I have to lose 15kg in 5 weeks.

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 2/04/2013 10:50pm

Here's the deal, I have my first comp on the 10th of March, less than 5 weeks away. I've entered the Medium Heavy category, basically 88kg with the gi on. I weigh 97kg without the gi as of this morning. That's about 15kgs I need to lose to safely be in the weight range.

If you have been following my progress in my Training Log you will have watched as I went from being around 115-120kg to 89kg in a couple of years, fluctuating a bit and back up to where I am at now. This is the first time in my adult life that I have entered any type of physical challenge and thus is the first time I have a concrete time frame in which I must lose the weight. In the past I was all, "by January I will be this..." and it rarely happened, although hitting the 89kg last year before I moved states was a legit goal even though it was short lived.

I train a shitload and have a decent schedule for training. Monday to Saturday, I train at least an hour a night, most of the time 2 and sometimes 3. In order to let the BJJ information sink in, I am foregoing my usual MMA training on Tuesday and Thursday to do strength and conditioning with kettlebells. On these days I will run to and from the gym, as they are only 45 minute sessions. Work on my cardio.

But you can't out-train a shitty diet.

One of my major problems with weight management is my diet. My blowouts are pretty much equal to the amount of time I spend eating right, which has had the obvious result that I have stagnated at my current weight. No matter how hard I train, if I eat two large pizzas in one sitting each week, then eat for convenience the next day, I'm always going to fail to lose fat weight.

I don't think I can afford a "cheat day" in the coming weeks. I think it is literally going to have to be protein and veggies, nothing more. I'll grit my teeth and bear it.

As a snack, I have been eating this organic "Energy Fruit and Nut Mix", one handful around 10:30am to tide me over until lunch, then one handful in the afternoon to tide me over until dinner (sometimes through training). I'll give a quick breakdown of ingredients because it goes to the heart of the reason for this thread:

Raisins (sunflower oil)
Dates
Pepitas
Sunflower kernels
Almonds
Cashews
Brazil nuts
Walnuts
Pecans
Contains 36% nuts/ 34% fruit (I'm imagining the rest is the seeds)

Considering I am banishing bread, rice, pasta, etc as well as avoiding sugar (I rarely eat anything with sugar in it anymore), should I be banishing this seemingly insignificant amount of dried fruit as well?

I've been having a protein shake in the morning for breakfast, which seems to tide me over until the snack listed above. In between I'll have a long black coffee, no milk, no sugar. I struggle with eating breakfast unless it is bacon and eggs and only seem to be able to find the time on the weekends to cook it. Is this enough for breakfast?

I drink a lot of water and from now on will not have any other form of liquid, except tea, green tea or black coffee.

I am limiting the amount of meat I eat, because I can go stupid with it, especially when I am hungry. I'm basically looking at about half a fist of meat (including chicken and fish) with steamed vegetables equalling about the same for dinner and lunches. That seems about right, yeah? Especially considering the next paragraph.

I have a protein shake with glutamine and a couple of caps of fish oil before and after every training session. As mentioned above, I have one for breakfast.

I also have a thermo something something that apparently raises your metabolism, but I am wary of it considering it makes me feel like I am on amphetamine, probably because that is what it is, but I am thinking I might do it for two weeks to kick start the fire. I experienced cramping last time I took it, does anyone have a remedy for cramping?

Cheers guys.

**jdempsey** · Posted On: 2/04/2013 11:06pm

a few things that have worked for me in the past us...

drink a shipload of water, sip it all day. Might help with the cramps too. Protein and green veg diet us good too , with no sugars you should enter ketosis which makes you lethargic and dumb as **** but really Burns the far.

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 2/04/2013 11:07pm

So is the minimal dried fruit sugar content insignificant?

**ChenPengFi** · Posted On: 2/04/2013 11:45pm

You are simply eating too much for your output, there's no need to complicate matters.
Personally, i'd ditch the shakes.
If you want to combat cramping, and you cramped last time you took that supplement, well, try to stop taking it, especially seeing as how you only seem to have the vaguest idea of what it does.

I'd put money on you gassing hard with your current approach.

You might find these useful:

http://fitnessblackbook.com/diet-tip...-loss-plateau/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65678012/A...orts-Nutrition
(pdf of the 2nd edition) http://www.scribd.com/doc/121462509/...on-2nd-Edition

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 2/05/2013 12:30am

It looks like I am going to have to go back to the books. I've heard the breakfast thing before. In fact, I think I lost a good 10kg using it last year, I wonder why I stopped doing it. Maybe because I found more conflicting information.

Fucking nutrition is a fucking hard thing to master.

Portion size and staying away from pizza and other junk food is obviously number 1. I'll focus on those for the first two weeks, see where I am at.

**cualltaigh** · Posted On: 2/05/2013 2:20am

It's not too late to change your registration, just drop 6-7kg and come roll heavy bro!

**alex** · Posted On: 2/05/2013 2:43am

Originally Posted by battlefields

Fucking nutrition is a fucking hard thing to master.

no, no, it fucking IS NOT, and it shits me when people say that in terms of weight loss. you eat too goddamned much. thats it. you probably eat **** too. eat less ****. eat less food. when you start losing weight, you got it right. it is not more complex than that. but what the **** do i know, i only make my living from it

(im cranky cos i hurt my back)

**Grab my fist** · Posted On: 2/05/2013 4:32am

What Alex said. Like, times 10. Oh yeah, good luck.

**bigato** · Posted On: 2/05/2013 5:48am

Sticking to white meat only can help. Fish only is even better.

Also, the more salt you eat, the more water you retain. Cheese and bacon are heavy on sodium.

**erezb** · Posted On: 2/05/2013 6:15am

Originally Posted by alex

fucking eat less ****. eat less food. when you start losing weight, you got it right. it is not more complex than that. but what the **** do i know, i only make my living from it

(im cranky cos i hurt my back)

Easier said than done "EAT LESS FATTY" is a solid advice, and if your patient was able to follow threw i doubt he would need you.

Battlefields :

A nutritionist would probably tell you that loosing safely 15 killos of fat in 5 weeks is impossible. If you cut all sugars you would start loosing muscle tissue like crazy, your thighs and arms will wither. You need to put a reasonable goal, withe less weight to loose or a longer time scale.

I got advice from a nutritionist friend of mine, she is also an athlete and knows how much i train. The best piece of advice was to start the day with breakfast, a small one even, it jump-starts your metabolic rate for the day early.
The Diet you described sounds ok to me, i would add fruits as snacks, fresh ones.
If you cramped from lack of minerals due to sweating and such, a banana can help.
But again, you are setting yourself for a disappointment, better (like your friend suggested) to roll as heavy this time, you might get smashed and next time you will have an incentive to diet properly throwout the year.
All the best.
P.S the fish oil you drink is it for U3 ? does it help you with your joints? is it horrible to drink?