Cutting weight
I'm not a qualified nutritionist, these are my opinions supported by some basic facts
Well, its less then a week until the Welsh Open and my weight is pretty much bang on - thankfully. It has been a long haul dropping from in excess of 95kg to 81kg, however that is another post.
I've never really concentrated on cutting weight and always competed at pretty much the weight I walk around at. Many will say this is the way to do it, and who am I to say it isn't. However I've decided to drop weight this time not only for BJJ but also to aid my general health and to try an increase my strength to weight ratio.
Many articles are available on how to cut weight.... Laxatives, reduced calories and the magical water trick. Now while each probably has its benefits I feel a couple for BJJ are border line, although this depends how you apply it... Below are just a few thoughts to each method and the theory behind them and why some people use them:
Laxatives
While I accept that we hold between 3 & 5lb of 'waste' in our GI tract at any given time - the use of laxatives has the potential of causing dehydration. I suppose it depends on when you do it, if you take the laxative 3/4 days prior to the comp then this gives you plenty of time to re-hydrate. But by doing that you are almost wasting your time, as you want to get 'rid' of all the waste for weight loss - and anything you eat after that would in essence add the weight back on. There are many natural laxatives but I personally feel its a method best not adopted.
Water
I believe this system works something like this. 3 days prior to weight in you drink 2 gallons of water a day (that is roughly 7.4 liters). 24 hours prior to weight in you reduce your water intake (I believe) to almost zero. This tricks your body - it removes fluid assuming you will have a similar intake of 7+ liters but you obviously wont. Many figures have been thrown around with this theory - anything up to 10lb. What you have to remember (sorry for the suck egg approach) but our body weight is roughly 65% water.... It is suggested that to reduce the water in your body by more than 10% of your body weight is extremely dangerous. I'm confident I don't need to go into why.... simple terms, if you weight 185lb then loosing 18.5lb is not advisable.
Reduced Calories
Probably the safest way for me. To loose a lb of fat we need to burn in excess of 3500 calories. If your BMR is 2800 per day, you can reduce this by 800 calories per day and in 5 days loose 1lb of fate (in theory). Also for each 1 gram of carbohydrate you have, your body will hold 3 grams of water. A reduction in carbohydrates will also reduce your bodies water retention and hey ho - you have lost 4 lb. This process I believe takes roughly 24 hours. Now I accept it is not that simple, but do you see my point? Please remember though, reduction in carbohydrates will reduce your glycogen stores - VERY important when it comes to energy production...
One thing I did find when doing some research on cutting weight for BJJ is that very few highlight the fact that BJJ is somewhat different to other combat sports (the level that you compete I accept will dictate this also). But more often than not, you will weigh in roughly an hour prior to stepping on the mat. This is why some of the above methods could be detrimental to you, dehydrating the body so close to competing would be considered foolish by many. This is not Boxing, Judo (at top level) MMA and many other sports where you get 24 hours to replenish your glycogen stores and re-hydrate.
If you opt for the laxative option, do not take it the morning of the comp.... If you are thinking of the 'water trick' then ensure after weigh in, you re-hydrate with electrolytes, maybe some sea salt (not table salt, I repeat NOT table salt) and for me milk (full fat milk ONLY). Also remember that eating a load of food now is not the best thing to do, choose what food you digest best (it will be different for each person and you do not want to introduce new foods to your body now) and eat small and often.
Today is a personal opinion blog - there is some fact in here, but a lot of it is my own opinions. I can assure you, there are many out there who know a hell of a lot more about this than me. But it seems the availability of this information for BJJ (specifically weigh in so close to comp) is limited, and it would be good to see an experienced competitor (high level) share their methods and thoughts on this. Many will disagree with what I have said, and fair enough. Loosing weight to compete is a personnel thing and one method will not work for all.
A few good blogs worth reading about this subject are linked below: