Do Women Need to Cut Weight Differently From Men? (The Science)

“Just do what he does.”

It’s the standard advice in almost every gym. You watch a male teammate cut 8kg in a week, dehydrating himself into a raisin, and make weight. So when it’s your turn, the expectation is that you simply copy-paste his protocol.

But let’s be honest about who is giving the directions. Most coaches and fighters are not educated on proper weight management, much less the science behind weight cuts. Many are still relying on outdated traditions, survivorship bias, and suffering. A lot of the “advice” floating around gyms is just bro-science passed down like folklore, like sitting in a sauna until the brain cooks, starving, and spitting, with zero understanding of physiology. They barely understand their own physiology, let alone yours. They are prescribing you a roadmap that is often dangerous for them, and completely nonsensical for you.

As if that alone wasn’t already problematic, here’s another issue rearing its ugly head: Society expects and claims women to be different from men in almost every way, yet this nuance completely vanishes when it comes to sports science.

We are constantly told we are different, yet when it comes to cutting weight, we are treated like “smaller men with less muscle mass.” The reality is that our bodies operate on a completely different system. Our hormones, our water regulation, and our stress response do not follow a 24-hour clock like a man’s; they follow a monthly rhythm.

There is something very wrong with a system that simultaneously shares misinformation and ignores your biology. I’ve seen the toll this takes. After years of fighting and watching female training partners (and myself) suffer through frustration and dangerous side effects, I confidently conclude: women need to cut weight differently than men.

Not because we’re weaker. Not because we’re less committed. But because our internal reality (hormones, body composition, fluid regulation, etc.) works fundamentally differently.

The issue isn’t just that the “standard” protocol is scientifically flawed; it’s that the standard is male. Even a bad protocol might work for a man because he doesn’t have to fight a luteal phase. You do.

This article is for every female fighter who’s been told to “just push through it” without any acknowledgment that her body operates on a completely different system. Here is why the “male standard” fails us, and how to actually cut weight for the body you have.

(By the way, if you haven’t already read The Science-Based Weight Cut Protocols That Actually Work where I broke down the standard physiological protocols that work for the general population, read it first so you have some context and information.)

Disclaimer: I am a professional fighter, not a medical doctor. Consult a medical professional before attempting any weight cut protocol, especially if you have pre-existing health conditions or menstrual irregularities.

Why Male Weight-Cutting Protocols Don’t Work for Women

Let’s paint a picture that is the shared reality of a lot of women: You and a male training partner are roughly the same size. You both start the exact same protocol: water loading, sodium manipulation, and sweat sessions. He drops 4kg easily. You drop 2kg and feel like absolute death.

What happened? While some may say willpower, it’s actually biology at play. Men can shed weight more efficiently than women because of several key physiological differences:

Body Composition

Women naturally carry 25-31% body fat compared to men’s 18-24%. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s just how female bodies are designed for survival. But body fat is less metabolically active than muscle tissue, and crucially, it holds very little water.

Men, on the other hand, have significantly more lean muscle mass (about 41% more on average). Muscle acts a bit like a sponge. Having more muscle means:

• Higher resting metabolic rate (in absolute terms)
• Greater glycogen storage capacity
• More glycogen-bound water to lose during a cut

Every gram of glycogen binds to 3-4 grams of water. The key point here: higher muscle percentage means higher water in the body.

When a male fighter depletes glycogen to cut weight, he is squeezing a massive sponge. He has a huge reserve of “easy” water weight to dump. Because women have less muscle mass and less total body water (about 5% less than men of equivalent size), we are squeezing a much smaller sponge.

When a coach tells you to “just cut water like him,” they aren’t accounting for the fact that you simply have less (proportional) water to cut.

The Sweat Gap

Less water in the body means less potential to “sweat out” as much. While women actually have higher sweat gland density per unit of body surface area, our whole-body sweating rates are lower. This means you need higher temperatures or longer sessions to lose the same amount of fluid. This increases your risk of heat illness significantly. This is a dangerous place to be, and it’s not the time to “tough it out.” You are cooking your internal organs because your cooling mechanism works differently.

The Wild Card: Your Menstrual Cycle

This is the big one that almost no male coach talks about.

Men run on a 24-hour hormonal clock (solar). Women run on a ~28-day cycle (luteal). If your fight week falls during your Luteal Phase (the high-hormone phase after ovulation, roughly days 15-28), you are fighting an uphill battle.

During this phase, progesterone spikes. This causes:

• Increased water retention. You can hold 500g to 2kg of extra water (unrelated to diet, fat, or muscle).
• Reduced sweating capacity. Your body temperature threshold increases, making thermal methods (sauna, sweat suits) even harder.
• Bloating and digestive changes. Your digestion slows down, keeping food weight in your gut longer.

Without understanding this, a stagnant scale can lead to misguided, aggressive restriction of food and water. This approach is counterproductive, ultimately forcing your body to operate at a significantly lower level.

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The Long-Term Risks

This isn’t just about making weight comfortably. It’s about whether your health and well-being for the rest of your life. Fighting is temporary. Your body is the home you have to live in for the rest of your life. Aggressive, uninformed weight cutting accelerates serious health issues that can follow you decades after you hang up the gloves: Aggressive weight cutting in women accelerates serious health issues:

• Menstrual Dysfunction. Approximately 60-80% of female athletes experience menstrual irregularities, ranging from mild cycle disruptions to complete loss of periods (amenorrhea). While this is often attributed to low energy availability, the stress of acute weight loss accelerates the problem.
• Bone Density Loss. Estrogen protects your bones. If you lose your cycle (and your estrogen) during your peak bone-building years, you risk osteopenia or osteoporosis. Among female athletes, 22-50% develop osteopenia and 10-13% develop osteoporosis (compared to 1-2% in non-athletes). This is especially concerning for young fighters still in their peak bone-building years (90% of peak bone mass is achieved by age 18). Early bone loss can result in permanent deficits and increased fracture risk throughout your life; not just during your fighting career, but for decades after.
• REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport). Chronic weight cutting, combined with high training loads, puts female athletes at elevated risk for REDS, which affects: metabolic function, bone health, immune function, cardiovascular health, and psychological wellbeing.

Your body is not just a tool for a sport. It is where you live. A smart,informed weight cut will protect your ability to live a healthy and functional life.

What an Informed Weight Cut Protocol Can Look Like

Here is how you adjust the strategy to work with your physiology, not against it.

1. Start Earlier and Cut Slower

Because we have less glycogen-bound water to lose and lower sweating rates, we need more time. Where a male fighter might cut 3-4kg in fight week, you might only safely cut 2-3kg in that same acute window.

The Fix: Start your descent 1-2 weeks earlier to gradually bring your weight down before you even start the acute water manipulation phase. Focus on gradual body composition changes (as opposed to trying to sweat more), so you have less water to cut during fight week.

2. Track Your Cycle. Seriously.

This cannot be stressed enough. You need to know where you are in your menstrual cycle when you’re planning a fight, and if the timing of your weigh-in date can potentially make you have to suffer unnecessarily. The more you track your menstrual cycles andobserve your body, you have more data to work with for future cuts.

The ideal scenario is if your weigh-ins fall during the follicular phase days (1-14), when water retention is naturally lower. But, understandably so, most of us do not have the luxury of turning down fights, nor can we control the date. If you have to cut during your luteal phase (days 15-28), adjust your target and plan for that adjustment. Expect more water retention, difficulty sweating, and more fatigue and irritability during that time. This may mean you have to fight slightly higher, or compensate with body composition changes way ahead of time.

The Fix: If you are not already tracking your periods, you need to start right now.

3. Modify the Water Load

The standard water-loading protocol (which I break down in detail in this article on science-based weight cutting) works, but women may need to modify it slightly. (The same goes for the other methods I mentioned in the previous article still work [sodium manipulation, carb depletion, and fiber reduction].)

For men: 7L/7L/7L/5L/1L/0.5L over 6 days is common.

For women: You might start at 5-6L during the loading phase instead of 7L, depending on your size and total body water. The principle is the same—upregulate your kidneys’ flushing mechanisms—but the volume needs to match your physiology.

The Fix: Scale it down. Depending on your size, peaking at 5-6L might be sufficient to upregulate your kidney function without making you sick. (Note: Get your kidney function checked before attempting any water-loading protocol. This is non-negotiable.).

4. Be Conservative with Water Cuts

Because women sweat less efficiently, there’s a tendency to overheat faster. Attempting to cut more than your body will allow you to in a sustainable manner increases the risk of:

• Severe dehydration
• Heat illness
• Cognitive impairment
• Poor recovery before the fight

Remember that your goal isn’t just to make weight. It’s to make weight and still be able to perform.

The Fix: Research suggests limiting acute weight loss to 2-4% of body weight in the final 24 hours before weigh-ins (while men can sometimes push 4-5%). Use shorter intervals in the sauna or bath and monitor your cognitive function closely.

5. Protect Your Muscle

Because women naturally have lower muscle mass, protecting what you have during a cut is critical. Many people aggressively restrict their caloric intake during weight-in week, and the body’s first response is to utilize the muscle for energy. Fat is the last option. Your body’s responsibility is to keep you alive, and this is how it does it. Your body does not care that you are trying to lose weight for recreational activities.

The Fix: Keep protein intake high (1.6-2.2g per kg of body weight) throughout camp. And rather than drastically cutting calories, don’t starve yourself. You need energy to train, to think, to function. Replace the calories you’re cutting from carbs and fiber with high-fat, high-protein sources. Combine this with continued resistance training up until the week before the fight (even if you’re tapering volume) to signal your body to hold onto muscle while you’re in a caloric deficit.

Research shows that women may actually preserve lean mass better than men during calorie restriction when proper resistance training and protein intake are maintained. Use that to your advantage.

6. Consider Your Sport

The “rules” of cutting change depending on your weigh-in timing. Women may also have slower rehydration and glycogen repletion rates than men.

• Day-Before Weigh-in. You have more than 24 hours to rehydrate. You can push water manipulation slightly more.
• Same-Day Weigh-in. You have a 1-15 hours between stepping on the scales and stepping into the ring. You have very little time to recover fluid balance. Do not rely as much on dehydration. Your weight management must be done via fat loss weeks in advance. Fighting dehydrated increases brain trauma risk, and the shorter the rehydration and refeeding window, the less of an ability your body will be able to bounce back to baseline.

The Fix: Follow the post-weigh-in recovery protocol carefully: sodium-containing fluids first, then electrolyte drinks, then carb refeeding. Give yourself the full recovery window.

Hire a Professional

Not all coaches, nutritionists, or training partners understand the differences we’ve discussed here. Seek out people who do, especially if you have the resources to.

Don’t Compare Your Cut, Especially to a Male Fighter

I’ve tried cutting weight “like the guys.” I’ve followed the same protocols, pushed just as hard, restricted just as much. I’ve had fight camps where I trained hard and felt amazing, only for it to be ruined by a bad weight cut. I’ve almost passed out in the sun. I’ve had painful cramps in places I didn’t know were possible to the point of tears.

What works for men doesn’t always work for women. And that’s okay. This is the mental game piece that took me years to internalize. Stop measuring your toughness by male standards. You’re not less of a fighter because your body doesn’t respond the same way.

If your coach doesn’t understand that women need to cut differently, that is a coaching problem, not a you problem. You deserve support from people who respect science, research, and, well, women.

Be informed and smart, rather than choosing to suffer for the sake of it.. Your body is different. Your cut should be too.

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