been easily sustained and this level (albeit not my favourite size LOL), when previously just to maintain my weight meant something very, very aggressive in terms of diet & training. I'm still eager to eventually get to just a "normal" size, but i'm working on accepting my body as it is NOW, not "once it gets normal".... (still a work in progress....). I've had to work through all the internal struggles of worrying what other people will think, even avoiding certain social situations, and feelings of shame when i had to buy new clothes to fit, etc. Most of the time, i realized, no one actually gave a shit about my size. It was all in my head. And the few people who did judge weren't actually quality friends anyway.

But anyway, the point of my post is, that i have a suggestion for those who are in a similar boat who may be lurking about this threat *w*. Being an athlete, especially a competitor, has been virtually rolled into a huge part of our self-identity. So this contributes to the emotional/mental blow that it is to realize how badly you got your health & body into a jam and how difficult the recovery process is. We suddenly find ourselves feeling lost....even more so when part of the recovery means to actually stop training and dieting for a while----things that seem to be part of our very essence. Now what??!! All our focus gets poured into our panic and anxiety.

Something that i have personally found tremendously helpful during this period is to use up some of that intense focus (that we're so good at ;-p) by shining that onto something else that we deeply love and that we can do without focusing on diet, training, or our body. For me, working again with my horses and dogs (something i've neglected considerably during years of competing) involved something meaningful and challenging to me, but not dependent on my aesthetics or my diet. Pick something YOU love....learn to mix music, learn photography, learn how to paint, take agility classes with your dog, start sewing clothes and costumes for your kids... or go back to some hobby that you perhaps put on the backburner....anything that gives you a deep sense of enjoyment and pleasure just simply because it does.

With a word of caution though, this is not to be confused with avoidance. Avoiding dealing with the emotional healing required during this period is not healthy either.

You are full of smarts! So glad you share this stuff...

[Erik]

Nice post.

[LaurenFazio]

Great blog I came across on twitter just now...

http://andrealianne.blogspot.com/201...ous-cycle.html

[andrealianne]

Originally Posted by LaurenFazio

Great blog I came across on twitter just now...

http://andrealianne.blogspot.com/201...ous-cycle.html

What a great thread! I have alot of back reading to do!
Thanks for posting! If I can help others in this journey that makes me happy

[Miss Silly]

Just came across this.

http://www.beastblogger.com/?p=2004

I think my favourite part is how she called out all the RIDICULOUS crap i see all the time on facebook where people perpetuate the delusional thinking. This mentality that celebrates this messed-up "martyrdom" in the name of health and fitness is completely ridiculous.

[Tcashton]

Originally Posted by Miss Silly

Just came across this.

http://www.beastblogger.com/?p=2004

I think my favourite part is how she called out all the RIDICULOUS crap i see all the time on facebook where people perpetuate the delusional thinking. This mentality that celebrates this messed-up "martyrdom" in the name of health and fitness is completely ridiculous.

That's a great blog! I am guilty of encouraging my friends too, altho not knowing exactly how they are feeling or their daily regimens it's tough to. Know if you need to shake sense into them, not that that would help we all know this, or to support them.

[LaurenFazio]

I agree totally.

I put on my status one day "mmmm fish and asparagus" because I straight up liked the way I cooked it that day LOL
and one of my friends who competes actually commented on it:
"all day every day!!!!!! so worth it!!!!!!!!!!"

Honestly. I was FLOORED. This girl had JUST competed the weekend before and placed 6th. She placed 5th at her last show prior to that. This was out of 6 and 5 people. She looked soft, and not ready for the stage. I can't imagine how miserable she was during prep, all for what??? Beth is right, people need to WAKE UP.

[Miss Silly]

I was just discussing with a really close friend of mine this... we both started back in 2003-2004 and at that time, i don't think the term "metabolic damage" was even coined yet...much less any sort of awareness or acceptance towards it. I am [was] very much guilty of that hardcore all-or-nothing mentality that i used to participate in until more recently. I think a lot of that is perpetuated by 'the industry' itself....for so many reasons (a lot of it having to do with money). What makes me really happy and hopeful is that with the increasing awareness and people speaking out about it, i think we are on the cusp of a larger movement. A paradigm shift.

Of course there will always be that one group of people who will never get it... but i'm hoping eventually that will be only a small minority.

[Kevin M]

When figure first started it was pretty standard for women to prep in a way that we now know can lead to a lot of problems. It took awhile for those negative consequences to affect enough people for the fitness world to realize that there was an issue. Unfortunately, some are still prepping this way because they have come to believe for whatever reason, this is what they are supposed to do. A lot of competitors who were just arriving on the scene and seemed destined to become big names in the industry when I first started covering the sports with Bodysport (2002) have now come and gone and are all but forgotten. Many of them had problems and just faded away. Now there is a medium for people to come forward and hopefully more people will learn of these issues before they have to experience them first hand.

Just this week, two of the ladies who were quoted in the original Metabolic Burnout piece that I did and talking about the problems they were living through, had updates. One, a pro girl was just on vacation and posted a number of pictures of herself in a bathing suit and she looked very fit, healthy, and happy. She had been up as high as 180 after competing at 127 so she's back down (at least 40 pounds) to a good place.

The other sent me a text saying she's back to weighing 121-the weight she was at before she had her big rebound. It's been a few years for her and her life has moved on in a number of good directions but this is something that she has been patiently working on. She was a top 6 national girl on three occasions and is planning to compete again, this time doing it in a healthier way once she's done with some educational accomplishments. Not sure if the first girl plans to compete anymore.

But it does show that there is a coming back from this which is encouraging news to everyone going through it. Hang in there and keep believing.

Kevin

[BigA]

Originally Posted by Miss Silly

I was just discussing with a really close friend of mine this... we both started back in 2003-2004 and at that time, i don't think the term "metabolic damage" was even coined yet...much less any sort of awareness or acceptance towards it.

It was called a post comp rebound back then. This is why girls had 'in season' wardrobe, and 'off season' wardrobe.

A.