A Brief Guide into the Essentials of a Cutting Workout Routine

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and…excessive weight. So many things are told, diets created, workouts implemented, and yet, it doesn’t always seem enough. When losing weight, the muscle mass decreases as well, which actually doubts the idea of weight loss in general. If you start exercising vigorously in the gym, you seem to be gaining six-pack abs, yet, they are still under the cover of fatty tissue. Looks like a dead-end? Don’t get desperate, there is a tried-and-tested way of losing annoying fat storage while preserving muscle mass. Wonder how to do it? Follow the cut workout plan, and reap all the benefits of this balanced and wise approach.

What is a cutting workout?

Cutting is one of the muscle-building phases that follows up the bulking (weight-gaining) stage. It is a nutrition-workout plan for cutting that targets excess fat tissue and, unlike the common approaches, helps to preserve muscle mass.

When we think about muscles, it is typically a magazine-like image of a man or a woman, with a pumped-up body. However, the role of muscles goes much deeper – it keeps energy levels high, improves the immune system, and increase the level of metabolism.

Muscles are energy-consuming – when resting, they burn more calories, than fat tissue. Simply saying, you do nothing and keep burning calories, sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? Thus, the preservation and development of muscle mass is the cornerstone of smart and balanced weight loss, which is the main idea of the muscle definition cutting plan.

Is cutting a good idea for losing weight?

Cutting phase workout plan is a good approach for those who are in need of shape-tweaking, but it isn’t a suitable tool against obesity. Typically fat cutting workouts are used by professional bodybuilders or athletes two-three months before the competitions. It can also be used if you have a substantial amount of muscle mass, yet fat tissue keeps all your beauty hidden, or when anticipating important events when you need to be at your finest.

How to understand whether it is a viable approach for you?

1. You are into sports and follow a regular exercising routine.
2. Generally, you are lean, however, some curves seem to be bigger than you want.
3. You have an above-average amount of muscle mass.

With that in mind, it is obvious that a cutting workout plan is a suitable option for experienced and sport-involved people. It is not of the lose-it-quick style approaches to be started the next Monday. If your BMI reaches the “overweight point” and there is no prior preparation, it’s worth planning the strength cut program and the nutrition with the specialists, targeting the fat loss and developing the muscle mass.

What to consider when cutting weight?

The best cutting workout plan is the one that meets your physical characteristics and balances nutrition and exercise load. The core of every weight loss and fat loss routine is the calorie deficit – you need to burn more energy than you consume.

Typically, when getting down to a weight loss routine, we don’t tolerate patience, wanting to reach the results as soon as possible. However, such an unreasonable craving will lead to the opposite results.

Nutrition for cutting

The first aspect to change when on a cutting workout plan is your nutrition, and this part is coined in your kitchen. While reduction of caloric intake is a ‘must’ when cutting, the source of the calories matters as well. There are a few aspects to consider:

1. The number of calories is specific for every person and heavily depends on the weight, height, activity level, gender, and lifestyle of the whole.
2. It is important to keep in mind that fast weight loss is not the best option. According to the studies, a healthy and sustainable weight loss is about 1-2 pounds per week. 1 pound takes 3500 calories to burn, which gives us a 500-1000 calorie deficit per day. If you stay within this limit, the amount of fat will gradually go down, and you will get adjusted to a new ‘eating routine’.
3. To make sure that muscle mass is well-maintained, the need for protein is on average 0.7–0.9 grams of protein per pound of body weight (or 1.6–2 grams per kilogram).
4. Carbs give us energy and fuel for performance. A cutting diet requires 0.9–2.2 g/lb (2–5 g/kg) of carbs intake during the day. Give preference to complex carbs, as they provide you with satiety for several hours, unlike simple carbs, which push you into snacking every half an hour.
5. Limit the intake of fats, but don’t go on a fatless routine, as it is one of the main macros to provide a healthy functioning of your body. It is recommended to go down to 15-20% of fat while cutting. One gram of fat contains 9 calories, thus, a 2000-calorie diet will 33–67 grams of fat on a daily basis.

While macros counting seems to be difficult at the beginning, it is just a matter of habit. What we find the most challenging, is the necessity to eat less than usual. Emotional hunger often wins over your physical needs and slows down the whole progress.