Share your tricks for cutting!

[tombradycardia]

Currently in a cut phase, here are some of mine:

-Focus on low caloric density and high satiety foods- potatoes (air fried), fish, oatmeal, apples, whole wheat pasta, kidney beans, cooked egg whites with veggies, etc. Low fat is generally key too.. ie; don't cook in oil.
-I prefer fasting in the morning then organizing meals surrounding training and pre-bed for productivity purposes. I also prefer going to sleep full
-Keep water and electrolytes high
-Low calories sauces- any kind of hot sauce, walden farms, low sugar bbq sauce, etc
-If a coffee drinker, use splenda+fat free half and half
-Generally I like to refeed 1x a week unless I'm getting super lean then after every 4 days or so or as needed (physique/performance dependent). I like to schedule them on my primary upper day which falls before my primary lower day- aka the two hardest sessions of the week
-Don't exceed around 1% bw/week loss unless overfat/obese
-Keep protein a bit higher than bulk

 

[zelevin]

I just finished 3 weeks of my cut, and I haven't made a single mistake yet.
Planning out every bite days in advance and eating the exact same thing everyday, regardless of if it's a lifting day, a cardio day, or a rest day, has made this the most successful 3 weeks of my life for cutting. (11 weeks to go)
Idk the carb/fat grams, but I'm at about 210g of protein at 199lb of body weight (~16% bf)
6 eggs for breakfast, 1 apple whenever it sounds good, then I have 3 prepped meals with 200g chicken breast (measured cooked) and about 180 calories of a carb in each box. I was eating about 155g of rice per box, now I switched to 190g of sweet potato. I'm doing really well.
Oh, and I try to eat at the same times everyday. Eggs between 9:30 and 10:30, and then the 3 prepped meals at 2:30, 5:30, and 7:30. It's important for me to feel full in the evenings because that's when I get quality time with my gf

 

[rastaman69]

I just finished 3 weeks of my cut, and I haven't made a single mistake yet.
Planning out every bite days in advance and eating the exact same thing everyday, regardless of if it's a lifting day, a cardio day, or a rest day, has made this the most successful 3 weeks of my life for cutting. (11 weeks to go)
Idk the carb/fat grams, but I'm at about 210g of protein at 199lb of body weight (~16% bf)
6 eggs for breakfast, 1 apple whenever it sounds good, then I have 3 prepped meals with 200g chicken breast (measured cooked) and about 180 calories of a carb in each box. I was eating about 155g of rice per box, now I switched to 190g of sweet potato. I'm doing really well.
Oh, and I try to eat at the same times everyday. Eggs between 9:30 and 10:30, and then the 3 prepped meals at 2:30, 5:30, and 7:30. It's important for me to feel full in the evenings because that's when I get quality time with my gf

Tell me more. What is the total calories per day? In a cut I always feel like eggs add too much fat though I'd like to eat more of them.

 

[zelevin]

Tell me more. What is the total calories per day? In a cut I always feel like eggs add too much fat though I'd like to eat more of them.

Ah, you see, eggs are my ONLY fat, that's why they work for me.
The diet is simple:
600g chicken (about 1000 calories)
550 calories of rice OR sweet potato
6 eggs (about 400 calories)
1 apple (about 100 calories)
Total calories - about 2100
I never use a drop of oil when cooking my food. There are absolutely no hidden calories in my diet.

I split the chicken and carb into 3 meals, so if I'm eating rice, I have 3 meals containing 200g chicken breast and 155g of rice, usually loaded with lite soy sauce.

It's tough, but everyday is just "ya do it or ya don't"

 

[rastaman69]

Do you hard boil the eggs? Every weekend I boil up eggs for my upcoming week. I like them a lot and look forward to them. Oatmeal and 2 eggs at work everyday at 10:00am.

 

[Bando]

I just finished 3 weeks of my cut, and I haven't made a single mistake yet.
Planning out every bite days in advance and eating the exact same thing everyday, regardless of if it's a lifting day, a cardio day, or a rest day, has made this the most successful 3 weeks of my life for cutting. (11 weeks to go)
Idk the carb/fat grams, but I'm at about 210g of protein at 199lb of body weight (~16% bf)
6 eggs for breakfast, 1 apple whenever it sounds good, then I have 3 prepped meals with 200g chicken breast (measured cooked) and about 180 calories of a carb in each box. I was eating about 155g of rice per box, now I switched to 190g of sweet potato. I'm doing really well.
Oh, and I try to eat at the same times everyday. Eggs between 9:30 and 10:30, and then the 3 prepped meals at 2:30, 5:30, and 7:30. It's important for me to feel full in the evenings because that's when I get quality time with my gf

I don’t think the timing has anything to do with it but everything else looks solid.

 

[Gullinbursti]

Ah, you see, eggs are my ONLY fat, that's why they work for me.
The diet is simple:
600g chicken (about 1000 calories)
550 calories of rice OR sweet potato
6 eggs (about 400 calories)
1 apple (about 100 calories)
Total calories - about 2100
I never use a drop of oil when cooking my food. There are absolutely no hidden calories in my diet.

I split the chicken and carb into 3 meals, so if I'm eating rice, I have 3 meals containing 200g chicken breast and 155g of rice, usually loaded with lite soy sauce.

It's tough, but everyday is just "ya do it or ya don't"

How much do weigh that you're staying at 2100 cals? Or just stats in general if you don't mind. Just curious. I went from 4300+ cals in bulk to now holding around 2700 give or take. Ended bulk at 227ish, shooting for 190, already down about 12lbs

 

[zelevin]

I don’t think the timing has anything to do with it but everything else looks solid.

The timing is important for mood. I eat more in the evenings because that's when I get to be with my fiance. But idc that much if I get moody at work.

How much do weigh that you're staying at 2100 cals? Or just stats in general if you don't mind. Just curious. I went from 4300+ cals in bulk to now holding around 2700 give or take. Ended bulk at 227ish, shooting for 190, already down about 12lbs

200lb 17%bf 5'7" I've hit both squat and deadlift at 505lb, also squatted 425x10. Nothing special, I know.
A simple bmr calculator puts me at about 2000 calories a day and then I guess my exercise to burn between 700 and 1200 calories depending on if it's a cardio or a lifting day.

 

[Gbunk]

Swap whole eggs with egg whites
Zero cal sauce/soda
Swap carb sources to potatoes vs rice or pasta
Something else that will help, add salad. If you are making some lean ground meat, throw it in a bowl with some potatoes, salad, zero call sauce, maybe even some salsa and then you have more volume.
Lots of water
Ive heard electrolytes help
Have a cheat meal/day once a week or once every 2 weeks.
I have very good willpower but another thing that helps me when I want to cheat or eat more food is remembering what I want to look like and how I get there. Cheating on a diet only brings joy in the 5 minutes you eat it. The way you want to look will bring you joy 24/7 for a very long time as long as you maintain it. This works well for me but may differ for other people. Currently cutting close to 2k calories a day and as the weeks progress adding more cardio.

 

[rastaman69]

Swap whole eggs with egg whites
Zero cal sauce/soda
Swap carb sources to potatoes vs rice or pasta
Something else that will help, add salad. If you are making some lean ground meat, throw it in a bowl with some potatoes, salad, zero call sauce, maybe even some salsa and then you have more volume.
Lots of water
Ive heard electrolytes help
Have a cheat meal/day once a week or once every 2 weeks.
I have very good willpower but another thing that helps me when I want to cheat or eat more food is remembering what I want to look like and how I get there. Cheating on a diet only brings joy in the 5 minutes you eat it. The way you want to look will bring you joy 24/7 for a very long time as long as you maintain it. This works well for me but may differ for other people. Currently cutting close to 2k calories a day and as the weeks progress adding more cardio.

Why potatoes? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan.

And yes, zero calorie sauces are pretty awesome. Tapatio for example, it's like "damn I can make this taste pretty good for free". Pickles are another one that surprises me. I like to add a couple slices of pickles on my tuna sandwiches - it makes them a little more exciting at zero calorie cost. And yet, I for some reason still add them to my macro counting app - I think to avoid any sort of cheating.

 

[Gbunk]

Why potatoes? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan.

And yes, zero calorie sauces are pretty awesome. Tapatio for example, it's like "damn I can make this taste pretty good for free". Pickles are another one that surprises me. I like to add a couple slices of pickles on my tuna sandwiches - it makes them a little more exciting at zero calorie cost. And yet, I for some reason still add them to my macro counting app - I think to avoid any sort of cheating.

Pickles are great if you want to just grab one thing to “cheat” since they are usually up to 5 cals. Even if you binged and ate 4 spears, what is 20 calories?!
Potatoes because they are less calorically dense. A cup of rice would be close to 210 calories while a cup of potato is 140. More volume of food.

 

[mmaphdmba]

The timing is important for mood. I eat more in the evenings because that's when I get to be with my fiance. But idc that much if I get moody at work.

200lb 17%bf 5'7" I've hit both squat and deadlift at 505lb, also squatted 425x10. Nothing special, I know.
A simple bmr calculator puts me at about 2000 calories a day and then I guess my exercise to burn between 700 and 1200 calories depending on if it's a cardio or a lifting day.

Lifting won't burn that many calories, and unless you're doing a high intensity spin class for cardio, your normal cardio won't either. Heavy lifting for an hour is like 500 cals burned extra, and cardio is probably 300 depending on what you're doing.

 

[mmaphdmba]

Why potatoes? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan.

And yes, zero calorie sauces are pretty awesome. Tapatio for example, it's like "damn I can make this taste pretty good for free". Pickles are another one that surprises me. I like to add a couple slices of pickles on my tuna sandwiches - it makes them a little more exciting at zero calorie cost. And yet, I for some reason still add them to my macro counting app - I think to avoid any sort of cheating.

Potatoes have a very high volume relative to their actual calories. You can eat about an entire pound of yukon gold potatoes and it'll be a little over 300 cals. But you'll stay full because of the volume consumed.

 

[AlexDavis43]

Why potatoes? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan.

Potatoes have a very high volume relative to their actual calories. You can eat about an entire pound of yukon gold potatoes and it'll be a little over 300 cals. But you'll stay full because of the volume consumed.

Potatoes score high on the satiety index of common foods. Study. Filling and low cal, just don't load 'em up with cheese, butter, sour cream, bacon, etc., etc.

 

[zelevin]

Lifting won't burn that many calories, and unless you're doing a high intensity spin class for cardio, your normal cardio won't either. Heavy lifting for an hour is like 500 cals burned extra, and cardio is probably 300 depending on what you're doing.

No.
Do you think I'm just laying in bed all day on lifting days except for when I left?
And actually, my cardio is either riding my bicycle in a hilly area for 25 miles OR a mix of running and swimming.
So you're wrong.
My rate of weight loss also says you're wrong.

 

[mmaphdmba]

No.
Do you think I'm just laying in bed all day on lifting days except for when I left?
And actually, my cardio is either riding my bicycle in a hilly area for 25 miles OR a mix of running and swimming.
So you're wrong.
My rate of weight loss also says you're wrong.

Ok ok, I get it. Most people don't do that much cardio especially on this forum so if you are, good on ya, and that's my bad.

 

[PrimeYash]

For lifestyle and not prep. Just what you usually eat but start downsizing, take a out a bread piece from the burger, don't finish your fries, use less ranch..., and as you continue to downsize,add healthier options and next thing you know, you have wayy less cravings for fast food. If you have huge discipline, just change everything all at once.
Or you can also "Eat Clen and Tren hard"

I do the same thing. I'm not too fond of the taste of zero-calorie drinks or condiments. When I cut I try to eat less. Not necessarily eliminate foods from my diet or lifestyle.

 

[turnseylifts]

Not basic cutting advice, but little hacks to make it through the difficult days

Here are the tricks I already know:
Diet soda
Salt your food!! (Just necessary)
Increase caffeine
0 cal condiments, stuff like Walden's farms syrup
Gum (never for me, hate gum)

i do not recommend this at all as its really not ideal but little story time: I did a competition last June and for 3 weeks leading up to the show I ate 3 cans of tuna 5 times a day. Thats right....15 cans of tuna a day and nothing else. I had water and pre workout aside from the tuna but thats all I ate. no carbs no vegetables. literally just canned tuna. 2 days or so before the show I began to eat nothing but carbs, salt, and dark choc. (plus one steak with mashed potatoes i had) and I filled out like crazyyy. surprisingly, the tuna diet worked. I got more shredded than i've ever been, I kinda felt like death by the end of it ( probably due to lack of calories, my final week i was eating 1250 cals) but it for sure worked. I ended up winning Teen classic physique, and getting 3rd or so in light heavyweight open bodybuilding. That show was def a great experience but i dont think ill be eating 15 cans of tuna ever again though lol.

Currently im sitting at 230lbs around 12-15%bodyfat, im trying to get big enough to qualify for nationals and then go pro. ill likely just keep bulking to like 250 before i cut down a bit again and then ill decide if its time to compete or stay on the bulk.

Thanks for listening love you guys!

 

[AlexDavis43]

Thats right....15 cans of tuna a day and nothing else.

That's some dedication.