3-Week Aggressive Mini Cut Protocol
Before we begin, let’s get one thing out of our way.
This protocol isn’t to drop the maximum amount of scale weight in a short period of time.
It is to lose the maximum amount of body fat in a short period of time minimizing the potential side effects of aggressive dieting.
This is the fastest results you can get with a protocol while minimizing the loss of your muscle.
This is a 3 week mini cut and can be used by you if you fall under one of the two mentioned categories:
1. You are very overweight and have a lot of weight to lose.
2. You have been on a gaining phase (eating in a calorie surplus) and you want a quick 2-3 week phase to tighten up.
If you are someone who doesn’t fall in one of these categories, you should check my article ‘The Guide To Aggressive Mini Cutting’ to see if you qualify for aggressive dieting before you begin such a protocol.
This post is for you if you are ready to go all out and give it your 100%.
This is going to be very challenging, which is why I don’t recommend it to everyone.
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t execute this if you want to.
As long as you’re sure that you will give it your best and you won’t end up cheating, go ahead with this protocol.
If you aren’t sure about it, and you feel you’ll end up cheating on your diet, you’re better off taking a slower, sustainable approach.
It is the one i personally use and recommend to most people.
If that sounds more like your cup of tea, check it out here;
For Men - Summer Shredding: The Guide To 10% Body Fat As A Beginner
For Women - The Truth About Getting ‘Toned’ As A Woman
Let me start by telling you what you’re going to need for this protocol.
What do you need for this protocol?
1. A gym membership.
Don’t get me wrong, I love bodyweight training and I feel it is very much possible to build an amazing physique just off it.
But if you’re planning on doing such an aggressive diet, I highly suggest lifting weights as it can be the most efficient way to minimize the potential loss of muscle tissue.
Remember, we have to lose fat, not muscle!
2. A food scale.
This is absolutely crucial for this protocol to be a success.
If you aren’t willing to measure your food and track your calories, this isn’t for you.
Don’t be demotivated as you can lose weight without tracking.
But if you wish to get such fast results, you really have to give it all you got.
The only way you can make this successful is by being as accurate as you can with your nutrition.
Moreover, investing in a food scale is worth it.
In my opinion, it is the best investment you can make if you’re serious about your fitness goals.
Once you have the two things mentioned above, you are ready to execute this protocol.
Here are a few key tips you should incorporate into your routine for the three weeks you will be cutting.
Key tips for the protocol
1. Push your first meal as far as you can after waking up.
I’m not forcing you to stick to an intermittent fasting protocol.
All I’m saying is push your first meal a few hours away.
Aim for 4 hours from the time you wake up but 6 would be even better. We are doing this to save more calories for later in the day.
During this period, feel free to consume black coffee or green tea.
These have almost no calories and can help you push your main meal further.
You can push it even further by having a fruit or a salad along with some protein.
These meals have a high food volume to calorie ratio which means they’ll do a good job of filling you up for a few hours without causing much damage.
Alternatively, if you aren’t a fan of fasting or feel that it leads to binge issues, you don’t need to push your meal further into the day.
As long as you hit your calorie target, it won’t matter whether you fast or not.
2. Reduce the number of meals you have.
Have 1 or 2 meals a day with an additional snack or two.
This might seem less to you but if you actually follow the protocol and measure your food, you’ll realize that you can still be eating a large quantity of food that fills you up for the entire day.
Of course, you can’t expect to get the same satiety if you plan on eating 1-2 donuts a day!
3. Drink more water.
This isn’t a wellness tip.
This is something I’m telling you to do if you want to make this as easy as possible.
Drinking water will fill you up and this in turn will lead to you consuming lesser food volume, hence, lesser calories.
It’s a small tip, but when your diet is this aggressive, everything matters.
4. Keep yourself busy.
Something no one talks about.
You want to make this as easy as possible?
Get your mind off fitness.
I know this is easier said than done, especially when you’re eating very little calories and training hard, but it is the single most effective way to diet down.
If you plan on staying in bed thinking about food all day, you’re going to make this a lot harder for yourself.
Instead, learn something new.
Do something productive.
You’ll realize that not eating is very easy when you have a task at hand that you really want to finish.
5. Sleep more.
You really need sleep.
You’ll end up feeling terrible if you don’t have a proper sleep schedule because this will take a toll on your body to some extent.
Sleep for at least 8 hours.
If you need more, go for it.
You have to understand that dieting will induce stress on your body and you have to allow it to recover.
6. Don’t consume alcohol.
Yeah, I said it.
The thing is, this isn’t your regular diet phase.
You can’t afford to chug 400-500 calories of alcohol if it makes up 20%-40% of your daily calorie intake.
It’ll mess up your training, your diet and your mood (because you won’t get the results).
If you don’t drink anyway, you got one less thing to worry about!
7. Don’t look at the mirror every day.
Changes take time, so don’t obsess over checking yourself out in the mirror every day.
The Protocol: Nutrition
We’re going to jump into the deficit straight away. Since this is a three week cut, we’re not going to ease into it by slowly reducing calories.
Aim at eating 10 calories per pound of bodyweight.
Bodyweight (kg) x 2.2 x 10
Bodyweight (lbs) x 10
*This is an approximation and will need to be adjusted based on how your weight reacts
Once you have your calories set up, calculate your macros.
This is very simple.
Eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.
Going over 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight could be beneficial, especially since the diet is very aggressive.
We won’t worry about being precise with the fats and carbs.
After protein, aim to eat 25%-30% of your calories from fat and the remaining from carbs.
This will give you enough fats to maintain proper hormonal function and still allow you to eat carbs which will help you maintain performance (and stay sane!).
There won’t be any refeed days which is why I established that you can’t plan on cheating if you wish to follow this protocol.
The only reason we do this is to get in and out of this situation as fast as possible.
If you add refeed days, you’ll stretch out the period and if you add cheat days, you’ll make it even worse.
Once you have the numbers calculated, just stick to it consistently over the next 3 weeks.
If you want to create a meal plan, use the steps mentioned here.
In any case, I highly recommend limiting food variety and sticking to a few foods which you can eat over the next few weeks.
As I said, we want to limit the margin of error and be as accurate as we can.
Also, make sure you incorporate foods rich in micronutrients.
The Protocol: Cardio
This section isn’t complicated but is important if you want to make this cut a success.
On your rest days, go for a 45-60 minute low intensity cardio session.
This can be outdoors or on the equipment in the gym.
The key here is low intensity.
We don’t want to add the stress of intense cardio on your body during these 3 weeks.
Also, walking isn’t going to make you as hungry as other forms of cardio and hence it is the best option for this protocol.
To read more about why walking is my favorite form of cardio, click here.
Now that was on your rest days, but what about the days you are training in the gym?
On those days, I recommend you to perform 15-20 mins of low intensity steady state cardio after your workout.
We want to burn a few extra calories, but not at the cost of affecting performance in the weight room which is why we want to perform the cardio after the training is done.
The Protocol: Training
I recommend training 3-4 times a week during this three week period.
This means that you will have a total of 9 workouts.
While this might seem less to some of you, it is actually the sweet spot that lets your muscles get enough stimulus while allowing you to recover from the stress of the deficit and the training.
I highly recommend tracking your workouts.
You don’t need to get into the debate of whether or not a high frequency is preferred as this is only for a period of 3 weeks.
What you do have to make sure is that the intensity is high and the volume is low to moderate.
This means you will be lifting heavy and you won’t be doing as many sets as a conventional bodybuilding workout.
This will help you maintain your strength throughout this period, and as a natural, maintaining strength while cutting is the best indicator of preserving muscle.
I’m not saying that you will achieve progressive overload every workout during these three weeks but it does have to be your primary goal in the weight room, whether you make a PR or not.
You can use the 3 day template I have from my articles below;
For Men - Summer Shredding: The Guide To 10% Body Fat As A Beginner
For Women - The Truth About Getting ‘Toned’ As A Woman
If you are already on a 3-4 day weight training routine, stick with it.
We want to try to maintain performance and making lesser changes will help us do that.
Exiting The Protocol
Once you reach the end of you three weeks, this is what you’re supposed to do for the next 3-4 weeks.
Keep in mind that this is very important.
If you don’t exit the protocol properly, you risk regaining whatever weight you lost.
Nutrition: Bump your calories to new maintenance.
End weight (kg) x 2.2 x 14
End weight (lbs) x 14
*This is an approximation and will need to be adjusted based on how your weight reacts
The increase in calories will be primarily from carbs.
Cardio: Drop the 20-minute cardio sessions you are performing on your training days.
This means that you will only perform low intensity cardio on your rest days for 45-60 mins.
Training: You can move on to any program of your choice but I recommend you stick to the same routine you were using for the protocol for at least another 3-4 weeks.
Now that you will be eating more, you have a better chance of actually making progress on the exercises and I believe you should take complete advantage of this.
Feel free to add some extra volume but make sure that it isn’t random and that you track it on a workout to workout basis.
Once you go through this maintenance phase, you can enter into a lean bulk and continue building muscle.
If you plan on cutting further;
1. Continue the maintenance phase for another 2-4 weeks.
This means you need a minimum of 4 weeks of maintenance in total between the protocol and your next diet phase.
2. The next diet phase should not be aggressive like this protocol and should be a low to moderate deficit (up to a 500 calorie deficit per day).
That is about it.
Now you know everything you need to know to carry out the most aggressive mini cut ever.
You will make the best progress you have ever made if you execute the protocol as it is mentioned on paper.
Also, if you try and you do mess up, don’t be hard on yourself.
I hate that the ‘beast mode’ culture has been romanticized to such an extent that now everyone links their self worth to it.
Give it your best shot and if you fall off track, get back on it the next day.
Don’t think of this protocol as a short cut to getting ripped.
Remember, you have to treat fitness like a marathon and not a sprint.
Hope you liked this article and found it valuable.
If you have any questions, drop them below!
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