<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"FacebookPinterest\n\n What do you do after graduating from Notre Dame with a finance degree? If you're bor Mike Lee, you beat the crap out of big men, and you make it look easy. The 25-year-old light heavyweight, trained by the legendary Ronnie Shields, recently had his ninth fight, bringing his record to an impressive 9-0 with five knockouts.\n\n The thing Lee likes most about being in the ring, he says, is the adrenaline rush. \"When I fight, it's just me. It's unlike any other sport I've played, where you have teammates you can lean on and maybe take a play off here or there\u2014in boxing, you take a few seconds off and you can get hit with a shot that ends the fight. It's such a brutal sport, there are moments where you bite down on your mouthpiece and say, 'You know what? I just gotta get through this; I gotta do what I gotta do to win.'\"\n\n Lee knows, however, that the most important part of his job happens outside the ring, staying disciplined during his training. \"Boxing is a personal test. The training camps are long and brutal and often harder than the fight,\" he says. We got Lee on the phone to talk about one of the most challenging parts of any fitness program: nutrition.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\n GQ: On an average day, what do you eat if you're doing well and eating what you should?\n\n Lee: I try to eat pretty consistently throughout the day. Especially when I'm cutting weight, I eat about every 3 hours, and I have my larger meals in the beginning of the day. A lot of people don't like to eat in the morning, but when I'm working out, sometimes two or three times a day, I'm always hungry for breakfast and it's my absolute favorite meal of the day. My breakfast generally consists of a cup of egg whites or 6 hard-boiled egg whites, and either two cups of oatmeal or half a cup of oatmeal mid with cinnamon or blueberries. I try to get carbs in the morning before that first workout, and it's really important to replenish and get food in my body as soon as possible after the workout, because otherwise your blood sugar levels will get messed up and you'll get dehydrated. If I can't get a meal within 30 minutes after working out, I'll plan ahead and bring a protein shake to the gym. When I can get to dinner, it will usually be a lot of chicken, ground turkey, whole wheat pasta, and quinoa. When you're a professional athlete your body is an asset, and I'll notice that if I do get off my diet for a couple days or even eat something that was too sugary or too fatty, it will affect my performance in the gym, so I'm usually disciplined about that kind of thing.\n\n GQ: What do you suggest to eat before and after a workout?\n\n Lee: First, I would definitely suggest eating before a workout. I think some people believe they'll burn more fat or lose more weight if they're working out on an empty stomach and that's not true, because your body will store fat when you're not feeding it. It's important to get a little bit in your stomach about an hour before a workout\u2014some carbs, some good lean protein like chicken or turkey breasts\u2014 because I noticed that when I do that I have much better, more fulfilling workouts. And then after the workouts your body is trying to rebuild, so even when you're trying to lose weight it's still important to get some protein, even if it's just a protein shake or some greek yogurt. What I've learned working with strength coaches and nutritionists is that it's all about moderation and serving sizes. Too many people eat fewer big meals when really you should be eating many small meals throughout the day.\n\n GQ: With bors, you really are your body, as opposed to someone who works at a desk, for example, where the body doesn't matter as much.\n\n Lee: Yeah, definitely. The guys who have longevity especially in boxing are the guys that stay disciplined with their diets and eat right. I know a lot of fighters will cut weight the wrong way; I've had friends in camps who are losing 20 pounds in 4 weeks before a title fight, or guys will come into camp 25, 30, 35 pounds overweight for a 6-8 week camp. You can just see that they're miserable the final weeks and that affects you. You wouldn't believe how much these guys cut and how they do it. To be honest, it's dangerous and it's not healthy for your organs to cut weight that quickly.\n\n GQ: Are you doing three-a-day workouts right now or two-a-days?\n\n Lee: Right now it's two-a-days, six days a week, with boxing in the morning and then strength and conditioning in the afternoon. Sometimes throughout the week I'll add in shadow boxing, yoga, or swimming. Sometimes it's good to do things that are a little out of the box and surprise your muscles.\n\n GQ: What is your favorite healthy snack?\n\n Lee: Right now I'm really big on Fage greek yogurt for a small, quick snack, because it's zero percent fat and only 100 calories, but they have 18 grams of protein and are pretty filling. It doesn't have much taste, so I'll add a little granola and some fruit like blueberries to it. You want to get the lowest sugar yogurt possible.\n\n GQ: You fight at 175. What is your weight normally, if you're not cutting?\n\n Lee: I usually walk around in the high 180s, even sometimes the low 190s. I have that body type that I could easily walk around at 210 if I wasn't working out consistently and worrying about my diet. As I get more into training, though, I will start to dip down to the low 180s.\n\n GQ: You look like a big 175 in the ring.\n\n Lee: Thank you, I think I've done a great job of keeping body fat low so I look like I have a lot more muscle, and I try to get as much power into 175 as possible."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/boxer-mike-lee-nutrition>