Tips on How to Master Your Cutting Diet Plan
The art of building muscle and shedding body fat is popular today. As trendy as it is, many people are unaware of how to actually go through the process of cutting and getting into contest shape. Some people embark on the cutting process and fail miserably, thinking that it just can’t be done. Cutting is a systematic process, and many people overlook this factor. To get that finely detailed muscle to shine through requires lowering ones body fat through diet and cardio.
I’m not going to lie. Getting cut is a difficult task and very few lifters can actually go through the process to the finish line. Cutting requires a detailed diet, intense training, and cardio, as well as the proper mindset and consistency. There are some key points that are necessary if you have a goal of getting detailed or even on stage. We’ll cover them below.
Eating Like Clockwork
To build muscle and lose fat you should eat like clockwork. Eating to get cut and detailed is not feeding your taste buds. It’s feeding your muscles and body to do a particular task; to build muscle and burn fat.
There is a strategic process of eating that achieves that cut look, and that’s eating every 3 hours to ensure the muscles are receive the nutrients they need to keep a positive nitrogen balance and to provide fuel for working muscles. In addition, the frequent small balanced meals keeps your metabolism kicked-up, allowing you to burn even more calories during the day.
Eat Protein in Every Meal
A meal is not a meal if it doesn’t contain a complete protein. A complete protein is a protein that contains all the amino acids in sufficient amounts for normal growth. If you fail to consume the amount of protein your body requires, you will lose muscle during the cutting phase. You can overeat protein. Therefore, it is critical that you find out the amount of protein your body needs for your cutting diet plan.
Good sources of protein are eggs, tofu, chicken, turkey, steak, fish, protein drinks, etc. Basically, any animal protein would suffice.
Eat Carbs to Fuel Your Training
Carbs are an important part of the contest dieting phase. The trick to with carbs is to know when to implement them, how to implement them, and how to cycle them. There is a precise formula that allows you to eat carbs to a certain degree and still burn fat.
Carbs of quality to include into your pre-contest prep phase are oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole grains, etc. These carbs have a low glycemic index, allowing them to be digested more slowly, supplying you with lasting energy and avoiding the blood sugar drops many people tend to have.
Add In More Non-Starchy Veggies
Non-starchy veggies are great to include in a cutting program because they are very low in calories and they don’t affect the insulin. Non-starchy veggies become a big part of your cutting diet when you carb-cycle properly. These can be the one single food item that literally strips fat off your body.
Good non-starchy veggies to include are broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, spinach, green beans, etc. Generally, any vegetable red, green, or yellow in color would suffice as a quality non-starchy veggie.
Wean Bread and Dairy
If you want to be in top shape and finely detailed with head-turning cuts, wean yourself off of bread and dairy products. These products are okay in the off-season, but you won’t get detailed with them. You don’t have to cut them out when you first start your cutting diet plan. However, as you diet down, slowly wean them out over the course of 12 weeks.
Don’t Shun Fats
Fats are an essential part of the cutting phase. In fact, toward the end of your cutting phase your diet should be largely composed of complete proteins, non-starchy veggies, and essential fats.
Essential fats serve as a natural appetite suppressant, nourish your skin, aid in fat burning when complex carbs are curtailed, and give needed calories during intense carb-cycling on the low end. Another plus for essential fats is they’ll harden you up in your final weeks during the cutting phase.
Most Importantly…
Ideally, to get those chiseled cuts you must ease into the cutting phase through a systematic process of weaning and carb-cycling. By going through the weaning and cycling phase you will spare your body lean muscle tissue and target fat for fuel, bringing you in top-shape.
