Best Cutting Supplements

Written by John Dixon

Fact Checked by: Roger Thomas

Updated:

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Most people have to go through a cut at some point in their life. Laypeople might call them ‘diets’, but for athletes, bodybuilders, and gym bunnies, this doesn’t quite work. Your diet is what you eat, no matter what. A ‘cut’ is what you go through when you want to lose body fat whilst retaining muscle mass.

Why do this?

Well, quite simply, it’s hard to make athletic progress and elicit hypertrophy outside of a calorie surplus – you have to eat more than your body needs. We call this a ‘bulk’. Inevitably, though much of this extra intake will go to fueling adaptation, some will also be stored as body fat. 

For every bulk, there usually has to be a cut. This way you get to build muscle whilst keeping your bodyfat levels within healthy bounds.

Cutting

The only way to get a good cut going is to eat a calorie deficit – which means to eat less than your body needs in terms of energy. Preferably, you will do this whilst still keeping protein and fat levels quite high, so that you can maintain muscle mass and keep training hard. Broadly speaking, a daily deficit of 500 calories should lead to around a weekly weight loss of 1 lb, or 0.5 kg.

If you need 2400 calories per day to maintain your current weight, you should eat 1900 calories per day in order to lose a pound per week (or half a kilo). You can find your ideal number of calories using a simple online metabolic calculator.

This scales upwards. For instance, if you eat 1400 calories per day, you will lose two pounds, or a kilogram, per week.

This isn’t always a good idea. It especially isn’t if you need 2400 calories per day. Such a drastic cut will lead to muscle loss, as your body metabolizes your muscle for energy. However, if you need 3400 calories per day, for example, eating 2400 may be OK – this should be enough calories to allow you enough protein to maintain muscle, and so on.

You can build this deficit a couple of ways. Firstly, you can simply eat less. Secondly, you can do more, thus burning more calories.

A combination of the two is generally a good idea, especially if you’re already active – the calories you use through training will already be accounted for in your metabolic rate.

Keep this deficit in place and you’re onto a winner.

phenq bottle

PhenQ – Our No.1 Cutting Supplement

All of the supplements on our top 5 list are great for cutting, but PhenQ is our clear winner. It is affordable, highly effective and made from 100% natural ingredients. We have enjoyed some fantastic results when using it for fat loss.

Cutting supplements

However, there are a couple of issues with the cutting process. Firstly, although it is simple in principle, it is far from easy, to maintain a calorie deficit. Hunger pangs, energy dips, and an overall lack of satiation will make you want to eat more. Secondly, your body becomes more efficient at hoarding energy as fat – your metabolic rate will fall and you will struggle for energy as your body seeks to cling onto your fat reserves.

This is where the best cutting supplements can come into play. It should make that deficit easier to maintain, often keeping you feeling fuller for longer. Incidentally, many will help with digestive health, which often suffers under a calorie deficit as your fibre intake drops. A good cutting supplement should also optimize your metabolism, so that you burn body fat far more efficiently, allowing you to drop weight whilst keeping your energy levels high.

I always recommend that those going through cutting phases use some kind of cutting supplement. If you’re looking for a more comfortable, more achievable, and more efficient cut, you should go for one. More specifically, you should consider investing in something from the list below – the following are the best of the best, some of the top cutting supplements on today’s market.

Our Top Cutting Supplements

When it comes to fat loss we know a thing or two about supplementation. We have tested most of the products on the market. But when it comes to cutting, there is a more specific kind of product we need. Here we have compiled the best cutting supplements we could find and having tested each we are happy to endorse them.

PhenQ

phenq bottle

If we’re looking at the best of the best, we really need to start with PhenQ. Though it is quite new to the game, it is one of the top cutting supplements going.

It hits you from multiple angles. In fact, PhenQ’s makers claim that it represents a full five separate types of weight loss supplement, all in one. This is pretty much spot on. The formula is very clever, with everything designed with interplay in mind. All taken together, these disparate strands can help multiple systems to work at their best, all geared towards weight loss.

This isn’t too unique. As we will see, there are plenty of all-in-one cutting supplements out there. There are plenty of weight loss stacks. However, PhenQ simply does it incredibly well.

PhenQ should simultaneously optimize your metabolic health whilst also suppressing your appetite, which is where the main explicit weight loss benefits come in. It may also help by inhibiting your body’s ability to create new fat.

It also does a couple of things which will be very helpful in getting you through a decent cutting period. Firstly, it boosts your energy. When you are down 500 calories daily (calories being a unit of energy) you can feel pretty sluggish and un-athletic.

This boost is therefore very welcome.

Cutting can also be miserable, giving you a low mood which will impair your willpower. PhenQ is designed to lift your mood, which again is very welcome.

The main reason I like PhenQ so much, however, is its reverence for science and data driven design. Everything is very rigorously tested. All ingredients included are there because there is plenty of academic work backing them up. You would hope that this was common in the supplements industry. It isn’t, though. Unfortunately, it really isn’t.

PhenQ is a breath of fresh air in this respect. The formula is fantastic, elegant, and well dosed.

The main ingredients include caffeine, capsicum powder, and the amino acid l-carnitine fumarate, all of which should raise your metabolic rate, improve your mood, and give you more energy. Then there is chromium picolinate, which will aid your body in breaking down fat for usable energy.

You also get nopal cactus, one of the best fibre forms going. This will aid satiation and keep your digestive health exactly how you want it.

It’s one of the best by a country mile and is product that a number of our team members use at various points throughout the year.

CrazyBulk Cutting Stack

crazybulk cutting supplements

If you want a multi-pronged approach, you could do far worse than a full cutting stack.

By ‘cutting stack’, we mean a group of different supplements all sold together to achieve the same end through a variety of mechanisms. Crazy Bulk’s cutting stack is one of the best natural cutting supplements of its kind on the market.

You get four bottles, four different supplements, all designed to mimic the effects of popular steroids and SARMs in a healthy, natural way.

The first supplement you get is Testo Max.

Do note, this is only included in the male version of the stack. The female one skips this, as testosterone management isn’t such a big deal. It contains everything else in this list, though. Incidentally, if you are looking for female specific cutting supplements then check out our fat burners for women article.

Testo Max is a natural, yet still pretty potent, alternative to Sustanon, a common anabolic steroid widely seen in the untested bodybuilding scene. Sustanon brings about a great may benefits, spiking testosterone significantly. However, its side effects make it a write off, and it is illegal in tested athletic competitions.

Testo Max forgoes a little of Sustanon’s potency, but gives you the benefits without the risks. It should optimize your testosterone levels. In turn, this will make it easier for you to burn fat, build muscle, and maintain high athletic potential. It uses ingredients like Bioperine and D-aspartic acid to achieve this.

Then there is the energy-boosting Clenbutrol, a safe alternative to Clenbuterol and one of my favourites in Crazy Bulk’s arsenal. It includes ingredients like guarana extract and garcinia cambogia extract to give you an energy spike, making it a perfect pre-workout supplement. These ingredients also boost your metabolic function, allowing you to burn calories more efficiently.

Winsol comes next, an alternative to Winstrol, an anabolic steroid widely banned and condemned by most authorities. Winsol uses several ingredients to provide similar anabolic effects, including safflower oil powder, wild yam root, and acetyl-l-carnitine. Together, they should help to raise natural testosterone levels, boost fat loss, and help you to lose water weight.

Finally, we come to Anvarol. It is a natural, safe alternative to Anvar, another banned steroid. It includes ingredients like whey protein, ATP (adenosine triphosphate), soy protein, and yam root. The protein is included in too small a quantity to be of much use. However, the other ingredients will aid athleticism, boosting strength and power, whilst enabling for more efficient hypertrophy (muscle growth).

All told, this stack is one of the best, most well-rounded cutting support supplements available on today’s market. It should lead to improved energy levels, athletic capability, weight loss and hypertrophy. It isn’t cheap, all together, but there are some multi-buy discounts available, and it’s worth every penny.

Instant Knockout Cut

instant knockout front of packaging

I really like Instant Knockout Cut. It’s one of the most fun cutting supplements going. Trading on a violent aesthetic and an initial design aimed at martial artists, it comes as a fist-shaped bottle of 120 capsules.

It’s not the most important thing. You shouldn’t base your purchasing decisions on it. But it made me smile.

So, what should you base your purchasing decisions on? Put simply, Instant Knock Out’s fantastic formula.

It was designed for MMA fighters and boxers. The idea was that it could help them to get down to competition weight without having to sacrifice much by way of energy or performance. The design worked – it can do everything it claims and more.

They nailed it.

It’s not just for fighters, of course. I’m a multiple black belt and have used this during fight training. It worked very well, of course. However, I’m also a powerlifter and yogi. I’ve used Instant Knock Out during long periods of training in these disciplines, with no fighting at all. It is good for all athletes and dieters, anyone looking to cut without losing muscle mass or energy.

Instant Knockout Cut begins with a decent blend of essential vitamins and minerals, which you might otherwise miss on a restricted eating plan. There are also plenty of botanicals designed to give you energy and improved weight loss efficiency. These include usable doses of cayenne pepper, green tea extract, glucomannan, l-theanine, and caffeine.

Glucomannan is one of the best fibres going. It will aid satiation and keep your digestive health in good order. The rest will boost your energy levels, elicit a mild nootropic response (aiding brain health and cognition), and allow your body to burn through fat far more efficiently.

It is everything you need to lose weight with aplomb. 

Phen24

phen 24 bottle

Every item on this list is designed intelligently. Everything hits a few different avenues, one way or another. However, few supplements on the market are quite so clever as Phen24, one of the best fat burners going.

Phen24 comes as two separate supplements, two different pills to take at different times.

The first pill is similar to the other supplements on this list. It is a decent fat burner that should give you an energy boost whilst aiding your weight loss potential.

It should keep your metabolic health working optimally, inhibit the creation new fat cells, spike your energy levels, and keep you from feeling too hungry as you maintain your calorie deficit.

It uses ingredients that we have already seen – it gives you decent doses of guarana and caffeine, whilst including micronutrients proven to aid in weight loss, like iodine, copper, and zinc.

You take this pill in the morning. It should last you all day.

However, daytime is only a part of your weight loss journey.

This brings us onto the second pill, designed for night time use. This isn’t a fat burner, that’s not the point. Fat burning relies on boosting energy input and use. You need a higher metabolic rate, which is anathema to good sleep.

Rather, the night time pill includes ingredients like glucomannan, inspiring good digestive health and keeping you feeling full. There should be no temptation for midnight snacking when using Phen24. It also uses ingredients like plyridoxine HDL, ascorbic acid, thiamine, and chromium, which combine to improve sleep quality and normalize metabolic health.

I love it. It’s such a simple yet profound supplement, such a good idea. It’s great for anyone looking to cut. It’s particularly good for anyone who struggles with cravings during the night. 

PrimeShred

prime shred fat burner

PrimeShred, our final option, is an incredibly potent cutting supplement that falls foul of one of my biggest bugbears. It is marketed as being ‘for men’. This is silly. It works perfectly for women, too. It is great for anybody looking to lose body fat, maintain muscle mass, and keep their energy levels high.

It uses a 3-in-1 approach, attacking from multiple directions the same as everything else on this list.

Firstly, it is a great cutting supplement. It should increase the rate at which your body uses energy, optimizing your metabolic health and allowing you to chew through fat reserves. Secondly, it helps to manipulate your hormone balance into breaking down body fat.

Then there is the third prong, which I love. It would never occur to me to include something like this, yet it is wonderful.

PrimeShred has some solid nootropic credentials. It is designed to greatly enhance cognition and brain health. This makes it a great option for anybody who suffers from brain fog during a calorie deficit – which is plenty of us.

PrimeShred will allow you to stay focussed, switched on, creative, and alert, making the whole cutting process a lot more manageable and productive.

Many of the ingredients are pretty standard for this kind of product. You get a good kick of caffeine, green coffee, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. This will heighten your fat burning potential whilst giving you a decent amount of ready energy.

You also get 250 mg each of l-theanine and Rhodiola Rosea Root. These are known to optimize metabolic health. They are also often included in nootropic supplements, which is where the interesting part begins. They are both backed up by 150 mg of dimethylaminoethanol (DAME), which is there purely to improve your acetylcholine levels.

Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter. Raised levels lead to improved brain health and cognitive performance.

PrimeShred is on the pricey side. It’s worth it, though. It really can turn your life around if you’re struggling with your cutting phase. You also get a 100-day money back guarantee, with a no-questions refund, and they offer some multi-buy, bulk discounts, so it becomes a lot more economically viable quite quickly.

FAQs

What is a cutting phase and a bulking phase?

‘Cutting’ and ‘bulking’ don’t have specific definitions. There is a single approach to neither. However, we can define them quite broadly. In practical terms, a cut is a deliberate attempt to lose body fat whilst maintaining muscle mass. A bulk is a deliberate attempt to gain body weight, often but not always whilst trying to keep body fat gain to a minimum.

In turn, a cutting phase and bulking phase will be any period, usually several weeks or months, in which an athlete maintains a sustained effort to either cut or bulk.

What do bodybuilders use for cutting?

Bodybuilding cutting methods vary. Most of the variation will revolve around the kind of competitions in which they compete – tested or untested. Tested competitions will flag steroid use. They are typically only attended by natural athletes who don’t abuse steroids. Untested events will typically be attended by non-natural, or enhanced, athletes, who do abuse steroids.

Enhanced bodybuilders will use steroids during a cutting phase. Natural bodybuilders will rely on the kinds of products in our list above.

What gets you ripped?

‘Ripped’ generally means low body fat and moderate to high muscle mass, so that you can see the muscles under the skin. To get ripped, therefore, you need to build muscle and keep your body fat levels low. This means periods of lean bulking followed by periods of cutting.

When should I start my cutting phase?

You should cut whenever your body fat levels are at an unhealthily high level – more than around 15%, perhaps slightly higher for women. You shouldn’t cut when they are at an unhealthily low level – low single digits for men, high single digits for women.

If you are competing, have completed a bulking phase, and need to lean down, you should aim to begin your cut around 2-3 months before your competition. This should allow you to lose around ten pounds, or five kilograms, slowly, whilst keeping as much muscle mass as possible. Obviously, the more weight you have to lose, the earlier you should start – if you have more like 20 pounds to lose, give yourself more like 4-5 months.

Verdict

It’s hard to choose between the entries on this list. They are all very, very high-quality, well thought out cutting supplements. If you choose any of them, you will find your calorie deficit easier to maintain and more efficient, your athletic capability improving, and your ability to maintain lean muscle mass as you drop fat much improved.

If I were forced to choose, however, I would go with my first entry – PhenQ is one of the best cutting supplements going. It is arguably the best cutting supplement. You get a good all-rounder with it, excelling at nearly everything, with no downsides or pitfalls.

This being said, you might have specific needs. For example, PrimeShred is perfect for anybody who struggles with brain fog during a calorie deficit. Phen24 is perfect for anybody who struggles night time cravings.

However, if you’re looking for the best all-rounder, the best top-up during your cutting phase, PhenQ will serve you very, very well.

phenq bottle

PhenQ – Our No.1 Cutting Supplement

All of the supplements on our top 5 list are great for cutting, but PhenQ is our clear winner. It is affordable, highly effective and made from 100% natural ingredients. We have enjoyed some fantastic results when using it for fat loss.

Written by John Dixon

John is a personal trainer and part time (although he might say full time) writer here at PathMed. He uses his knowledge of fitness and physiotherapy to deliver real insight in to our reviews and health guides.

John’s military background also brings a real-life perspective to his work.