Skip The Diet. Just Eat Healthy.

Cutting weight can be one of the most dreadful times for a jiu jitsu athlete. Before every competition, I have to make sure that my weight is in a certain range--all while trying to keep my body as healthy and energized as possible. I always used to procrastinate and wait until about two weeks out to try to start losing the weight, which was always a bad idea. It's really hard, and sometimes very frustrating, to balance not eating too much, but eating enough to fuel my muscles. Eating a well-balanced diet is an important part of being an athlete that most people, including me, sometimes overlook.

A week before Pan Ams 2013, I decided that I couldn't make the cut to feather weight. I weighed about 135 lbs, without the gi, and I just knew that it would be too dangerous for me to try to lose that much weight in just one week. I decided that I was just going to suck it up and compete at light weight, which is 141 lbs with the gi. I was in the middle of the weight class, weighing in at 137 lbs, but I just jumped on the mat and fought the best that I could--ultimately losing my first fight against a tough competitor. Although competing is always a learning experience, I knew that I wanted to change my eating habits in order to get down into the feather weight division.

I decided that I needed to clean up my diet and start to eat better all of the time--instead of just a couple of weeks before competition when I needed to cut out the weight. I started to write down everything that I would eat throughout the day and sort of "monitor" how much I was putting into my body on a daily basis. It's incredible how many vegetables and fruit you can eat that could compare to just one bowl of pasta or a hamburger. I actually started to enjoy eating so healthy. Cooking and experimenting with different flavors makes eating healthy a lot more fun.  I started to feel a change in my jiu jitsu game as my body adjusted to my new diet. Overall, I just felt better all of the time. I have more energy, and my muscles rarely get tired now. 

The first picture on the left was one week before Pan Ams 2013. Now, the second picture on the right is about one week away from Worlds 2013, and I am weighing in at 126 lbs. I look at this picture, and I can't believe the difference that I can see.  I honestly don't know why I neglected this lifestyle for so long. I guess I had imagined eating so clean as being a miserable way to live, but it really is far from that. I started to substitute carbs for healthier alternatives like quinoa or whole grain oats, added more greens and berries into my everyday meals that are full of essential nutrients, started to cook more with fish rather than chicken and steak, and started to drink a lot more water--eliminating all of the unneeded, sugar-filled drinks that I was drinking. After a couple of weeks of eating more naturally, my body has started to feel like it was on a whole new level.
If there was any one piece of advice that I could give to jiu jitsu competitors, it would be to just try to eat healthier foods year-round, instead of just during competition season. You can't get the full affects of healthy eating through just two weeks of dieting to make the weight cut. Once you taste the benefits that you can get from this, you won't want to go back. Of course it's okay to eat a bad meal every once in a while, but once you change your diet to eating more fruits, veggies, fish, and other natural foods, your body will thank you--and then you can thank me. 
Good luck at Worlds everybody! :-)
--Morgan Beverly