I wrestled in high school so I know first hand many of the strategies used to cut weight: running, saunas, spit cups, fasting, those crazy sweat suits. I’m sure I’ve missed a few but you get the point.
I wouldn’t eat and run 10-20 miles the last couple days in order to make weight. How could I possibly compete at my best if my body was worn out from running all those miles on top of wrestling practice with little to no nutrients to help my body recover from all that physical stress?
The answer is, I didn’t.
Looking back, these were some really dumb decisions to be making at such a critical time of a young person’s health. My body was still growing into its own and I was starving it of nutrients necessary to reach my physical peak by running and wrestling all day long without refueling!
I owe my body an apology: “I’m sorry I did this to you and I hope that you will forgive me someday!”
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s look at some smart and simple things that can make cutting weight much easier (and even healthy.
The New Age of Cutting Weight
Now most weight cutting strategies are about reducing water weight. Did you know that you can lower the amount of water weight in your body by just making one dietary change?
It’s actually a very simple step, all you need to do is replace many of the carbohydrates that we eat each day with healthy fats. When our body converts carbohydrates into energy (known as glycolysis) water is created.
However, when our body converts fat into energy, no water is created. If we simply use fat for energy most of the time and only use carbohydrates sparingly, we can reduce the amount of water weight in our bodies with no impact on hydration.
Now, this won’t turn a heavyweight into a 103 pounder, but every little bit of water counts. Just ask the guy on the team sucking on a jolly rancher filling up a water bottle with spit every week.
The Benefits Don’t Stop There!
Another benefit of switching from a carb burner to a fat burner is that fat is a cleaner energy source. More harmful byproducts (called free radicals) are produced when burning carbs resulting in increased inflammation.
By replacing pro inflammatory foods, such as sugars and vegetable oils, with anti-inflammatory foods such as grass fed butter or salmon you’re on the road to a decrease in inflammation and improved recovery.
While inflammation can be a good thing at times, too much can weaken your body’s ability to repair itself.
So, in order to get your body to use fat for energy you really only have to do two things:
- reduce the amount of carbs we eat and
- eat more fat
To use this dietary method successfully, make sure that at least ½ of the calories you eat daily come from fats. We want our bodies to burn fat for fuel all the time, except in cases of intense exertion, like wrestling.
The only way to find what works best for you is to try it out and monitor the results. I recommend making any dietary changes in the offseason so that you can experiment when your peak performance isn’t an issue.
Be sure to check out our food guide to learn more about healthy fat choices.
Stats About Your Body You Should Know
The human body is only able to store a limited amount of carbs in the body in muscles and the liver (about 2000 calories.) The rest of the carbs in your body circulate around in the blood until it is used up as fuel. Your body will always use carbs for fuel when there’s extra because it sucks at storing them.
The good news? We have an amazing amount of stored energy in our bodies, over 20,000 calories worth for most people, in the form of fat. Most people can survive weeks without food because of this.
Fat is also a much denser form of energy than the other macronutrients (protein and carbohydrates) that you consume in your typical daily food intake. 1g of fat has more than 2X the stored energy of 1g of carbohydrates or 1g of protein!
While we may have an abundance of stored energy, converting it into usable energy is slow. I don’t know about you, but if I’m in the middle of a wrestling match, I’m going to need access to all the energy I can get!
This is where glycolysis comes in handy. While we only store about 2000 calories (for an average 150lb male), we are able to convert that stored glycogen into glucose fast. This is ideal for competition and times of fight or flight.
You’re probably thinking: “So, if glycolysis is faster than fat metabolism, then I can just refill my glycogen stores by just eating carbohydrates before and after competition, right?”
Stuffing yourself with carbs all day is a bad idea for most people, but especially for us athletes who need to make weight to compete. Since your body can only store a limited amount of carbs (glycogen), your body will use glycolysis instead of fat metabolism to burn those extra carbs, even during times of low energy.
Glycolysis produces more harmful free radicals than fat metabolism, and it can even increase inflammation in your body (hint: that’s not good!)
Replacing pro inflammatory foods (sugars and vegetable oils) with anti-inflammatory foods such as grass fed butter or salmon can lead to a noticeable reduction in chronic pain and an improved ability to recover from physical exertion in a shorter time.
While inflammation can be a good thing, and a necessary response to certain bodily ailments at times, too much can weaken your body’s ability to repair itself.
Two Energy Sources to Choose From
One energy system produces few harmful byproducts and can store energy for weeks. However, it takes a while to get that stored energy ready for use.
The other energy system produces harmful byproducts and only stores enough energy for 1 or 2 days. However, it can convert stored energy into usable energy fast.
If we can get our body to use fat metabolism most of the time and glycolysis only when needed, then cutting weight will be much easier and have far fewer side effects!