My dietary intake

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Hi Kerry,
I compete and muay thai and i'm fighting in 4 weeks and wondering what my calorie intake should be??
I always put quite a bit of weight on between fights but i think my main problem getting my weight down is that i dont get my intake right and i'm slowing my metabolism down.
I'm 82kg at the moment and i'm fighting at 75kg the fight is a day before weigh in and i was thinking of dropping the last 2 kg in water weight as i havent really got enough time to drop the whole amount do you think this would be agood idea???
also doe's Rickys diet stay the same for his whole camp start to finish??

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kk - Ricky's diet more or less does stay the same throughout the camp, we use a lot of supplementation as he needs a lot of nutrients for the workload but we cant afford the kcalories as he has to lose weight on the scales. Because of this if we gave him food only, he would definitely be deficient in nutrients, obviously this would affect his training, recuperation and not allow his body to get to the fitness and stamina levels that is required to do a 12 round championship fight. You say you also put on weight between fights so you are no different than Ricky. Here is a diet I have just done this morning for a European Champion who is tight at the weight but is a small man

Meal 1 - Breakfast
Small bowl of porridge with 1 scoop of Pro Peptide plus Pro Vital AM and 3 Pro Lipid

Meal 2
1 Pro MR

Meal 3
1 small chicken breast with small potato or small cup of rice or pasta with plenty of green veg.
Pro Vital PM

Meal 4
Pro MR
Take a Protein Slam before you train and take Pro Recover after training and after running.
There are a lot of supplements in this diet, you need a lot of nutrients and if you were to get them from food alone there would be too many kcalories (units of energy). For example :- A Pro MR gives you 42 grams of fast and slow undenatured protein (being released into your system over 7 hours) to repair and maintain your muscles from those strenuous workouts but its only 270 kcalories. If you tried to get 42 grams of protein in food it would be far higher.
This will give you 6 meals in total, remember you must eat small and often. You must also drink at least 3 litres of water a day, remember water is the solvent that all chemical reaction in the body rely on.
If you weigh yourself during the day your weight on the scales can fluctuate depending on how much water you have drank or if you have been to the toilet or been sweating.
Your true body weight can be measured first thing in the morning when you get out of bed and you have not had a drink and you have been to the toilet. This way there will be no fluctuation with fluid. This will give you approximately 2000 kcalories per day, if you are not losing weight (remember to weigh yourself first thing in the morning) then split your Pro Recover, half after training and half after running.

Immediately after the weigh in.

Take one sachet of Dioralyte in half a pint of water immediately after the weigh in. This will help replace essential body water and salts.
Start drinking water again. you do not need as much as you did in the days prior to the weigh in. Maybe 2 or 3 Litres a day.
It is also recommended that you take a Dioralyte immediately after a fight to combat dehydration.
Your first 2 or 3 meals after the weigh in should be liquid meals, this way you can get more kcalories which will fill the muscles with Glycogen.
Meal 1 & 2 - 3 Scoops Pro Recover and 1 scoop Pro Fuel
Meal 3 - 1 scoop Pro Recover 1 scoop Pro Fuel
Meal 4 - This can be high glycemic carbs such as ice cream or any children's cereals that you fancy.
Meal 5 - Complex carbs from either rice, pasta, potato or whole grains. You do not need protein with this meal as your kcalories are better provided from carbohydrates for energy levels.
If you fancy a junk meal (which I do not recommend) but I also understand that mentally it's a treat, have it as your last meal before you go to bed. Fats and sauces can slow down your digestive ability but after 7 or 8 hours sleep you should be back to normal.

Day of the fight

All your meals should now be complex carbohydrates (slow release). You can have some protein but you do not need a lot.
The Glycemic Index (G.I) of carbohydrates is a measurement of the type or quality of carbohydrates and how fast or slow they are absorbed. Normally you eat carbs with protein, fats and fibre, this slows the release of the carbohydrates down but as you are eating carbohydrates on their own it is now more important to use the G.I.
The first meal of the day should be porridge made with water, you can sweeten this with honey or jam.
Your next meals and I understand that for obvious reasons that your appetite might be low but it is essential that you try and get another 3 or 4 solid meals in, they should consist of the following:-
Pasta, Spaghetti, Rice, Whole Grain Bread. The best snacks are apples, pears and bananas.
Most fighters that I have worked with tend to have their last meals about 4pm but I think it is a good idea to put in your bag apples, pears and bananas, which you can snack on. You should really try and have at least one of these fruits up to 2 hours before your fight.
Don't forget to drink plenty of water.

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Cheers for the advice Kerry will def use that for this fight also have you any advice on losing water weight apart from going in a sauna??
Also are you doing another of those nutrition seminars at your gym anytime soon??

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kk - If you are going to lose water for a weigh in you must be hydrated otherwise you are going to struggle to lose water. I suggest you drink at least 3 litres a day right up to the day before the weigh in, a litre of water weighs just over 2lb (1 kilo) so if you drank your 3 litre but didn't sweat or urinate then yes, you would be 6-7 lbs heavier but as soon as you sweat or urinate, you will lose water so don't weigh yourself during the day. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning (after you have been to the toilet and before you drink).

The night before the weigh in stop drinking water you body will carry on urinating as much as 3 or 4 litres as it has not realised you are not drinking water, if you take 8-10 grams of vitamin C, spread out from midday the day before the weigh in to the weigh in this will overdose your body with vitamin C, as vitamin C is water soluble your body can only get rid of this by urinating more. This is a better way of losing water than having a sauna.

Yes, I will probably do a seminar after the Northwest and Ricky's fight.

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Hi Kerry you posted this for me a couple of weeks ago i was wondering if this diet stays the same right up until the weigh and doe's water intake stay the same for the last couple of days or doe's any of it change???

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kk - Sorry for my late reply, but I was just very busy last week.

You water should stay the same until the night before the weigh in, then stop it, this way your body will carry on urinating. If you stop the water too early your body will realise and start to hold on to it.

Your diet should stay the same providing you are going to make the weight comfortably, if you are heavier than you want to be, you should deplete your carbohydrates for a couple of days.