Quote Originally Posted by BoulderDawg View Post
Any diet that you are on to lose weight will sap your strenght to a certain degree.
this is true. However, power may or may not be lost.

The fact of the matter is your body is not getting enough nurishment and goes off looking for fuel elsewhere.
kinda... the loss of strength is most likely due to earlier onset of muscular fatigue, as the body is taking in less calories and doing the same work, trying to maintain the same muscle mass. It's not particularly important that the body is looking for fuel elsewhere.

This is how we lose weight and why we gain back so quickly went we go off our diet. The body is dumb and says to itself "Ha! There's more food than I have been getting. Let's store some as fat!"
when you lose weight - particularly if you have a BIG calorie deficit - the body says "holy sh!t, I'm starving," and goes into a hibernation mode. fat cells split, muscle is dropped, as it takes more calories to sustain, and the metabolism slows down. This alone can cause weight gain, which is why you have people who go on a diet and end up gaining weight. Once your food intake picks back up, human nature may dictate that you are eating more than you used to, in addition, your fat cells have split and your metabolism is still temporarily slower. This would lead to extra weight gain.

On a good diet you should not notice this energy loss to any degree. However on something where you need max energy(Such as a long run) you can really tell it. If you need to lose weight for an event (Such as a marathon or fight) it's best to do it early and get to a point of mantainance at least 3 months prior to the event.

I've heard countless stories of boxers losing hugh amounts of weight and then getting into the ring and folding up like a kite. Of course the results would have been the same had they not lost the weight at all.
Why would you think the results would've been the same?