A cutting diet lasts 2–4 months, depending on how lean you are before dieting, and is normally timed around bodybuilding competitions, athletic events, or occasions like holidays ( 4 ). A cutting diet aims to get you as lean as possible while maintaining muscle mass.
There is no set time that water fasting should last for, but medical advice generally suggests anywhere from 24 hours to 3 days as the maximum time to go without food. Throughout history, people have undertaken fasts for spiritual or religious reasons.
How Long Should You Mini-Cut? As a rule of thumb, it will need at least 2 weeks to lose enough fat to be worthwhile. At the other end of the spectrum, dieting for more than 6 weeks will start to increase your risk of muscle loss. So, 2-6 weeks is the range for mini-cuts.
In order to lose fat healthily and correctly, you need to give your body time. A proper cut is anywhere between three to six months, and now that winter is coming to an end, it's the best time to start. My bulking phase is now over, and the fat loss phase is on.
But on average, you should lose 10 pounds in exactly 5-6 weeks for a healthier and more achievable estimate. This means that you lose around 2 pounds per week, which is in line with the CDC's recommendation for safe weight loss at a rate of 1–2 pounds per week, a sustainable goal.
Losing weight safely typically involves losing 1-2 pounds per week ( 1 ). This would allow you to lose 20 pounds within about 5 months at 1 pound per week or 2 1/2 months at about 2 pounds per week.
Despite what many novices (and even some strength coaches believe), lifting heavy is still an essential part to cutting. Lifting heavy, relatively speaking, is ideal for preserving strength and muscle mass during the cutting phase.
How Much Weight Can I Lose in 3 Months? A safe, healthy, and realistic goal is to lose 0.5-to-1% of your body weight per week, which is around 1-to-2 pounds of weight loss per week for most people. In other words, you can expect to lose 12-to-24 pounds in a 3-month period.
Competitive bodybuilders typically follow a cutting diet for 2–4 months . A person can decide the duration of a cutting diet according to their individual needs, but it is not a long-term diet. Bodybuilders usually go through a bulking phase before a cutting diet.
Once you reach a body fat percent of 15% for men or 25% for women, that's when you'll want to start the cut. With a calorie deficit and ensuing weight loss, you'll start losing that fat gain you've put on over the winter months.
Answer: Five weeks is plenty of time to change your body and build muscle and lose fat, but you need to be very disciplined.
Generally it doesn't matter a whole lot the frequency you choose what's important is to keep going until you achieve the desired results. However, for most I recommend bulking for 2-3 months, then cut down for however long you need to get rid of the unwanted amount of fat. Everyone will need a different amount of time.
Losing weight too quickly can lead to problems like gallstones, muscle loss, and extreme fatigue. Experts recommend a moderate weight loss of 1–3 pounds (0.45–1.36 kg) per week, or about 1% of your body weight.
If you're perhaps just a bit skinny fat but already at a healthy weight and have no other health concerns, you may be able to get ripped within six months. The same is true if you're slightly overweight but still have a decent amount of muscle mass.
“Don't to think of it as a 'refeed' or total diet break. You'll be at a lower calorie maintenance level after each weight loss cycle, so you shouldn't eat as much as you were before the weight loss,” says Dr. Nadolsky. “It will just be a break from the hard cutting, but not overall.”
The bodybuilding 12-week cutting diet plan consists of 3 types of eating days; high carb days, moderate carb days and low carb days. The high carb day is usually one day a week, the moderate carb days are usually 3 days a week and the low carb days are usually the remaining 3 days of the week (1).
Sharper styles tend to grow out better, meaning you can wait a little longer for a trim. If you want to keep your hair at the same length, get it cut every 6 to 8 weeks. But if you want to grow it a little longer, cut it every 8 to 12 weeks.
Generally, most health experts recommend aiming for about 1–3 pounds (0.5–1.4 kg) of weight loss per week, or approximately 1% of your total body weight ( 33 , 34 ). Therefore, it may take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to lose 30 pounds safely.
No, it is not safe. A month is not enough time to lose so much weight. 20 pounds in a month is a drastic weight loss that can lead to health issues. The healthy amount of weight loss in a month is between 4-8 pounds a month.
“With very aggressive diets, you are only causing caloric restriction and very soon your body will fight back to reclaim that weight loss.” So while it is possible, losing 15 pounds in one month is not recommended.
The bottom line is that you don't need to drastically change your training program when you start cutting. Instead, keep following the same strength training program during your cut that you'd follow when eating more calories.
So, what are the best rep ranges for cutting? The best rep range for cutting is one that allows you to sometimes train with heavier loads to preserve basic strength (5-10 reps) and more moderate to light loads to allow you to retain as much muscle while training in higher volumes (10-20 reps).
As a rule of thumb, your total cardio for the week should take no more than half the time you spend lifting weights. So if you spend 90 minutes 4 times per week lifting weights (6 hours), that means you should do no more than 3 total hours of cardio per week.