onlyonetruth
New member
@mpowell8089 Thank you for this! Very informative.
How to cut while minimizing muscle loss
- Thread starter pmichel
- Start date
-
- Tags
- natural bodybuilding
@mpowell8089 Pretty late here but I have a question, I’ve been cutting but then I noticed I could still increase my lifts. What does this mean?
@curtiscee This is my fourth year in
mpowell8089
New member
@wadh That's a great sign. You are probably doing a lot of things right when it comes to how you're training, eating, and recovering.
I’ve seen many people associate fat loss or “cutting” with
They impact
For me, the energy and attitude is the same. Even though I lower my calorie intake when I’m trying to get lean, my expectations don’t change. I go into the gym with the same goals, expectations, and energy. I’m surprised if I see a loss in strength. Most people who approach and execute a cut properly should still have great workouts, hold onto or build muscle and gain strength since most people aren’t very advanced or incredibly lean.
So, my point is that there's nothing wrong at all if you're gaining strength on a cut. I'd actually expect that for most people. Up until a certain point. Reach a certain level of leanness, then it starts to go down.
I’ve seen many people associate fat loss or “cutting” with
- Low energy
- Always hungry
- Feeling weak
- Not a fun time
- Having to suffer
They impact
- The energy you bring into the gym
- How hard you train
- Your strength
- The overall quality of you workouts
- Your appetite and cravings
- How much fun you’re having, and therefore your consistency and progress.
For me, the energy and attitude is the same. Even though I lower my calorie intake when I’m trying to get lean, my expectations don’t change. I go into the gym with the same goals, expectations, and energy. I’m surprised if I see a loss in strength. Most people who approach and execute a cut properly should still have great workouts, hold onto or build muscle and gain strength since most people aren’t very advanced or incredibly lean.
So, my point is that there's nothing wrong at all if you're gaining strength on a cut. I'd actually expect that for most people. Up until a certain point. Reach a certain level of leanness, then it starts to go down.
@mpowell8089 Really appreciate your response!!
@mpowell8089 I'm the same way! I'm training 2 years now, consistently, maybe 2 months in total that I did not train because of injuries. But I made PR's on my cut and in general all my lifts went up!
I measured my biceps, sadly I did not grow any more in 10 weeks but I also did not lose any muscle, at least in my arms.
I measured my biceps, sadly I did not grow any more in 10 weeks but I also did not lose any muscle, at least in my arms.
mpowell8089
New member
@mpowell8089 Thank you man! 
@pmichel Mistakes I’ve done in the past that may be helpful for you to avoid,
Overestimating my caloric intake,
Dieting for too long (over 12 weeks without breaks is horrible to the metabolism for some individuals)
Not maintaining calories during deload weeks (isocaloric eating is required for recovery)
Adding load/volume too fast (fatigue will build up much faster during diet so key is to progressive overload trough smaller steps)
Overestimating my caloric intake,
Dieting for too long (over 12 weeks without breaks is horrible to the metabolism for some individuals)
Not maintaining calories during deload weeks (isocaloric eating is required for recovery)
Adding load/volume too fast (fatigue will build up much faster during diet so key is to progressive overload trough smaller steps)
@curtiscee Thanks!
simongrant
New member
@simongrant Ideally you should implement a longer maintenance phase after a long term fat loss phase before continuing. You can watch this video by Israetel giving a more profound explanation
simongrant
New member
kevinmartin
New member
@pmichel Depending on how fat you are, you’re going to lose glycogen and look like shit while you cut do not mistake this for losing muscle it will all come back within like 2-4 weeks of eating at maintenance again. Just eat high protein and embrace the suck of being natty and not having any fullness while cutting.