Keeping it Real--After contest

I have yet to compete in my first show and I've already had a lot of people ask me if I plan on competing again, or if I plan on maintaining such a strict regimen after the show.  At this point, I dont know if I plan on competing again--I would *like* to say yes, but I may get up on that stage and hate it! This entire journey has been a quest for me, because competing is comething I never dreamed I would have the discipline to do.  In the past I've been disciplined with running but never dedicated myself to following a specific diet. The notion of competing appealed to me because it is a different sort of challenge and takes even greater discipline.  While ideally I'd love to rock the stage and win my division, I have to go into the show with some realistic expectations:  this is my first show, I dont know what to expect, and there will basically always someone who has worked harder than myself.  So this whole ordeal is a test for me to see if a) if I can do it, and b) if I even like it.  Aside from the training and dieting going into this, there's a lot of other stress and factors that come into play.  The hair, makeup, tanning, shaving (my entire body!), posing, etc.  It's a huge process.  All for a total of maaaaybe 10 minutes on stage.  Will I do this again?  Ask me again October 30th :)

Will I continue being this strict with my diet?  Yes and no.  I dont EVER want to get back to how I was before, with both my eating habits and my weight. I was out of control with my eating and my excuse was that I would "burn it off" by running.  Unfortunately, two things happened:  I wasn't always consistent with my exercising.  Secondly, little did I know, I didn't have the lean muscle mass that I used to have that allowed me to eat nearly whatever I wanted.  Every pound of lean muscle burns 50calories more than a pound of fat per day, just at REST.  (Example:  I've gained 5lbs of muscle since Aug 1st, thus increasing my existing calorie burn by 250calories a day. If I were to not make any changes to diet & exercise, just the muscle alone could help me lose just over 2lbs a month, or nearly 25lbs a year, by doing NOTHING extra. I'm not trying to lose 25lbs, just indicating this as an example). These two factors contributed to my slow weight gain of 30lbs in about 20 years. That's over a pound a month!  Anyways--so here is my post show plan...

• First and foremost, my post show indulge meal will be TEXAS ROADHOUSE
• Gradually introduce foods I haven't had in the past several months--"treats" such as ice cream or McDonalds or pizza
• Limt these treats to 2-3a week, and keep them within reasonable portions
• Continue eating clean-ish, with occasional treats, planning meals, but not worry about measuring them and counting every. single. calorie.
• Allow for SOME leeway during the holiday season.
• Maintain a weight of about 128-130lbs

This is all subject to change, of course, but this is the mindset I have going in.  I still want to be cognizant of my diet and I'm going to continue to working out because I *want* to...but I'm not going to drive myself crazy over it....unless I decide to do another show in 2012!