If you want to get a ripped body with chiseled abs but struggling with your diet, then you are at the correct place. This article will give you a science-based and result-oriented approach to your nutrition. But before that, here are some questions for you. Are you willing to:
- Eat rice and broccoli while the rest of your friends are eating fries?
- Take the daily hassle of counting your macros?
- Give up sugary drinks, junk food, high saturated fatty foods, and alcohol?
- Give up on late night parties and take a good sleep instead?
If you answered Yes to the above questions then congrats, you have enough willpower and dedication to build a shredded physique. So let’s see how should you approach your diet to get ripped.
How Important Is Your Diet To Get Ripped?
You must be lifting those heavy dumbbells and sweating every day for several months or maybe years. Along with this, you must be eating healthy foods, at least most of the time. Till now by doing this, you have gained several pounds of muscle and lost some fat also.
So, a healthy and decent physique with a significant amount of muscle mass. Most people get to reach this point after some experience of training. But getting a ripped and vascular physique with well-defined muscle anatomy is a different game altogether.
Now you want to take your physique to a different level to get visible abs and veiny arms. For that, you have to be very strict and disciplined with your diet.
No matter how hard you are training or how much weight you are lifting, a well-planned diet is the key to get ripped.
Why Diet Is So Crucial In Getting Ripped?
Well, you are lifting weights for a long time and you gained a decent amount of muscle mass but you don’t look well defined. The problem is FAT. The fat is over your muscles and underneath your skin all over the body. This fat is called subcutaneous fat.
Now, to get your abs visible and to show your veins popping out you have to reduce this thick layer of fat. In removing this stubborn fat to get ripped, diet plays a very crucial role.
You have to design your diet in such a way that you keep reducing that extra fat while maintaining the muscle mass.
As you don’t want to lose your hard-earned muscles. So your diet plan should contain enough protein and carbohydrates to support your muscles yet fewer calories to lose fat.
Three Steps For A Get Ripped Diet Plan
Here is a four-step guide to building a perfect diet plan for yourself to get a ripped and sexier version of yourself.😍
#1 Cut Your Calories Down
The way calories work is very simple. If you are consuming more calories than your requirement, your body will store those extra calories as reserved energy and you’ll get fat. On the other hand, if you eat fewer calories than you need, your body has to take energy from that energy reserve and you’ll lose fat.
So cutting your calories down is the first thing that you have to consider as you need to lose that extra fat.
But how many calories you should reduce?
Cutting calories is important but if you cut your calories too low then you might lose your muscle mass too. Some people do the mistake of restricting their calories too much that they almost starve themselves.
However, this helps in losing fat but they also lose a significant amount of muscle mass too. Researches show that trained individuals are more prone to lose their muscles compared to people with low muscle mass (1)(2).
So rather than starving yourself for instant results, the smarter approach to set up your calorie intake for getting ripped is to go on a moderate calorie deficit.
Hence, consume 300-500 fewer calories than your daily maintainance calories.
For instance, after checking your BMR, let’s say your daily calories requirement comes out to be 2500 calories. So the number of calories you need to eat daily should be in the range of 2000-2200.
BMR
BMR or basal metabolic rate is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight on the basis of your daily activity level.
#2 Set up Your Protein Intake
Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat, or do body recomposition, taking enough protein is always important. Protein is an essential macronutrient which your body can’t prepare on its own. Also, protein is the building block of muscles (3)(4).
So how much protein should be in your diet to get ripped?
Protein requirement majorly depends on your lean body mass and your current fitness goal. Several studies have shown that your body needs comparatively more protein while getting ripped (5).
0.9 – 1.3 g/lb (2 – 2.8 g/kg) of body weight is the optimal range of protein that should be in your diet for getting ripped.
For most people, 1 g/lb or 2.2 g/kg of body weight is good enough but if you are an advanced level athlete, then it is better to stick to the higher side.
In addition, a high protein diet reduces appetite which further helps you in maintaining a caloric deficit (6).
Try to get 30% of your calories from protein, or start your diet with 1 gm of protein per pound of bodyweight.
Related: 13 High Protein Foods To Gain Lean Muscle Mass
#3 Fix Your Fats
“Eating fat will make me fat?” No, if you eat in limit.
After protein, fat is the second most important macronutrient that you need to focus on. However, it is high in calories (1 gm fat = 9 calories) but it is very important for your joints, brain cells, hormones, and other functions.
According to the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, total fat intake should be 0.25-0.5 g/lb of bodyweight.
However, the type of fat also matters. Try to eat the healthier types of fat (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) more. And keep your saturated fat intake as low as 20 gm per day.
Some healthy sources of fats are peanuts, almonds, walnuts, seeds, avocado, etc. Keep your saturated fat intake (cheese, red meat, vegetable oil, etc.) to a minimum. Studies show that saturated are more likely to store in the body than unsaturated ones (7).
Take 20-30% of your daily calories from fats and opt for unsaturated ones.
#4 Add Healthy Carbs
Now after fixing your protein and fat intake, you can easily get how many carbs you need to eat daily.
After getting the calories from protein and fats, fill the rest of the calories with carbs.
Remember, all carbs are not the same. You can categorize them into two types:
- Simple carbs
- Complex carbs
Simple carbs digest quickly, spike insulin, and give instant energy. Whereas complex carbohydrates are low in GI (Glycemic Index). Due to which they don’t spike insulin, digest slowly, and keep giving energy for a longer time. Hence, less prone to store fat in your body.
Therefore, most of the time eat complex carbohydrates like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, sweet potato, vegetables, quinoa, etc. However, simple carbs are good in pre and post-workout meals.
Should you go on a no-carb diet?
To get a ripped physique, some people remove carbs from their diet or go on a keto diet. In my opinion, you don’t need to go on a zero-carb diet. It is not feasible and also not that beneficial.
Eat fewer carbs but don’t remove them completely as they are the primary energy source and important to fuel your workout.
A Sample Get Ripped Diet Plan
Let’s understand by creating a sample diet plan to get shredded using the above steps.
1. Start with setting up your daily calories:
- Let’s say Alex weighs 160 pounds and after calculating his BMR, his daily maintenance calories come out to be 2300.
- For caloric deficit, cut 300 calories.
- So his daily requirement is 2000 calories.
2. Protein:
- As an intermediate lifter, Alex decides to take 1 gm protein per pound of BW.
- Hence he needs 160 gm of protein daily (160 x 4 = 640 calories).
3. Fats:
- Now fat recommendation s 20-30% of total calories. Hence he decides to take 25% calories from fats.
- So 25% of 2000 = 500 calories from fat.
- As 1 gm fat contains 9 calories, therefore 500/9 = 55 gm of fat.
4. Carbohydrates:
- Now he has to fill the remaining alories with carbs.
- So 2000 – 500 – 640 = 860 calories from carbs.
- As 1 gm carbohydrate contains 4 calories, therefore 860/4 = 215 gm of carbs.
Hence, Alex’s macro distribution looks like this:
| Macro-nutrient | Amount | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 160 gm | 640 |
| Fats | 55 gm | 500 |
| Carbs | 215 gm | 860 |
Get Ripped Diet Plan – The Takeaway
Internet is filled with ready-made diet plans for muscle building, fat loss, getting shredded, etc. Well, there is no one size fits for. Every individual’s requirement is different based on his age, body type, fat percentage, metabolism, etc.
So don’t just blindly follow someone else’s meal plan. Instead, hire a nutritionist or build your diet plan according to your goals and feasibility.
This was the detailed and research-based article to build your diet plan to get ripped and shredded. You can start with the sample meal plan or you can take references from it and create your meal plan.
Read More: 12-Weeks Get Ripped Workout Plan
Thanks for reading so far. I hope you get something to learn by reading this article.
