Weight loss.
Weight loss for karate sport competitions ( to have some kind advantage) is not relevant. Power and reach does not give anyone a big advantage (like in boxing or wrestling), more important is speed and agility. That’s why you must try to keep your natural weight by following proper nutrition. Nothing specific to our sport, just follow “Health Canada‘s” Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
If you still decided to drop weight start a month before the tournament not at the last moment it will give stress to your body and break yourself mentally.
A. Balance calorie intake at proportion :carbohydrates-55% ,fat-25% , Proteins-20 %
B. Eat lots of fruits and veggies .
Some foods help with weight loss: green tea, low fat milk, beef, lamb.
C. Avoid artificial sweeteners , products with refined carbs and processed foods.
Followed balanced nutrition, start reducing amount of food you intake. Try not to do it dramatically otherwise you will lose energy to do workout and will be short in nutrition for proper recovery. Teenagers must be very careful with losing weight because their body’s grow . My suggestion -1 kg per week this is optimal. Also your training must include some weight training .If you don’t include this you have chance to lose not only fat but also muscle mass in amount which can affect your sporting performance and energy level. After class, you must take some power bar or protein powder (30 grams) and around 100 grams of carbs: could be a banana, apple, grapes, juice. Track your progress regularly- step on the scale to see where you are at this point. If you are still not making your weight, at time of tournament then we go to the next article- “Cutting weight”.