Life, Fitness, and General Sillyness

I go through ruts like anyone else does. It's pretty standard practice for me to do a show and burn out on fitness for a few months. I've done enough shows to know what to expect at this point and even though I get frustrated with myself, I know myself well enough to trust that I will get back on the full blown fitness wagon. In general the pattern goes as follows: ·          Train and diet my ass of for 3-4 months ·          Do a show ·          Come back and "be good" for 1-1.5 weeks ·          Start going back to "normal people" events like bars on the weekends or happy hours after work (enter mixed drinks, wine, and bar food) ·          Miss the gym more often, come home and veg out after work instead of training ·          Eat less because I'm sick of cooking ·          Go out to eat more often ·          Catch up with friends and reconnect since I fall off the map to a degree when I'm in show mode ·          Feel horrendous

I don't know about you guys but sometimes I just get stuck in a routine. I love routine but I become a slave to my schedule and diet. Or at least it feels that way. Aspects of my life are more flexible than others-- it's okay if I miss the gym for a little bit but my diet has to be dang close to contest clean if I want to get away with that. Even then, I'm fairly lax. I'm the first to admit it: I'm a flawed individual. I have lots of vices and guilty pleasures that I, as a fitness competitor and a role model for other people, have absolutely NO business partaking in. Trust me. I love ice cream and things that are terrible for me as much as anyone else. I seem to go through this funk every summer. I'm not entirely sure why, but I get a little "blerg" about training/eating clean in the summertime. It seems fairly counter intuitive, I know, but I'm most motivated in the fall and winter. Most people feel the pressure to get in the shape of their li