training while losing bodyfat

[Allilang]

I am training for my first amateur sparring match in about 2 weeks. I live in Korea and Korean girls are tiny, so I have to be under 65kg to get an opponent. This morning i was 66kg, but that leaves another 2 kg to lose and be safely under the 65kg limit.

Fight day is weigh-in day, so just losing water weight is out of the question.

I have been losing weight quickly, but I am too weak to effectively train every day. What can I eat and how long before exercising can I eat it so I have energy and still lose weight?

[Richard P]

your coach should be advising this as they will have first hand experience in helping to cut and will know you better than most.

Personally I cut out meat a week out and switch to fish, i feel much less lethargic (probably the Omega and Zinc helps) good quality Whey protein and some good quality BCAA's help with muscle recovery

Nuts, Seeds and pulses, dried fruit become a go to snack (banana chips, coconut pieces, currents, raisins)

If you havent, you need to cut out all refined sugar where possible (i say this as most items in supermarkets have sugar to help preserve and increase shelf-life) but come on, doughnuts, cookies, chocolate, if you are still on these then get them gone.

Finally i stay away from what is classified as 'Empty Carbs' this is carbs that have zero to no nutritional value, so white bread, white rice are gone. Brown rice & Rye Bread should be in

[Allilang]

Thanks Richard, but actually I am going way beyond your tips already. Last week I ate nothing but cucumber. I am eating no snacks right now. Today, I skipped breakfast, then I had a small lunch and a banana shake with skim milk for dinner. Having such a calorie deficit is making me feel very lethargic and even dizzy sometimes.

What I really need is a snack that I can have that will give me some energy to train while not being enough to keep me from loosing another 2kg (5lbs) in about 10 days. I want to be able to eat normal for my last week so I can build my energy up before the fight.

[Richard P]

blimey, no wonder you feel exhausted and weak if you are eating cucumber. 5lbs doesnt sound a lot but you are relatively small so could be a decent % of your overal weight

do you know the timeframe between weigh and fight, are we talking a few hours or like 7?

[stephenmc]

Their is a couple of things I don't understand about this.
1: your "training for a sparring session"?? You don't "train" and cut weight for a sparring session.
2: you have only have 1-2 kg to lose in 2weeks? That is nothing
3: I've never in my life heard of a weigh in for a sparring session

Now let's pretend you meant to say it's a fight....
Like I said 1-2 kg left to lose with over a week or 2 to go is nothing... I think you started to cut too early.

Eat near normal this week,but good food, plenty of fruit and vegetables.. boil your chicken etc.... start getting lemons. One lemon every morning,trust me on this, I'm training a lad at the moment who is cutting weight (3-4kg) for a European tournament with the national squad. Eat a lemon every morning.

Week of the fight... When training,train with a black bag on under a hoodie, the more you sweat the better, don't take in loads of water while training, just wet your beak.., lemon every morning, and a quick jog before/after or the days you don't train...keep your food intake down if your still struggling 2-3 days beforehand.
If you feel weak, a small bit of light mayonnaise mixed in to a small can of tuna will give you the energy you need.

Follow this and you will make weight no bother, but again, I think you started to cut too much too soon

[stephenmc]

And also, fast the night before weigh in, so the day before your weigh in, nothing passes your lips after 3....
Once you weigh in, go straight away to get a good hearty breakfast/lunch and bring a glucose drink (like Lucozade) with you to drink after.

[AaronJW]

I've done a similar strict diet and, in my experience, without carbs and sugar it's not long until you feel lethargic and dizzy. At one point I felt like I was about to pass out due to my blood-sugar level getting too low.

My advice is to add cheat days to refill on energy and nutrients, and to allow you to continue training hard.

Personally I was dieting hard from Monday to Tuesday, eating a good amount of rice on Wednesdays, and then dieting hard until the weekend. At the weekend I'd eat anything I liked because I love good food. That would allow me to make a net loss in weight although pigging out at the weekends really slowed my progress.

Just eating cucumber sounds like a quick way to lose weight but cucumber might have sugar in it- I'm not sure but some vegetables contain natural sugars.

[AaronJW]

Their is a couple of things I don't understand about this.
1: your "training for a sparring session"?? You don't "train" and cut weight for a sparring session
3: I've never in my life heard of a weigh in for a sparring session

It might be an Asian thing.. here in Japan they do "sparring matches" where it's basically a competitive match of maybe 2 rounds (or half-rounds) wearing headgear. It might be the same in Korea.
I think it's for people who will never have any official matches but want to see what it's like to box against someone for real.

[stephenmc]

It might be an Asian thing.. here in Japan they do "sparring matches" where it's basically a competitive match of maybe 2 rounds (or half-rounds) wearing headgear. It might be the same in Korea.
I think it's for people who will never have any official matches but want to see what it's like to box against someone for real.

Ya, their just normal sparring sessions against different clubs.

I understand what you mean, like a glorified sparring session, kind of like an exhibition.

For example, we have a club coming down to us on Sunday, for "sparring" , but it will be more like unmarked fight,kind of exhibitions..... but their is no weigh ins or anything like that, and if one lad is a kg or so heavier sure how bad...
It's about experience against different people,

But I never heard or seen anybody cut weight for "sparring session"

Weigh ins are mostly just for tournaments, you will know by the look of the other person weather they are close to the weight or not.

Must be an Asian thing, because that would take waaay too much out of someone if they were to do that for each "sparring session" against a different club

[Allilang]

Yes, you are right Aaron.

They call it sparring, but it is a full on fight. 2 rounds going all at it.

I have no idea when weigh in would be, or even if they will actually weigh me. We are talking about minutes before the fight that I may be weighed. Water weight is out of the question.

My metabolism is VERY VERY slow, so I have to fight for every ounce I take off. If I so much as cheat once, my weight will shoot back up overnight. My diet needs to be 100% or it doesn't work.

I have cut out the cucumbers because they were not getting me the results I wanted.

My current diet is monday-friday black coffee, small school lunch, banana shake with skim milk for dinner.

The natural sugars in the banana shake do a lot to bring back my stamina, but I still am nowhere near 100%. I am thinking of removing my single lunch and replacing it with something I can snack on every hour throughout the day to keep my metabolism and blood sugars at a good level.