When do you start cutting weight and how do you cut weight ?

This is a follow up to my gaining mass article. If you haven’t read the article just go back and read it. 

Unless you already thinking of cutting weight.

Ok. Let’s start. It’s been 6-18 months. You’re big and you did it the long and natural way.

You have put on 20-40lbs on your skinny frame. You used to wear S now you’re wearing L.

It feels good but now you want to uncover what is below this layer of fat that came with the territory.

You’re scared and concerned. You don’t want to go back to being skinny. 

You don’t want to lose all this size you spent so much time building.

You think to yourself that perhaps you should put on an extra 10lbs. You’re indecisive and it is completely normal.

First of all before you do anything you have to remember what was your goal to begin with. 

You also need to gauge how much body fat you think you have to lose but this is not an exact science.

Don’t make the mistakes of evaluating other people’s before and after pictures. 

This can drive you nuts and it’s not really a good way to evaluate how much you actually need to lose.

You also need to know how lean you want to be. If you want to reach a level of leanness where veins and striations are almost popping. You will need to lose a lot of weight.

You need to understand one thing. It is not that easy for most people to look jacked. 

It is rare to be able to look big and very lean at the same time.

Don’t get me wrong. You will look bigger and better then when you started but it might not be as big as you thought it would be.

You might need to lose anywhere between 10-25lbs to reach a decent leanness level of 10-15 %body fat which is really good.

Don’t forget that when you do cut weight you will deplete your muscle of water and glycogen. 

When you are done cutting and get back to eating “normally” at maintenance.

 You will easily put on 5-10lbs back on. Which is where your muscles will have this full look.

You have to keep this in mind and look forward to this moment. All in all you need to see for yourself and see if your body has reached a time when you need to cut.

If you have been putting on size for 6-18months relatively consistently and you are 20-45lbs heavier then it might be a good time to start cutting.

 

When you start cutting you want to be as patient as you were when you started to put on mass.

Don’t go crazy and cut 1000 calories in the first week of cutting. Nope. Take it easy.

Reduce your calories by 100-150 per week . If your weight has decreased. Keep on eating as much. If you weight has stalled, reduce by another 100 calories and rinse and repeat every week.

You want to be lifting heavy as well. You won’t be able to lift as much during a calorie restriction but you need to try your best to give a reason for your muscles to stay.

You can add cardio progressively. Don’t start restricting your calories and start doing muay thai every other day.

You should start doing a little cardio and see if it helps you lose weight. Ideally you want increase your cardio or decrease your calories or both if you don’t lose weight.

However you should not be losing more than about 1lbs per week. You need to find the right balance and tweak your cardio and diet to reach your goals.

It’s pretty straightforward. You just need to be patient, disciplined and keep on logging your workouts (including cardio) and your daily food intake.

When you reach your desired physical shape. Stop and progressively eat back to maintenance. 

It’s the reverse process. You’re doing the same thing but now you’re increasing your calories by 100 a week. 


If you’re putting on 1lbs a week don’t increase your calories if you are stalling increase by 100 until you reach your maintenance level.

You need to check the mirror and see if you’re satisfied. Bear in mind you will not necessarily look exactly like you wanted at first.

Everybody has different genes and you will look like yourself not somebody else’s self. 

If you think you need to put on more muscle just go back to putting on mass again.

Hope this helps. Scroll down for more.

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