Molly has a great new question this month. Don’t forget, she will be here at TPS in March for the Big Seminar 2. If you like her column, you’ll love her presentation.
Safe Methods for Cutting Weight Before a Meet
Molly on stage
Q: “I’ve been hearing some horror stories about what some women I know are doing to cut weight before a meet (saran wrap, a sauna, and full body makeup remover were involved in one of them). Can you recommend any *safe* ways to cut the last few pounds the week of a meet?”
A: Great question! Cutting weight before a competition is a very common practice in any sport where you are divided up by weight classes. This makes sense since in most cases, you’ll have an advantage if you are at the top of your weight class. And yes, I have heard some crazy stories about cutting weight as well, from people going 2-3 days with almost no water, to Lasix administered via IV, and more. That’s just nuts if you ask me!
You mention cutting a “few” pounds the week of a meet, so I will assume we are talking in the 3-5 range which should be no problem. If you are looking to cut a lot more than that, I would suggest hiring a Coach/working with someone specifically who understands your body and your goals to ensure you reach them in time.
5-7 days before your competition, follow these guidelines:
1. Cut out all carbs except green vegetables. Not only will this likely elicit some fat loss, but more importantly you will also shed muscle glycogen and water, resulting in a weight loss of several pounds in just a few short days. Make sure you are consuming plenty of protein and plenty of fat to ensure you retain your lean mass and burn fat for fuel, instead of muscle. I would suggest an absolute minimum of 1 gram of protein per lb. of body weight, and .5-.75 grams of fat per lb. of body weight when your carbs are this low.
A side note: I would not recommend doing this for the first time the week before the meet. Many people find themselves feeling quite foggy the first time they cut carbs very low. Experiment and see how you feel. You probably also want to make sure you have enough time between when you weigh-in and when you actually start lifting so you can have at least a few hours to re-carb. Again, you want to experiment with re-carbing at least a few times before your meet as well to see what kind of carbs make you feel best.
2. Increase your water consumption temporarily. Many of us are consistently dehydrated, which makes our bodies hold on to water. By increasing water consumption, your body will actually shed any excess water weight (which is often a couple of lbs.). You can also experiment with “cutting your water.” This is a water/weight manipulation trick that can help you drop a lot of weight quickly. Keep in mind that the more water weight you need to drop, the more drastic your manipulation. Since you are just looking to drop a few lbs., you won’t need to do anything too crazy. About 4 days before your weigh-in, I would slowly start increasing water consumption by about ¼-½ gallon a day. So:
Day 1: 1 gallon
Day 2: 1.25 gallons
Day 3: 1.5 gallons
Day 4: 2 gallons (day before weigh-ins)
If you weigh in at 9 am on a Friday morning for example, you would try to get in 2 gallons of water before 9 pm on Thursday night. At that point you would, “cut your water” and stop drinking water for the most part. If you are feeling very thirsty you can have some, but try to keep it minimal. Over the next 12 hours, your body will still assume that you will be taking in a lot of water, so it will continue to flush water out of your body. However, since you aren’t taking any in, you will end up losing several lbs. of water over that time period because you will continue to use the bathroom, and you won’t ingest any more water. Keep in mind that you DO NOT want to go more than 24 hours without water (and honestly, I don’t like going more than 12). It’s miserable, it can be dangerous, and after ~24 hours, your body “catches on” to your trick anyway, and it can often backfire.
3. Avoid high volume, heavy, weight-bearing exercise. Normally I am a huge fan of heavy weight training for women. However, this can cause micro-trauma to the muscles, especially when the volume is moderate to high. Normally this micro-trauma is a good thing, as the body expends a lot of calories repairing the muscles and getting the body back to homeostatis, and you gain muscle and get stronger. However, it can also cause some temporary swelling as the body sends nutrients to the muscles for repair. In general, the swelling is minimal and not noticeable, but if you’re looking to drop some water weight quickly, you must take every advantage possible.
This shouldn’t be an issue as most lifters stop doing anything heavy or high volume 5-7 days out from a meet (or more) to ensure that they are fresh and rested for their competition.
There you have it! How to drop a bit of weight the week before your competition without doing anything too crazy. Like I mentioned above, if you are looking for something more drastic than 3-5 lbs., you need to be working with a Coach 1-on-1 for best results.
Otherwise, give this a go and let me know how it works!
Molly Galbraith
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