Respecting the fact that eating habits are very much personal preference, these are my eating recommendations for the upcoming days. Follow these suggestions as closely as you are willing and able to, making tweaks and adaptations to fit your lifestyle and schedule.

It’s easy to get yourself focused on the lifts you will take on Saturday, but that is a wasted effort if you are not eating properly before you get to said lifts. Fueling yourself is the priority until it is time to lift, then the lifts become the priority.

You will notice the pattern of carbohydrates (carbs). Carbs are the most important nutrient for performance and are the #1 type of food that will help you lift the most weight on Saturday.

Now until weigh-in

If you are not looking to make it into a certain weight class, or if you have enough wiggle room to gain a bit of weight and still make your class, you are in the best spot right now. This means you can afford to ramp up your calories in preparation for Saturday. Staying fueled on the day of competition is necessary, but that should only be part of your plan. You will have an easier time keeping your energy levels topped off on meet day if you saturate your body with food energy several days ahead of time. Any increase in calories is good, but prioritize increasing carbohydrate intake.

For anyone trying to stay at or get to a certain weight, this may not be an option. If this is your case, plan on increasing your eating as soon as possible, which should be immediately after you weigh in on Friday.

after weigh-in

Making the AM weigh-in is ideal because after that your weight is locked in and you can begin eating. If you need to go to PM weigh-in and have to make a certain weight, it would be assumed you will eat lightly up until that point. If this is your only option, understand that this is very depleting and you will have little time to cram in calories for Saturday morning. You will be fine as long as you take your eating seriously. Think of the high-energy foods (which I will suggest below) as fuel for your lifts the next day. Intake as much fuel as you can tolerate.

Regardless of what time you weigh in, plan on eating a lot and frequently for the remainder of the day on Friday. A simple way to understand if you are eating enough is that you should feel uncomfortably full (to what degree you push it to is up to you). It is better to plan on eating to a higher point of discomfort the day before the meet rather than the day of. Consider your eating on Friday as equally important to your eating on Saturday.

Here is an example of good eating for Friday:

  • AM weigh-in

  • Heavy meal immediately afterward, consisting mainly of starchy carbohydrates

  • Mid-afternoon snack or dessert (if your post-weigh-in meal was heavy enough, you won’t even feel hungry for this, but try to eat something anyway)

  • Heavy nighttime meal, again consisting mainly of starchy carbohydrates. You will have eaten so much throughout the day (probably also had a food coma nap) that you won’t even feel hungry at this point. Do your best to eat anyway.

  • Nighttime snack or dessert (again, probably not hungry for this, but if you can stomach one last burst of something, it will help you the next day)

  • Lots of water or Gatorade throughout the post-weigh-in period

Friday meals

The meals you eat the day before the meet should consist mainly of starchy carbohydrates. This isn’t the time to eat lean protein and vegetables. We need to inject our bodies with energy-dense foods for the next day.

Foods to eat Friday:

  • Rice

  • Potatoes

  • Pasta

  • Pizza

  • Breads

  • Pancakes/waffles

  • Donuts

  • Pastries

  • Cake/cupcakes

  • Any dessert

  • Any candy

  • Any liquid calories (no alcohol)

Meet day

If you carb loaded properly on Friday, you shouldn’t have to do as much work carbing up on meet day. It doesn’t at all mean you shouldn’t continue to eat on meet day - you absolutely should. But your eating strategy should be different. Since you have lifting to do on meet day, you won’t want to be eating as far into oblivion. It doesn’t feel the greatest to lift heavy on a really full stomach. A good approach on meet day is to eat small portions, frequently.

An important thing to consider is that your adrenaline will be running so high on Saturday that it is very likely you won’t ever feel hungry during the competition. If you don’t feel hungry, you are less likely to want to eat, which leads to a lack of energy needed to lift heavy on the platform. Therefore you should plan on making yourself eat.

When it comes to gauging your hunger and level of satiety, there is a difference between hunger signals (stomach growls) and a non-volumized stomach (your stomach not feeling full). Don’t depend on receiving hunger signals when your nerves are revved up. Instead, monitor the need for more food intake by stomach volume, meaning if you don’t feel the pressure in your stomach of being full, you can afford to and probably should eat something.

Prioritize foods that will not leave you feeling excessively full. Avoid fiber. Avoid protein. Avoid fat. These nutrients slow our body’s absorption rate of carbs, which works against us because we want to be able to put those carbs to use as quickly as possible. They are also satiating nutrients, that are more likely to form a brick in your stomach.

If you want to keep your stomach feeling light while still getting enough energy brought in, simple carbs are the best route.

I thought it would be good to give some common foods a grade, that way if you are undecided on foods, you can opt for the higher-graded ones. Try to eat as many higher-graded foods as you can. Eating some of the lower-graded foods is fine, as long as you are also getting enough of the good stuff. If I had to give it a percentage of your food intake, shoot for at least 70% of your eating on meet day to come from the A and B list.

A (high carb, low protein, low fat, low fiber)

  • White rice

  • Potatoes

  • White bread

  • Fat-free candy

  • Gatorade

  • Jelly

  • Syrup

  • Honey

  • Salt (not a carb, but salting your water/foods is extremely helpful for lifting)

  • Water (again, not a carb, but be sure you are drinking plenty of water to go along with high levels of carbohydrate consumption)

B (high carb, low protein, but can be high in fat or fiber)

  • Bagels

  • Muffins

  • Pancakes

  • Waffles

  • Donuts

  • Pastries

  • Oatmeal

  • Pop tarts

  • Sugary cereal

  • Baked goods

C (not high enough in carbs for the fiber that comes with it, A and B foods are superior choices on meet day)

  • Fruit

D (low in carbs, high in protein, which is not needed for meet day)

  • Protein bars

  • Protein drinks

  • Other protein products

F (low in carbs, too high in fat, fiber, or protein, and can disrupt gut function)

  • Vegetables (if I see anyone eating vegetables, they might get slapped)

  • Peanut butter

  • Cream cheese

  • Dairy products

Here is an example eating plan for meet day:

  • Wake up

  • Eat your regular breakfast (even if it does not contain any of my higher-graded foods)

  • Bagel w/ jelly once at the RecPlex

  • Take a few squirts of syrup during the rules meeting

  • Start eating fat-free candy, at least a piece every 10 minutes or so

  • Continue eating candy through bench

  • After bench, eat some potatoes with salt and a small piece of fruit with honey

  • Have a few more squirts of syrup

  • Continue eating candy at the same rate as before while you wait for deadlifts

  • 30-45 min before deadlift warm-ups begin, have a slice of toast w/ jelly

  • Have a few more squirts of syrup just before beginning your deadlift warm-ups

  • Continue eating candy through your final deadlift

Drowsiness

It is pretty expected that by eating this many carbs, you will become drowsy at certain points during the day. There is enough downtime between lifts and throughout the day that you can afford to get to this state. You will be able to spring back to life when it is time to get lifting again. If you get feeling sleepy, do not worry and let yourself doze off if that’s what your body wants. I could even argue this is a good thing, one that ensures you are taking care of yourself and staying adequately rested, not running around with your head cut off like I will be.

I promise your lifts will go better if you have your energy stores stocked up, than if they are not. Even if it means you feel sluggish at times. That feeling will only be temporary.

Meal size on meet day

You will be able to get away with eating heavier earlier in the day. Our first lift is bench, then comes deadlift. Benching on a full stomach is quite doable since there is not as much of an abdominal bracing requirement when compared to deadlifting.

Plan to have your heavier eating done first thing in the morning, then continue eating light, sugary snacks throughout the rest of the day.

You may even decide that you have enough time to work in another heavy-ish meal after bench and before deadlift. If you feel like you can tolerate some starchy food at that point in the day, I would highly recommend it to be loaded up for your deadlifts.

energy-dense foods

Overall, remember that you are burning through so much food throughout the meet.

Your lifts require a massive amount of available energy.

Your emotional state and processing of the environment will also require a ton of energy.

Add those things together and you have your metabolism cranked to maximum.

It is very important to continue eating for energy replenishment. This is best achieved through energy-dense foods (the foods I graded A, B, and C).

This is not the time to be trying to eat clean or worrying about sticking to your diet. Please plan to eat properly on Friday and Saturday.

If you have any questions about my eating recommendations, please reach out to me!