My advice would actually be the opposite. Spend your offseason at or below where you want to train for the meet at. For example, when lifting at 220 I want to be 235 for my contest prep. In the off-season I will hover around 230. This lets me eat into the weight class a little bit and have the calorie intake to support my hardest training sessions.
As you alluded to, losing weight while preparing a meet is difficult. Getting stronger and losing at the same time is a huge challenge, so I would rather be a little light 10-12 weeks out and have the room to let me body weight climb a few pounds. This is less stressful mentally and physically.