Hi. Just wondering what peoples experiences have been of water weight cuts. If someone were to water load, then restrict, but do nothing else ie no carb alterations, no sauna, no calorie restriction etc, how much weight would they likely drop?
The reason being, I’ve a contest at the weekend. The weigh in is Friday morning, contest Saturday morning. I currently weigh 63 kg. If I could make 60kg, I could challenge a record. Is 3 or 4 kg realistic though? I’ve been drinking 2 gallons of water instead of my usual 1 for the last few days. My plan was to reduce this back to 1 tomorrow, and half a gallon the next day. I have dropped my creatine supplement for the week. I haven’t done anything with salt as I use none of it in the first place.
If I thought I could reach that 60kg safely I’d press on with the water loading and restriction, but my conclusion is that if I’m unlikely to hit that target, I’ll just return to normal water intake tomorrow and not risk dehydration and complications. I’d prefer to just go and enjoy the contest in that case, weigh in a category over.
I’m no expert on cutting weight, but from what I have heard you are supposed to continue water loading until about 12 hours before the weigh in and the completely stop all fluid intake.
Last meet I was 204 a week out. I limited carbs the last week, and no carbs Friday before meet. Last drink was 9pm Friday night (except a few sips here or there to wet my mouth). Weighed in Saturday at 8am at 194.
I know you said just water, but I have never tried without changing my carb intake.
I’ve cut water a number of times but wouldn’t count on 3kg at your size. At the outside I’d drop maybe 2. I’ve also found it physically taxing and had adversely affected my numbers. If the record is a stretch, you’re going to find it challenging after a serious water cut. Having said that, I’ve only ever had 2hr weigh ins.
I’ve done one very half-arsed water cut. All I did was cut carbs around 48 hours out, then water 24ish hours out. From memory, I went down about three kilos like that. I rehydrated like a man possessed after weighing in and by meet day I had put back all the weight and then some.
However, yet was with a 24 hour weigh in AND I was pretty darn fluffy so I had a lot wiggle room.
It’s definitely realistic and you have a 24 hour weigh in so you have a lot of time for the recomp the day before the meet. It really depends on you as an individual and how you respond to weight cuts. I’ve worked with athletes cutting 20+lbs for 24 hour weigh ins with no issues. When did you start your water load??
Personally I cut 10lbs for my meets with a 24 hour weigh in just with a waterload and minor changes in the diet.
I have cut from about 92.5kg to just under 90kg multiple times and two of these times were for two day weighins. My strength was affected slightly and it was always an ordeal.
Have made numerous 5-10lbs cuts. Many 15-20 and one 30 plus pounds cut all around 210-230lbs of body weight. I’m here to tell right now it isn’t worth it UNLESS there is an All Time World Record at the end of that cut.
I’m coming back to this thread very late! Thank you to everyone for your advice. I decided against the cut and just competed in the next category up. I definitely don’t regret my choice. No records set, but it was a great meet!