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Showing posts with label Veritas BJJ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Veritas BJJ. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

How I Lost 12 Pounds in 6 Days

I have been training in a martial art called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a little over a year. It is excellent exercise and teaches the practical skill of self-defense.  Through the strenuous 90 minute classes two or three times a week, I have lost 15 pounds, increased my strength and endurance, and mental toughness.  The encouragement and accountability of my teammates at Veritas BJJ in Dalton, GA makes all the difference. They keep me going. I keep them going. We keep each other going.  This article is about how I took off an additional 12 pounds in 6 short days to prepare for my first BJJ competition.  To read about my fight, click here.

I am not a fan of fad diets--especially crash diets. My philosophy is eat healthy and in modetation and exercise hard. There aren't any magic pills or shortcuts.   Do the work and enjoy the results.  However, I found myself weighing 205 pounds one week before my first BJJ competition and I didn't like the weight brackets for my age group.  For a man my age (41), the weight division was set for 200 pounds and up.  What that means is any man older than 35 and over 200 pounds would be in my class.  So I could potentially be fighting guys who were 250, 300, 350 pounds, or even larger. I sometimes roll (or sparr or wrestle) with guys that big in my training class.  It's great training, but a serious and obvious disadvantage in a competition setting.  The next lower weight bracket for my age group was from 180 pounds to 199 pounds.  Man, that was so much more attractive to me.  Couldn't I just loose 5 more pounds and make that weight division?  Thanks to some encouragement from one of my training partners, Vince Caggiano, I decided to go for it.

I got online and researched several weight loss plans and decided on one an MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter named George Saint Pierre uses to cut 20-30 pounds in a week before his fight.  I didn't need to lose that much and didn't want to risk my health or deplete my energy, so I decided to modify the plan and make it milder.  Furthermore, I'm a pastor, a husband, and a father and I needed to be able to function normally in the real world.  My modified plan worked for me.  For the full plan and a discussion about how it works and how it affects body performance, click here.

My Plan
My goal was to loose 10 pounds in 6 days without damaging my health or depleting my energy. That was a few more pounds than I actually needed to drop, but the extra pounds would be a buffer in case the official scale was a few pounds off from mine.  I hoped the milder diet plan wouldn't sap my energy too much because I would only have a few hours to rest and rehydrate between weigh in and my first fight.

The idea is to drink a lot of water at the beginning of the week so your body starts flushing fluids.  Then, you start drinking less water toward the end of the week, but your body keeps flushing.  You also limit salt intake, which helps your body let go of more water.  Here were the goals I set for my one week plan.

Sunday
Water intake: 2 gallons
Carbs: less than 50 grams
Protein and Fat: enough to satisfy me in 3 meals
Salt: none

Monday
Water intake: 2 gallons
Carbs: less than 50 grams
Protein and Fat: enough to satisfy me in 3 meals
Salt: none

Tuesday
Water intake: 2 gallons
Carbs: less than 50 grams
Protein and Fat: enough to satisfy me in 3 meals
Salt: none

Wednesday
Water intake: 1 gallon
Carbs: less than 50 grams
Protein and Fat: enough to satisfy me in 3 meals
Salt: none
10-15 minute hot bath with 1 cup of Epsom salt before bed

Thursday
Water intake: 1 gallon
Carbs: less than 50 grams
Protein and Fat: enough to satisfy me in 3 meals
Salt: none
10-15 minute hot bath with 1 cup of Epsom salt before bed

Friday
Water intake: 0.5 gallon
Carbs: less than 50 grams
Protein and Fat: a full satisfying amount for breakfast and lunch and as little food as possible for the rest of the day
Salt: none
10-15 minute hot bath with 1 cup of Epsom salt before bed

Saturday
Before weigh in (8:30 AM) - As little food or water as possible
After weigh in - sip up to 1 liter gateraid or water per hour and eat a satisfying amount without filling up too much to competcomfortably at 1:30 AM.

Reality
It's good to have a plan and they look great on paper, but real life is messier (especially as a pastor).  Here’s what my week actually looked like.

Sunday
I wake up and realize we are having a covered dish luncheon after church today. It's gonna be tough to stick to my plan today.  After my morning shower, I weigh 205.0 pounds.  I fill up my Pleasant Grove UMC water bottle full of 20 onces of water.  I can use this to keep track.  I decided to skip breakfast to limit calories in case I indulge a little at lunch.  Also, I realize almost all my breakfast food is full of carbs.  For lunch, I have a fried chicken breast, green beans, pinto beans, and some broccoli.  I skip all the yummy looking cream corn, bread, and other carby sides.  I do get a small brownie (can't resist).  No sweet tea for me.  It's water only.   I know the fried chicken breading has carbs and there's salt in there too, but I'm not going to be militant about this diet.  I live in the real world.  Besides, this is half as much food as I would normally eat at one of these church feasts, which are both a perk and a curse (for the health) of a Methodist pastor.  The hardest part of the meal were the wondering eyes of my parishioners wondering why I was eating so little or why I didn't get a serving of their famous such and such, but my church folks are gracious people.  For dinner, I had a left over piece of chicken breast they let me take home.  At the end of the day, I came up short on the water.  Two gallons seems like a lot to drink.  I'll have to do better tomorrow.  Other than that, this isn't too hard.  It was interesting to me to note that I would lose 1 to 3 pounds each night while I slept.  I weigh my heaviest at night hefore.bed and lightest in the morning.

Monday
After my morning shower, I weigh 202.6 pounds.  I decide skipping breakfast is easy enough and will save me a few calories. That will be my plan for the week.  I get started right away on my water and have 30 onces down before I even get to work.  I'm gonna make the goal today.   I have lunch at the Engine Room with my mens Emmaus reunion group from church (spiritual accountability).  I have baked chicken, green beans, blacked eyed peas, and broccoli.  For dinner, I skip the lazagna my wife made for the family.  Instead, I cook a boneless chicken breast on a George Foreman grill sprinkled with curry, onion powder, and garlic powder.  No salt added, but it tastes salty so I'm thinking they added salt water to this chicken breast before they froze it.  There's no salt in the spices I added so far as I can tell.  I met my water goal today.  It wasn't that difficult.  I had to miss my BJJ class tonight so I could attend my son's awards ceremony at his school.  Real life here.

Tuesday
After my morning shower, I weigh 199.6 pounds.  (This is the first time I've been below 200 lbs in about 15 years!)  Same plan: No breakfast.  For lunch I have a grilled chicken house salad from Zaxby's. There's probably more salt in there than I'm supposed to have, but at least it's not a hamburger and salty french fries.  I have a funeral to lead today.  They are having a meal for the family afterwards.  The pastor is usually at the meal (perk and curse, remember).  I have a fried chicken wing, 2 deviled eggs, and some grean beans.  No dessert (that was the hardest part).  Folks, church dinners are the best dinners on earth.  Everyone brings their very best so you're eating the best of the best.  If you aren't going to church, do yourself a favor and start today.  Food evangelism.  It's a real thing.  After the funeral, I got called in to do some difficult pastoral counseling at the hospital.  It was a late night.  I stopped by the grocery store and bought a t-bone steak, some cauliflower, and broccoli for dinner.  I put onion powder and garlic powder on the steak and grilled it on the George Forman.  I steamed the broccoli and cauliflower--no salt on anything.  The steak is good, but bland.  The veggies are satisfying.  My appetite has shrunk considerably.  I am full and satisfied after the meal.  My unexpected pastoral care at the hospital required me to miss BJJ class again.  I'm glad to serve, but hated to miss the training time.  I hope this doesn't effect my weight loss or competition performance.

Wednesday
My weight after my morning shower is 198.4.  I skipped breakfast again.  I had yet another Zaxby's grilled chicken house salad for lunch.  I keep thinking of branching out, but I go right past there on the way to do hospital visits and I like them and they fill me up.  We have dinner at church on Wednesday nights and my training partner, Vince, is the cook.  The menu is buffalo wings, pigs in blankets, homemade french fries, celery, and carrots.  I have 5 wings, celery and carrots, and skip the fries and dessert (arrgggg!).  Latter that night, I have a leftover hamburger patty for a snack (no bread).  Drinking the water has been easy.  I easily make over 2 gallons.  I think it may be tough to only drink a gallon tomorrow.  Before bed, I take my first hot, Epsom salt bath.  I'm a little chilly tonight so I'm looking forward to it.  This is supposed to help my body shed extra water.  The water is hot!  I'm just barely able to submerge myself.  After 10 minutes, I'm done and my heart is pounding and I'm hot.  It takes a while to cool down enough to go to bed.  I'm half a pound lighter after the bath.

Thursday
Weight is 196.4.  No breakfast.  You guessed it, Zaxby's salad for lunch.  Home for dinner, I have a hamburger patty and left over steamed broccoli and cauliflower before a 90 minute, no-gi BJJ class (no-gi means we don't wear the traditional martial arts uniform, just shorts and a t-shirt). Today I'm only drinking half a gallon of water, which has been challenging.  My body wants more, especially after the BJJ class, but I am disciplined.  I have another hot bath before bed.  It is not fun.

Friday
Weight is 194.2.  This is my day off work, but I've got house and farm chores to catch up on.  Plus, I'm only supposed to drink 32 onces today.  That's gonna be tough.  I'm thirsty.  The MMA plan suggested the use of a natural diaretic, so I have an idea.  I'm gonna drink a cup of black coffee this morning.  (It's a mild, natural diaretic that encourages your body to shed water.)  I'm not a big fan of coffee (especially black), but that was the best cup of coffee!  It's probably because I was thirsty and it was the first non-water liquid I'd had all week.  I'm still urinating even though I'm thirsty.  I have a late breakfast with my wife of scrambled eggs with onions and cream cheese (no salt).  For the remainder of the day, I will consume only 4 onces of unsalted peanuts.  The limited food is not too hard.  What I really want is to just guzzle water, but I'm only sipping.  I dred my hot bath tonight, but I do it.  I feel weak and dizzy afterwards.  I don't think these hot baths are good for my health.  I think I will omit them if I ever use this diet agian.  I end the night with a cup of iced, black coffee.  It helps cool me off.

Saturday
I take a warm shower and then weigh 192.2.  I am thirsty.  I can't wait for weigh in so I can drink and eat.  Between the time I wake at 6 AM and weigh in at 9:45 AM I will sip through about 12 onces of water and eat a small, 100 calorie granola bar.  I feel a little weak, jittery, and uneasy, but the limited food and water eases me.  At this point, I'm worried if this is going to adversely affect my competition.  After a 2 hour drive, I weigh in at 194.6 pounds wearing a pair of shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops.   Boom! I count it a success! Now, time to drink and eat. I open a 32 once bottle of gateraid.  I need to be careful not to guzzle.  I pace myself as I eat the best peanut butter sandwich of my life, a few salty snacks, and an apple.

Within an hour of my weigh in, I need to pee.  I will go to the bathroom 4 times before my match.  That's a good sign.  It tells me, I am rehydrating.  I feel settled again.  The mild nausea and wooziness from earlier are gone.  I'm a little jittery, but I think it's just pre-competition nerves.  I feel good and strong and in shape to fight.  To read the details of my match, click here.

Conclusion
My six day diet was a success.  It got me into the weight division I wanted without stifling my performance or hurting my health.  Also, it helped me overcome a weight loss plateau I was stuck at For a long time.  I've been wanting to get back below 200.  I am on a week of vacation right now and I don't have a scale.  I suspect I will gain back a significant portion of the weight, if not all of it.  We will see.  I continue to drink a lot of water and eat a little better--more meat and less carbs.  Plus, I am jogging this week to keep burning calories And get ready for an upcoming 5K race.   I will update you in a week to see where my weight is after vacation.  At any rate, I count this as a success because it accomished all my goals for the BJJ competition and I won 1st place in my weight/age/rank division.   To read about my fight, click here.

UPDATE!
As I said in the beginning, I'm not a fan of fad diets.  If you want to lose weight and keep it off, eat right and exercise hard.  There are no short cuts.  I suspected I would put back on most if not all of the weight I lost.  I was right.  After a week of vacation, I weighed in this morning at 201.2 pounds.  I got plenty of exercise during my vacation--jogging 3 miles twice and rising countless miles on a bike.  Also, I didn't eat too badly.  Yet, I still gained 8 lbs.  I am still happy.  I am close to the 200 mark and with a little mindfulness about what I eat and continued hard exercise and BJJ 3 times a week, I may be able to drop and maintain below 200.  I hope so, because it's a good weight for me.

My First Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Fight

I started training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in March of 2014.  This is the story of how I won my first BJJ fight at the Smokey Mountain Grappling Tournament in Alcoa, Tennessee on May 23, 2015.  I only had a few weeks to prepare for the competition and a week before the tournament, I decided to lose 10 pounds and fight in a lower weight division.  Click here to read about my weight loss experience, which was a victory in itself.

I weighed in at 194.6 pounds at 9:45 AM and began the process of hydrating and getting some energy in my body while I watched my team mates from Veritas BJJ of Dalton, GA compete.  I love these guys and gals.  They train very hard at jiu-jitsu and inspire me to do my best.  If you're in the Dalton area, I highly recommend you give them a try.

Here's some pictures of my team mates during the competition.  Here's Coach Jason Finnell coaching Caitlin Kelley "Cupcake" during her competition.  The next picture is the moment she won her division with a shoulder lock.  She won first place.  (Photos by Vince Caggiano.)



Here's Kevin Bruce winning his no-gi match by rear naked choke.

I have competed before in Tang Soo Do competitions and I always have jittery nerves before it's my turn.  It's the same way when I preach on Sundays.  Even though I've been doing it for almost 15 years, I still get a little nervous before the service starts.  I just try to control my breathing, relax, and stretch.  It's almost time.

Coach Jason pulled me aside to encourage me.  "Chris, I expect you to blow through your competition today.  Your good and you've been training hard.  You shouldn't have any problems.  Regardless of what happens,  I'm proud of you.  Just remember to relax, breath, and stay calm.  Don't rush things.  Take your time and wear you opponent down before you try any submissions.  Establish your dominant position and then hold it until your opponent stops fighting."

They call my name.  I'm the first one named from my division to fight.  I walk onto the mat to take my place in the ring.  I close my eyes and say a short prayer to center myself.  "Father, help me to do my best and keep me and my opponent from being injured.  Please be glorified by what we do here.  Amen."

My opponent stands across from me.  He doesn't look so mean.  He's a little smaller than me with salt and pepper hair and beard.  I'm glad I lost those 12 pounds so I could fight in this division.  We shake hands.  The referee signals for us to start.  My game plan is not to rush.  I'm going to take my time.  I will let my opponent try to take me down to the ground, but I will counter him.  I'm quick and have great reflexes and I'm usually successful at this.  We have just started to clench and fight for grips on each other's gis (uniforms) when the ref stops us and tells us to hold our position.  He explains the clock has malfunctioned.  I joke with my opponent that we already broke the clock.  The kidding blows off a little more steam and helps me relax.  In a moment, the ref tells us we can let go of each other and take a break while they fix the clock.

I step over to my coach, Jason, and listen to him remind me to stay calm and not rush.  "Make sure you don't concede your grips to him."  "Ok, coach.  Is it alright if I go ahead and try and take him down?"  "Sure.  Remember, snap him toward you.  Then when he pulls a way, push in.  You can just go back and forth like that until you get him off balance..."  Coach sits back down and I just pace slowly around to stay calm and loose.

The ref calls us back together and decides to restart us from neutral.  Only 20 seconds has run off the clock at this point.  We touch hands again.  "Go!"  Almost immediately, my opponent tries to take me to the ground.  It is sloppy and he hasn't done anything to break my balance or posture.  As I expected, I can easily counter him and follow him down almost immediately into side control.  This is one of the most dominant positions for me.  My body is on top of his and I'm perpendicular to him while he is flat on his back.  All my weight is pressing down on him.  He's burning way more energy than me just to breath and there's very little he can do, while I have a multitude of options to try and submit my opponent.

I remember coach Jason's advice earlier that morning, "Chris, don't rush. When you get on top, relax and take your time.  Hold the position and let your opponent wear out.  When he starts to settle down, then go for the submissions."  That's what I'm gonna do.  I press my shoulder into his face and drive all my weight down while trying to counter any movements he tries to free himself.

I hear coach call out from the corner, "Relax Chris!"  I relax my muscles and slow my breathing.  I don't want to burn myself out.  I'll leave that for my opponent.  He's tiring and slowing down.  I feel his frustration, because I've been in that position before.  He starts to settle down and I see him looking towards his corner for advice from his coach.  Time to make my move.

I will attack his left arm and try a shoulder lock.  He's fighting hard because he knows what I'm trying.  He's slipping his knee up under me, trying to hook my leg and pull me into half guard (still a dominant position for me, but an improvement for him).  I fight it off and press my weight back into him.  I go for the shoulder lock again, but he's defending well and trying to regain half guard.  I'm fighting it off, but now he's framing up (this means he is using his forearm and elbow to press into my chest and face to keep me from putting pressure on him).  He's fighting valiantly and creating space between us so he can maneuver.   Now I'm having trouble isolate his arm for a shoulder lock.  He finally slips his leg in and pulls me back into a half guard and I don't fight it off this time.  It's time to go for something I've been working on and has been working for me a lot--an Ezekiel Choke.

I settle into half guard on top of him as I slip my left arm around the back of his neck.  He is feeling relieved at having finally removed the pressure of my side control.  I'm hoping to capitalize on his false sense of security in this situation.  Secretly, I grab my right sleeve cuff with my left hand.  Then I slip my right hand in front of my opponent's throat.  Now I scissor my arms and apply pressure to his throat, but I'm not in good position and he rolls over while I'm trying to choke him and I end up on my back with him on top and I have him in guard.  The choke isn't placed right so I let go.

Now I'm on my back with him on top.  I have him in my guard with both my legs around his waste, so he can't apply pressure.  This is actually a more dominant position for me, though the lay person wouldn't know it.  I have a multitude of ways to attack him from here while he has very little.  However, I don't like fighting from this position.  I still have a lot to learn. My coach knows my fighting style and calls out, "You've gotta sweep him, Chris!"

I get my grips on my opponents lapel and attempt a scissor sweep to flip him over on his back to put me on top of him, but he counters and he doesn't go all the way over.  I hear my coach yell, "Back up to your feet, Chris!"

I scramble back up to my feet and we are standing again, gripping each other’s gis.  Almost immediately, he tries to pull me down into his guard.  Again, his technique is sloppy and he doesn't break my balance or control my posture.  I easily counter him as we go down and I pass his guard--this time to the opposite side.  I'm glad I've been practicing side control from both the left and right side.  As I press my shoulder down into his face, I think "See buddy.  I can do this either left or right handed."

I go for the shoulder lock again (Note to self, I really need more submissions in my tool bag.  I know what to work on.)  I get his arm isolated, but he's fighting hard again.  My coach is giving instructions on how to complete the submission, but the opposing coach is giving instructions on how to counter it.  After a few minutes of struggling, my opponent slips his leg in and drags me into half guard again.

Ok.  I'm going to try the Ezekiel again. I know it works.  I trust my training.  I press into half guard, slide my arm around the back of his neck, grasp my right sleeve cuff.  Coach Jason is giving instructions on how to get out of half guard.  Good.  That'll serve as more misdirection. The opponent's coach is warning him to guard his throat.  I know he can't really from this position.  I slip my right hand across his throat.  Coach Jason yells out, "Use the blade of your hand!"  I keep my hand open, sag my left arm, and scissor with all my might.  We start to roll to my right, but this time my opponent can't roll all the way.  I'm in a better position and we end up side by side facing each other as my choke sinks in deep.  It feels solid.  I know it sucks because I've been choked this way in class before.  My opponent fights for a second or two and then taps out (to show he is giving up).   I don't let go until the ref calls for the stop.  Then, I release.  (The picture below is the moment my opponent taped from my Ezekiel choke.  Photo by Vince Caggiano.)


We break apart and the muscles in my arms arm burning and I'm breathing hard from exertion.   I think there were only about 30 seconds left in the fight.  We went for seven and a half minutes and we both feel it.

I hug my opponent and congratulate him on a good fight.  I shake his coach's hand and then go back and thank coach Jason.  My opponent hugs me again and says it was a great fight.  "How old are you?"  I ask.  "41."  "Same as me," I say.  "Us old guys can still fight!"  I say.  "What was your weight?"  "185," he says.  I'm glad again that I dropped the weight to fight in this lower weight division.  "What's you name?"  "Shawn."  I thank Shawn again for a great fight.

At this point, I'm thinking I need to catch my breath because I'll have to fight my next opponent in a few minutes.   The ref calls for the awards banner and I realize Shawn and I were the only two fighters in our division, so there won't be anymore fights.  I got off easy today, but I'm proud of my first fight.  I fought well and executed my fight plan perfectly.  I could have fought more people, but was glad to have my first competition behind me as a win.

Click here to learn more about Veritas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu where I train.

Click here to learn how I lost 12 pounds in one week to prepare for my fight.