loosing weight fast for competition

**Kankudai** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 2:49am

Hey everyone I need to cut weight within two weeks I weigh 178 now but I need to be at 172 at least any Ideas Im 5'11 now so loosing that last six pounds is really tough I need to do this without loosing strength any ideas ?

***TaeBo_Master*** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 3:11am

Losing 6 pounds in two weeks without losing any strength? Gonna be very tough. Expect some strength loss, if only because you're going to be dehydrated (the majority of that weight is gonna be water.)

To help with strength loss, at least from a CNS standpoint, I'd stick with doing a few basic, major lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press) 3 days a week, 3 sets of 3-5 reps.

Lots of cardio, and a very restricted diet. In fact, this situation is probably the only time I'd recommend a low-carb diet. They're great for dehydrating and causing quick, but temporary weight loss. Just make sure it's also low in calories.

**Kankudai** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 3:22am

Thanks alot TaeBo I was afraid somebody would say low carb but I guess Im going to have to do it thanks for the advice and I am doing weight training very similar to that with a few plyometrics thrown in what about protein for muscle recovery should I cut that back ?

**AFS** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 4:25am

Just an interesting aspect with regards to that.
And yes, another colourful way of saying TBM is correct:
I have an old East German Judo Book published first in 1989.
It is referring to your different types of Nutrition. With regards of "cutting down" pre comp:
Here they advocate to reduce the kilojoule contend to roughly a third of your normal diet.
They suggest to divide your food into
42% Protein
30% Fat
18 % of Carbs.
Which is pretty much a low carb diet.
These guys knew their stuff way ahead before anybody else.

**KentckyFriedRat** · Posted On: 2/21/2005 9:26pm

I wouldn't do lots of cardio due to overtraining and potentially being tired before the event, but go low carb and you will drop about 10lbs of water in a week or two. After you weigh in hydrate yourself really well and eat some carbs.

**AFS** · Posted On: 2/22/2005 7:50am

Have you ever noticed: Before the weigh-in you are incredible thirsty.
If you would a bottle of water to your mouth, you'd drink the whole liter.
However, once you have made your weight, you almsot have to force yourself to drink.

**bullrog** · Posted On: 3/01/2005 4:12am

How hard is it to lose 6 pounds in 2 weeks, hard. How hard is it to cut 6 pounds before weigh in, probably easy. Ive never had to cut weight before but I tried an experiment tonight. I used the steam room and didnt drink while I was in there, where normally I do. I wanted to see how difficult it was to drop weight. Total time probably less ten half an hour and I lost 3 lbs. If you had a couple of hours I think it would be easy to drop another three. I weighed 182 before and 179 after at 6'2.

***TaeBo_Master*** · Posted On: 3/01/2005 4:47am

Yeah, water weight alone can change quite a bit very quickly.

**International W** · Posted On: 3/06/2005 4:42am

6 pounds in 2 weeks? That's it? No offense, but anyone who says you're going to lose strength by losing 6 pounds is out of their mind. The easy way is just to eliminate a meal, try to avoid eating before you go to bed. Reduce your food intake slwly, and you should be able to make it.

If you're over, then here's the easy solution that won't sap your strength. Suppose by the night before you're 2 pounds over. Get 2 garbage bags, wrap yourself in them, wear them, etc. Then get a sauna suit from a sporting good stores, they're cheap, like $12. Put one of those on, and over that put on 2 layers of sweats. Go run in place in the sauna or just sit in there for 15 minutes on, 5 minutes out until you're on weight. You're losing superficial water weight, that can be easily replaced upon the weigh in. 6 pounds is not that much. My junior year of high school I had to cut 6 pounds in a day sometimes. 2 weeks you should have no problems unless you're not motivated to cut weight.

**AFS** · Posted On: 3/06/2005 4:59am

No doubt - you are able to loose quite some weight when dehydrating.
And - some people tolerate it better than others, some people always rely on it.
It depends very much on the individual.

However - there are studies suggesting that it is not possible to rehydrate the muscles in the average time between weigh-in and start of the competition.
I am not at all saying that cutting the weight with dehydration doesn't work; personnly I know guys who went on and won big tournaments.( i also know a guy who had a kidney stone due to excessive dehydration, but that's an anecdote
BUT -
The ideal way to fight on competition day is being well hydrated. Period.
And if you loose a lot of weight in the sauna/running with a sweat suit etc. you will not be as good as you could be.
I always think that having a professional attitude toward your fighting means having sorted your weight out in advance.