calorie needs

[bjj06]

I am 18 years old and a senior in highschool. I have been preparing for BUD/s for some time. But I am also a mma fighter. I fight about once every 2 months. But sometimes I will have to cut weight for a fight and this is really stressful. It's hard to train really hard for BUD/s and fights and while not getting enough calories. I have overtrained at least 3 times from it and got really sick. I talked to my trainier about this and he agreed to have me fight at my natural weight at 155 to 160. But now that I can do this it is hard for me to really pack on the calories I need in one day, because it feels like I just dont have time to eat as much as I need to. I know that nutrition is really important for preparing for BUD/s. It is kind of hard for me to find good foods with good calories and not a lot of fat. I try to eat every three hours but it is still hard for me to get over 3000 calories. With my workout routine I think this will take a toll on me. Do you guys know what kind of foods can pack on calories and clean carbs without a lot of sugar and fat?

Matt

[snow85]

hey matt--

i have a question for you: mma is ranked by the place you take, the event you're in, and the total number of competitors, but you're not divided into any sort of weight class? is that right?

news for you kid: it's hard to train for ANYTHING without adequate calorie intake. what do you mean when you say 'overtrained' and 'got sick'? you may not be needing over 3,000 cals. it depends on what you're burning, and if you want to maintain, gain, or lose weight. this is especially true if you're only fighting every couple of months.

you definitely need to be fighting at your natural weight, but to *really* ascertain your daily caloric needs, you need to take a week and calculate it. when i was in school we used a program called 'PruCal' (prudent diet analysis.)

you write down literally everything you eat and drink, what exercise you do, and enter it into a computer program, which gives you a breakdown of the nutritional content of the food you eat, the number of calories you take in, what you burn, etc. it's a real pain to write everything down, but it's the only way. i haven't seen anything for PruCal free online, but there are numerous other sites that you can go to. you actually may need more or less than what is recommended.

try this site: http://www.sfu.ca/~jfremont/nutrientsoftware.html it lists several nutritional analysis sites. you'll have to play around with it. instead of typing 'salad', you might do better if you enter 'lettuce.'


in the interim, you want to eat nutrient dense foods-- they have a high nutrient/calorie ratio. you need the nutrients without the fat. apples, fish, beans, whole grains, potatoes, bananas, fruits and vegetables... all good things to eat. turkey sandwiches, whole grain cereal/ things like wheaties, shredded wheat, grape nuts, etc., chicken breast, nuts, .... all good foods. oatmeal.... you can make oatmeal cookies w/ less fat-- use margarine or smart balance instead of the butter, and then cut THAT amount in half by using apple sauce. you can cut the amount of sugar directly in 1/2 too, and probably won't ever notice the difference. you can carry a ton of those around all day and eat them in class.

[bjj06]

hey thanks, i tried that site and it really helped and my dad got me this log book to record what I eat and it seems to help. but yes there are weight classes, it is just like a boxing match. I think im going to start fighting at my natural weight because this whole cutting weight thing sucks. Your advice really helped, thanks
-matt-