A cutting diet is a strategic approach to fat loss, primarily employed by bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts aiming to reduce body fat while preserving muscle mass. This involves calculating your calorie, protein, fat, and carb needs to reduce body fat and maintain muscle mass. Typically started a few months before a major workout plan, it involves a weight loss diet that’s meant to maintain as much muscle as possible.
Understanding the Cutting Diet
The cutting diet differs from typical weight loss diets due to its focus on individual needs, higher protein and carb intake, and the incorporation of regular weightlifting. It's usually timed around bodybuilding competitions, athletic events, or occasions like holidays, with a duration of 2-4 months depending on your leanness before dieting.
Key Principles of a Cutting Diet
Calorie Intake Calculation
Fat loss occurs when you consistently eat fewer calories than you burn. You can estimate the number of calories you need to consume daily to maintain your weight using an online calorie calculator. To lose 1 pound (lb) or 0.45 kilograms (kg) per week, simply subtract 500 calories from this number. A slow, even rate of weight loss - such as 1 lb (0.45 kg) or 0.5-1% of your body weight per week - is best for a cutting diet.
Protein Intake
Maintaining adequate protein intake is important in a cutting diet. Most research suggests that 1-1.4 grams (g) of protein per lb of body weight (2.2-3.0 g/kg) is sufficient for conserving muscle mass on a cutting diet. For example, a 155 lb (70 kg) person should eat 150-210 grams of protein daily.
Fat Intake
Experts suggest that, on this diet, 20-30% of your calories should come from fat. One gram of fat contains 9 calories, so anyone on a 2,000-calorie regimen should eat 44-67 g of fat per day on a cutting diet.
Read also: The Reverse Diet Guide
Carb Intake
On a cutting diet, carbs should comprise the remaining calories after you subtract protein and fat, or around 0.9-2.2 g/lb (2-5 g/kg) of body weight. Protein and carbs both provide 4 calories per g, while fat stands at 9 calories per g. After subtracting your protein and fat needs from your total calorie intake, divide the remaining number by 4, telling you how many carbs you can eat daily. For example, a 155 lb (70 kg) person on a 2,000-calorie cutting diet may eat 150 g of protein and 60 g of fat. The remaining 860 calories (215 g) can be taken up by carbs.
Meal Timing
Instead, you should focus on eating whole foods and getting enough calories, protein, carbs, and fat throughout the day.
Cheat Meals or Refeed Days
Cheat meals or refeed days are commonly incorporated into cutting diets. On the other hand, bodybuilding is linked with an increased risk of muscle dysmorphia and disordered eating patterns.
Additional Tips
Here are some helpful tips to keep your goals on track on a cutting diet:
- Choose more fiber-rich foods: Fiber-rich carb sources like non-starchy vegetables tend to contain more nutrients and can help you stay fuller for longer while on a calorie deficit.
- Drink plenty of water: Staying hydrated may help curb your appetite and temporarily speed up your metabolism.
- Try meal prepping: Preparing meals ahead of schedule can help save time, keep you on track with your diet, and avoid the temptation of high calorie convenience foods.
- Avoid liquid carbs: Sports drinks, soft drinks, and other sugar-rich beverages lack micronutrients, may increase your appetite, and aren’t as filling as fiber-rich, whole foods.
- Consider cardio: Aerobic exercise - especially high intensity cardio - may further your fat loss when used alongside weightlifting.
Workout Plans for Cutting
Cutting workouts involve high reps with a moderate amount of weight to build and keep muscle.
Read also: The Truth About Cutting Supplements
Here are three examples of full body strength training workouts you can do on a cut that will help burn calories and build muscle.
Cutting Workout 1
- Plank - 2 sets of 30-45 seconds
Cutting Workout 2
- V-ups - 2 sets of 12 reps
Cutting Workout 3
- Example LISS: 30-60 minute treadmill fast walk - incline moderate, aiming for 60-75% max heart rate.
- Example HIIT: 1 min run (60-70% max Heart rate) followed by 20-second sprint (90-95% max heart rate) - repeated 10 times.
Bulking vs. Cutting
Bulking is a timeframe when someone works on muscle growth while trying to limit fat gains. Meanwhile, cutting is when someone keeps their muscle mass but tries to lose weight (specifically their body fat). Bulking exercises should involve moderately heavy weight for fewer reps (for strength) and moderate weight for more reps (for muscle).
Addressing the "Skinny Fat" Issue
“Skinny fat” is when you’re both under-muscled and overfat, giving you a normal BMI but a poor body composition. The best way to get rid of skinny fatness is to improve your nutrient partitioning. You need body recomposition. There are a few methods that can help with that: following a good workout program, eating a good diet, living a good lifestyle, and getting enough good sleep.
Understanding Muscle Fibers
Once you’ve added these nuclei to your muscle fibres, you’ll be “naturally” more muscular for the rest of your life. If you stop working out, your muscles will still deflate, but they probably won’t ever shrink as small as they were before.
Understanding Fat Cells
Most skinny-fat guys haven’t gained extra fat cells. You probably have the same number of fat cells you’ve always had. Those fat cells are just inflated with energy. That won’t reduce your ability to get and stay leaner. In fact, it helps.
Read also: Cutting Diet Guide
Here’s the takeaway: If you cut, stop before the cut gets too difficult.
Choosing Your Approach
Skinny fat guys have a choice. You also have a third option. You’re neither underweight nor overweight. Your weight isn’t a problem, so it doesn’t need to change.
- Lean bulk: you could start by slowly gaining weight and building muscle as leanly as possible. This works best for the skinny-fat guys who are skinnier than they are fat.
- Recomp: you could start by improving the quality of your diet, letting your appetite guide you. Your weight may not change very much. It may not change at all.
- Cutting: you could start by getting into a calorie deficit, losing weight, and focusing on burning fat. This works best for skinny-fat guys who are bordering on being overweight.
Cardio and Nutrient Partitioning
Cardio isn’t as powerful as lifting weights, but it can make for a very easy first step. The most powerful way to improve nutrient partitioning is to follow a rigorous hypertrophy training program-a workout program designed specifically to stimulate muscle growth.
Hypertrophy Training
Hypertrophy training stimulates muscle growth, but to actually build that muscle, you need to eat enough calories and protein. It also helps to eat foods that reduce visceral fat storage.
Focus on compound exercises. Add isolation exercises for the muscles you’re eager to grow. Start with 3 full-body workouts per week. Do around 6-20 reps per set. Bring your sets within a rep or two of failure. It’s crucial to challenge your muscles. Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets. Shorter rest periods can make it harder to get enough good reps in. Add weight or reps every workout. Fight to grow stronger, adding weight or squeezing out more repetitions whenever you’re able to.
Diet and Nutrition
Protein gives your body the building blocks it needs to build muscle. If we look at every study, it seems that 0.7-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day is enough to maximize your rate of muscle growth (meta-analysis).
Carbs are fantastic for building muscle leanly. That may seem like a controversial take, especially since keto and low-carb diets are popular right now. Carbs for muscle growth: guys tend to build muscle faster and more leanly when they get 40-60% of their calories from carbohydrates.
You can maximize your rate of muscle growth, fat loss, and performance with as little as 20-30% of your calories coming from dietary fat.
A balanced bulking meal contains protein, healthy fats, nutritious carbs, fibre, and a wide variety of micronutrients. If that sounds complicated, don’t worry: most traditional meals are quite balanced. A balanced diet is made up of a few balanced meals per day. To start, try to eat at least 3 balanced meals per day.
Sample Meal Plan for Cutting
Adapted from The Bodybuilder’s Kitchen, by Erin Stern
Expect 2-5 lbs. High in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.
- 8 oz. Tuna sandwich made with 6-oz. can tuna (in spring water), 2 slices whole-wheat bread, 1 Tbsp.
- Chicken salad made with 8 oz. chicken breast, 2 Tbsp.
- 1 medium bagel with 2 tbsp.
- 6 oz.
- 6 oz.
- 8 oz.
- 8 oz.
- 6 oz.
- 1 Tbsp.
- 6 oz.
- 6 oz.
- 16-oz. can tuna (in spring water) made with 1 Tbsp.
- 8 oz.
- 8 oz.
- 7 oz. Broiled cod with charred tomatillo salsa, spiced sweet potatoes, and roasted beefsteak tomatoes.