competition

I decided to write a blog on my weight cutting experience; this was the first time that I had cut ‘water weight’, and I had researched and been given good advice on the best way to do it. I also included in my diary, MY training program, because everything that I had read only included food, and not the actual training procedure. I’ve also produced daily video blogs documenting the whole process. The hardest part for me was the last day, but that was only 15 minutes of the ‘salt-water’ bath, and the last 10 minutes of the ‘wrapped in blankets/towels’ sweat. The rest of the experience was not as taxing as I thought it would be, and turned out to be quite motivating and invigorating.

Sunday 13th Oct 2013

Weight: 72kg – I stopped eating simple and complex carbohydrates.

Breakfast: 3 whole eggs, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tomato and spinach . I had bulletproof coffee: fresh coffee, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, and coconut oil.

Lunch: Chicken omelette cooked in butter, and a salad

Dinner: Boiled turkey and broccoli

Training: I did a morning and evening session on pads, and sparring, and got a good sweat on. I also rode my bike to the gym and back. A 2 x 30min/9km journey.

Monday 14th Oct

Weight: 71.1 kg – I started to load on high sodium water. I read 7.5-10L, but I struggled to drink 6L. One reason for this: I think I started too late in the day with the water and by lunch time I had only drunk 2L!

Breakfast: 3 whole eggs, 1 clove garlic, 1 tomato, mushrooms and spinach, followed by a bulletproof coffee

Lunch: Chicken omelette and salad. I put oil and vinegar and all my salads

Mid Afternoon: Handful of unsalted mixed nuts and a natural Greek yogurt

Dinner: Turkey and broccoli

Training: 2 sessions:1 hard pad session and sparring in the morning for 2 hours, and an easier grappling session in the evening, with a couple of light rolls. I felt good all day and had good energy, and I wasn’t ‘running out of steam’ when I was training. I also rode the bike to and from the gym.

Tuesday 15^th October

Weight: 69.1kg at 10am after breakfast and 9km bike ride to the gym

Water: I managed to drink about 7L of water. This time I started with my breakfast, and I knew what to expect! The water I was using for the first 3 days had 105/mg/l of Na+.

Breakfast: 3 whole eggs, bacon pieces, mushrooms, garlic, tomato and spinach, followed by a bulletproof coffee

Lunch: Chicken omelette and salad with oil and vinegar dressing.

Mid-afternoon: A handful of unsalted mixed nuts, and a natural Greek yogurt

Dinner: Turkey and broccoli

Training: 2 sessions: morning and evening of striking as I had Husaria and MMA Fantom fight teams booked in for a training camp during week. Felt good all day even with the lack of carbs. Cleaning up my diet 3 weeks prior to this made a huge difference. I had also eliminated bread and sugar, which I am really starting to believe is like quitting a drug! I had a resting heart rate of 44 bpm so I was recovering well.

Wednesday 15^th October

Weight: 68.4kg after breakfast. Drove to the gym

Breakfast: 3 eggs, bacon pieces, tomato, mushrooms, garlic and spinach, followed by a bulletproof coffee

Lunch: Chicken and broccoli

Dinner: Went out for dinner and had vegetable soup and steak on a stone with carrots and broccoli

Training: I didn’t train today. By 12 noon I felt out of breath walking up a hill. I thought it would be smarter to not train and just rest, as I thought I would continue to lose weight with the water process. I drank 7L this day too. My head was still calm and relaxed, but by body was tired, due in part to the glycogen depletion from the muscles. I cycled to the gym in the afternoon and back home that evening, totaling 2 x 30 mins/9km journeys.

Thursday 16^th October

Weight: 68.4kg the same as the day before! In hindsight I should have done an hour’s cardio the day before to get a sweat on.

Water: Today I cut the sodium in the water. I used a brand called Vitalis™. It has 4.2mg/l. FYI: the French waters have some of the lowest sodium content. In addition to this I also cut out all salt on my food. I forgot to mention earlier that I had been adding extra salt to my food for the last 3 days of high sodium water intake.

Breakfast: 3 whole eggs, tomato, garlic and spinach followed by a bulletproof coffee

Lunch: Turkey, peas and some carrots

Dinner: Pro Nutrition™ Egg and milk protein shake with 2 scoop {60 grams} made with 300ml low sodium water. I didn’t feel like actually eating or chewing food.

Training: 1 session: cycled to the gym {9km /30min}. I made sure to wrap myself up in warm clothing to get a sweat on. I hit the punch-bag lightly, just for movement, and rolled easy for about 10min. I then had a massage from my osteopath Pedro, and wrapped up and cycled home. Another 30min journey. When I got home I still weighed 68.4 kg and was starting to worry a little. I took a mild laxative Dulcogotas™ – 10 drops in a glass of water. The fiber {or lack thereof} on this diet was not enough, and by Wednesday I felt less regular and dried out. Solution: I decided to try wearing, leggings, socks, long sleeve t shirt, short sleeve t shirt and a hat to bed that night to see if it made any difference. I slept well and only woke once to pee.

Friday 18^th Oct Weigh in @ 20:00

I woke at 9 am and got on the scales straight away, to my surprise was 67.4kg! I went to the bathroom and was 67kg on the button! I decided to have a bulletproof coffee around 2.30pm, as I was not going to eat or drink anything till the weigh-in. I also ate a small piece of oat protein bar which I had made for after the weigh-in.

I did nothing all day, just wrapped up and watched some TV and tried to relax. Just before the salt bath I weighted 66.7kg. I put ½ a kilo of Epson salts into as hot a bath as I could manage, and then stayed in the bath for 10 minutes. 3 minutes in I wanted to get out! It was hard to settle my breathing. I got out after 10 min and then was wrapped in some towels, blanket and a duvet for another 10 min. This was the hardest bit as my heart was beating fast; I would say around 140bpm and was really hard to control. I put on some music and tried to concentrate on controlling my breathing. I weighed myself after 10 min wrapped and I was 65.8kg and felt like I was going to pass out. I wrapped up again straight away, and then I had really loud hissing in my ears, sounded like the taps were on, that lasted for about a minute or so, then I started to relax and feel normal again. After the second 10 min ‘wrapped up’ session I weighted 66.5kg! Result!I wore lots of clothes till the weigh in and made 65.2kg.

The re-hydration process

I started with 250ml of electrolyte solution (Dioralyte™) then another 250ml 15 min after that, which I drank slowly. Make sure this is at room temperature. Then I ate small amounts of pasta, oats, and a sports hydration drink, and water. I stayed up till 1am drinking and eating. Same thing the next day, I ate small amounts of mainly complex carbs and water. I weighed 71kg 24 hours later and didn’t feel like the weight-cut affected my performance.

Check out my video blog to see the difference in how I looked.

Shinobi Vlog