I think the protein argument for cutting is an interesting one.
The following is probably total bro science, but it has been my experience from a number of training protocols and cutting efforts over many years.
My experience has been that it is much harder to lose denser muscles, built with heavier work over a long period of time, than it is to lose muscle that you've gained through pump work and force feeding.
I dare say that with a bodybuilder's attitude, discipline, and micromanagement of diet, my own experience would be negated. However, for me personally, I don't live that kind of lifestyle, nor do I want to. I like to eat with other people, I like a varied diet, I don't like to force-feed myself, nor do I want to go out to a restaurant and count calories in my lettuce. I like to eat 3 meals per day, and I don't like to sacrifice cognitive performance or be distracted by something as needless as hunger simply to maintain a fast.
Despite all that it is possible to get down to a conditioning level that most would describe as very lean whilst holding reasonable amounts of muscle simply through portion control. If this is the kind of lifestyle you lead, I think that muscle built with compound lifts, with most of the lifting done in a moderate rep range (3-8) is more favourably spared when the total quantity of food, and the total quantity of protein, is cut back.
It's very unexciting, but for a normal healthy guy, with normal genes, and a life that is not structured with lifting as the number one priority, the best way (and probably the only way you need) to lose weight, is simply to eat smaller portions, without restricting any particular food group/macro. If you can eat moderately enough that you are hungry without feeling like you're going to gnaw your arm off an hour or so before your next meal, then you'll probably find the weight comes off consistently right down to the point your abs are visible in outline, if that's a goal you're working towards.
If you're not trying to get abs on show lean, then I personally think all these professional diets, that restrict good fats, or valuable (and delicious) carbs simply to prioritise some chicken breast are wholly unnecessary. Reduce portion size, cut any sugar unless it's the occasional pudding - no big deal, and eliminate regular boozing. If you do this and exercise hard and regularly (Jack Lalanne's advice on exercising - to run as though you are being chased by a bear etc, is as ever, the wisest and best for body composition too), it is actually pretty difficult not to be lean.
The following is probably total bro science, but it has been my experience from a number of training protocols and cutting efforts over many years.
My experience has been that it is much harder to lose denser muscles, built with heavier work over a long period of time, than it is to lose muscle that you've gained through pump work and force feeding.
I dare say that with a bodybuilder's attitude, discipline, and micromanagement of diet, my own experience would be negated. However, for me personally, I don't live that kind of lifestyle, nor do I want to. I like to eat with other people, I like a varied diet, I don't like to force-feed myself, nor do I want to go out to a restaurant and count calories in my lettuce. I like to eat 3 meals per day, and I don't like to sacrifice cognitive performance or be distracted by something as needless as hunger simply to maintain a fast.
Despite all that it is possible to get down to a conditioning level that most would describe as very lean whilst holding reasonable amounts of muscle simply through portion control. If this is the kind of lifestyle you lead, I think that muscle built with compound lifts, with most of the lifting done in a moderate rep range (3-8) is more favourably spared when the total quantity of food, and the total quantity of protein, is cut back.
It's very unexciting, but for a normal healthy guy, with normal genes, and a life that is not structured with lifting as the number one priority, the best way (and probably the only way you need) to lose weight, is simply to eat smaller portions, without restricting any particular food group/macro. If you can eat moderately enough that you are hungry without feeling like you're going to gnaw your arm off an hour or so before your next meal, then you'll probably find the weight comes off consistently right down to the point your abs are visible in outline, if that's a goal you're working towards.
If you're not trying to get abs on show lean, then I personally think all these professional diets, that restrict good fats, or valuable (and delicious) carbs simply to prioritise some chicken breast are wholly unnecessary. Reduce portion size, cut any sugar unless it's the occasional pudding - no big deal, and eliminate regular boozing. If you do this and exercise hard and regularly (Jack Lalanne's advice on exercising - to run as though you are being chased by a bear etc, is as ever, the wisest and best for body composition too), it is actually pretty difficult not to be lean.