Stop Starving Yourself: The Science-Based Weight Cut Protocols That Actually Work

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me “How do I cut weight?” in an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) or DM, I’d have enough to fund my entire fight career in another lifetime.

And I get it. Weight cutting is one of the most anxiety-inducing parts of fight preparation. It’s also one of the most misunderstood.

The combat sports world is drowning in bro-science, outdated “traditional techniques”, and straight-up bad information. We’ve been conditioned to believe that suffering equals success; that if you’re not miserable, dehydrated, and starving, you’re not doing it right.

If no one’s told you this yet: You don’t have to starve yourself. A smart, strategic weight cut based on actual science is not only easier and safer, it’s far more effective.

After almost 60 fights and experimenting with every method under the sun (including the literal “under the sun” ones that almost made me pass out), I’ve learned this: most fighters are conflating two completely different processes. And that confusion is why so many people struggle.

Disclaimer: The following is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The content was created for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a healthcare professional if you have a medical condition and/or before making any lifestyle changes.

Contents:

• Losing Weight vs. Cutting Weight
• The Old Way vs the Smart Way
• 4 Levers of Scientific Weight Cutting
• You Don’t Have to Starve
• Post-Weigh-In Recovery
• More Reasons to Cut Smarter
• What About Female Fighters?

The Critical Distinction: Losing Weight vs. Cutting Weight

This is the foundation of everything. If you don’t understand this difference, you’re going to suffer unnecessarily.

“Losing Weight” (Fat Loss)

This is a long-term body composition change aimed at permanently reducing fat mass (well, hopefully mostly fat and not muscle). It’s what you do when you’re trying to get leaner over the course of months, not days or a couple of weeks. This is done with a consistent, sustainable (keyword here!) caloric deficit. This is what people actually mean when they say they are working on lowering their “walking weight”.

Many fighters mistakenly apply this approach during fight camp and week. They think cutting weight means eating less and moving more right before weigh-ins. That’s a critical error.

“Cutting Weight” (Acute Manipulation)

This is a short-term, temporary manipulation of body mass. You’re not trying to lose fat. You’re trying to hit a specific number on a scale, with the full intention of gaining it all back immediately after weigh-ins.

Cutting weight should be fast (lasting no longer than 5-7 days) and strategic. The targets aren’t fat or muscle. The targets are:

1. Water (~60% of your body weight)
2. Glycogen (stored carbohydrates that bind water)
3. Gut contents (undigested food sitting in your digestive tract)

Losing Fat vs Cutting Weight: Overall Comparison

When you understand this, everything changes. You then understand the differences between each, and why using “losing weight” and “cutting weight” interchangeably is only doing you (and newer, uninformed fighters) a disservice. The remainder of this article will focus on the latter: cutting weight.

The “Old Way” vs. The “Smart Way”

The Brute Force Method (And Why It Fails)

I’ve spent years training in Thailand, and I’ve seen the “traditional” weight cut up close. It’s brutal.

Fighters run twice a day in sauna suits in 35-degree (Celsius) heat. They yo-yo between eating and drinking, allowing their weight to go down and up repeatedly, with a net loss. I’ve watched people sip on high-sodium soup and sugary sodas right after panting in the sun for an hour, completely sabotaging their efforts because sodium and sugar actively retain water.

Wanting to be that “good student who listens to the trainers,” I tried it myself during my first couple of years in Thailand. While it worked to help me get to my target weight, the suffering was excruciating. The suffering went beyond the usual thirst and hunger – I was cramping for hours in places I didn’t know I could cramp. They were extremely painful and brought me to tears after every run. These weight cuts made me reconsider my decision to be a fighter each and every single time. Then came a time when I almost passed out. I told myself, “Never again,” and I implemented the science that I had already researched. (You can watch me cry during one of my weight cut sessions in this documentary)

While not all fighters outside of Thailand cut weight this way, the methods are still just as drastic. Starvation and “waterloading” protocols that last far longer than necessary, turning a fight camp into a weight loss camp.

Here’s why the brute force method fails:

• It’s inefficient. You’re losing water through sweat, but you’re also triggering stress responses that make your body hold onto water out of survival instinct.
• It’s dangerous. Uncontrolled thermal exposure in plastic suits and heated rooms creates severe cardiovascular and heat illness risks. You’re playing Russian roulette with your health.
• It destroys performance. Even if you make weight, you risk showing up to fight depleted, foggy, and weak.

There’s a better way.

The Smart Method: The 4 Levers of Scientific Weight Cutting

Instead of brute force dehydration, we’re going to systematically manipulate four levers in your body. This is the protocol that allows you to cut weight while feeling good. And I mean actually good, not just “less miserable than last time.”

This protocol is not a starvation diet. You will keep your caloric intake high to fuel your brain and body. You’re only manipulating the variables that hold temporary weight.

Lever 1: Water Loading

Waterloading is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.

Follow a 7-day water-loading schedule that’s dependent on your bodyweight. Here’s an example:

• Days 1-3: 7 liters per day
• Day 4: 5 liters
• Day 5: 1 liter
• Day 6: 0.5 liters
• Weigh-in day: Minimal to no water

There are a few ways to calculate exactly how much you should be drinking on which days. If you do a quick search on established platforms by dieticians that work with fighters, many of them have their waterloading formula somewhere on social media. Give this podcast episode (hosted by Muay Thai fighter and nutritionist) a listen if you want a place to start.

So how does drinking copious amounts of water, then very little water, help? You’re “tricking” your body. When you consume high amounts of water for several days, you upregulate hormonal pathways (like vasopressin) that signal your kidneys to flush water aggressively. When you suddenly restrict fluid intake, your body is still in “flush mode,” so you continue to excrete high amounts of urine. You’re losing more water than you would from fluid restriction alone.

This method is scientifically validated and has been shown to be safe for healthy athletes with no meaningful changes to electrolyte levels.

Before implementing this, get your kidney function checked by a doctor first. While controlled studies show water loading is safe for healthy athletes, you must ensure your system can handle the load. If you have any pre-existing kidney issues, this method is not for you.

Lever 2: Sodium Manipulation

Sodium and water are best friends. Where sodium goes, water follows. Sodium manipulation works perfectly alongside water loading. Sodium is osmotically active, meaning it pulls water into your cells and tissues. A science-backed protocol involves reducing sodium intake to 500mg or less in the three days prior to weigh-ins. This signals your kidneys to conserve less water, decreasing fluid retention.

An example of a 7-day sodium taper:

• Days 1-4: Normal sodium intake (3,000-5,000mg/day)
• Days 5-7: Reduce sodium to 500mg or less per day

Keep in mind that this is nuanced. You’re not cutting salt to zero until the very end. During the early water-loading phase, you still need electrolytes to prevent dangerous imbalances from the high water intake. If you aren’t accounting for this, you can end up with cramping, brain fog, and actually becoming “over-hydrated” (hyponatremic).

Lever 3: Carbohydrate Depletion

This is a key insight that most fighters overlook. Your body stores carbohydrates as glycogen in your muscles and liver. Every 1 gram of glycogen binds 3-4 grams of water. By depleting your glycogen stores (through moderate carb restriction of 1-2g/kg for 2-3 days) you force that associated water out. This alone can account for a 1-2% reduction in body mass.

Taper carbohydrates as soon as the hard fight camp training is over, to near-zero 3-4 days before weigh-ins.

This is safe for combat sports: studies show this level of glycogen depletion has no negative effect on short-term, high-intensity exercise performance (under 15 minutes). Your fight isn’t a marathon. You can afford to be slightly depleted for 3-4 days if it means making weight comfortably.

Lever 4: Fiber Manipulation (The “Hidden” Cut)

This is one of the safest and most underutilized methods. Undigested food and residue in your digestive tract (your “gut content”) have significant weight. We’re talking 0.5 to 2kg (or more if you are a larger person). A controlled study found that a 4-day low-fiber diet (less than 10g of fiber per day) resulted in a 0.6kg (0.7% of body mass) reduction by itself, even when calories and macros stayed the same.

Common fiber reduction protocols call for fighters to switch to a low-fiber, low-residue diet 3-4 days before weigh-ins. This actually means, during this time, fighters stop eating high-residue foods like vegetables, whole grains, and fibrous fruits. Instead, they switch to low-residue foods: nut butters, protein shakes, white rice (early in the week), lean proteins, and peeled fruits.

This avoids the health risks associated with laxative use (which can cause subsequent constipation) while achieving meaningful weight reduction with minimal physiological disruption.

Strategic Combination

So, how do you combine all these strategies? Here’s a sample protocol based on scientific recommendations (in X days before weighing in). Keep in mind you may have to change and just this to better fit your individual needs:

• Days 10-7 (The “Prep Phase”): Honestly, you don’t do much. Just eat and drink normally. This is your baseline. Maintain your standard sodium and fiber, and keep your fluid intake high (a good general rule is ~35 mL/kg, but for us, this is just our normal “train and hydrate” phase).
• Days 6-4 (The “Taper Phase”): This is where we start the first turn. We begin to strategically reduce carbs (down to ~3 g/kg), and start tapering off sodium and fiber by about 30%. We’re not cutting them out completely, just starting to empty the tanks.
• Days 3-2 (The “Manipulation Phase”): Now we get serious. Carbs drop further (down to ~2 g/kg), sodium and fiber go to minimal levels, and your fluid intake tapers hard (down to 1-2 liters). This is where the water loading, sodium taper, and glycogen depletion all work together.
• The Final 24 Hours (The “Sweat”): If you’ve done this right, the final sweat (if you even need one) should be minimal. And how you sweat matters. The “smart” way is “active sweating” (like a light jog), which is much safer and puts less cardiovascular strain on your body than just “passive sweating” (like sitting in a hot sauna).

You Don’t Have to Starve

Fighters are not known for their moderation. Many may come upon this information and try to combine all four levers along with caloric starvation during weight-cut week. “If I’m cutting carbs, cutting sodium, and cutting water, I should also cut calories.”

Wrong.

When you do that, you have zero energy. You feel like absolute crap. You prolong your suffering. And worst of all, you show up to weigh-ins looking depleted and then to the fight feeling weak.

Keep your calories high by replacing carb and fiber calories with high-fat, high-protein sources. Here’s what I do:

• Nut butters (all-natural, no added salt or sugar)
• Nuts and seeds (no added salt)
• Avocado (early in the week)
• Protein shakes
• Other sources of protein that are naturally low-sodium (like eggs and some varieties of canned tuna)

During my last few fight camps, I had so much energy during (well, comparatively to the past) weight cut week that I was writing newsletters, catching up on content, and feeling mentally sharp. All because I kept my caloric intake high. This was a huge difference from me being unable to think of anything aside from my dreadful state of being while I was implementing the older methods.

If there’s any takeaway from this section: You’re not trying to lose fat. You’re trying to make weight. Feed your brain. Feed your body. Just manipulate the right variables.

What About Female Fighters?

The “honest, grounded” truth that gets left out of 99% of these conversations: This entire protocol is not one-size-fits-all.

Female athletes face distinct physiological and hormonal challenges that are fundamentally different from their male counterparts. The problem is, most gyms and coaches just use the same (male-centric) strategies for everyone, which is failing female fighters. Even within the population of cis women, there is no protocol that will suit every single person. Here is what the science says so you can take these into consideration.

Your Menstrual Cycle Changes the Game

Your hormones affect how your body stores and uses energy. The most significant factor for us is glycogen (carb) loading.

• Research shows that carb-loading is highly effective during the first half of your cycle (the follicular phase). But during the second half (the luteal phase, the ~2 weeks before your period), elevated progesterone makes that same carb-loading strategy substantially less effective.
• If your cut falls during the two weeks before your period, you may find that both depleting and refilling your glycogen is less effective. It’s not you “failing”, just your physiology at work.
• The science also shows that your menstrual cycle has no significant effect on fluid balance, sweat rate, or rehydration. This means the Water Loading and Sodium Manipulation strategies work equally well regardless of menstrual cycle timing for most female athletes.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)

Female combat athletes have an enhanced vulnerability to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). This is the clinical term for what happens when your energy expenditure (from brutal training) consistently exceeds your caloric intake (from chronic dieting or bad weight cuts).

It’s a syndrome that causes a cascade of health problems , including metabolic slowdown, elevated stress on your kidneys, and poor performance.

Your Period is Your “Check Engine” Light

How does RED-S show up first? Menstrual dysfunction.

If your “suck it up” weight cuts or chronic under-fueling cause you to lose your period (amenorrhea), that is not a badge of honor. It is your body’s “check engine” light. It’s a critical sign that your body is in “defend mode” and is shutting down “non-essential” functions (like reproduction) to survive.

This hormonal disruption has a direct, catastrophic effect on your bones. It decreases your bone mineral density and substantially increases your risk of stress fractures. If your training and cutting are causing you to miss periods, you are actively weakening your bones and putting your career at risk. You must address your energy availability.

The Body Fat Myth

The “shredded” 12% body fat minimums seen in some wrestling regulations are unsafe and scientifically indefensible for women. Research on female wrestlers shows 95% of them naturally maintain body fat above 17% [1, 2, 3]

A safe, evidence-based minimum body fat for most female athletes is 17-19%. Pushing your body below this level through extreme measures is what triggers RED-S and the hormonal issues above.

Increased Risk of Eating Disorders

The constant psychological pressure of weight cutting, combined with the physiological disruptions from chronic energy restriction (like hormonal changes and hunger dysregulation), means female combat athletes are at a substantially elevated risk for disordered eating.

Studies show that female combat athletes are 5 to 10 times more likely than male athletes to develop clinical eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia. The prevalence among elite female athletes can be as high as 16-47%. This systemic risk is something everyone must be willing to talk about.

Protocol for Female Athletes

Here’s a potential adjusted plan taking all of these into consideration:

1. Cut less weight. The science supports a ceiling of around 5% of your body weight over 7 days, rather than pushing for more.
2. Use your period as a health marker. If it disappears, you need to work with a professional to fix your energy availability immediately.
3. Because women have a smaller total body water volume, getting your post-weigh-in sodium right is even more critical for effective rehydration.

The key takeaway is this: You cannot just “copy-paste” a male-centric protocol and expect it to work. You must listen to your body, prioritize your hormonal health, and be smarter and more strategic.

The Aftermath: Post-Weigh-In Recovery

The cut is useless if you don’t recover properly. This is what determines your actual performance on fight day. Some dieticians have their preferred methods. Some want their fighters to drink plain water immediately following weigh-ins before drinking anything with electrolytes. Personally, I go straight for the hydration fluids with electrolytes as soon as I’m cleared at weigh-ins.

The amount to drink differs depending on how much you cut. I take the weight I lost that week and multiply it by 1.5. For example, if I cut 3 kilograms (which is a normal situation), over the rest of the day, I will drink 4.5 liters of water.

Right after my “first pee” is when I start eating. The main focus is on foods I usually eat that contain fast-acting carbs: white rice is the main player for me. I limit fiber intake during my meals until after the fight as I don’t want to suddenly overload my digestive system with fiber. The priority is to rehydrate and refuel.

If You Need More Reasons to Cut Weight Smarter…

Let’s talk about why this matters beyond just “making weight comfortably.”

• Chronic weight cycling (the constant yo-yo of cutting and regaining) is linked to a 54% increased risk of heart failure and a 23% increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Acute dehydration increases blood viscosity and may alter brain morphology, which increases your vulnerability to head trauma. You’re literally making yourself more susceptible to brain injury by dehydrating improperly.
• Your body is your career. A smart, scientific cut is easier, safer, and gives you a real advantage: showing up on fight day feeling fueled and healthy instead of depleted and desperate.

It’s been my mission to create healthier, smarter fighters by helping people unlearn bad information. We’ve all fallen to just “doing what you were told” by the last generation of coaches.

Be a critical thinker. Question the tradition. Demand better for yourself.

You don’t have to suffer during weight cut to be successful. You just have to be strategic. Your health and safety come first, always.

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