Let’s say you’re going on a beach vacation, or you got invited to a wedding on short notice, or you have a special event that you’d really like to look good for cause you know your ex is gonna be there with their new boo and you wanna show that a-hole what they missed out on, but the date is fast approaching and your physique isn’t exactly where it needs to be.
The TIA Mini Cut is a temporary, extreme approach to drastically improve your physical appearance very quickly. It’s job is to take a 3-6 week period, and do some things that are hard and unsustainable in order to try to appear as lean as possible in the shortest amount of time.
HIGH TRAINING VOLUME
You want to maintain as much muscle mass as possible in a high cardio environment and a low food environment. To do this, you need to turn up the training volume to boost the muscle growth signaling in order to counteract the muscle loss signaling from so much cardio and so little food. So although you may still add a little bit of muscle in this time, the main goal is to just retain as much of the muscle you have as possible while you shred up.
HIGH CARDIO
You’re trying to burn as much fat as possible in a short amount of time. This target is ten thousand to twenty thousand daily steps. This can be done via conventional cardio on a treadmill, however, there are many ways to accumulate steps throughout the day:
Go for a walk while waiting to pick your child up from school, soccer practice, piano lessons, etc.
March in place or pace around during a conference call or while chatting with a friend on the phone (hit the mute button first if it's a work call).
Go for a walk on your lunch break with a coworker and after dinner each night with your family or a neighbor.
Walk to another restroom in your office building instead of using the one that is closest to you.
March in place or pace the room while waiting for your food to cook, brushing your teeth or watching TV.
Park farther away than you usually do at the mall or grocery store.
Walk a lap around the mall or grocery store before you start shopping.
Run errands during your lunch break instead of sitting at your desk.
Instead of calling, walk to your coworker's desk or work area.
Walk through your home each evening and tidy up any messes. Not only will you get more steps, you'll wake up to a less cluttered home.
Never take the elevator or escalator.
Skip the drive-thru at the bank, pharmacy or restaurant and walk inside instead.
Next time you're early for a meeting or appointment, climb the stairs or walk laps around the building for a few minutes.
Instead of meeting a friend for happy hour, go for a walk at the nearest park to catch up.
Next time you're at a theater performance or sporting event, walk around at intermission or halftime instead of remaining in your seat.
SIGNIFICANT CALORIE DEFICIT
Creating a sufficient calorie deficit and consuming an appropriate ratio of macronutrients is vital to a successful mini cut. A pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories. To lose one pound per week, you need a daily deficit of 500 calories (500 x 7 = 3500).
The aim is to lose 1.5-2% of your body weight per week. To establish your target deficit, calculate your suggested weekly weight loss percentage. For a 2% loss, you would multiply your body weight by 0.02. For a 1.5% loss, multiply by 0.015.
After calculating the weekly weight loss goal, multiply this by 500 to find your daily calorie deficit. Let me give you an example:
Becky is 48 years old, she's 5'4", 32% body fat, 160 lbs and on this mini cut is about to be very active putting her maintenance calories around 2430 calories. During this 6 week mini cut she aims to lose 2.4 lbs (1.5% of her weight) per week. To achieve this she needs a daily deficit of 1200 calories below her 2430 calorie maintenance. This was calculated as follows:
160 x 0.015 = 2.4 lbs per week
2.4 x 500 = 1200 caloric deficit per day
2430 - 1200 = 1230 calories per day diet
How you divide up these 1230 calories into your 3 macros (protein, carbs, fats) matters.
PROTEIN: It's imperative to eat enough protein to preserve muscle mass and manage hunger levels. 1 gram per pound of body weight will do the trick. Then multiply that by 4 to get recommended calories of protein, because protein has 4 calories per gram:
160 lbs x 1 = 160 g of Protein per day
160 x 4 = 640 calories from Protein per day
FAT: You should keep fat intake high enough to support critical hormone functions. 0.3 g per pound of body weight will do the trick. Then multiply that by 9 to get recommended calories of fat, because fat has 9 calories per gram.
160 lbs x 0.3 = 48 g of Fat per day
48 x 9 = 432 calorie from Fat per day
CARBS: The remaining calories left over after you subtract the allotted calories from proteins and fats will reveal how many carb calories you have per day. Then divide that by 4 to get recommended grams of carbs, because carbs have 4 calories per gram.
1230 - (640 + 432) = 158 calories left from Carbs.
158 / 4 = 39.5 g of Carbs per day
At the end of this 6 week mini cut, Becky should be approximately 146 lbs at 26% body fat which will look significantly different than her starting physique at 160 lbs at 32% body fat.
WHAT ARE THE DOWNSIDES?
It is REALLY hard.
Your hunger signaling is going to be VERY high.
Your energy levels will be VERY low.
It will require an ENTIRE week of lower volume, lower intensity training and eating at maintenance after.
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