The Cut

"Bulk" is a muscle-gain phase

The goal is to gain muscle mass without putting on too much body fat. A bulk requires a calorie surplus, you eat more calories than you burn, and heavy, intense weight training at the gym.

"Cut" is a fat-loss phase

The goal is to lose body fat while holding onto as much muscle as possible. A cut requires a calorie deficit plus heavy, intense weight training. It's a good idea to add some cardio.

What I've been doing lately

I've been on a bulk for 10 weeks, eating around 3400 calories, about 500 above my calorie balance of 2959. I calculate my balance with the Harris & Benedict equation (I wrote about how to use it in Eating for Gaining Lean Muscle Mass, Part I).

During this bulk I've gained a few kilos of body weight. Hopefully most of it is muscle and not too much fat, though some of it always is fat.

Now it's time for 10 weeks of cutting, where the goal is to keep the muscle I built and lose most of the fat. I do that by going about 1000 calories under my balance. I keep protein high, 2.5–3.0 g per kilo of body mass, to protect my muscle, and I keep lifting heavy and intense. The heavy lifting and high protein minimise my body's urge to break down muscle for energy while I'm low on calories.

What happens then?

When you lower your calorie intake, your body slips into a kind of starvation emergency mode. It turns down energy-hungry functions, tries to hold onto body fat until the last minute, and starts looking for muscle it isn't using to break down for energy. Muscle costs energy even at rest, so when you cut calories, your body wants to shed it to save energy. If you want to keep your muscle, you have to tell your body you still need it, by using it and training it hard.

That's harder than usual on a cut, because you're low on calories: there isn't much fuel in the tank for hard, intense training.

After these 10 weeks of cutting, it's back to 10 weeks of bulking. It's a never-ending story.

My daily cutting menu

08:30 · Breakfast · Lomo de pavo (dried smoked turkey) 50 g, protein jelly 100 g, apple 220 g, whey hydrolysate 40 g, creatine 5 g, glycine 5 g, arginine 5 g, citrulline 5 g, taurine 5 g, beta-alanine 5 g 404 kcal · P 56.7 g · C 29.7 g · F 5.4 g

12:00 · Lunch · White fish 150 g, red fruits 50 g, beetroot 50 g, cauliflower/broccoli purée 100 g, mixed green salad 100 g, strawberries 100 g, whey hydrolysate 40 g 407 kcal · P 62.4 g · C 26.7 g · F 4.8 g

15:30 · Snack · Lomo de pavo 50 g, protein jelly 100 g, banana 200 g, whey hydrolysate 40 g, EAA 12 g 440 kcal · P 68.2 g · C 28.8 g · F 5.3 g

19:00 · Dinner · Chicken 150 g, red fruits 50 g, beetroot 50 g, cauliflower/broccoli purée 100 g, mixed green salad 100 g, orange 200 g, whey hydrolysate 40 g 501 kcal · P 71 g · C 38.4 g · F 5.1 g

21:00 · Before bed · Casein 40 g, Body Science Ymir 21 g, glutamine 10 g, HMB 10 g, arginine 10 g, glycine 5 g 210 kcal · P 46.2 g · C 2.9 g · F 1.1 g

The day's macros

1961 kcal · Protein 304 g (62E%, 3.13 g/kg) · Carbs 126 g (25.5E%) · Fat 22 g (10E%)

In the last weeks I drop the fruit to go low-carb, and the macros become:

1614 kcal · Protein 301 g (74.6E%, 3.13 g/kg) · Carbs 52 g (12.8E%) · Fat 22 g (12.3E%)

Peak day

If there's a "peak day", a competition or a photoshoot, my muscles will look flat and dried out, because the glycogen depots in the muscle cells are empty. Glycogen is stored carbs, and on a low-carb diet those depots run dry.

So before a peak day, I fill my muscles back up with fast carbs to make them look full. The day before, I eat a lot of sugar, candy and sweets, plus salt, and drink plenty of water. That floods my carb-deflated muscle fibres with blood sugar (glycogen) and water, inflating them so they look full again.