It's been 4 weeks since my competition and how time flies! 3 weeks ago Adam and I jetted off to India, which was amazing! We visited Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in the north and Kovalam, Varkala and Kochi in the south (Kerala). The Taj Mahal blew me away as did the hospitality of many of the people we met. They treated us beautifully and at many of the home stays we were made to feel like we belonged. We loved the madness of the north and the relaxed vibe in the south, but what we enjoyed most of all was.... the FOOD!! The food was absolutely amazing. The north provided us with many a curry, bowl of jeera rice and roti, while the south gave us fresh seafood, beautiful salads, freshly rolled paratha and an abundance of meals waiting an hour for!
The one thing that worried me about India was post competition weight gain. I had heard so many stories of people blowing out post comp (mainly figure competitors), and putting back on all the weight they had lost plus more. I didn't want this to happen to me, so the week after my comp I increased my calories a little bit, still planned out meals and kept it all calorie controlled. Then came India.... and I didn't care anymore. I was eating way too much, but I just didn't care. All my worries about putting on weight went out the window and I just figured, I'll eat until I'm full and enjoy this holiday to the fullest. And I loved it. I loved not thinking about what the food was cooked in, what extra things were in it that I didn't know about and did it fit into my daily goals. I came back and expected to have chucked on heaps of kgs and only weighed in 1.5 kgs up from comp day, which was good. I was surprised and happy!
I went back to training this week and my trainer asked me if I wanted to go back on MyFitnessPal and tracking macros or just eat and I wanted numbers of course. It's how my brain operates and always has. But then I started entering in food into the app and I found it to have become really hard work. I noticed that without tracking food I had been happy to enjoy a treat, not really worry about protein / fats / carbs and had really not put on much weight post comp by eating that way. So yesterday I deleted MyFitnessPal. I meal prepped this morning for the week with no idea about the amount of calories in my meals. I have estimated roughly as I know enough about food and what is in it to know, but I have not calculated. I am hoping to start going by appetite, eating what I really love and enjoying my food. This week I have been back in the kitchen getting my food mojo back and I forgot how much I love cooking everything in oil, putting coconut in anything possible and eating cereal numerous times a day. If I start chucking on weight quickly, then maybe yeah I need to track my food a bit more carefully, but for now, I am going to enjoy and eat! And eat. And eat!!!
I've been asked a few times if I will do another comp. I'm honestly not sure anymore. I loved the "journey" (such biggest loser lingo). It was amazing to see what my body could do and what I was capable of. I also love being strong, reaching pb's and cooking without worrying much about gaining weight. This year I want to finish of focusing on my study, getting some more recipes created and under my belt and thinking about where I want to go with my nutrition qualifications once I'm done. On that note, I'm off to eat :-)