Why do fighters get so fat in between camps?

[Loiosh]

What is a sensible meal?

Sounds like you didn’t actively try to bring your weight down in a hurry.

I don’t mean to sound rude or offensive cause I don’t care about your personal lifestyle and habits my point was merely that it’s impossible to gain 15 pounds in 3 days without the majority of it being water and it shouldn’t have taken 30 days to drop it if that’s what you were trying to do.

I spent a year dehydrating my fat cells, which has been my point all along. I had cut my carbs significantly for this time, and was exercising daily. Fat cells don't go away.

Three days of regular meals that included fries, pasta and beer, and I put on fifteen pounds. It was my fat cells re-hydrating.It was definitely almost all water.

It took me a month to shed it again, because that's how it works. I wasn't trying to just shed water, I was dehydrating my fat cells, which is a more meaningful way of doing the same thing. If I wanted to just sweat out the fifteen pounds I could have done it in a night.

 

[KoChang]

It's even worse for boxers.

This guy was fighting mayweather a few years ago, twice.
Holy fuck! That's criminal.

 

[Squintz]

I spent a year dehydrating my fat cells, which has been my point all along. I had cut my carbs significantly for this time, and was exercising daily. Fat cells don't go away.

Three days of regular meals that included fries, pasta and beer, and I put on fifteen pounds. It was my fat cells re-hydrating.It was definitely almost all water.

It took me a month to shed it again, because that's how it works. I wasn't trying to just shed water, I was dehydrating my fat cells, which is a more meaningful way of doing the same thing. If I wanted to just sweat out the fifteen pounds I could have done it in a night.

You said you ate “sensible meals” for those 3 days. So eating sensibly to you entails regular meals that included fries, pasta and beer? Got it.

 

[ColombianFist]

they don't follow a strict diet.

Guys like Pigg Rigg thought they could eat all they want and lose it on the weight cut, but fat must be burned by doing physical activities and if you eat like a pig you don't lose fat at all.

 

[maxi diablo]

They don't have the bodybuilder mentality.

 

[buffpants22]

Because human beings arent suppose to look like action figures. People for the most part have a good bit of fat on them. Jumping off a training regiment ypur body jumps back to natural. Why not do that when you know going back to being ripped with a good camp.

 

[Loiosh]

You said you ate “sensible meals” for those 3 days. So eating sensibly to you entails regular meals that included fries, pasta and beer? Got it.

I thought you didn't want to sound rude or offensive?

I was on vacation. For two days I allowed myself to have fries and spaghetti in a couple of my meals, and had a few beers.

Christ, you're a cunt.

 

[buffpants22]

I know there are some fighters who just perform at a higher body fat, but there is a point where it becomes unprofessional. Unless you are DC, stop getting so out of shape in between your fights and have to spend 50% of the fight camp getting to fight weight.

The TUF finale last week had this one fight that completely blew my mind.

Zuniga looks very out of shape here. He fought at 155, looks like he could fight at 135 if he cut weight and lost a little body fat. Otherwise, he could easily move to 145 with just losing the gut. To me, this is unacceptable. Its one thing if you are super athletic and explosive, but its another to be completely unathletic and overweight.

Who are some other fighters who get out of shape and bloat up in between fights?

Honorable Mentions

Chubby Ronda

 

[Danis_champ]

 

[Squintz]

I thought you didn't want to sound rude or offensive?

I was on vacation. For two days I allowed myself to have fries and spaghetti in a couple of my meals, and had a few beers.

Christ, you're a cunt.

15 pounds and nearly all of it was water weight. You probably ate and drank whatever you wanted like a normal good vacationer does.

So basically you did exactly what I thought you did. Or did you hold back and just order regular fries as opposed to chili cheese fries to keep it ‘sensible’?

 

[gevoudane]

Most TUF fighters first fight is usually to get in to the UFC and is not the weight they want to fight at. Then there are fighters like big rigg who just are lazy or dont have the will power.

 

[Char Jawz]

One word...metabolism. Everyone's is different. One fighter can eat 12 cupcakes and not gain much, while another gains weight just looking at a cupcake.

This is also why some guys who are 6'4" can fight at LW, while some guys who are 5'10" fight at HW...

 

[Mammothman]

Fat cells grow but they never go away.

You work your ass off to shrink them, but they expand incredibly easily. Really hard to shrink, almost instant to expand.

I was on a strict diet for a year, went on vacation for a weekend, and put on fifteen pounds in less that three days.

Once you get fat, you're fucked for life. The number of people globally who lose more than five percent body weight and keep it off for two or more years is statistically zero.

Fighters who indulge when not in a camp are making the biggest mistake of their career. They're adding a hurdle for every camp they will ever have going forward.

Fifteen pounds in les than 3 day? That is absolutely absurd! Did you even poop in those 3 days?

 

[Dbreiden83080]

I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that training camps are a miserable experience in which they are food deprived and working out like four times a day. So when is over you kind of want to go a little crazy.

 

[car epic win]

Once you get fat, you're fucked for life. The number of people globally who lose more than five percent body weight and keep it off for two or more years is statistically zero.

but not for the reasons you're alluding to. after eating a certain way most of their lives, its really difficult for people to change their eating habits. the body becomes hard wired to want that amount/those kinds of foods.

most people go on some hardcore or unsustainable diet plan until the weight comes off, then they revert to their old ways. it doesn't help that they also want quick results, even though the weight was put on over a long period of time.

about your experience of putting on 15lbs over 3 days after a strict diet, when you diet, your body empties out the glycogen(type of carb) stores from your muscles,and this glycogen is bound to about 5 times its weight in water. average size people can have a few pounds of this glycogen, x5 and that's ~10lbs. this is why you see those scam supplement or exercise informercials that guarantee losing X amount of pounds, or X amount of inches in 30 days or your money back, because its a trick on people because when they start dieting, the glycogen/water is first quickly dumped out in the first few weeks. when you stop the diet, the water refills.

 

[superpunch]

One word...metabolism. Everyone's is different. One fighter can eat 12 cupcakes and not gain much, while another gains weight just looking at a cupcake.

Bullshit a cup cake is a cup cake of calories, and a calorie is a calorie. Calories in, calories out, and unless you have a medical problem i seriously doubt your calories out are magically different from some other guy the same height/ weight/ activity level

 

[superpunch]

I don't get it either. Guys like Rampage and Johnny Hendricks used to get like 20 lbs fatter after a fight and then have to lose it all in their next 8 week training camp.

I've tried dieting losing like 2 lbs a week and it SUCKS. My energy is down, I feel like a little bitch. Concentration is gone, aggression gone, confidence is gone. My strength is gone, my endurance is gone, and my recovery goes to crap. Biggest is the recovery -- I can only train half as much.

And I'm just talking about casual weight lifting.

How can you train as a pro athlete like that?????????

 

[Ascent]

Same reason everyone else gets fat – because eating good food is really, really fun.

 

[Char Jawz]

Bullshit a cup cake is a cup cake of calories, and a calorie is a calorie. Calories in, calories out, and unless you have a medical problem i seriously doubt your calories out are magically different from some other guy the same height/ weight/ activity level

Well, I'm 47 years old, 6' tall and have been about 155 lbs all my adult life. I can eat 12 cupcakes and I will still be 155 lbs tomorrow. I have a ridiculous metabolism and always have...I know from experience on the other end of the spectrum. I eat 4000 calories a day and still don't gain weight. People are different and it varies greatly.

 

[TheGreatA]

Fighters eat a lot, and if they go through a period of not training, their eating habits will get them in trouble fast. Most fighters (and athletes in general) who retire and cease their training, are bound to get heavy.

A lot of "fat people" actually eat according to the general recommendations or even below them, probably consuming far, far less calories than many athletes. The problem is that they don't do anything to burn off what they've consumed, due to non-physical labour and a lack of physical hobbies

Same happens with fighters, except even more rapidly when they cease to train. A dude can go from 6 pack ripped low bodyfat fighting shape, to a gut hanging over their belt, pretty fast.