Desperately in Need of Assistance...
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.