Need some advice. I am currently weighing 216, down 24lbs since start of year. Im scheduled to compete in a BJJ comp on July 9. My plan has been to compete at 208 (+.9lb variance). My in laws are flying in and my wife said she doesn’t want me to mention dieting once. She expects me to eat, have a beer and genuinely enjoy myself around them. Let’s say I eat Maintenace during that time period. How would you approach the final 3 weeks to lose 8lbs? Cut cals and then do water cut?
Or, should I just move up a weight class and not worry about it?
How long are they staying ? Are you able to manage your calories in the meals you don’t have with your inlaws and bank a little ? Are you able to adjust your portion size so it seems you are eating the same as everyone else but you don’t blow out ? Are you able to make one beer last all night ?
Two days really won’t make a huge difference towards dieting. There’s even some benefits of a maintenance day once in a while if you’re deep into a cut (refeeding). Just add a little cardio and don’t get too crazy with the food and you’ll be fine.
Depends on how lean you are as a starting point, but with a water cut thrown in at the end that’s most likely very doable. Even if you only actually lose like half of that without the water cut, six or seven hours is more than enough to get ready after a 4 or 5 pound water cut.
Depends on how fluffy you are and how deep into a cut. I could lose 8lb in 2 weeks without trying.
If they are only there for 2 days and you can keep the diet clean, then maybe just smash out 100 burpees in the morning and again later in the day to keep the furnace burning.
That makes it a bit harder. But so long as you don’t gain much over that week, I still think that losing 4-6 pounds over the three weeks and water-cutting the rest before the comp should get you where you need to be.
I think a bigger concern than nutrition would be deconditioning if you take a full week off that close to your comp.
Have you ever done a water cut before? Do you know what you’re doing and how to rehydrate afterwards?
OK this is more of a challenge. Are you going to still train during this time. Given your comp coming up, surely your wife doesn’t expect you to relax, eat and drink for 8 days ?
I was all ready to say to just cut the full 8 pounds via a water cut given the amount of time you have between weigh ins and your matches – I’ve done 8-10 pounds with a two-hour weigh for powerlifting meets in the past – but since this is your first water cut, don’t do that. I’d say if you can get to within 4-5 pounds then you can water cut from there. Edit: I just saw I repeated what @creative_name said above.
Ha! She should have thought about that before she had parents!
In all seriousness, I don’t think that’s a hard cut at all. 6lbs in a 90-minute workout is pretty reasonable even without doing dumb things. 8-9 lbs in 24 hours shouldn’t force you do to anything really insane (obviously this is not medical advice, etc.). So long as you don’t go crazy and gain weight, I think you’re in a good spot.
However, I only ever needed to do the water manipulation and the carb manipulation. I was mindful of sodium intake in the few days leading up to the meet but I never tracked it. I would think the cutting approach for a sport like BJJ would be similar but it might be worth looking at how boxers do a water cut too.
