Issue 137
January 2016
Jeremy Stephens is as serious about ice cream as he is about making weight
Q. How has your nutrition changed since you moved to 145lb?
A. My diet is a lot more serious now. I use FitnessVT with George Lockhart. He’s a true scientist when it comes to weight cutting and making sure you’re eating healthy performance foods so you fight properly. Without it I don’t think I could make the weight.
Q.How is it different from the other nutrition plans you’ve used?
A. It’s just amazing. It’s all computer-based so you can switch stuff out if you don’t like it, but it’s a real strict diet. I stick to the foods I need to be eating so I perform well and can make weight with ease. George is the man. He uses real science and real healthy ways. No diuretics, none of the bulls**t or cheating. He’s just an all-natural man who knows his s**t. He’s the number-one guy out there.
Q.What do you cheat with?
A. I like a lot of Mexican food: the agua chile, ceviche, tacos – then pasta. There’s probably nothing that I don’t eat. I like my food.
Q. What was your diet like when you fought at 155lb?
A. I didn’t really have a specific set diet. I was kind of just eating chicken, eating clean. I was doing my own diet and I wasn’t reloading properly. I was just making weight and going in to fight. With this, I’m still dieting all the way up until the fight.
Q. How do you recover after you’ve made weight?
A. I make sure I’m getting all my fluids back in at a certain time, getting sodium and potassium back into my body so I’m not cramping. I hydrate properly and sodium helps me retain the water as I’m drinking it in.
Q. How do you eat once you’ve weighed in?
A. I eat real slowly, but surely, getting all my proper proteins, amino acids and stuff like that into my system. I don’t overeat. I eat healthy stuff to keep me going, not processed foods or anything like that. There’s a lot more Lockhart can explain – he gives away a lot of his secrets away for free on the internet. Lockhart’s the man.
Q. Do you indulge in desserts when you’re not in camp?
A. Oh yeah. One of my favorite places to eat is Cold Stone. They have this ‘Gotta Have it’ bowl that has this huge waffle cone in the middle of it and a huge amount of ice cream just loaded up in there. I also like chocolate lava cakes with ice cream. That’s chocolate with hot fudge in the middle of it. I’m a big ice cream lover, and chocolate chip cookies as well.
Q. Who takes care of your cooking?
A. Oh my girl is definitely the cook around here, man. I’m so far behind on cooking skills dude, it sucks. I wouldn’t be able to make weight if it wasn’t for my wife. She’s always doing new stuff. She’s truly amazing in the kitchen... And everywhere else!
Loves
All lovin’ no oven Jeremy’s favorite ice cream contains 1,120 calories. Not weight-cut friendly.
THE STATS
Since altering his diet and moving to 145lb, Stephens is 4-2 in the UFC. He went 7-8 as a lightweight inside the Octagon.
THE FACTS
Carb-heavy pasta is a indulgent cheat meal, but also handy after weigh-ins too, to replenish your blood sugar levels.
THE INFO
Sodium is one of the main electrolytes lost by sweating through a weight cut, so it’s vital you restore your levels once you’ve hit the scales.
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