---
title: 'Cutting Foods Tier List (Simplified)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=kYc9lAaEM8k'
video_id: 'kYc9lAaEM8k'
date: 2026-08-01
duration_sec: 637
---

# Cutting Foods Tier List (Simplified)

> Source: [Cutting Foods Tier List (Simplified)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kYc9lAaEM8k)

## Summary

This video ranks foods into tiers based on how well they support fat loss and muscle retention. It covers meat, fats, veggies, dairy, carbs, fruit, and plant proteins, with practical tips for staying full and avoiding diet killers.

### Key Points

- **Lean meats are top-tier** [00:02] — Lean meat like chicken breast, turkey breast, and lean fish are incredible for weight loss because they pack a ton of protein while being super low calorie.
- **Fattier cuts depend on your calorie budget** [00:28] — Fattier cuts still give good protein, but their calorie density makes them hard to fit into a diet. If hunger is a battle, fatty cuts are self-sabotage; they should be eaten only in moderation.
- **Avoid trail mix** [01:08] — Trail mix is marketed as healthy but is a diet killer. One or two handfuls can reach 1,000 calories because it's mostly candy and nuts, making portion control nearly impossible.
- **Egg whites are a protein hack** [02:01] — Egg whites have one of the best calorie-to-protein ratios, making them ideal when you need extra protein without many calories to spare.
- **Healthy fats: crucial but calorie-dense** [02:26] — Avoiding all healthy fats harms hormones, but they take up a huge portion of daily calories. Better to source fats from voluminous foods like fatty fish or whole eggs rather than pure oils.
- **Veggies keep you full** [03:29] — Most vegetables have negligible calories, so you can eat as much as you want and never be hungry. Volume tricks like zucchini noodles mixed into spaghetti more than double portions without many extra calories.
- **Never drink liquid calories** [05:29] — Sugary soda, energy drinks, and 2,000-calorie coffees are diet destroyers. Zero-sugar caffeinated beverages are good because caffeine is an appetite suppressant.
- **Dairy: choose low-fat versions** [06:09] — Full-fat dairy wastes calories for no reason, leaving you hungrier. Low-fat dairy is a solid protein source and belongs in the incredible tier.
- **Carbs are flexible filler fuel** [06:35] — After calculating protein and healthy fats, fill the remaining calories with any carb source you like. Rice, oats, potatoes, and pasta are basically the same, so pick your favorite.
- **Fruit beats candy when prepared** [07:43] — Fruit is tasty and healthy, but laziness gets in the way. Make fruit as easy to grab as a candy bar, prepping it in advance to prevent binge eating.
- **Combine plant-based proteins** [08:39] — Most plant proteins are incomplete alone, lacking some essential amino acids. Combining sources like soy, beans, and lentils creates a complete protein that builds muscle as well as animal protein.
- **Avoid fast food, candy, and cereal** [09:45] — Fast food and candy belong in the bottom tier. Cereal and granola are often falsely marketed as healthy but still pack around 400 calories per 100 grams.

## Transcript

where we will rank foods based on how good they are for getting lean and mean. are the best, losing weight will become 1,000 times easier. For this tier list, we have four different tiers, and I will do my best to make sure that you
decision. So, let's get it underway. First, let's move the most obvious thing out of the way. Lean meat like chicken breast, turkey breast, or some kind of lean fish are obviously incredible for losing weight because they pack a ton of
protein while being super low calorie, which as you will start to notice is when losing weight. So, lean meat goes into the incredible tier, which then fattier cuts of meat?" Here, it really kind of depends. You are still getting a
good amount of protein, which is really important on a diet, but the calorie meat might be so high that you might find it really difficult to fit into your diet. So, the conclusion is this: If you can fit your preferred cut of
meat into your diet, then more power to you. Go right ahead. But if you are really battling with hunger and you wish you could eat more food, then going for fattier cuts of meat instead of leaner cuts is just a pure self-sabotage. You
can consume fattier cuts of meat on a diet, but only in moderation. Next up, consuming at all when you are trying to lose weight, and that is trail mix. While the food companies try their best to market it as a healthy snack, this
will just blow up your diet before you are even able to realize what happened. You take one handful, two handfuls, and before you know it, you consumed a 1,000 calories. This is an absolute diet killer because it's super easy to eat,
to cope and say, "But it has healthy fats." And I mean, sure, it has some nuts, but it's also mixed with a ton of candy. And if we are being honest, you don't give a damn about the nuts. You just want to eat the candy. And this
excuse for you. Healthy fats are of course really important, and we'll get to that later, but there is absolutely no world in which you should be getting your healthy fats on a diet from trail mix. So, you already know you should
completely avoid trail mix. Now, let's talk about something super great, and that is egg whites. Egg whites have one of the best calorie to protein ratios. So, if you find yourself in a situation where your diet needs some more protein,
but you don't really have many calories to spare, egg whites should be your incredible tier. But, while we are still on this topic, let's talk about eggs right away. And not just eggs, but healthy fats as a whole. Healthy fats
are super important to keep yourself healthy. If you avoid all healthy fats, your hormones will just go into the bin. But, the problem on a diet is that healthy fats can take up a super big portion of your daily calorie intake.
So, it puts you in this weird spot where you need healthy fats, but it's very diet. My best recommendation to resolve this issue would be to consume healthy fat sources that are more voluminous and more filling. For example, on one of
your days, you replace the lean chicken breast for lunch with some fatty fish. before-mentioned egg whites for breakfast, mix in a couple of eggs. Doing things like that doesn't really feel like you are sacrificing a lot of
your daily calories to get your healthy fats in, because you still get to eat a better than, for example, putting a because you quite literally don't even feel like you got something in return.
There is no extra volume, and it just feels like you threw 120 calories out of healthy fats are absolutely crucial, they should just be consumed in moderation. What is also absolutely crucial is the new beginner bundle. It's
nutrition, and a cardio plan. It will teach you the basics of each category and set up your future success. To learn more about the beginner bundle, click the first link below. All right, next up we have veggies. And I know what you're
thinking. Yeah, yeah, eat your veggies, blah, blah. But, almost everyone thinks already learned that in the kindergarten. Eat your veggies because they're healthy. And while this is certainly true, this fact doesn't really
mom told you to eat carrots so that you have better eyesight, you didn't really care, did you? But what if I, as your father right now, told you to eat carrots so that you are not so brutally hungry all the time? That starts to
pique your interest at least a little bit, right? What you have to realize is that everyone is hungry on a diet. You are not special, but the difference is that some people know how to stay satiated and some don't. And that's
succeeds and the other one fails miserably. And I, as your newly because no one else will. Because if you hungry, it's only your fault. Because most veggies have basically negligible
calories, so you can eat as much as you want and you will never be hungry again. You just need a little bit of that knowledge to succeed. Imagine this. You take zucchini, grate it into noodle shapes, and then mix it in with your
spaghetti. Just like that, you can more than double the portion of food really increasing the calorie amount in any significant way. The food portion might even be able to finish it. And if anything says I'm not hungry anymore,
then it's definitely an unfinished plate of food. I, for example, make a gigantic bowl of salad each day and just eat as much as I want, and I am quite literally finding the veggies you enjoy. If you don't like eating like a rabbit, then
you don't have to. I also wouldn't want to eat only leaves. My go-to is tomatoes seasoning. Find your go-to veggies and never be hungry again. So, as you incredible tier. Now [clears throat] that you have heard about what you
should do on a diet, let me show you what you absolutely should not. And that is consume liquid calories. I can't even describe how wrong that is. Doesn't matter if it's sugary soda, energy drinks, or a 2,000-calorie coffee from
Starbucks. Drinking your calories on a diet should be considered a crime. In fact, I will lock you up myself if I see any of that going on. There is plenty of sugar-free options if you want to enjoy a fun drink. Plus, once you realize that
caffeine is an appetite suppressant, having a zero sugar caffeinated beverage is a pretty good idea. So, avoid all sugary drinks at all costs, but the zero calorie beverages are absolutely incredible. Now, let's take a look at
dairy. Here, it is really simple. On a diet, you want to go exclusively for the low-fat variations of the product. Full-fat dairy is just a stupid idea because that once again just wastes calories for no reason, which just means
that you will be able to eat less food overall and that you will be hungrier faster. Dairy is a good source of protein. Just be careful about what version you are buying. So, low-fat dairy goes into the incredible tier and
full-fat dairy goes into the avoid tier. Now, let's take a look at the most common carb sources. I'm talking like rice, oats, potatoes, and pasta. To to rank these foods, you first need to understand the role the carbs play in
your diet. To absolutely simplify it, carbohydrates on a diet are basically a filler macronutrient that is just used for fuel. You know, you have certain amount of calories you can eat per day. So, first you calculate your protein
intake and then you eat that amount. That takes away a certain amount of calories. Then you also factor in some healthy fat sources. That will also take away some calories. These two things are absolutely necessary in any diet and
after you assign these two things, you will be left with some calories with you want to, which most commonly is just carbs. So, you just pick your favorite carb source and put it into your diet.
these foods, they are basically just the same thing that looks a little different one you like the most. These carb sources are completely fine to finish off your diet. Now, let's talk about fruit. You already heard my rant about
veggies and fruits are in a similar position. I feel like once you realize how tasty fruit is, you don't even have a reason to buy some candy in the store anymore. The main problem here is just laziness and not being prepared enough.
eat a juicy strawberry instead of a candy bar or something. But the problem is that the candy bar is much easier to just grab and go. Fruit can be an actually making it effective is
something sweet, you can just instantly grab it and eat it like if you took a candy bar from your secret stash. You already know that if the strawberries not going to wait until they are ready to eat. You will just eat some garbage
instead. So make the fruit easily accessible and always ready to go, the same way a candy bar would be. That way you not only stay healthy, but you also prevent any binge eating. So fruit is most definitely incredible. Now let's
take a look at plant-based protein sources. You already know that meat and dairy are incredible protein sources because they are complete proteins, meaning they contain all the essential amino acids in high quantities so that
your body can take them all and build as much muscle as possible, which is not protein sources. That's why I bundle these foods into one category because they are very similar. I'm talking about foods like soy, beans, lentils, etc.
There is no question about that. But if your main goal is building the maximum amount of muscle, you need to know this one crucial thing. Most plant-based they are either missing some of the essential amino acids or they are
present in a lower amount than you would need, which means that you could be only happens if you would eat the plant-based protein source as a standalone meal. Once you combine multiple plant-based sources together,
[snorts] the amino acid profile. And once that happens, they are a complete protein that will help you build as much muscle as you can. So, when combined, these plant-based sources are completely fine. Now, let's rapid-fire some of the
things you should completely avoid on a diet. First, fast food. For obvious reasons, this goes to the bottom tier. Same with any type of candy. There is no need for that. Just make yourself a nice fruit snack instead. And lastly, cereal
or granola. This often gets marketed as a healthy option. You know how it is. Green packaging with all natural in big letters. Unfortunately, saying that it's all natural doesn't mean anything. And it probably still has like 400 calories
per 100 g. And with numbers like that, you can just eat a chocolate bar instead I hope you learned something. Don't forget to check out the beginner bundle luck with your diet, and I will see you next time.
surely like this one, too. >> [music]