It's impossible to cut weight fast without affecting your athletic performance. The principals behind rapid weight loss will unavoidably reduce your body's capacity for speed, precision and power. However you can take several steps in the days and hours before competition to minimize the performance drag caused by cutting weight. These include aspects of how you cut the weight, and how you recover in the hours between weigh in and stepping into the ring.
Step 1
Restrict your intake of food and water in the two or three days prior to weigh in. At this point, it's the actual physical weight of what you take in that matters -- not the weight you would gain from eating it.
Step 2
Eat foods high in fat and protein in the days prior to your match. Fat contains more calories per gram than other foods -- and you'll be needing all the calories you can get. Calories in protein break down more slowly in your digestive tract, delivering the energy over the long term and avoiding sugar crashes and low points in your energy.
Step 3
Sweat out your extra weight the night before you weigh in. Do this with a cardiovascular workout of your choice, checking your weight after toweling off every 30 minutes or so. You can stop when you still have 1/2 to 1 lb. of weight to lose, as most people will lose that much weight overnight while sleeping.
Step 4
Rehydrate immediately after weighing in by sipping a quart or more of diluted sports drink. Do not gulp the drink, as this can cause you to throw up and further damage your performance. Even if you don't throw up, the heavy feeling in your gut from guzzling down a bottle of Gatorade won't help you come go time.
Step 5
Eat a light meal of high-carbohydrate foods like pasta and bread shortly after weighing in. Carbohydrates deliver energy rapidly, which you'll need in the final few hours before your match. As with the fluids, you should eat this slowly no matter how hungry you feel. Wolfing down your food will only upset your stomach and erode your performance.
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