It’s that time to finally lose that weight, shed the fat, and eat some delicious bland
chicken, broccoli and kale for the next six months.
In this video, we’re going to talk about the curious case of cutting and when and how
to do it.
Hello, my name is PictureFit and I make health and fitness videos to help you with your gluteus
gains.
And one thing I learned through all my years of making videos is that sometimes it’s
good to revisit previous topics to provide new information, add clarity, and most importantly,
use the latest lingo of the current generation so I can stay relevant.
That said, no cap, let’s jelly spread and toast some yams.
Bet.
Cutting, in its simplest term, is a nutrition strategy specifically designed for losing
weight.
In fitness, cutting is often paired in a repeating fashion with bulking, the strategy of gaining
weight, in order to build muscle and shed fat over time.
Shedding fat is primarily if not completely achieved during cutting phases.
Building muscle is primarily achieved with the bulking, although muscle growth is still
possible during a cut.
But, outside of this cut-bulk strategy, cutting and losing weight in general is probably more
commonly recognized as the most pursued fitness goal.
Now, when people think about losing weight, they usually think about the countless diets
out there, like keto, fasting, macros, full vegan, all meat, toasted yams, and so on.
As complex and fancy some of these diets might sound, all weight loss diets essentially operate
through the primary objective of cutting, and that boils down to the annoying word we
all know and love called calories.
Research has consistently shown that losing weight comes down to expending, or burning,
more calories than you consume over a period of time.
This creates an energy deficit, where your body will metabolize your energy reserves,
like bodyfat, to sustain function.
Ideally, the goal is to tap specifically into your fat reserves so you can shed more and
more fat.
Ideally, more on that later.
So, with cutting, the big picture is managing calories, but of course, there’s a lot of
other details to consider.
One of which is knowing WHEN to actually cut.
Before thinking about when, you first gotta ask yourself: Is cutting what you really wanna
do?
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed in my years in the fitness industry is that people
often think their weight and fat are their biggest problems.
This thinking often coincides with the common misconception that losing weight will make
you look more “toned,” defined, or more fit.
Although shedding fat is part of producing a more “toned,” whatever that means, or
defined muscle aesthetic, it wouldn’t work very well if you don’t have the actual muscle.
Worse yet, as mentioned earlier, although ideally, we want to lose specifically fat
during a cut, if a cut is done carelessly, you can also risk losing a good amount of
muscle.
If you currently weigh about average for your height and sex, chances are that cutting is
not the best option, especially if you’re a beginner.
Instead, a slight bulk or something known as body recomp are likely better options.
Both can help you build muscle and achieve the defined aesthetic you’re looking for,
and maybe even do so without ever losing a single pound.
I’ll have links to videos about both in the description so please check those videos
out if you think they’re better suited for you.
Another case against cutting is for younger folks, especially the ones that are smack
dab in the middle of puberty.
I am of the opinion that, barring any health-related concerns, one should…
NOT attempt to cut at this very important stretch of their lives.
Instead, it’s better to take proper advantage of this small window, and believe me it’s
a small window, of your naturally elevated growth hormones by consistently exercising
and getting enough nutrients.
Save the cut for when you’re older.
Moving on, if you are certain about cutting, then let’s quickly talk about the most opportunistic
times to do it.
When to cut will first largely depend on your end-goal, but the decision can be supported
using certain measurements.
In my opinion, the “standard” measurement for this is your bodyfat percentage.
If you have a high bodyfat percentage, like higher than 22 and 28 percent bodyfat for
males and females respectively, then cutting can be a good option.
Now, this isn’t a hard cap, you can definitely start at lower bodyfat percentages.
Just know that the less bodyfat you have, the higher the risk you will be for losing
lean mass, like muscle.
Additionally, a very very low bodyfat percentage, like below 10% for males and 12% for females,
can be extremely difficult to sustain in a reasonable and healthy manner.
I recommend stopping your cuts a few percentages shy of these numbers unless there is a specific
reason you need to be lower, like for a sport or competition.
But frankly, if that was the case, you should already know what you’re doing and not watching
this video.
You can also cut your cut earlier if, again, your end-goal does not require very low bodyfat,
like weight-specific goals or if you prefer an aesthetic with slightly higher bodyfat.
If you don’t have the tools to measure bodyfat, a slightly decent alternative would be body
mass index, or BMI.
It’s not perfect by any means, but it does account for both your height and weight.
Using the listed BMI categories, a good time to cut is if you’re above or at the upper
end of the “normal” range.
You can also just rely on the weight scale if you’re simply trying to reach a certain
weight, but do keep your goals realistic.
I would caution against using the mirror as a measurement tool.
Remember, the lack of muscle definition might be a muscle issue more than a fat issue, which
for beginners is not always clear when looking at the mirror.
Skip the mirror and spend more time attuning to the other aforementioned measurements.
Finally, if you are ready to start your cut, let’s get right into how you can achieve
it.
*HOW TO TRANSITION* First, I wanna quickly address exercise.
Although nutrition is the primary focus of cutting, exercise is extremely important,
especially in fending off muscle loss or even stimulating growth.
The exercise strategy during a cut is not much different from exercising at any other
point.
To quickly echo what we know in the current science, you want to train about 3 to 5 times
a week, target each muscle group 2 times a week, aim for roughly 2 to 4 sets of 6 to
12 reps for each exercise, prioritize compound exercises, take each set close to failure
with occasionally reaching failure, and try to progress your numbers over time.
I’ll leave a video link on exercise progression below if you need more help.
And now, let us talk about the primary goal of cutting, and that is to be in an energy
deficit by, again, consuming fewer calories than you burn.
“Fewer calories” will vary for each person.
To figure it out, we’ll start with using a calorie calculator, which will also be linked
in the description.
Punch in your information into the calculator and you’ll get your estimated maintenance
calories, or the estimated number of daily calories you need to eat to maintain your
current weight.
Of course, since we want to lose weight, we want to eat less than this.
Now, you can immediately start eating fewer calories than this given estimate, but I highly
suggest you further refine this estimated maintenance by first eating at this estimate
for 2 to 4 weeks.
To figure out the calories in your food, you can use one of the many calorie-counting apps
available.
After the four weeks, if you lost or gained considerable weight, like 2 pounds or more,
then you gotta adjust your estimate.
What we know is that 1 pound of weight is simplified to roughly 3500 calories.
So, for someone that gained 2 pounds after four weeks, they ate roughly 7000 calories
more than they burned, or about 250 calories more each day.
If their initial estimated maintenance was 2,250, then their refined estimate is 2,000
calories.
Same applies the other way around.
LOSING 2 pounds in four weeks means you ate roughly 250 calories fewer each day.
Do the math for your estimate and adjust accordingly.
Quick disclaimer: weight fluctuations beyond two pounds is not always attributed to calorie
intake, especially for natural weight-changing circumstances like the natural cycle of the
female sex.
If you feel that your weight change was caused by something other than calories, it’s probably
best to continue eating at the estimated maintenance until you feel more certain.
With our newly refined maintenance, let’s now cut that number down.
There are many ways to determine the number of calories to cut, but to keep things simple,
I’ll discuss two popular methods: One is just reducing your calories by a fixed
amount.
I recommend a daily deficit between 250 and 500 calories, which should yield roughly a
half to one pound of weight loss per week.
This moderate deficit has multiple benefits, like struggling less with hunger, feeling
less lethargic, and risking less muscle loss compared to bigger deficits.
Cutting 250 to 500 calories a day, for most people, is a simple, no-frills approach.
But if you want to consider bigger deficits, which does have its place, then you might
want to use the more relative approach developed by the highly regarded fitness expert Greg
Nuckols.
Greg’s approach allows for a more intuitive and wider deficit range by taking your bodyfat
and bodyweight into consideration.
On his website, Stronger by Science, Greg recommends the simple formula of bodyfat percentage
divided by 20.
For example, if someone has 20% bodyfat, dividing that by 20 equals 1.
That means the goal is to lose 1% of bodyweight per week.
If that person weighs 200 pounds, that means losing 2 pounds per week, equating to a 1000-calorie
deficit per day.
Check out the link in the description to the entire article if you need more details as
well as understanding Greg’s rationale for his approach.
Whichever of the two methods you end up choosing, you will start cutting down your weight and
fat as long as you are consistent.
Very very important.
Fortunately, the following tips will help you with being consistent and achieve a more
effective cut.
First tip is to make sure you recalculate your maintenance on a regular basis.
As your weight changes, so will your maintenance calories and deficit rates.
Recalculating every two months or so will help you with any plateaus you might encounter.
The next tip, which is more of a requirement, is to GET YOUR PROTEIN.
High protein intake will be beneficial for muscle growth and preservation as well as
managing hunger thanks to protein’s satiating effects.
To keep things simple, try to get around 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight
per day, or about 0.8 grams per pound.
More or less is fine but do try to stay as close to this as possible.
Tip three is to add cardio wherever possible.
In my opinion, it’s always better to burn more than to eat less to create a deficit.
As you know, cardio can burn a lot of calories, which helps raise your maintenance and can
allow you to eat more.
This final tip might be surprising for some of you to hear but it’s probably the most
important in terms of being consistent.
And that is to try out those different types of diets.
One of the biggest issues observed in weight loss research is dietary adherence, or the
ability to stick with a given diet.
No single diet has shown to be superior in adherence than others, and the only thing
that improved adherence was preference.
Choosing a diet you actually like.
To do so, you gotta, of course, first try them out.
By trying different diets, you might find that you love keto and hate intermittent fasting,
or you might even love a combination of both.
One friend of yours might find out that they love vegan food while your other friend is
practically hunting his meal right now with a spear and Google Maps.
Find out what works for you.
I will just caution to avoid any “extreme” diets, especially ones promoted by influencers
that aren’t exactly telling the whole story.
Just remember, that whatever diet plan you end up choosing, your goal will always be
to stay on top of that pesky, annoying, and effective energy deficit.
Do that and you should be good to go.
Just don’t forget your protein.
And that wraps up cutting.
Now there are many other tips and tricks for cutting and weight loss, like cheat meals,
macros, and so on, so I’ll leave a few more useful video links in the description below
along with links to everything else we discussed in this video.
You can also join our PictureFit Community discord to get help from the wonderful folks
there.
I wish you all the best in your cutting endeavors.
Other than that, If you enjoyed this video and found it useful,
please give it a fatty thumbs up and share it with your toned muscle loving friends.
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As always, thank you for watching and don’t forget to get your PROTEIN!