Cutting

Have you been in a bulking phase which has gone a bit too far? Are you simply overweight? No worries, throughout this article I will provide a guide to a proper and healthy cut aimed to maximise the loss of fat mass. 

During bodybuilding, cutting is recommended whenever you hit a percentage of body fat superior to 15-20%: at that point, proceeding to put on further weight could become a problem both aesthetically and, above all, in terms of health. 

First and foremost, let's talk about training. Contrarily to what most think, during this phase weight training should not be reduced, as our aim is to lose fat mass and not muscular tissue. How can we achieve that? Maintaining the same frequency of 4-6 anaerobic workouts per week, and increasing the number of cardio sessions to an equivalent amount: 4-6 per week. The best cardio activity to cut fast and effectively? Without doubt, running. And if, like me, you aren't a big fan of this sport, hiking or a simple treadmill which is set upward are extremely valid alternatives. Last but not least, don't forget the long-life elixir: the good old 10.000 steps per day. 

Instead, focusing on alimentation, in a cutting phase it is important to observe a calorific deficit of about 300-500kcal per day. However, since we are diabetic and the sugars we eat to correct our hypoglycemias actually have an influence on our total calorific intake, I suggest you save an extra 150kcal per day, which could be eventually ingested under the form of corrections. In the case of cutting, the amount of fats which you eat should be minor compared to the one you have in a bulking phase: I strongly recommend the 45-30-25 rule, since more carbs and proteins will ensure a minor muscular loss and will be more easily manageable for what concerns glycaemia due to the general decrease in the calorific intake. So, remember: cover at least 25% of your daily intake with proteins, 45% with carbs and not more than 30% with fats, which should obviously be unsaturated for the largest part. 

Furthermore, strictly talking about diabetes management, weight loss will generally produce a reduction in your required doses of basal insulin, so always keep an eye on your blood glucose levelsat night, which could begin to drop a bit after a while into your cutting phase: when that happens, start to reduce your basal insulin gradually, unit by unit. You don't have to be too aggressive with your insulin doses as an excessive amount of hypoglycemia's corrections could be counterproductive in terms of weight loss: during the cutting phase, alongside with insulin, physical activity has to become a proper form of correction for hyperglycemias, since it is way more adjustable and personified than medications. However, you always have to try to mantain your blood glucose level in range for the largest possible amount of time, as, even if it is true that high blood glucose values cause a general weight loss, you should remember that in that case the one to be affected would primarily be muscular tissue and not fat mass: that's the last thing we want.

A proper cut is quite difficult to accomplish for a diabetic, but, observing my instructions in a very strict way, you should finally be able to achieve it: with this method, I managed to pass from 77 to 67 kilograms in 5 months, nearly not losing muscular mass. Don't be discouraged if results don't arrive in the early stages of your cutting phase, because if you persvere and you are convinced in what you are doing, the enjoyment coming from your hard-earned gains will be priceless.