Cutting Weight

Cutting weight is never fun but this time was a little out of the ordinary.  I do A LOT of research on nutrition and weight cutting so that I can do it safely and easily.  I started camp at 193.5 pounds.  I know because I recorded it, along with pictures, to chart my progress.  The real fun came on Thursday, November 20, the day of weigh ins.  My parents have a jacuzzi bathtub and sauna in their house.  Why?  Who knows, they are nuts and I love them.  This is a much better set up than my little apartment to cut weight.  I have done it before but I wanted this time to be easier and less thinking about logistics.  I took the 40 minute drive to Ridgefield and arrived at 8:30 AM day of weigh ins.  I had to leave at 4:00 PM to make it to MSG for weigh ins at 6:00 PM.  I started by filling the tub with hot water, seriously hot water.  I got in and soaked for about 60 minutes, on and off.  I got out and checked my weight- down 2 pounds to 162.5.  Not bad.  Drained a little of the water out and filled it up with hot water again.  While it was filling up I got in the sauna to keep the sweat going.  Its easier than bundling up in sweats and a comforter and just laying down.  I checked the water level after a few minutes but noticed something unsettling.  The water in the tub, and coming out of the hot faucet, was COLD.  The water heater had run out of hot water.  SHIT.  Guess I am only going to hit this mark using the sauna.  Here's the thing. . . I HATE THE SAUNA.  Its miserable.  But I do not miss weight.  To me that is the most dishonorable thing you can do as an amateur, maybe even a professional.  Its the first indication you are not taking this fight seriously.  I digress.

I thought that if I could lose a pound an hour I would be able to just make the weight.  I hit the sauna for 30 minutes, off and on.  I checked my weight- down .2.  Not good, not good at all.  I needed hot water and I needed it fast.  I MacGyvered my own hot water by filling pots with water and boiling them on the stove.  Thankfully we are Italian and have some pretty big pots for Sunday Pasta dinners.  Every 20 minutes I would transfer the boiling water to the tub and start boiling new water on the stove.  I would soak and do the transfer all over again.  It was working, I was ahead of schedule, by about an hour and a half.  Nice, I am the fucking man.

Just because I prefer the hot bath to sauna does not mean it is a cake walk.  It still sucks.  I cool off in between baths by dunking my head under the coldest water from the shower.  I do this after one soak and UH OH the water won't shut off.  Yeah, they shower broke and now the water won't shut off.  So I take about 30 minutes and shut the water off in the house, via various valves, and resume my super awesome fun time of cutting weight.  1.5 hour buffer is down to 1 hour.  I soon realize, SHIT I LEFT MY WALLET AT HOME.  There goes another 40-45 minutes depending on traffic to pick that up.  I really hope it is in the pants I wore yesterday cause I do not have the mental capacity to think about where it could be if not in my black jeans.  Seriously, everything sounds like I am underwater because my body hates what I am putting it through and is shutting down all non essential functions.  Apparently hearing well is non essential.  Thanks body, I'll remember that for the future.

Long story longer, I get on weight (154.5 when I leave my parents' house).  Drive home to get my wallet from my pants (wallets are lazy and pretty much stay where you leave them, thankfully).  Then hit the road to MSG.  I make it in time to fill out some forms with my dehydrated handwriting (which I would love analyzed by an expert someday) and make weight before doing promo pictures with my opponent.  I thanked him for making weight, letting him know how much I appreciated it.  He echoed my feelings on the subject.

Now its time for the fun part!!!  See you FRIDAY!