Contest Prep Diet: What to Eat From Start to Stage

Calories: start modest and adjust

Your deficit is set by the rate of loss, not the other way round. For an 80 kg (176 lb) competitor, 0.5 to 1% is about 0.4 to 0.8 kg (0.9 to 1.8 lb) a week. Helms and colleagues note that, in theory, a deficit of about 500 calories a day gives roughly 0.45 kg (1 lb) of fat loss a week, but your body burns less as you lose weight, so intake has to be adjusted as you go.

In practice:

• Start with a modest deficit. If you do not know your maintenance calories, the free calorie and macro calculator gives a starting point.
• Judge it on your weekly average weight, not single days. See how to read the scale.
• When the average stalls for two to three weeks with good adherence, make one small change: a little less food or a few more steps.
• Slow down as you get leaner. Helms and colleagues advise "a more gradual approach to weight loss towards the end", when muscle loss is most likely.

Allowing enough weeks matters more than any macro. A late start forces a bigger deficit at the worst possible time. The contest prep calculator works out when to start from your show date.

Protein: higher than usual

For an 80 kg (176 lb) man at 15% body fat, lean body mass is about 68 kg (150 lb), so 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg is roughly 155 to 210 g of protein a day. That is about 1.9 to 2.6 g per kg of body weight: around the 2.2 g per kg the free calculator uses for fat loss, and higher at the top end, because very lean competitors risk more muscle loss.

Spread it out. Helms and colleagues suggest three to six meals a day, with 0.4 to 0.5 g per kg of body weight before and after training. Roberts and colleagues suggest four or five protein servings, including one near training and one before sleep. Protein is also the most filling of the three macronutrients, which helps late in prep. For more, see how much protein to build muscle.

Fats and carbs

Fat is needed for health, so it is kept moderate, not cut out. At 2,400 calories a day, 15 to 30% is about 40 to 80 g of fat. Helms and colleagues suggest the lower end only when a higher fat intake would push protein or carbohydrate below useful levels.

Carbohydrate fuels hard training, so it gets whatever is left. In Chappell's study, the men who placed had started prep eating more carbohydrate than those who did not (about 5.1 against 3.7 g per kg of body weight a day) and were still eating about 4.6 g per kg at the end, though the authors say this needs confirming.

Helms and colleagues advise against very low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets for prep until there is more research. They also suggest that once you are at or near stage condition, adding 25 to 50 g of carbohydrate a day, which cuts the deficit by 100 to 200 calories, may help protect muscle in the final weeks.

How the diet changes from start to stage

Stage of prep	What usually changes
Early weeks	A modest deficit, protein at target, carbohydrate as high as the deficit allows
Middle weeks	Calories come down in small steps as weight loss slows; steps often rise
Final weeks	Slower loss; fat near the low end; carbohydrate protected for training, or nudged up once you are nearly ready
Peak week	Small, rehearsed carbohydrate changes at most; no drastic water or salt cuts
After the show	Calories brought back up in a planned way

Food choices that make prep easier

No food is required or banned. Competitors in Chappell's study got most of their carbohydrate from cereals, potatoes and other tubers, fruit and vegetables, and most of their protein from dairy (much of it protein powder), white meat, nuts and seafood. Nuts and seeds were a main source of fat.

What helps in practice:

• Bulky, high-fibre foods: vegetables, fruit, potatoes, oats and beans give more food for the calories. The NHS recommends adults aim for 30 g of fibre a day. For more ideas, see how to stop feeling hungry on a diet.
• Lean protein at every meal, in forms you can eat at work and on the go.
• Variety. Helms and colleagues note that past micronutrient shortfalls in competitors were linked to cutting out food groups and eating the same few foods, and that a "low-dose micronutrient supplement may be beneficial", such as a multivitamin.
• A few foods you enjoy, counted in your targets. A diet you can follow for 20 weeks beats a perfect one you abandon in week 6.

Refeeds and diet breaks

A refeed is a day or two of eating more, mostly carbohydrate. A diet break is a week or two at maintenance. Roberts and colleagues call both "possibly beneficial" for limiting the downsides of a long diet, but so far, in trials of people who lift, they have not led to more fat loss. And every week at maintenance pushes your finish back by a week. Only a handful of competitors in Chappell's study reported using refeeds.

If you use them, plan them into your timeline from the start rather than adding them when you are already behind. Diet breaks and refeeds covers the trials in detail.

Peak week and after the show

Peak week matters less than most people think. Helms and colleagues warn that dehydration and electrolyte manipulation "can be dangerous", and note that it is not known whether they improve how you look. See peak week bodybuilding for what the research supports.

The weeks after the show matter more. In a 1995 study of drug-free male bodybuilders (Andersen and colleagues, International Journal of Eating Disorders), 46% reported episodes of binge eating after competitions. Have a plan for bringing calories back up gradually, so those weeks are not left to chance. See reverse dieting.

If you have diabetes or another health condition, or a history of disordered eating, speak to your doctor before starting a contest prep diet.

How coaching helps with a prep diet

The targets above are the easy part. The hard part is knowing when to change them, by how much, and when to leave them alone, while you are hungry and tired.

With one-to-one contest prep coaching from CoachAk, your daily calories, macros, step target and any cardio are set in a private app and updated as your body responds. Each week you send a check-in of about three minutes covering your weight, training and nutrition adherence, steps, sleep, energy, hunger, stress, digestion notes, and optional body measurements and progress photos, compared side by side. CoachAk replies with written feedback explaining what went well, what changes next week and why. Between check-ins, you can message your coach directly, with photos and voice notes.

If you are planning a show, apply for coaching, or read more about contest prep coaching.