CuttingFat-loss phase

Cutting is a phase of deliberate energy restriction aimed at reducing fat while preserving lean mass. It is the counterpart to a bulking phase, and the constraint that defines it is not losing weight — that is easy — but losing the right weight.

It matters because muscle retention during a deficit depends on three things doing most of the work: adequate protein, continued resistance training at meaningful loads, and a deficit that is moderate rather than punishing. Remove any of them and a larger share of the loss comes from lean tissue.

In practice, expect training performance to dip somewhat and expect the scale to lie in the short term, since fluid shifts easily mask a week of real fat loss. Weekly averages and a tape measure tell a truer story than any single morning's weight.