How do you approach off-season/maintenance/un-dieting?

Hi all
 
A post in Welshy's journal a few days ago got me thinking and led me to post this.
 
This is my first season bodybuilding and, as such, my first season of prep and dieting. It will also be my first time "un-dieiting" and "un-prepping". To be honest with you I am not looking forward to the period after the competitive season is over, in that I am not sure how to approach getting and maintaining a balanced and more normal diet. My worry is that I will go a bit nuts, fall head first into a bowl of boxed cereal and emerge some time late November from a carb coma saying "what just happened, what day is it?" 
 
I'm sure many of you have had these concerns but I'm also sure many of you have found ways to conquer them.
 
So, would you be willing to share your strategies? What's worked for you? Do you set "rules" for the transition period between prep and non-prep? Do you plan your off-season eating as much as you plan your prep diet? Do you allow yourself a period of "whatever" and then knuckle down?
 
Tell all, I'm really interested in this and know it will be my next challenge in this challenging sport!
 
Thanks x
 
ETA durrr, somehow managed to post this in beginners - will ask a mod to move it (although I am pretty much a beginner LOL!)

You won't know until you've done your first one. You do what works for your personality.
 
As standard, I have a week of literally eating all the cr@p I can get my hands on (normally a week is too long for me though, I can pile on 1st plus water on that time) then get into off-season mode.
 
For me, my off-season, in the past has been increasing carbs by 100g a day more from whatever I STARTED dieting on, and increasing protein by about 50g a day.
 
This year, I've gotten it down to a T now, keep increasing until you maintain and push it as far as you can without gaining massive amounts. Pick a weight you're comfy with and try to stick with that.
 
As for treats - I have them as and when I want (normally once a week except time of the month when I have about 3 days of sporadic snacking).
 
But that's me.
 
My advice is simple - roll with it  Have some time to relax, let your body adjust, recover, enjoy some nice grub. Only worry about your food intake IF it all starts going Pete Tong. If you're obsessive/too strict all year, your body won't respond as well to dieting next year IMO. ENJOY THE REST!
 
You can afford to gain a bit more weight than I do as a) you diet well and b) want to gain more muscle.

Hi ya Nic.
there is so much to say on dieting so i will brush on a few
 
I find in the off season ie;4 months or more away from any show you can and so use this reason to eat crap as you say to your self  "dieting soon so i can eat this Mc,D" .
I find as a man when the lower abs are un clear and the love handles come out its time to whatch what i am eatting and diet alone can get the body into a good even shape with out CV.
 
Pre Prep
It is hard to stay on the wagon but the goal is set and you must stick to it ,have a treat food to have, mine is peanut butter on rice cakes once or twice a day. Having prep help is a way to get to your goal having an all seeing eye on you at each stage of prep will keep you on the right road.
 
Post show.
 
I love this time when you can eat and eat ,but still look great each morning =) ,this is a good time to hit the gym hard and grow . I have found with the big intake of extra food , acid reflux can be a big problem so i have ant/acid meds on hand .
 
I would do this , when looking at dieting timing.
1.Clean up diet
2.start , CV
3.Look at fat burners.
 
Just a few thing to think of.
 
Good luck Daz
 

It's REALLY hard NOT to go nuts when you've been dieting for so long
 
Last year I went too nuts, ate what I wanted and didn't do any exercise for 2 months :/ .. weight went on very quickly and then I struggled to get rid of it until I started prepping this year
 
This year however has been a lot better
 
For the first 3 days after the competition I ate what I wanted and the from the Wed onwards I cleaned up the day time food during the week and ate what I wanted in the evening/weekends
 
Then I cleaned up the evening food and now just eat what I want on weekends but I don't go silly and stuff my face too much
 
There's still a few things creeping in during the week but this is slowly petering out and I also started back at the gym a week after the comp was done
 
Weight has stabalised at around 9/10lbs over competition weight and I'll be keeping an eye to make sure it doesn't rocket up too much - as Flick says though, you have the knowledge and the power to make adjustments if you need to
 
Good luck with it, we're all here to help if you need it .. I personally find the few weeks diet after the show harder than the few weeks before

i have a week totally off diet.  dont buy in food, or preprepare meals.  just buy what i want when i want, if and when im hungry.  no thoughts about anything bodybuilding related as far as diet is concerned.
 
week two i put back in some structure, similar to pre contest but with larger portions, and still allow additions as and when i want.
 
third week i go back to a 'strict' diet.  similar to pre comp, but modified to allow enough food for small gains in BW.  cheats are reduced to 2-3 'tokens' per week.  each token i use when i want to either add to, or replace a meal with something else.  but i only allow that number of weekly deviations.
 
i find thats a nice balance

Fab ideas everyone, thanks for sharing. I love hearing everyone's approaches. Thanks for chipping in!

I've got no bloopin idea at all but I wish you luck with all of it........and errrmmm.....if it's any use to know....I hide my gummi bears inside my pink woolly sox and ....and....I manage to stay off them most of the week?..errm...well, for a few days...mebbe one or two?....errrmm...ahem...go?...now?..what?..no good to ya?..hey?  mmmmm.....
 
 
 
(shuffles off to rethink sage advice on gummi bears)

I find the cost to eat well can be a factor in my day to day eatting ,protien shakes are always there but its the white and red meat that hits the pocket so buying bulk atm my local bucher sell 5kg of good chicken for £30 so with this at hand food is done the day before so no reason to buy as you eat.
 
Daz

Hey Daz, I agree - this is what I do now (I do like to get really good quality meat if I can but obviously always look for the most cost-effective way of doing it!) 
 
*touch wood* Grabbin food whilst out and about has never been an issue for me, even in my pre-BB days when I needed to put on weight. I don't know why, popping into the cornershop with a pocket full of coins is just something I've never really done. Having said that, that was back in the days before I got into the habit of eating 5/6/7 times a day!
 
Thanks again all, I find this a really interesting topic and am going to see how it goes for me (in just over 3 weeks!) - I was going to say "and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out for me..." but that would be a lie, cos I'm not looking forward to it at all.
 
Funny isn't it, we get sick of dieting/restriction/lack of choice and want to eat.... but then we don't want to put on fat and crave the structure of prep diet... "having cake and eating it" comes to mind 

It's worth noting that these days, I can buy lean mince, turkey, and turkey mince  ALL cheaper than I can buy Chicken these days (thank god I HATE chicken!)
 
Biggest thing about off-season that I learnt this year (and boy is it making the difference now!) is, you need to eat enough... Don't be afraid that your muscles are covered. Yes, for vanity's sake rippedness would be lovely all year round, but learn to love yourself in your new skin. If you're really serious about gaining muscle, it's the only way forward. I'll prove this when I see the results of my Shape Up in a month (that's how confident I am! ) 
 
You know, even though Kat's leaving, you could always pay her, or someone else, to push you towards an off-season plan. Once you've got the basics, the rest is pretty easy. And you'll learn to LOVE the flexibility (she says sitting here nomming yogurt covered brazils straidht after meal 2 )

I picked up some of that lean turkey mince after seeing you mention it on your FB - so thanks! I've had it before but that was a great price.
 
Yep I will definitely be focusing on putting on muscle and the extra bodyfat won't get me too down - obviously it won't be great to not be this lean but believe me I've been a lot fatter than an off-season BBer in the name of sport (channel swimming!) so I think/hope I have my head screwed on OK when it comes to that side of things - ie bodyfat as a function/by-product of training phase.
 
You can keep your yoghurt covered stuff but I'll nick one of those dark-chocolate raisins if y'don't mind 
 
PS Can't wait to see results of your shape up myself! Great stuff.

I just cleared Tesco of their Lean Turkey Mince again! I love it!!
 
I think you'll be fine in the winter.
 
Forgot to add - there's some really good articles in the Articles section of this site about Bulking/Cutting etc. Well worth a read  
You should also check out Andrew Chappell aka 'Mushy's journal on the BNBF Forum - he's a serious master of the off-season including geeky calculations, and so the start of his journal is well worth a read. I sent Lawrence to read it too as he was thinking about off-season plans a few weeks back 

Thanks v much - I will  x

post show i usually allow 7 days off diet, eating what i want when i want. But this leads to mass water retention and dramatic fat gain + BP rise.
 
I'd be sick of junk food by the 3rd day any way so will go back to clean foods and my old diet.
 
this time i'm unsure i can do anything but the above as i'm in turkey after my show at an all inclusive hotel lol.
 
some smart people have a day of crap then take the diet into swing on day 2 where they will increase carbs week on week like a prep in reverse

So who has the best price on Turkey mince ? , i think Morrisons  its £1.98.
Does the local have a better price ?
Daz