How prevent to get fat as a judo coach

Amelie Rosseneu is well known as a certified dietician and an expert in martial arts. She is Author of her book "Making Weight & Everything Else" and third Dan European U23 Champion. The Belgian lives in Israel and has always been fighting as a lightweight. Now she coaches many people to live healthy and prevent to get too much fat and especially coaches should know this. I'm sure you know a few examples. Maybe a good topic some day at the Coach seminar being an example for your students.

It’s January and the 2019 World Judo Tour is about to take off. Last year we talked about how to keep your weight on track as an athlete when competing multiple competition in a row. Nobody ever thinks about it, but also for coaches this can be a challenge. Coaching athletes on the World Circuit means frequent travelling, dining out most of the time and working around the clock. Just like athletes, coaches need to take care of their health.

The hotel breakfast challenge:

Depending on the location and the level of the competition you can find yourself waking up in a 5 star hotel with an amazing breakfast or in a hotel far from home with nothing familiar to eat. While the first challenge can be described as a luxury problem, the other case can be a big issue for you as well as your athletes.

Luckily in most places there are supermarkets, so an option could be to just go and buy some things for breakfast there. It doesn’t need to be too complicated: some muesli or oats with yogurt or milk, and a piece of fruit will do the job just fine. 

You could also choose for the experimental way out and eat the available local food. The danger in this is the possible gastrointestinal problems that might follow. Trying all sorts of new things should definitely be encouraged to widen your horizon, but don’t risk it all when the competition is yet to come!

The fancier the buffet at breakfast is, the bigger the challenge is. It’s tempting to go and try everything that you like at every single breakfast and it’s very easy to overeat. This approach is likely to put you in an energy surplus and in the long run will result in unnecessary weight gain. If you don’t want to miss out on the good stuff, you can pick every day a different type breakfast without having to eat all at once. Don’t worry, hotels serve exactly the same food every day.

The daily restaurant challenge:

Although it’s easy to gain weight fast when going to eat only in restaurants, it doesn’t have to be like that. If you’re a bit mindful about what you order and ask the waiter for information about the dish, unnecessary calories can be avoided. Here are some tips on how to approach the restaurant challenge:

> Don’t trust that every salad is going to be a light option. Salads are often served with generous amount of dressing, and this dressing is not necessarily light. A good solution is to simply ask the waiter to serve the dressing on the side, this way you are in charge of the amount you pour over your veggies. Be wary about ingredients like bacon bits, all kinds of cheeses, croutons, deep fried chicken stripes and so on, they are not considered to be light!

> A steak is in essence a good option, just don’t exaggerate in the size and be careful with the toppings and add-ons. You don’t have to eat fries as a side dish, and in many cases you can even switch it with a healthier option like a hot potato, without the butter or cream, or some bread. A steak swimming in gorgonzola sauce or mushroom cream sauce is first of all a waste of the good flavor of the steak itself and secondly a calorie bomb. If you have to take sauce, ask to serve it separately so you get to decide how much you add.

> When ordering a pasta keep in mind that you’re not an athlete and you’re not likely to burn all these carbohydrates in training. Take a smaller portion if possible. As a rule of thumb red sauces are generally less high in fat than white sauces.

> Portion sizes in restaurants are usually big, you don’t have to polish off your plate! Eat until you’re about 80% full, meaning stop eating just before you think you had enough. Your stomach will thank you later. If you know that a certain restaurant serves big portions that you want to avoid, ask for a smaller portion size or order two appetizers instead of a main course.