Losing a small amount of fat without impacting sports performance

velmada

I know this is diet related but I figure id be more likely to find people in this forum who know about fuelling workouts rather than just dieting for weight loss.
I'm 32, 5'2" and weigh 54kg (around 120lbs). I have a reasonably sedentary office job (though I do get a bit of walking in as my job involves visiting people in the community). I do some kind of activity most days because I enjoy it and I'm always learning something new. I have been doing martial arts & weights for around 5yrs now, and my endurance/recovery has got pretty good, tho if I feel I need an extra rest day I take one. Jiu jitsu sessions can be hard or gentler depending how I'm feeling. Occasionally weekends will be no classes but some cycling or Capoeira instead.
Typical week looks like this:

Mon - Brazilian jiu jitsu, 2hrs including 30mins sparring
Tues 1hr callisthenics class (bar and ring work mainly) + weights
Weds 2hrs or 3hrs jiu jitsu
Thurs rest
Fri either 1hr weights or 1hr jiu jitsu
Sat 1hr weights, 1hr either callisthenics /stretching/dynamic martial arts drills (depending how I feel after the week)
Sun: 2hrs Brazilian jiu jitsu

Now my query is - how do I work out what my nutrition should be if I want to lose a bit of fat? I don't have a lot - eg I can see the top set of abs before the belly kicks in - but its just enough to hide my muscles underneath. I'd like quads where I have thighs, and triceps where I just have these oddly large upper arms!

Iv tried looking up macros and based on my height, online tools tell me I my BMR = about 1300 and my activity level gets that up to around 1600-1700 and that just makes me cry! Can't stick to it, try and give up. Tried high fat low carb, and same but with carb back loading (postponing carbs til after workout) - didn't work for me, headaches & nausea in sparring is scary. Don't care how long itd take to adjust, it's not something I'd chance in jiu jitsu. I'm not confident that it's something that works for women as have found few female success stories about it (and knowing that IF can be harmful for women I'm cautious about taking on plans written with men in mind, when I've got relatively little to lose). Oh and once I'd realised whole milk had carbs I decided the allowances on low carb were impossible unless you can stomach eating 90% of your food as chicken. Srsly how can you really be low carb and still eat food?!
I can't decide if I'm talking myself out of my goal because I don't have the willpower, or if actually I've got an unrealistic goal. Have tried to research about cutting for women and most things I've read are competition cutting, either for body building or weigh ins, and those are temporary and not sustainable plans that are likely to affect performance in the short term.

So, has anyone here had success in getting that leaner look whilst still keeping their sporting performance? Any thoughts about what is realistic 'off season' compared to competition weight? Or should I just learn the art of contouring and focus on improving my arm bars instead?

annette_15

If you're not tracking and maintaining at the moment, why not just try to eat a little bit less at each meal and dont complicate things

blankiefinder

You don't need to be low carb, you need to do a recomposition. Do a search in the forums, there is a really good thread about it. I'd ask there.

Mr_Knight

Sure, it's not a problem leaning out a bit while maintaining high level of performance, you just have to keep the caloric deficit low.

Alternately, you can back off on heaving training for a couple of weeks to cut hard with a big deficit, and then go back to maintenance right away afterwards.

Which path is better will depend a great deal on you - figure out what works for you, and do that.

Good luck! :drinker:

velmada

In terms of maintenance, I've been 52-55kg for about 3 years. Shape has changed considerably over last 2 years as my lifting has got heavier though my weight has stayed around the same.
I tracked for 2wks (honest tracking!) and found I was averaging 1900-2000 calories a day, with quite a variation (some days was 1300, some days 2300 with half those calories from chocolate). After that I tried 1700-1800 and aiming for 100g protein consistently, did that for a month, no noticeable change in weight or bodyfat but a negative effect on performance (just less energy overall).

velmada

Sorry only the first reply was showing when I posted! I will have a look for the recomposition thread. The difficulty I have about calorie deficit is I can't work out what my maintenance calories actually are, stupid as that may sound!