Vegetarian BJJ player looking for weight cutting suggestions

[exiled]

Hey guys. I'm not a Vegan. I eat animal products - just not meat. Just wondering what I can eat to still lose as much weight as possible and still have energy to train. I eat alot of carbs and protein (carbs for energy and protein to recover). I'm also a fan of sugar since I figure I'm always burning it off. I've already decided not drink for the month of October. I don't do supplements or energy drinks but I'm open to suggestions. I'm 199 in a soaking wet Gi and mostly muscle. I'd like to lose either 10 or 20 pounds for a review promotion match on 10/31. (The weight classes are 190-199, 180-189, 170-179, etc. so losing 11 to 19 pounds just puts me at a weight disadvantage.) Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Emevas]

Eliminate starches and grains post midday meal, and make the rest of your meals during that time just meats and veggies.

Check out the fatloss thread for other input.

[CarlosJesena]

Find your target weight. Calculate your lean body mass. Calculate your maintainance calories and macronutrient requirements. Then, eat a bit below the maintainance calories. Listen to Emevas. Start from there. Good luck, man :icon_thum

[WhiteShark]

Stop being a vegetarian unless it is for religious reasons.

[cam4276]

Since you are already at the very limit of your current weight class and you say you are mostly muscle my suggestion would be to not lose any weight.

Why do you want to go down?

[exiled]

@cam4276: I'm taller and stronger than a lot of guys that are 10-20 lbs. lighter than me at my rank. I'd rather go against those guys and give myself a bit of an advantage if I can. I also figured I would use the experience as practice for cutting down for a fight (which I plan to do at some point). I'm pretty sure I could lose 10 lbs. no problem. 20 would probably be pretty tough though without losing some muscle mass. I might still decide not to cut at all though. Thanks for the advice.

@Carlos: Is there a calculator online that you know of to figure out maintenance calories, etc.? Thanks.

[TheMightyMcClaw]

If you're only trying to go down ten pounds, you don't really need to change your diet. You can sweat that off before the fight.
If you're trying to do 20, that'll be harder. I'd recommend reducing your food intake until your within ten pounds of your target weight, and then sweat off the other ten as above.

[Kintanon]

If you're close to 199 and want to compete at 189 you don't need to LOSE weight, you need to learn how to CUT weight.
At your current bodyweight you can do a water only cut and drop to 199 easily. Stay plenty hydrated up to a couple of days before your competition, then cut your liquid intake down to only a few sips of water a day for the last two days. Weigh in the night BEFORE your comp and get well hydrated and well fed. I weigh 150 and I can cut to 139 in 2 days. You should have an easy time of it. A friend of mine that walks around at 195ish just went to NAGA and was competing at 179 after a 2 day water cut.

[Southpaw]

Stop being a vegetarian unless it is for religious reasons.

And even then...find a different religion.

There is nothing healthy about being a vegetarian...

Here's a great book on the subject if anyone is interested: The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith.

Certainly Keith is a little unrealistic in her book about what our current options are...but it is a book that EVERYONE (vegetarian or not) should read.

[goodlun]

There is nothing healthy about being a vegetarian...

This is true. I would like to point out though that one doesn't have to eat a lot of meat. Some where in the neighborhood of about 20% of there calories is sufficient.