You won’t find too many people saying that they are enjoying the cutting cycle, however, a lot of people still do it because it is a crucial process if you plan on getting shredded and ripped.
Cutting is for those who plan to burn excess fat while maintaining muscle mass. By doing so, you aim to achieve a lean and muscular physique. But to do it, you need to consume fewer calories (food) and be more active to create a calorie deficit. This way, you manage to lose weight via excess fat. That’s why it is a real challenge. You need to eat less than you previously did while increasing the cardio exercises. This can lead to loss of strength, endurance, stamina, and energy levels.
However, lots of people are making lots of mistakes in cutting cycles, leading to loss of muscles while burning fat, making it harder to achieve that chiseled look. While it is normal to lose some muscle mass in a cutting cycle, the goal of a cut is to burn as much fat while preserving as much muscle as possible.
What do you need to properly cut?
So, we all know that in order to lose weight, you need to eat less. But a correct cutting cycle where you’re losing weight predominantly in the form of fat, without losing (much) muscle, strength, energy, and endurance while also doing it all healthy may not be quite as simple.
So, indeed, you should lower your calories (the amount of food you eat), but you must keep it just below your maintenance calories. 10-20% under maintenance (usually, around 500 calories per day for most people). If you create a bigger deficit, it is unhealthy as you’re depriving your body of vital nutrients and it is not sustainable. Creating less of a deficit will not really bring you results.
Not only do you need to have the correct amount of calories, but you also need to make sure you have a proper macronutrient balance. Pretty sure you’ve heard about macros before. The main macros we’re talking about include:
- Protein
- Fat
- Carbohydrates
The amount of calorie deficit you create will dictate how much weight you lose. But the macronutrient balance will dictate what weight type you lose – fat or muscle. So, the amount of calories that you eat should come from a proper amount of fats, carbs, and proteins.
You will need lots of protein to support muscle preservation (and growth), enough carbs (to support energy and muscle working), as well as enough healthy fats to stay healthy.
Based on this, you need to make sure you pay attention to what you eat, and how much you eat. In addition to that, it is quite obvious that you should work out regularly and intensively. You do need to do lots of strength training, while also increasing the cardio exercises.
Tips For Cutting To Preserve Muscle
Increase your water intake
During a cutting, you try to reduce water retention to reveal that shredded and lean appearance. It may sound counterintuitive but water is actually helping you to… reduce water retention. Not only that, but we can confuse being hungry with being thirsty. Studies prove that water can help prevent hunger pangs and eat less by drinking enough water. The study proved that those who drink water before they eat tend to eat less. Moreover, staying hydrated helps you increase energy levels, allowing you to work out for longer and more intensively, leading to better results, growing muscle, and burning more fat. Generally, I guess there’s no need to mention how important water is to stay healthy.
Prepare your own food
Food prep is something extremely popular among bodybuilders and there’s just one very simple reason for that – it actually helps. Food prep will help you a lot in achieving your cutting cycle goals. Preparing your own food is going to be great at allowing you to have complete control of what goes into your food, and how much food. You don’t have to be a culinary genius. Moreover, you can always learn something you never did before. In fact, to achieve a body you never had before, you need to start doing things you never did before. And prepping your food might be one of them. Be diligent when cutting and keep track of what you’re consuming. Food prep also helps you save time.
Don’t freak out if you cheat
Maintaining the caloric deficit is necessary if you plan to burn fat and lose weight during a cutting cycle. However, after cutting for a while, the hunger can kick in too hard. Without even realizing it, you may have noticed that you’ve dived head-first into a huge pizza. What you need to understand is that this, in one way or another, is normal. From this point on, you shouldn’t freak out because if you do, it may turn into a binge fest. Do not turn your once-in-a-while-weakness into a bulking cycle. Get over it and focus on the task. Think of it as a “reward” for cutting after a while. Make sure you don’t cheat too often though.
Use cardio to max your caloric deficit
During a cutting cycle, the diet alone can put you at a calorie deficit. In fact, it should be. However, in order to maximize your results, you can put some cardio into the mix. This is going to create an even bigger deficit, leading to even more fat loss. It also helps compensate for the days you were cheating. Moreover, cardio can help you eat less. Are you feeling hungry? Studies show that exercising can help you reduce the hunger pangs so the next time you want to eat, do some cardio first.
Lift heavy
Although it is a long-known fact, there are still some people who think that they do not need to lift weights when aiming to cut fat. Cardio alone won’t help you reach that lean, ripped, and shredded physique. Lifting heavy during a cutting cycle can help. Not only does lifting heavy help you preserve lean muscle mass and possibly grow even more, but it is also highly efficient at burning fat. Heavy weight, low to moderate repetition exercises will build lean muscle and increase your metabolism (leading to higher calorie expenditure). The more lean muscle mass you increase during cutting, the more fat you burn, and the leaner you look.
Avoid sugary foods and drinks
While you can have sugar from fruits, that’s pretty much the only sugar you should have (both in a cutting cycle and to stay healthy). However, you need to dodge refined processed carbs, fat, sugary drinks, and foodstuffs at all costs. Sugar is quick-release energy that you do not burn immediately, and it is very easy to store as fat. You know that you must avoid sugar to burn fat and lose weight. And you may already know that sugar is bad for you and your health. For a cutting cycle, you should avoid it all. Have a sugar-free diet with lots of foods that are rich in protein and fiber.
Drink coffee (black, sugarless, in moderation)
Caffeine can help increase energy, alertness, and concentration, and lift our moods. Little you may know that coffee also has some appetite-suppressant qualities. For all these reasons, coffee is present in almost all weight loss diets. You can take supplements containing caffeine in case you don’t really love the taste. But most people fall in love with black sugarless coffee after getting used to it. However, it is important to make sure you don’t add any type of milk (it adds extra calories that you should avoid), and don’t add any sugar (for obvious reasons). In fact, adding sugar will work the other way around and add on fat as well as have appetite-increasing effects. Moreover, disregard this tip if you have any heart issues or some other health issues contraindicating caffeine.
Use less cooking oil
It may seem minor, but it all adds up. Cutting is a delicate game, and details make a huge difference. Cooking oils are full of trans fats and if you’re pouring them liberally in your meals, you may add lots of calories without even knowing it. Even if you use “healthy” cooking oils such as avocado or olive oils, they are still adding lots of fats and calories. Make sure you’re not overdoing it. Needless to mention whenever you do use cooking oil, you should use healthy alternatives. These are pure fats. While you still need fats, you need healthy fats.
Keep your protein and fiber intake high
Protein is your best “friend” when you’re cutting. You do need carbs to keep energy levels high and refill muscle glycogen, but cutting mostly means that you’re cutting carbohydrates from your diet. Eating protein-rich foods is vital to help you preserve lean muscle mass and possibly grow more (our muscles are predominantly made of protein), as well as to keep your metabolism running high. Moreover, protein is the macronutrient that is least likely to be stored as fat, and it is the macro that helps you keep you fuller for longer. That’s why you may eat fewer calories when you eat protein-rich foods. Moreover, fiber is crucial too. It helps you burn fat and keeps you full for longer. It’s also important for your digestive tract. That’s part of the reason you should make sure you get a lot of vegetables in your diet.
Face hunger head-on
Burning fat means that you should be hungry. Hunger is something that you can’t avoid during a cutting cycle. That’s part of the reason why the fat loss journey is so challenging. At some point when cutting, you are likely to find yourself feeling crazy hungry. If you want to be lean and shredded, you need to be strong. You must keep your eyes on the prize, focus on your end goal, and find something that motivates you. Cutting means that you work hard in the gym and that you work hard in the kitchen. However, you also need to work hard mentally. You must build your discipline, similar to how you can build muscle. It takes practice! Don’t give up too soon!
Use SARMs
There are lots of SARMs such as Ostarine (MK-2866) or Testolone (RAD-140) that can help you cut fat quickly and build lean muscle mass. These are popular compounds that have been proven by lots of studies and lots of people to be extremely efficient when it comes to giving you the extra help you need to achieve your bodybuilding goals.
It is important, however, to know that SARMs are often faked. Many sources are doing it for their monetary profit. However, SARMS.to is here to help you with that. SARMS.to provides the best quality SARMs on the market for the best possible prices. You can save money and get the best products, without worrying about their legitimacy or purity. Using SARMs will greatly help your cutting cycle. It is important to understand that cutting is not an easy task. But with SARMS.to, your cutting goals can be significantly closer. An Ostarine (MK-2866) with Cardarine (GW-501516) stack is extremely popular for cutting purposes. This stack is fast acting, great at burning fat, boosting your energy levels, and preserving lean muscle mass. Follow these tips for cutting while adding these SARMs, and you’re going to be ripped in no time!
