At one point in his career, Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic found himself positioned third in the world. He was a Wimbledon finalist in 2016, his best Grand Slam finish to date, although he lost in straight sets to home favorite Andy Murray.
Since then, he has struggled to maintain his promise, but he returned to the Grand Slam circuit last year. He’s currently ranked 318 in the world, but he’ll be seeking to improve on that. He was recently added to the roster for a Davis Cup qualifier, something he missed through injury, but he is looking for a route back onto the big stage at 33 years old. With a strong showing at the Rotterdam Open, including beating World number 23 Alexander Bublik, he may well find himself back in the top 300.
Weight Loss
Getting back to the court was a challenge for Raonic; he had to drop 40 pounds in a month to get in shape for Wimbledon. Angered by the fact gradual weight loss wasn’t working, he went on a crash diet of water and a single steak a day. It certainly worked – he made the second round, where Tommy Paul beat him in straight sets, but it was his achievements in weight loss that raised eyebrows. “I lost the first forty pounds in the first four weeks,” he said. “It maybe wasn’t the healthiest thing, but I wasn’t getting there the other way. I ate a standard skirt steak a day (on its own with nothing else) and drank only water.”
Whilst tennis stars are often role models for younger players and even amateur players, Raonic’s weight loss plan doesn’t feel like solid advice to be taken. What was wrong with the Montenegro-born player’s approach?
How It Should Be Done
Firstly, the crash diet is not a route to successful weight loss. The main issue, like a long rally on the court, is that they’re hard to maintain. You might be able to do it once, but as you meet a weight target, it is hard to return to eating ‘normally’ without falling back into bad habits. There are benefits to a carnivore diet as Raonic followed, but they’re not as evident as a balanced, well-planned diet. Raonic needed to lose weight quickly, but a sustainable method to do so is to adjust your diet to include a little of what you like or swap out a full-fat product for low-fat alternatives.
One thing Raonic will have had is a strong support group. Mario Tudor is his coach, but he’s also likely to consult sports nutritionists, and have a good team around him helping him to lose weight. That’s a really good piece of advice to take – find some support. It should be easy – just search for weight loss classes near me online, and you’ll be directed to somewhere with like-minded individuals. They can offer peer-to-peer support and access to the sort of expert advice Raonic can access around diet and meal planning.
Of course, Raonic had the third ingredient of good weight loss down to a tee: exercise. That might not be quite as easy for the average person in the street, but ensuring you’re burning calories is a good way to drop pounds – even with his steak and water diet, Raonic wouldn’t lose as much weight if he spent his day sitting around. Perhaps tap into the group of like-minded individuals you find at a weight loss class to head out onto the tennis court and get those limbs moving. If it worked for the World number 318, it can surely work for you. Just be sure to enjoy a little bit more than steak and water afterward to ensure proper recovery.
Conclusion
Meatloaf once sang ‘Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad’, and when it comes to weight loss, Raonic perhaps had two out of three components that can be followed by anyone. Exercise and a support network are two things that are essential to losing weight, but the third is a balanced diet. Whilst skirt steak and water certainly isn’t a balanced diet, it was a necessity for the tennis pro, whereas the average person in the street may have a little more time and leeway in how they approach a weight loss journey.
