Look at how you dial in - 12-16 weeks of slow, progressive diet optimization, training, cardio and then the last couple weeks of slow glycogen burn up, water manipulation, increased restriction on diet, both in total cals & variety. You do the show, and then relax. Most people shit load to celebrate after a show. End result - you spend 12 weeks dialing in and about 45 minutes switching to a high fat / high carb / high sodium / high processed / high sugar diet. In trying to reach homeostasis, the only thing your body knows how to do is bloat up. This can be attributed to the various metabolic processes and various degrees of recovery these processes are trying to execute to find some amount of homestasis. I've posted an article about Post Competition Syndrome that outlines all the points of rebound your body goes thru trying to accommodate a post show recovery, then throw on a pile of shit food and you're guaranteed a 20-30 lb water rebound.
I experienced this after my first show back in 2000. All natty btw. I broke up w/ my boyfriend, had a terrible time trying to find friends after the show due to a storm and cell / land lines that kept goinig out, and a 4 hr drive home. By the time I got home, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up $60 worth of every type of junk food I ever wanted to try. Went home and spent the next 6 days eating it all. I gained 18 lb of water weight, mostly in my ankles duriing those 6 days.
My recommendation is to plan a post-show diet to ease back into a maintenance program, just as you did going into the prep. This gives your body time to ease back into a higher cal diet w/ more variety in a slow, incremental process that it can easily accommodate w/o provoking a rebound. Post show, I would keep the shit food to a minimum. Give yourself basically no longer than the night of the show, after the show into the next day to eat whatever you want, and then get back on a structured diet immediately. I would also change the mental association of "I am going to eat all the stuff I've been depriving myself of during this show, as soon as it is over". Don't make the association of food as a reward for your accomplishments because it will screw you over a week later. Instead schedule a nice dinner out w/ friends to celebrate. My fav is a good steak dinner - this is essentially the same meal I'd be eating going into the show - maybe w/o the salt on the french fries / potatos. But its most likely going to be a good steak, (I prefer medium rare, nothign on it), steamed broccoli, small amount of baked potato / nothing on it and a margarita. The next morning, I think my most favorite thing about competing is getting a custom-made omelette at the host hotel Sunday brunch the next day! For the most part, all of this (except the margarita) is what has been on my diet for weeks, so Im' less likely to get sick from something my body can't digest anymore. Start adding in more water. Don't guzzle it if you were doing a lot of water manipulation and restricted intake the last day of your show - ease it back up - again your body likes small incremental changes.
If you used diuretics during your show - OTC or otherwise - your body is going to be more sensitive to you using it for longer and may not respond as well. You may also notice more cramping - I've noticed that when I carb load, it seems like the carbs are sucking up the water in my system and throwing off some electrolyte balance - i.e. I will tend to cramp like a mutherfucker after carb/shit-loading. Its obviously not dehydration, but I think there's still an imbalance of electrolytes as a result of the carbs, and thus a greater pulling of circulating water to hold the carbs as they start filling you out. So if you can help it, lay off the additional diuretics. Drink water, keep the sodas to a min (a diuretic) and take a good week to mostly stay within the same food selections as you did pre-show and slowly increase the amount and add in new and various types of food - but still keeping things clean and minimally processed.
I've had very little problem w/ post-show rebound the last several shows I've done following this approach. IMO it is heavily dependent on your diet coming out of the show. It becomes even harder because if you experience a dramatic bloat and then start throwing more shit in to try to regulate it, your body may fight you that much harder to go at its own pace. The extreme of the post show rebound scenario is a metabolic impact and may take you months for you body to finally find its homeostasis, so the best approach is just to avoid the situation in the first place.
