Baseline Diet

by Sean Sullivan

How can people know how to get where they’re going if they don’t know where they’re starting? As competitors progress in their dieting, how will they determine whether they need to increase or decrease calories, or whether to increase or decrease the amount of cardio they do in order to arrive at their target body fat composition for competition day?

A baseline diet establishes a starting point for contest dieting, from which comparisons can be made. A baseline is determined by “cleaning up” the diet, taking in a consistent amount of calories, and maintaining consistent macronutrient ratios (protein, carbohydrate and fat). Cleaning up the diet means to cut out processed foods that contain a lot of additives and to eliminate foods high in simple carbs (sugars) or fats. Meals are typically pieced together using a source of lean protein, a source of complex carbohydrates, and some vegetables (for fiber and vitamins/minerals) to total the desired number of calories and macronutrient ratios. Different body types tend to react better to different macronutrient breakdowns (see Training by Body Type in Issue #2).

Recording everything eaten for about three days, and determining calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat breakdown for all items can establish a starting daily caloric intake. A nutrition almanac (available at any book store) or online source such as fitday.com can be used to obtain this information. Since daily intake can vary from day to day, multiple days should be used to determine a starting point. The average caloric and macronutrient totals of the days tracked is used to set the daily targets.

Knowing the amount of calories eaten daily can serve as a gauge for how to proceed in one’s diet. Weight loss should ideally be 1-2 pounds per week. If more or less than the desired weight is lost in a week’s time, adjustments can be made in the number of calories consumed, or in the amount of exercise performed.

Note: When dieting, competitors should weigh themselves first thing in the morning each time. Weight can vary several pounds throughout the day. Recording weights at this time of day, after about 8 hours of fasting, ensures more accurate weight readings when monitoring weight loss from one week to the next.