For anyone who has ever wondered what an undefeated UFC bantamweight champion eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Ronda Rousey has given fans a look into her regimented diet that keeps her at fighting weight – while revealing that she never counts calories.
The 28-year-old, who trains twice a day, is a follower of the Dolce Diet, which focuses on eating whole, nutrient-rich foods that are believed to help maintain muscle mass. And while the mixed martial arts fighter has said that she feels her most beautiful at 150lbs, her fighting weight is actually 135lbs, and she has to follow a regimented food plan in order to stick to it.
‘It’s not really so much for tastes as it is for, like, sustenance,’ Ronda told Cosmopolitan.com of her strict diet. ‘I’m just happy to have a full stomach… It’s not a bad thing to feel full and feel satisfied -you’re supposed to.’
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Healthy girl: Ronda Rousey, 28, follows the Dolce Diet, which focuses on eating whole, nutrient-rich foods that are believed to help maintain muscle mass
Training time: The blonde beauty, who has said she feels most beautiful at 150lbs, has to get down to 135lbs (pictured) for her UFC fights
For Ronda, eating is almost a full-time job; while she’s training she needs to ensure that her body has enough fuel to keep her going, while during any rest periods that she gets, she’s busy enjoying some of her favorite dishes – one of her favorite meals is a plate of chicken wings.
However, she noted that whether she is in training camp or not, she always has a chia bowl with chia seeds, hemp sees, oats, agave nectar, almond butter raisins and cinnamon for breakfast – as well as a coffee that she drinks on her way to the gym.
But the UFC star doesn’t drink any old coffee; she makes hers with a French press before adding grass-fed butter, raw coconut oil, and stevia to sweeten it, throwing it in a blender and topping it with cinnamon.
‘Cinnamon is good for you, so I just lay it on,’ she explains in a video shared on Cosmopolitan.com’s YouTube channel.
Total knockout: Ronda, who can be seen fighting Bethe Correia in Brazil, relies on lean protein such as eggs, turkey, and Greek yogurt to fuel her workouts
No shame: Ronda, who has candidly spoke about her past struggles with bulimia, said she never counts calories when she is training
After her first training session Ronda makes herself a healthy egg scramble featuring two eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, mushrooms, and turkey bacon, which she puts on top of Ezekial bread with grass-fed butter.
And for dinner following her second round of training, Ronda eats turkey chili that her roommate and best friend, Marina, makes her using ground turkey, red and green bell peppers, avocado, hemp seeds, beans, cayenne pepper and chili pepper.
‘She puts the chili in these little glass Tupperwares, and I’ll put it in the toaster oven when I get home,’ Ronda explained.
As for her own cooking skills, the author and actress said she doesn’t ‘poison herself’.
Favorite meal: Jimmy Fallon surprised the champion with chicken wings – her favorite ‘cheat’ food – on The Tonight Show last week
‘That’s the extent of my cooking,’ Ronda noted.
‘It’s not exactly the safest thing when I’m in the kitchen. For some reason, people look at me weird when I’m holding a knife.
‘I’m like, listen, I used to be a bartender, OK? I’ve cut slippery lemons all my life; I’m not going to chop anything off.’
When it comes to dessert, Ronda said she indulges in Greek yogurt topped with chia seeds and agave nectar to sweeten it, and she also drinks two gallons of water throughout the day to stay hydrated.
Winning look: Ronda, who is the undefeated UFC bantamweight champion, trains twice a day to stay in fighting shape
Other interests: Ronda is also a red carpet regular, appearing at the Entourage premiere in June (left) and at the ESPY Awards in July (right)
RONDA ROUSEY’S DAILY DIET
Breakfast: Chia bowl with chia seeds, hemp sees, oats, agave nectar, almond butter raisins and cinnamon, and French press coffee mixed with grass-fed butter and sweetened with raw coconut oil, and stevia
Lunch: Healthy egg scramble with two eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, mushrooms, and turkey bacon, with Ezekial bread with grass-fed butter, as well as another cup of coffee
Dinner: Turkey chili made using ground turkey, red and green bell peppers, avocado, hemp seeds, beans, cayenne pepper and chili pepper
And Ronda, who has said her favorite ‘cheat’ food is buffalo wings, also told Cosmopolitan.com that she refuses to count calories.
‘I don’t count calories at all. I have no idea how many [I ate] today,’ she explained. ‘I don’t crave anything. There’s not anything nutritionally missing [from my diet].’
Ronda has candidly spoken of her past struggles with bulimia she once thought her happiness was dependent on the size and shape of her body.
And the fighter recently revealed to the New York Times that she was planning to lose weight to shoot an unnamed commercial, but when someone said something ‘really rude to her’ she purposely packed on the pounds to put her body shamers in their place.
‘I swear to God,’ she said. ‘If anyone calls me fat one more time in my life, I’m going to kill them.’