Cutting: Losing Fat Mass While Maintaining Muscle Mass
"When are you starting to cut?" is probably the most common question of the spring. What exactly is cutting? And how do you do it?
In this article, you'll find 6 serious tips for cutting as efficiently as possible, and you’ll also find links to various cutting plans.
What is Cutting?
Cutting is essentially a goal to lose as much fat as possible while maintaining muscle mass. It's another term for wanting to achieve clearly defined muscles. Being well-trained means your muscles show better, which can only happen if there's less fat between the skin and muscles. Therefore, during cutting, you want to lose fat. What you don’t want is to lose a lot of muscle mass, because then the skin is less taut, and you might look less muscular.
Realism – Building Muscle Mass and Losing Fat is Not Possible
To achieve serious results while cutting, it's important to be realistic. You cannot, except as a beginner with significant overweight, lose fat mass and simultaneously build muscle mass. It is also unrealistic to expect 0% muscle loss during cutting. Losing weight can only happen in a calorie deficit and if your body has to choose between fat or muscle to burn, it prefers to burn muscle since they require over three times as much energy to maintain. Fortunately, there are effective ways to lose as much fat mass as possible instead of muscle mass.
How Do You Achieve a Lean Body?
Now that you know what cutting is and what it is not, let’s look at how to develop a lean body. To show defined muscles, you first need muscle mass. If you've never lifted weights before, try to build about 5 kilos of muscle mass first. Then switch to a calorie-reduced diet, about 250 calories below maintenance, to gradually lose weight. Continue until you are satisfied with the results in the mirror. Below are 6 tips on what you can do in the gym, at home, and in your mind for success.
Also read: how many calories do you burn with weight training?
6 Tips to Cut Seriously
“Eat, sleep, train, repeat”, that's a great text for a T-shirt. Or a nice quote to stick on your bathroom mirror. Essentially, this is exactly what you need to do. Focus on your nutrition, get plenty of sleep, train regularly, and repeat this until you’ve reached your goal.
1. Nutrition – Cutting Starts in the Kitchen
You can stand on your head, but you'll never lose weight without a calorie deficit. This means you need to expend more energy than you consume. Achieve this by either moving more or eating less, or a combination of both. Start with a calorie deficit of about 250 kcal to a maximum of 500 kcal per day. This way, on paper, you lose about 0.5 to 1 kilogram every two weeks. Make sure you get enough protein, at least 1.6 grams per kilo of body weight (if you weigh 80 kg, multiply 80 by 1.6). Proteins provide a feeling of fullness and are essential for your muscle mass. Additionally, eat normal amounts of fats and carbohydrates and focus on low-calorie but nutrient-rich food sources (like vegetables ;)).
Also read: Lose 5 Kilos – 7 Tips for Lasting Weight Loss
2. Focus on Muscle Mass
Train hard and follow muscle growth principles. You need to signal to your muscles that they need to stay. Not training (hard) while consuming fewer calories than you burn? Then your body would much rather burn your muscles instead of your fat stores. Aim for at least 3 serious growth stimuli per week, for the best results. In my opinion, you should train about 45 minutes for muscle growth and top off the session with 15-25 minutes of cardio to burn extra calories. This could be in the form of a circuit or cardio. See further over 100 training plans that are most effective for cutting, based on scientific guidelines.
3. Take Your Time When Cutting
The more weight you lose per week, the more muscle mass you lose. Aim for a maximum of 0.5% weight loss per week to retain as much muscle mass as possible. Suppose you weigh 80 kg and want to lose a total of 5 kg, plan for 12 weeks (0.5% of 80 kg is 400 grams of weight loss per week). Going faster is possible, but then factor in that you'll need to build some extra muscle mass at the end for the best results. No matter what anyone says, you just lose more muscle mass if you lose weight faster, regardless of how much protein you consume.
4. Sleep, Sleep, Sleep!
Research has repeatedly shown that if you don't get enough sleep while losing weight, you lose a higher percentage of muscle mass. Ensure you get at least 7-8 quality hours of sleep every night. On one hand, your body burns muscle mass more slowly, and on the other, you're better equipped to handle all the hormones that make you want to eat (read this article for more information). So, cutting also happens in bed. A bonus: your muscles recover better and you have less time to consume extra calories!
Also read: Losing Belly Fat After 50, How Do You Do It?
5. Know When to Tighten Up
You can track your calories or eat less based on feeling. Both methods can work well. When do you adjust your nutrition strategy or training plan during cutting? A healthy cutting guideline is to lose 0.5% of your weight per week. Less is also fine, if you're comfortable with that. I follow this rule to cut another 250 kcal from my daily nutrition plan: if I fail to lose 0.5% of my weight for three consecutive weeks, then I adjust my nutrition plan and slightly increase the number of cardio calories. There might be a week when you don’t meet your goal, and that’s okay. Three in a row, however, is my signal to tighten up. Where you draw the line is up to you.
6. Choose a Realistic Goal
You now know that you can't build muscle mass and lose fat mass at the same time. You also know that the faster you lose weight, the more muscle mass you lose. This article advocates the beautiful goal of 0.5% weight loss per week. Calculate how long it will take you to reach your goal. The more realistic you are, the easier cutting will be for you.
What Does a Cutting Plan Look Like?
I’ve already hinted at what an effective cutting plan looks like. The science is pretty clear. Focus especially on muscle mass principles in your training plan. In other words, train as if you want to build muscle. This gives your muscles a clear signal to stay with you. If you want to speed up weight loss, or eat more, it’s smart to add some extra cardio work or energy-draining circuits. Train at least 3 days a week for the best results.
100+ Customized Cutting Plans
Not sure how to write such a plan? Here’s a strong cutting plan we've posted online. In our app, you’ll find over 150 training plans for muscle growth and an additional 100 plans focused on cutting (muscle mass training supplemented with extra calorie burning). All programs are scientifically validated, because we take that seriously. Regardless of your level and training focus, we have customized plans ready for you. Of course, you can try the app for 7 days without obligation. Let’s get serious!
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