What to do after your big event or competition you have been working so hard for?

This past weekend was the longest shortest weekend I have ever had and probably one of the greatest experiences as well. Starting at 6:00am Saturday morning with hair and makeup, driving to Sarasota, FL, shooting over 1,500 photos with the incredible GW Burns Photography, 8 hours of posing and changing "looks", then driving back home around 7:30pm. After the weeks of meal planning and workouts, tons of water and lots of prayer, a few emotional breakdowns, the photo shoot happened and we made it through. Now that the shoot/event is over and all that prepping and planning doesn't consume my entire life or yours, what do you do now? 

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A lot of fitness models, competitors, and individuals struggle with this after a huge event and all the weeks of prepping that went into. They have so much down time, that drive and discipline is kind of up in the air because they don't really have anything in the future they are having to focus on that much to plan for which is a good thing to kind of give yourself a break, but at the same time a lot of people fall off the bandwagon or experience "the blues" after it's over. So what do you do?!

You keep going! Eat healthy, exercise, BUT take a break from such a strict regiment and spend all that extra time doing the things you enjoy that you didn't have the time for the past few months or weeks. This is why balance is so important in health and fitness and doesn't need to be an obsession. Make your workouts and nutrition fun and simple instead of so serious! If you need a goal to constantly work for (which is how I am) then make a new goal of coming up with new healthy dessert recipes, of making time to see your friends and family more with this extra time, taking a long over due vacation, starting a new hobby, learning an instrument, writing a book, reading a book, trying new workouts that don't have to be planned around what body parts need to be tweaked! You worked hard and you deserve this time! 

When you push your body and go to extremes with training YOU HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK and let your body recover. I am not saying you have to completely stop exercising and eating healthy for the next month, but it won't be necessary to do multiple cardio sessions and carb cycling throughout your weeks now which is AWESOME (In my opinion)! Bring the fun back into your training regimen...create new things and try something completely different just because you want to see what you can do. Hard work and discipline is something to be greatly admired, but so is living life to its fullest and not taking it so seriously!

SO take a break, have some fun and be proud of how hard you've worked then when you are ready to go after another shoot, event, competition, weight loss goal, you will be fresh and ready to get back into it! Happy Monday!

P.s. I will post some sneak peeks of the photos as soon as I get them I promise :)