Yes, keeping your carbs high can help you cut, as long as you stay in a calorie deficit. Most people drop their carbs and push up fat and protein when they lean out. On a recent podcast, Dario explained why he did the opposite: he went from 113.6 kg to 96.5 kg in 19 weeks and held on to nearly all his strength in the gym. His biggest surprise was that the high carbs were what made the difference.
Do more carbs actually help you cut?
Yes. As long as you are in a calorie deficit, carbs help you hold on to strength and muscle while you cut. They keep your glycogen stores topped up, and full glycogen is what lets you keep performing in the gym.
Dario puts it simply: carbs are the most important thing during a cut, and they should stay as high as your deficit allows. The idea that you have to cut carbs to lose fat just isn’t right. Fat loss comes from the calorie deficit, not from dropping any single macronutrient. Within that deficit, you get to choose where your calories come from.
How many carbs during a cut?
Keep them as high as you can inside your deficit. Dario aimed for at least 400 g a day and preferred to sit between 450 and 500 g. When he dipped below that, he felt it straight away: his sessions got noticeably harder.
To find your own number, lock in your protein and fat first, then spend whatever calories are left on carbs. The more room you leave for carbs, the better you’ll perform.
Why your fats can go lower
This is the heart of the approach. A lot of people keep their fats high out of worry about their hormones and testosterone, which forces them to slash their carbs. Dario flipped that. He kept his fats deliberately low, around half a gram per kilo of bodyweight, with the odd day up to 0.7 g. For someone at 100 kg, that’s roughly 50 to 70 g of fat a day.
His reasoning: you need fat for sleep and hormone function, but much above that it does little for you. Anything you save there can go into carbs, which you’ll actually feel in the gym.
Protein: usually not the problem
Protein is rarely the bottleneck. Almost anyone training seriously is already eating plenty, often too much. Dario ran 200 to 220 g of protein a day, down from the 250 to 270 g he’d used on earlier cuts. Trimming it slightly left more room for carbs.
The practical takeaway: don’t assume more protein is always better. Enough protein plus high carbs usually beats loads of protein plus very few carbs. On a budget this helps too, since protein powder is one of the pricier items in the trolley, and you rarely need as much as you think.
When to eat your carbs
On a cut, timing matters more. You don’t have a huge carb load banked from the day before, so your glycogen tends to run closer to empty. Dario’s rule of thumb is to take at least 0.6 g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight before training, and to make it real carbs for fuel rather than a shake or a tub of yoghurt.
After the session, he tries to get both protein and carbs in within an hour to refill glycogen. His logic is straightforward: if something can have a neutral-to-positive effect and does no harm, he’ll just do it.
How big should your deficit be?
Dario held a deficit of about 1,000 calories a day from start to finish, which worked out to roughly 800 g of fat loss a week, his sweet spot. He started near 3,300 calories and finished around 3,000, so across 19 weeks he only dropped his intake by about 200 calories.
A common mistake, he says, is cutting your calories while everything is going well. If you’re losing fat steadily and keeping your strength, there’s no reason to change anything. Adjust based on your results, not out of habit.
A cut versus going low-carb
Dario only went properly low-carb for a very short spell at the very end, to look full and sharp on the day, not as a strategy for the whole run. Cutting carbs too fast or too far often backfires. Your strength drops, your sets get sloppier, and you risk losing muscle.
There’s another catch: eat too little for too long and you can turn into a bit of a zombie, moving less for the rest of the day and burning less overall. The deficit you win on paper, you hand back in laziness.
How strength becomes your compass
The most important gauge on a cut is your strength in the gym, not the scale on its own. Dario tracked every set: how many reps he hit, how he performed that week. One important nuance: not every lift that feels harder means you’re losing muscle. Some lifts, like the bench press, get tougher simply because you’re 17 kg lighter and the bar has further to travel. That’s leverage, not muscle loss.
But if you’re losing reps across almost everything, that’s a signal, most likely too few carbs, too big a deficit, or poor recovery. That’s your cue to adjust.
Frequently asked questions
How many carbs should I eat while cutting?
Keep them as high as your deficit allows. On the podcast, Dario aimed for at least 400 g a day, ideally 450 to 500 g. A practical way to do it: lock in your protein and fat first, then fill the rest of your calories with carbs.
Is low-carb better for fat loss than eating plenty of carbs?
Not really. Fat loss comes from the calorie deficit, not from cutting carbs. Too few carbs on a cut often costs you strength in the gym and can lead to muscle loss. Many people hold more muscle on higher carbs with slightly lower fats.
When is the best time to eat carbs during a cut?
Around your training. The rule of thumb from the podcast is at least 0.6 g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight before you train, plus protein and carbs within an hour afterwards. Because glycogen runs down faster on a cut, that timing matters more than it does on a bulk.
How big should my deficit be to lose fat without losing muscle?
Dario ran a deficit of around 1,000 calories a day, worth roughly 800 g of fat loss a week. A smaller deficit also protects muscle but takes much longer. Too big a deficit raises the risk of losing strength and muscle.
How do I know if I'm losing muscle on my cut?
Watch your strength in the gym. A few reps down on leverage-dependent lifts like the bench press is normal as you get lighter. But if you’re losing reps on almost every exercise, that points to too few carbs, too large a deficit, or poor recovery.
Do I have to keep my fats low if I want my carbs high?
Yes, that’s the trade-off. You need fat for sleep and hormones, but beyond that it adds little. Keeping your fats around half a gram per kilo of bodyweight leaves more room for carbs, which you’ll feel directly in the gym.
