I’m going to jump the gun on giving you the background on one of our sponsored athletes (you can check out her bio here or her blog here). Instead I’m going to skip right ahead to what we’re doing with her. I think this is going to be of interest to both grapplers and those curious about intensive weight loss.

Here are the details:

The player: Alaina Hardie

The sport: Brazilian jiu jitsu/submission grappling

The (quick and dirty) background: In a little over a year and a half, Alaina has made a dramatic about-face in terms of lifestyle. Grappling has helped take her from being a sedentary, gym-shy 200+ pounder to a succesful athlete who now competes at an international level. Ever driven, Alaina has a lot more to accomplish.

The situation: Now an athletic 158.2 lbs. (as of March 3, 2009), Alaina has her sites set on the world’s most prestigious grappling competition: the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club).

The challenge: When you’re at the forefront of a movement, in this case, women’s grappling, there are always obstacles. This year’s ADCC offers only two weight classes for women: above 60 kilos and below (that’s under 132 lbs. for you imperialists.) That means that if Alaina doesn’t want to fight women with a potentially huge weight advantage, she needs to come in under that limit. What’s the date for the qualifiers again? May 24^th.

We’re looking at 26.2 lbs. of weight loss in under 12 weeks. The real trick is that we actually want to increase lean muscle mass and maintain a demanding training schedule while doing this. This leaves us with a tiny margin of error; we need to ensure that nothing goes wrong, but – at the same time — a whole lot of things go right.

The process: With the help of (the always delightful) John Berardi at Precision Nutrition, we’ve embarked on an intensive program to help Alaina meet her weight goals while still prioritizing her technical training (thanks to MECCA MMA) and helping her evolve as a grappler. She’s training like a professional athlete and holding down a full-time job at the same time. I don’t think I would be harsh in saying that most people simply couldn’t handle this kind of load. Alaina is, for the record, a bad-ass.

The question (that lots of people ask me): Isn’t two lbs. per week supposed to be the upper limit for “healthy weight loss?”

The answer (that gets slightly complicated): The 2 lb. standard is mostly based on setting realistic expectations for fat loss. For many people, a 500 calorie deficit (between consumption and expenditure) per day is as much as is practically achievable. It’s not a question of possibility, it’s a question with picking goals that are modest enough to maintain for a while.

Part of that pragmatic approach to weight loss is that it’s fat loss only. Not water (you actually need that, as it turns out) and not muscle (losing lean muscle mass actually hinders fat loss, as well as function).

Alaina points out: “In weight class sports, fat isn’t really doing its share of the work. In general terms, if two athletes are the same weight but Athlete A has a lower bodyfat percentage, then they have an advantage.” As someone preparing to compete against women who will have typically been training four or five times as long as Alaina, she’s going to need every advantage she can get. “What I lack in skill,” she says, “I hope to make up for in conditioning and determination.”

A secret: This isn’t the secret, but it’s a good one. It has to do with habits.

When are people most likely lose ground nutritionally? When they’re stressed or fatigued. That’s why change is so hard for many of us . . . When challenged or beat down, we revert to the familiar (and the convenient). The familiar is, of course, what often gets us into trouble in the first place.

There’s a reason the standard advice is not to go shopping on an empty stomach. We want to be thinking clearly when we plan what to eat. In the same way, we need to recognize that change is . . . well, it’s bloody hard. To expect to make changes in our worst moments is too much to ask of anyone.

So how do we deal with that? How is Alaina dealing with that? I’ll tell you.

Alaina didn’t wait until the start of this process to begin eating right. She’s been practicing and improving her nutritional habits for several months now. Specifically, she’s planned things out from a clear head-space. Formerly new habits are now familiar. In particular, she’s well-practiced at planning out what her upcoming needs will be.

Alaina’s training schedule, hectic as it is, is predictable. She knows where and when she’ll be away from home (and healthy food). These occasions are not surprises for her. They’re probably not surprises for you either. What happens is that Alaina is ready. She’s got food prepared alongside contingency snacks. In emergencies she knows exactly what food will take her to her goals and what food will take her away from them. And she’s got too much godammned focus to faff around with the latter.

We’ll keep you posted on Alaina’s progress over the upcoming weeks, including some details from her strength and conditioning program.

Geoff