Q: “I’ve found a lot of information referring to cutting steroids and cutting cycles and it’s really not clear to me what I need to do. Are there particular anabolic steroids that I really need to include if I’m cutting, or any that I particularly need to avoid?”

A: I haven’t found any great difference in fat loss between different anabolic steroids provided that estradiol is kept in the normal range and the total dosage of steroids is sufficient. There’s no steroid that must be included where cutting is needed, and no steroid that must be avoided.

Prior to proper estrogen control with antiaromatases such as letrozole or Arimidex, care ordinarily would be taken in cutting cycles to limit the amount of aromatizing steroids used. Particularly, testosterone and Dianabol would be limited, if used at all. So this resulted in their having a reputation of “not being cutting steroids.”

There were two factors involved here. First, estrogenic bloating could to the eye be confused with fatness. And second, abnormally high estrogen levels can make fat loss more difficult.

Where estradiol level is controlled with an antiaromatase or with a suitably balanced combination of steroids, then these are not issues, and testosterone becomes about as good for cutting as anything else. Dianabol also can aid fat loss quite well.

By suitably balanced, I mean of combination of aromatizing and non-aromatizing steroids where the total amount is sufficient for the desired anabolic effect, and the amount of aromatizing steroids is suitable to yield only normal estradiol levels. This typically would be between 100-300 mg/week, but good results can often be had with more than this, depending on the individual. Where for example a person already knows from experience that he suffers little or no noticeable adverse estrogenic effect from say 500 mg/week of testosterone, then that amount certainly can be included in a cutting cycle without need of an antiaromatase. But another person might even get gyno on 250 mg/week testosterone.

It’s certainly possible that some fat-loss differences remain between anabolic steroids, but even so this may only be dose related. For example, 50 mg/day trenbolone acetate is certainly better for cutting than 50 mg/day testosterone, but is it better than 150 mg/day testosterone? Probably not.

Basically, I’d say it’s not necessary to seek out particular anabolic steroids for fat loss. I would make the choice based on achieving desired positive effects with minimization of the side effects of personal concern, which can vary according to the situation.