Uploaded July 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Master of Macros: thinkeatlift.com/master
The Path to your Goal Physique: thinkeatlift.com/path
How I cut for Summer: thinkeatlift.com/how-i-cut-for-summer
How transformation will go down
1. Lose body fat until your waist reaches about 45% of your height (for example at 6 feet tall you’d want a waist that is 32 inches around the belly button). Depending on how much fat you have to lose, this cut can take anywhere from 3 to 9 months.
The reasons we start we a cutting phase first are explained in the article: Why Get Lean before Bulking
2. When your waist reaches ~45% of your height, move into a maintenance phase for 2-3 weeks.
3. After the maintenance phase, move into a lean bulking phase and gain the muscle mass needed to create awesome proportions. This bulk should be stretched over several months to maximize muscle gains and minimize fat gain.
4. Once you’re up to 14-15% body fat (waist is about ~48% of height) it’s time to cut back to the 9-11% range (waist is ~45% of height). Ideally, as you’re gaining size you’ll never go above 15% body fat again. Your cut and bulk cycles will be kept in the range of 8-15% body fat. This way you’ll have good muscle definition all the time (or at least a 4 pack) and your face will stay relatively chiseled.
5. Repeat this process until you’ve built enough size to not look small when you cut down to 9-11% body fat.
6. Enjoy life to the utmost.
How to lose weight.
Losing body fat all comes down to nutrition. When you eat fewer calories than your body burns every day, that will lead to fat loss. Fat burning workouts, fancy diets, cardio, and all other methods of burning fat only work because of the calorie deficit they create. So to save time, it's better to track calories directly. Whatever weight loss method you'd choose the reason for fat loss would still be the calorie deficit.
A pound of fat has approximately 3500 calories. That means that if you eat 500 calories under your current intake you're probably going to lose a pound of fat per week. Losing fat is a numbers game - Calories in vs Calories Out.
Now, you'll probably be able to lose fat faster than this for the first few weeks so here how you need to set up your calorie intake:
For fat loss you should eat between 9.5 and 13 kcal per pound of body weight everyday.
Those that are very active (manual labor + weight training and sports) should use the top range of the interval (12-13 kcal x bw in lbs).
Those who are very sedentary (only weight training at the gym and just sitting down the rest of the time) should use the lowest end of the interval (9.5-10.5 kcal x bw in lbs)
Those who are mostly sedentary (only weight training at the gym and daily brief walks) should use the low end of the interval as well (10-11 kcal x bw in lbs)
Those moderately active (weight training + walking and sports from time to time) should use the middle range of the interval (11-12 kcal x bw in lbs)
Those who are significantly overweight should use the low end of the interval (9.5-11lbs) regardless of their activity level because in the beginning they can lose fat fast without negative effects. When they reach a “normal” weight, they will decrease their energy deficit.
Examples:
A guy weighing 165 lbs who trains 3 times a week, walks to work or school and plays sports in the weekend would set up his calorie intake like this: 165 x 11 = 1815 kcal a day. (he is moderately active so he goes with 11 kcal)
A guy weighing 240 lbs who has a desk job and does little to no physical activity would set up his calorie intake like this: 240 x 9.5 = 2280 kcal a day. (he has a lot of fat to lose so he goes with the lowest number)
A guy weighing 170 lbs who works in constructions and goes to the gym 3 times a week would set up his calorie intake like this: 170 x 13 = 2210 kcal (he burns a lot of calories due to his work therefore he must eat more)
How do you create the calorie deficit?
The calorie deficit should be created primarily through the diet and not cardio. That is because excessive cardio interferes with weightlifting performance.
The caloric deficit already has negative effects of the anabolic hormones and decreases protein synthesis therefore creating most of your deficit through cardio would only serve to increase the risk of muscle and performance loss.
A good rule of thumb is to create 80% of your deficit through diet modifications and only 20% of it through cardio.
Master of Macros: thinkeatlift.com/master
The Path to your Goal Physique: thinkeatlift.com/path
How I cut for Summer: thinkeatlift.com/how-i-cut-for-summer
How transformation will go down
1. Lose body fat until your waist reaches about 45% of your height (for example at 6 feet tall you’d want a waist that is 32 inches around the belly button). Depending on how much fat you have to lose, this cut can take anywhere from 3 to 9 months.
The reasons we start we a cutting phase first are explained in the article: Why Get Lean before Bulking
2. When your waist reaches ~45% of your height, move into a maintenance phase for 2-3 weeks.
3. After the maintenance phase, move into a lean bulking phase and gain the muscle mass needed to create awesome proportions. This bulk should be stretched over several months to maximize muscle gains and minimize fat gain.
4. Once you’re up to 14-15% body fat (waist is about ~48% of height) it’s time to cut back to the 9-11% range (waist is ~45% of height). Ideally, as you’re gaining size you’ll never go above 15% body fat again. Your cut and bulk cycles will be kept in the range of 8-15% body fat. This way you’ll have good muscle definition all the time (or at least a 4 pack) and your face will stay relatively chiseled.
5. Repeat this process until you’ve built enough size to not look small when you cut down to 9-11% body fat.
6. Enjoy life to the utmost.
How to lose weight.
Losing body fat all comes down to nutrition. When you eat fewer calories than your body burns every day, that will lead to fat loss. Fat burning workouts, fancy diets, cardio, and all other methods of burning fat only work because of the calorie deficit they create. So to save time, it's better to track calories directly. Whatever weight loss method you'd choose the reason for fat loss would still be the calorie deficit.
A pound of fat has approximately 3500 calories. That means that if you eat 500 calories under your current intake you're probably going to lose a pound of fat per week. Losing fat is a numbers game - Calories in vs Calories Out.
Now, you'll probably be able to lose fat faster than this for the first few weeks so here how you need to set up your calorie intake:
For fat loss you should eat between 9.5 and 13 kcal per pound of body weight everyday.
Those that are very active (manual labor + weight training and sports) should use the top range of the interval (12-13 kcal x bw in lbs).
Those who are very sedentary (only weight training at the gym and just sitting down the rest of the time) should use the lowest end of the interval (9.5-10.5 kcal x bw in lbs)
Those who are mostly sedentary (only weight training at the gym and daily brief walks) should use the low end of the interval as well (10-11 kcal x bw in lbs)
Those moderately active (weight training + walking and sports from time to time) should use the middle range of the interval (11-12 kcal x bw in lbs)
Those who are significantly overweight should use the low end of the interval (9.5-11lbs) regardless of their activity level because in the beginning they can lose fat fast without negative effects. When they reach a “normal” weight, they will decrease their energy deficit.
Examples:
A guy weighing 165 lbs who trains 3 times a week, walks to work or school and plays sports in the weekend would set up his calorie intake like this: 165 x 11 = 1815 kcal a day. (he is moderately active so he goes with 11 kcal)
A guy weighing 240 lbs who has a desk job and does little to no physical activity would set up his calorie intake like this: 240 x 9.5 = 2280 kcal a day. (he has a lot of fat to lose so he goes with the lowest number)
A guy weighing 170 lbs who works in constructions and goes to the gym 3 times a week would set up his calorie intake like this: 170 x 13 = 2210 kcal (he burns a lot of calories due to his work therefore he must eat more)
How do you create the calorie deficit?
The calorie deficit should be created primarily through the diet and not cardio. That is because excessive cardio interferes with weightlifting performance.
The caloric deficit already has negative effects of the anabolic hormones and decreases protein synthesis therefore creating most of your deficit through cardio would only serve to increase the risk of muscle and performance loss.
A good rule of thumb is to create 80% of your deficit through diet modifications and only 20% of it through cardio.
