Advice on Losing 20lbs in 3.5 Weeks (Martial Arts Related)

Diet and Nutrition
1

So pretty much I have a fight comming up in 3.5 weeks from today, I was just wondering is cutting 20 pounds in this short time a possible goal without feeling completely destroyed on fight day? I weigh 180-185 and need to cut down to 165

My current training regimen consists of the following monday - friday

9:15 - 11:00 am Bikram Yoga (everyday)
12:30 - 1:50pm Muay Thai (everyday)
6:00 - 7:30 Muay Thai (everyday)
7:45 - 9:00 Muay Thai (Only Thursdays)
Saturday/Sunday Off

I have been doing this for about close to 2 months and am in fairly good shape.
and just 2 days ago I decided to cut down on the carbs (keeping them under 60-80g carbs/day) while keeping my protein intake high (1g per lb)

Also, currently the supplements I’m taking are Animal Pak (Multivitamins), 100% Whey Protein, and Glutamine

So 2 days ago I switched up my diet plan to consist of:

Bikram Yoga I go on a empty stomach

Breakfast:5 Egg Whites, 8oz Vege juice, a glass of skim milk mixed with ½ cup oatmeal, I will also take my Animal Pak at this time.

Muay Thai (afternoon class) * Immediately after 1 scoop of protein/Glutamine with water*

Lunch: 1 Tuna Can, 2 pieces of Turkey meat, 2 cups raw vegeâ??s, medium plain Black Coffee (no sugar,cream,milk)

2 hours later 1 Chicken Thigh, ½ can of Salmon

Muay Thai (evening class) Immediately after 1 scoop of protein/glutamine with water

Dinner: 1 Chicken Breast, 2 egg whites, 1 cup raw vegeâ??s

Before I go to sleep: 1 scoop of protein/glutamine with water

I also keep my water intake high (10-12 liters split among the entire day)

Is there anything I should maybe change/add in this diet/plan? I also want to be training really hard for the next few weeks, and I understand my energy level will probably not be the same as when I was eating close to 150g/carbs daily. So if there is anything lacking in this, or maybe anything I should change up; all input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Goal: Lose/Cut 20lbs in 3.5 weeks

I have weight cut for other fights before, but the most I’ve ever done was 4-8lb water cut.

2

At first glance, that looks like an astonishingly small amount of food for 4+ hrs of daily training

3

Yeah this isn’t a ton of food but if you need to make weight then it is what it is. Have you tried a fat burner? Grab some oxyelite pro to help you lose some weight, because you are already training a lot and have a very low-cal diet so if weight loss has stalled you may need a lil extra help, a good thermogenic will give you some energy as well.

4

20lbs in that short of time frame is going to require Herculean effort, and that’s even without considering the performance loss. I’m certainly not an expert on MMA training but I’m not sure you could sustain that much training on less food. V-Dieters usually lose 15 to 25 lbs in the 6 weeks they’re on the program… and that’s with really damn low kcals.

Plus, you’re eating like no fat already. At least eat your god damn egg yolks. There’s too much good stuff in there to pass up on.

5

[quote]Xab wrote:
20lbs in that short of time frame is going to require Herculean effort, and that’s even without considering the performance loss. I’m certainly not an expert on MMA training but I’m not sure you could sustain that much training on less food. V-Dieters usually lose 15 to 25 lbs in the 6 weeks they’re on the program… and that’s with really damn low kcals.
[/quote]

I think the question has to be, “How much of the weight loss will be lean muscle?”

6

OP, next time start cutting weight farther out than 3.5 weeks. Ask your coach for cutting strategy or help from him. Youre going to be fairly miserable up until fight day- good luck

7

Yeah dude, trying to cut 20Lbs in 3 weeks is gonna be one rough ride.

Im sure you could do it alright, fasting, water depletion etc but your gonna be one miserable SOB for quite a while, plus cutting to that extreme some of the 20Lbs will most definatly be LBM, which as a fighter im sure you dont exactly want.

9

what’s your current body fat percentage?

20lbs in 3 weeks is crazy!

do you NEED to cut that much weight for the fight?

10

Damn,… I’ve seen bodybuilders actually drop 3lbs/week, but personally I always thought it was insane (dropping 2/week is hard enough). Still, even if you can drop 3 lbs/week, (about 9 lbs down), you’re still looking at 11 lbs… Wasn’t there a write up on here where Berardi talked about George St Piere dropping 20 lbs of water weight in the week leading up to a fight?

S

11

op search on elitefts or google for Matt Krocs water cutting routine

12

Did anyone else notice that he drinks 3 gallons of water a day? Is this not a little strange?

13

5 hours of training a day probably requires a lot of water

14

that’s not an uncommon weight cut for fighters…especially since he’s transitioning to a low carb diet, that will “flush out” a ton of water and glycogen, and he can hopefully carb load/rehydrate the day prior to the fight. i’ll echo the comment on eating the egg yolks, though…

btw, when are the weigh-ins scheduled for compared to the fight?

Also, here are a couple links that should give you some ideas on water manipulation:

https://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_boxing_fighting_mma_combat/cutting_weight_4

16

Thanks for the input everyone, appreciate it!

Just to clear some things up, the weigh ins are a day before at 4pm, with the actual fights starting the next day at 7:30pm; the fight was also on a short notice too. I had also been taking creatine monohydrate prior to the news about me fighting, which I shut off to shed some weight off so hopefully that will help speed up the weight loss process.

I’ll also start adding the egg yolks into my diet and will look into a fat burner to throw in the mix. I’m also going to add a light intensity 4k jog to my schedule every night. Hopefully I can at least cut out 10-15 pounds, with the remaining 5-8 lbs coming from a water cut.

The links that were posted really helped a lot also! Thanks again!

17

ehhhh…i dunno about cutting 10-15 now, and 5-8 later. realistically, you can flush out a ton of water in the last few days, but if you’ve already been training like you are now, i doubt you’ll have much fat to lose. i really suggest you look into some of the links i posted about water manipulation…if you’re 180 now, you can cut the water alone and make 165, and prolly rehydrate back up to 175.

also, you might wanna re-think adding another run into your training…you’re essentially training 3x a day now, and will only serve to decrease your recovery on a pretty restrictive diet. you could always go for a run on Sat or Sun instead…

i think your original plan is solid-just tweak the H2O stuff prior to the fight…

just my .02, and good luck!

EDIT: here’s another link geared towards fight prep and cutting weight… : My First MMA Fight - Combat - Forums - T Nation