Fight doc Jonathan Gelber presents some easy to digest facts and figures to help you tip the scales in your favor next time you're tasked with making weight

Cutting weight is a serious issue all fighters face. Some fighters seem to have no problem making weight, while others struggle. Weigh-ins can be daunting, and many fighters dehydrate themselves to the point of needing intravenous fluids.

However, these drastic weight cuts can lead to a sub-optimal performance when the actual fight begins. In order to ensure you make weight and enter the competition in peak condition, it's best to undergo a gradual, calculated weight loss.

Everyone knows the key to losing weight is diet and exercise. In this case, decreasing caloric intake and increasing the intensity or duration of training are the variables manipulated in a controlled fashion to produce the desired results.

The first number to calculate is how many calories are needed to ‘maintain’ an ideal body weight. Keep in mind that many professional organizations recommend an athlete maintain at least 5% of body fat to remain healthy. Studies have shown that if you take your body weight and multiply it by 17, you can estimate the amount of calories required to maintain your weight. 

For example, a 180lb man, by multiples of 17, requires 3,060. This is the daily calorie amount required to maintain that size frame. If caloric intake falls below that, then the athlete will likely start to lose weight – if he maintains the same exercise regimen.

In order to decrease body weight, daily caloric intake can be lowered by 250–500 calories. By decreasing how many calories you consume and increasing your workout level, you should be able to safely lose one to two pounds per week and still continue to perform at a high level. Again, the key is to gradually lose the weight over a standardized period of time. In general, people should not consume less than 1,500 calories per day.

The calories you consume generally fall under one of three categories: carbohydrate, protein and fat. Carbohydrates are the easiest energy stores for your body to break down. They are usually related to sugars, but not necessarily the sugar that you think of in candy. There are many complex types of sugars, including pasta, potatoes, whole-wheat bread and fruit. Carbohydrates should represent about 60% of your total caloric intake. 

Proteins are the building blocks of muscles and all other parts of the body. Most athletes should consume around 1–1.5 g of protein per 2.2lb of body weight. Fats are energy storehouses, but they take a lot of effort to break down, which is why your body prefers to break down carbohydrates when it feels that it is ‘starving’ due to a fats or rapid, non-controlled weight loss. In general, fats should be 25–30% of your total caloric intake. Mono-unsaturated fats are considered healthier fats and they can be found in fish and olive oil. 

Other methods of weight loss can prove detrimental to a fighter's health and performance. The first of these unhealthy weight-cutting practices is starvation or fasting. When you fast, your body begins to break down its stored energy for use. The first things the body begins to break down are carbohydrates and components of muscle mass, not fat. 

It is harder for the body to break fat down, so it waits until its other storages are exhausted first. In addition, as your body starves, it begins to see any new food, and specifically fat, as potential energy stores and will become more efficient at storing fat for later use. On the other hand, a slow, gradual weight loss will lead the body to preferentially lose fat mass and not lean muscle mass. The body is not panicking when it is not starving and will be more comfortable letting its fat stores go.

Another unhealthy method of weight loss is the use of diet pills or laxatives. Many diet pills contain substances that supposedly increase your body’s metabolism. But in reality the real effects your body will feel are increased heart rate and/or high blood pressure, possibly to dangerous levels. In addition, laxatives can lead to dehydration from excessive water loss as well as not allowing the body to absorb the nutrients it needs before the food is pushed through the body. In addition, some diet pills and laxatives contain ingredients banned by national and international sports organizations. 

Dehydration is a result of more fluid being lost than being replenished. By not consuming liquids and sweating out water, fighters will lose weight quickly, but this is a dangerous practice.

Dehydration may lead to electrolyte imbalances that can have serious health consequences. An easy way to tell if you are adequately hydrated is to do the ‘urine test.’ If your urine is dark or brownish-looking, you are dehydrated. If your urine is clear, it means you are likely adequately hydrated.

Dehydration can lead to decreased muscle strength, decreased endurance, decreased blood flow, and loss of combat reflexes.

Signs of dehydration can include rapid heart rate, weakness, excessive fatigue and dizziness. Dehydration can even affect organs, leading to muscle breakdown, kidney failure and even death. It is important to recognize the signs of dehydration before it reaches such drastic levels.

Pro tip: To determine how much water you lose when you sweat, weigh yourself (with little or no clothing) before and after one hour of hard exercise with no fluid intake. The change in body weight reflects sweat loss.

A 1lb drop in weight equates to loss of 16oz of sweat – that's one pint.

A 2lb drop equates to 32oz — that’s one quart.

Drink accordingly during your workouts to prevent that loss.

STAT ATTACK

95% - You don’t have to constantly drink to rehydrate. Foods like tomato (95%), lettuce (96%) and even broccoli (89%) boast huge water content.

45lb - Mike Dolce was credited for helping ‘Rampage’ Jackson safely drop 45lb in just eight weeks to face Rashad Evans at UFC 114 in May 2010. But Rashad won the fight.