Light on my knees

So why am I hurrying to lose weight?

Well, I hate the process, so I want to get it over quickly. That answer belies the deeper reason.

I need to get lighter to be easier on my knees. They have to be able to handle my mass grinding them into the mat. The smaller I am, the stronger my knees are in comparison.

I've picked 175 pounds as my goal. I seem to be my most fit at around that weight, or maybe a sliver smaller.

Taking care of my knees in this way is a fine idea for my home-base Jiu-Jitsu training. I do a little over ten hours a week. Of these, only 3 are intense and knee-dangerous.

When I go to Los Angeles, and train with the big boys, I do 13 classes a week totalling 17.5 hours of training. All of these are intense. Very intense. Majorly intense.

Although my knees are OK at a heavier weight at home, they would not be in Los Angeles. I like tough training just fine, and if the weight on my knees is 15 pounds less, they'll like it, too.

I will be in LA for a couple of weeks this winter, so getting ready now makes sense. I will be monitoring my weight closely after achieving my goal to prevent any slippage. My body will just have to get used to being 175 pounds.

Once in LA, I have to be careful in an opposite way. I train so much that it's hard to keep from accidentally getting too skinny.

Around here I burn about 450 calories per hour doing Jiu-Jitsu. Let's just say 500 calories an hour will burn in LA. That means that if I eat an exactly normal amount of food, I'll still end up shrinking by 2.5 pounds a week. I lost weight last time I was there, but not that much.

My preventative is to do lots of American-sized portion restaurant eating.

This year, I intend taking my fancy-pants digital scale with me to monitor things. Last time I winged it, and lost weight. As I was a bit heavy at the start, it was not a problem.

This time I'll already be at my correct weight, and so don't want to lose more. My body composition will change, but that's OK.

So here's my plan. Get to 175, and then monitor and maintain it. Go to LA, train like a lunatic, while monitoring and continuing to maintain my weight.

Come home, weighing 175, and with both knees intact.