How do you "actually" cut weight

[gocubs1815]

Now being a non-athlete, I obviously have no idea the work it takes to prepare for an MMA fight at any level. But the one thing that perplexes me is how fighters can cut 20-30 lbs in the course of a few months in the lead up to a fight.

Basically what are the mechanics in cutting the weight? I know at some point you drop your water weight to reach the level you want. Are you cutting your percent body fat to make weight? And do you take on muscle mass during training that would in turn put on weight?

So what actually happens when you are trying to cut weight?

 

[justdangerous]

dieting is not cutting weight... u diet to a certain point, then you must lose the excess weight you have by "cutting weight". you do this by sweating out the remaining weight you have on your body. u dont eat/ drink the night b4 and work out in intervals to sweat more. people usually wear rubber suits "plastics" or lots of sweats to sweat more. tip- if you want to sweat more, u should change the under layers (not plastics) once you soak through them. - hope it helps, u can PM me if you have any more questions

 

[DrBdan]

When you hear about fighters walking around 20-30 lb over their fitting weight that's usually what is a comfortable weight for them, not a weight where they are super low body fat. As they gear up their training for a fight they begin to lose fat to get to a low body fat % then in the last few weeks before the fight they get ready and start cutting water weight. A rough estimate is that a fighter can cut 10% of their weight through water cutting. So GSP could walk around at 195, cut around 15 lb of fat to get to 180 throughout his training camp and then easily cut 10 lb of water to make 170.

For info about cutting water weight check out this thread:

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f15/weight-cutting-thread-450596/

 

[gocubs1815]

So to cut for a fight they are cutting water weight. That is exactly what I was wondering.

Thanks!

 

[Romeza]

3 weeks out I start taking in more water. I also start cutting out carbs after 7 pm.
2 weeks out I increase the water even more and stop eating carbs after 5 pm.
1 week out I increase water, dont eat carbs after 5, and cut out salt and sugar completely. The week of I try to sweat every day. By that time hopefully I am on weight. If not then the night before I do some rope work with hoodies on.

 

[cobrahead1030]

the way i understood it most fighters tend to lose a bit of weight during their camp, meaning what typically happens with strict diet and intense exercise...but they cut water weight starting a day or so before the weigh ins

someone talking about dieting and losing fat to make a certain weight isn't technically cutting weight (to my understanding) whereas someone sweating it out in a sauna is

 

[DrBdan]

the way i understood it most fighters tend to lose a bit of weight during their camp, meaning what typically happens with strict diet and intense exercise...but they cut water weight starting a day or so before the weigh ins

someone talking about dieting and losing fat to make a certain weight isn't technically cutting weight (to my understanding) whereas someone sweating it out in a sauna is

It's really in how you want to define "cutting weight". I think how much non-water weight a fighter loses changes based on the fighter. I mentioned that because you often hear about fighters walking around 20-30 lb above their fighting weight and they don't cut all of that via water cutting, some of it is fat loss during their training camp.

If you read the weight cutting thread you will see that the whole "wearing plastic bags on the bike in the sauna" thing is really just a last resort that you should only do if you don't cut enough weight properly. You cut water weight by slowly reducing carbs and drinking a lot of water and then cutting out the water in the last few days before the fight. Again for more details check out the weight cutting thread.

 

[Sham]

ive only had one fight (muay thai).. but it was at 71.5kg and i sit around 75-76kg normally..

i only started the diet 2 weeks before the fight.. basically cutting all carbs, eating 6 meals a day, making sure to eat fruit with every meal.. (obviously had lots of other 'rules' for the diet)

2 days before the fight i was around 73kg.. took a mild herbal laxative before i went to bed, woke up and and after the toilet i was just over 71.5.. so i just didnt drink any water that night or in the morning before weight in and I weighted in at 71.3 the morning of the fight..

weighed just over 72 for the fight itself.. that night

 

[MASShole]

I did a proper sodium, carb and water manipulation.

When done properly you can lose ~10lbs in about 24 hours and not lose strength assuming you have some time to take some Gatorade or something else.

It's all about tricking your body's aldosterone production.

 

[Everyman]

So if I wrestle at 140 and the day after my season ends I weigh 154 was I "cutting" 14 pounds by your definition, or does that not count because I am not sure exactly how much is water weight?

 

[KoSubDntMttr]

how is there a scale or chart of some sort explaining how much water is safe to cut?

 

[redjako]

how is there a scale or chart of some sort explaining how much water is safe to cut?

Google a lot, much will depend on your own body and the amount of cutting you have actually done.

Since you are in fact, not an athlete with needs to cut weight, you shouldn't be.

I've only "cut" once when I had a fight setup, which fell through (and only that once ) which was 8 lbs of weight, light jogging, no water, some Hydroxycut (yes, lol) and took off ~8 lbs in a day. I was extremely sick the next day as I never cut before and did not research it properly.

I think I jogged for ~45 minutes, did light work otherwise (some weights, which is very stupid before a fight, but, I had no idea what I was doing).