Combining The Best Diet To Get Ripped Along With The Right Types Of Foods To Maximize Results
Earlier this month I wrote an article about how workouts to get ripped are different than mass building workouts. In this article I’d like to discuss what a good diet to get ripped should look like. The truth is that when it comes to getting ripped, shredded, cut or defined, your diet is even more important than your workout.
It almost doesn’t matter how hard you train, if you don’t eat right then you are not going to see the type of results that you’d like. And when it comes to getting ripped, eating a smart and healthy diet cannot be overlooked.
One of the most frustrating things when it comes to training is working your butt off and not getting the results you want. When it comes to getting toned and losing weight, more often than not it’s due to your diet, not your workout.
There are so many different diets out there that I honestly can’t (and don’t want to) name them all. Some of the most popular diets are famous for being extreme in some way. While many of these diets out there do contain smart or healthy aspects, they are far from an ideal diet to get ripped.
What A Diet To Get Ripped Should Focus On
To me, the most important aspect of a good diet is that you’ve got to be able to follow it and live it. I’m sure that this is where my opinion on what makes a good diet to get ripped may differ from others but I still believe that your diet should focus on how easy it is to follow.
Even if you can manage to drop 10-15 pounds of fat fast you still won’t be at your best. You’ve got to maintain that weight in order for your skin to catch up and tighten around your muscles.
There are too many crash diets out there and too many people who can’t, won’t and don’t follow them long enough to get the best results. It doesn’t matter how hard you workout, you have to eat right consistently in order to get ripped.
Main Aspects Of Dieting To Get Ripped
While it is extremely important to be able to easily follow a diet to get ripped and to be able to stay on course, it still should also include and exclude certain types of food — for the most part.
The types of food that you should avoid consist of refined grains. Yes, this even includes whole wheat.
What are “refined grains?”
“… refers to grain products consisting of grains or grain flours that have been significantly modified from their natural composition. The modification process generally involves the mechanical removal of bran and germ.” — Wikipedia
This may appear to be your typical no carb diet advice but it isn’t. Some carbs are good for you and you absolutely should eat them. What kind of healthy diet would tell you not to eat fruits and vegetables just because they contain some amount of carbohydrates in them?
In addition to eating fruits and vegetables there are other acceptable types of carbs such as quinoa, oats and even rice. The main idea is to stay away from refined and processed foods that have very little nutritional value.
The majority of your diet should focus then on protein, healthy fats and healthy cards. Here is list of what this will generally look like.
- Meat
- Fish
- Eggs
- Vegetables
- Fruit
- Nuts
- Seeds
Even still, just by eating only these foods alone does not guarantee that you will get ripped. There is a method to how and when you should eat these foods that will seriously maximize your results.
How To Actually Diet To Get Ripped
Since merely eating “allowed” foods and avoiding “non allowed” foods will not get you ripped, what’s the strategy? If you’ve been reading up on the latest and most effective dieting and fitness strategies then chances are that you’ve heard of the diet based on intermittent fasting — Eat Stop Eat.
This is the most used diet by all of my fitness colleagues because it works. Not only is it a maintainable diet program, but it also allows you to turn it up when you want to lean out and drop those last pounds of fat.
Another great advantage to this diet is that because of the massive calorie deficit that you create by performing 16-24 hour fasts 1-2 times a week, you can get away with eating a little more of the “non allowed” foods.
If you are at a sticking point or trying to shed those last few percents of body fat though, then I’d recommend eating the “healthier” foods only. In fact, this is the exact route I take when trying to shed fat and get ripped. To me, one of the best diet combos is to follow a healthy and “clean” eating plan combined with intermittent style fasts like the Eat Stop Eat diet lays out.
If you’re concerned that you’ll lose muscle, or to learn more about the Eat Stop Eat diet checkout this article on fasting to lose weight. The truth is that when done correctly, this type of dieting actually preserves muscle. And due to these intermittent style fasts, your body responds similarly to the way it would respond to exercising. Checkout this real quick video to see what I’m saying.
No matter what your approach and your preferred diet to get ripped looks like though, you’ve got to be willing to stick with it. The leaner you are, the harder it can be to lose those last few pounds of fat.
Tatianna
September 5, 2011 @ 1:30 am
I’ve been really enjoying your blog, I did try the intermitted fasting but I couldn’t go through with it, not eating was making me extremely irritable.
Kevin
November 1, 2011 @ 11:10 am
It definitely can take some getting used to. If you ever feel like giving it another shot, checkout these intermittent fasting tips that I put together as well as some of the comments from other readers.
jason
June 4, 2012 @ 10:41 pm
Love the site… I am doing hybrid of p90x and insanity… Visual impact is next… I drop so far from 25% to 16% and I just started eat stop eat… My question to you is… I am doing two fasts a week and eating low carb diet in between with one cheat meal on Sunday…do you do once a week cheat meals? I am going to the beach in five weeks and I am hoping to get down to 9-10%
Charles m
March 9, 2017 @ 5:46 pm
I’m looking to lose about twenty pounds but I really wanna tone and get my six pack back and my chest and arms bigger I just joined the gym and need a diet and work out plan can you help??