Desperately in Need of Assistance...

[BigGreen]

So, here's my most current dilemma, and it's a BIG one. Somewhere on the board i delineated my dieting down woes in trying to prep for what would have been my first contest. I had never dieted down in the past, save for leaning out for the summer just for the beach and such...so this was my first attempt and things went horribly wrong - I went from 250 (at about 14% bodyfat) down to 207 (at about 9% bodyfat) to give you an idea of how poorly i performed in this regard. I've spent the last six weeks getting back on a mass cycle and am currently back up to 225...but here's my issue: does dieting down so abysmally and poorly have a profound effect on me for some time to come? I ask because my strength simply isn't rebounding as i anticipated. Here's a breakdown:

Prediet bench: 315 repeatable-max, 275x5, 225X12
Currently: ??? max, 225x5, 185x11

While i didn't expect my strength to come shooting back, i'm a bit concerned that it appears to be coming along a bit slowly and have to wonder if my horrible diet really kicked me in the ass for some time to come. Is this a possibility? Anyone else have experience coming off a "bad" diet? Or, anyone care to comment on the rebound/recovery period in general, as this is the first time i've had to come off an attempt at serious dieting and this is truly uncharted territory. Many thanks.

[defdaz]

Bro, keep in there, you'll get back to where you were and think positively - this has been a great learning experience.

Were you on gear before and are clean now? This might explain the slow progress.

What is your current diet like now, and did you have any time off after the diet - you could be burnt out and in need of a rest.

Assuming your health is good then eat well, drink lots of water, don't overtrain and get lots of sleep and let muscle memory do the rest...

def

PS It might be worth considering visiting a doctor for a blood chemistry test?

[BigGreen]

I took two weeks off after the diet where i ate clean by the average joe's standards (so not so clean by bb'ing standards) and stayed out of the gym, as it was evident i'd put my body through the grinding machine more than a few times over. Also, i wasn't using gear either on the mass building cycle preceding the "diet" or while on it. The closest i've come to that thus far is taking a dhea tab back in the day when I was 19 and then freaking out i was going to end up with gyno and liver cancer, so i stopped (gotta love the jump-to-conclusions/alarmist media when it comes to anything performance enhancing or even purported to do so)...but plan on doing a cycle as a xmas present to myself.

And, you're right that the big thing here is how i view it. I've been getting really down not only about the diet mishap, but the lack of a meteoric rebound as well (which i was probably foolish to expect) my strength levels are starting to come back, and i feel a whole lot better in and out of the gym...i truly think my (first) attempt at a true diet down was so erroneously carried out that my entire hormone system was pretty supressed, not to mention my psyche and confidence.

[defdaz]

Excellent post bro - you sound very level headed about this, so I think I can confidently predict a safe and steady return to your previous levels!

I've been training 15 years now and still learn new things daily, it's a long slow progress but if something is easy where's the challenge, right?

Don't overtrain or undereat and get plenty of sleep and water.... nothing will stop you then...

def

[dumbells101]

Here's your problem. You lost about 27 lbs of muscle during that diet process. You at 250 and 14%bf is equal to about 215 lbs of lean mass. You at 207 and 9%bf is equal to only 188 lbs of lean mass. Fortunately muscle has memory and you should be able to regain that lean mass quickly. The key is to maintain a positive nitrogen balance and that means give your muscles the nutrition and rest they need to grow bigger and stronger faster than you're breaking them down.

Good luck.