Getting ripped involves building muscle and dropping body fat through a caloric deficit to showcase the muscle.
Why spend months or even years in the gym, tirelessly lifting weights to build muscle mass, only to have it concealed beneath layers of fat? Losing body fat is critical to showing off your ripped physique. And getting ripped starts with a meal plan.
Getting a ripped physique is not just about hitting the gym; proper nutrition is equally important. Attaining a shredded physique often requires conscious monitoring of both quantity and quality of food intake. As they say, “abs are made in the kitchen.”
What Is Getting Ripped?
Getting ripped is simply showcasing the muscles you’ve built. To do this, you would go into a cutting phase after bulking to lower body fat levels. For men, this is a body fat range of about 6-13%, while for women, you need a body fat of 14-20%.
Factors That Affect Your Speed of Getting Ripped
Getting ripped depends on your weight, gender, body fat percentage, or even your experience level in the gym. If you are already at a healthy weight, getting ripped might not take long. Sometimes, even slightly overweight people with a decent amount of muscle mass might get ripped soon after trying. However, it might take longer if you are severely overweight or don’t have much muscle mass because you’ll need to lose more fat and build some muscle.
Depending on your experience level in the gym, your body might have adapted to your training program if you have been training for a while. Newbie gains are real and often mean people who are new to training might show progress faster. Despite your lifting experience level, combining your training with the right meals is critical if getting ripped is your end goal.
Qualities of an Effective Getting Ripped Meal Plan
Most times, people need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat and get their ripped muscles to show. However, you must also eat in a calorie surplus to build muscle. That’s why it’s recommended to clean bulk and then cut. Regardless, you’ll need the right carbs, proteins, and fat balance to do this. Below are more qualities of an effective getting-ripped meal plan.
High Protein Low Fat
The most effective getting ripped fast plan will have high protein content and low fat. You need the protein to build lean muscle mass. For most active people, you should get about 12% to 15% of your energy from protein (1). But you can consume one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight if maximum muscle growth is your goal. For example, someone who weighs 180 pounds would want to consume around 180 grams of protein.
Three to Six Meals in a Day
A meal plan to get ripped would be easiest to follow and sustain, including three to six meals daily, spacing your protein throughout the day, and eating every three hours. After strength training, you should consume a protein-rich meal to maximize protein synthesis.
The Right Nutrients
You should get nutrients from the right source, even when restricting your calories. This plays a key role in how your food is used and optimizing energy levels, performance, and health. Nutritious food choices help you meet your body’s vitamin and mineral needs.
For example, the protein sources for your meal plan should be lean meats, poultry, egg whites, and fish. Your food should also include fresh vegetables and fruits. Eating whole grains and low-fat dairy is also very helpful.
Get Ripped Fast with This Meal Plan
As mentioned, you must be in a caloric deficit to lose body fat. However, you shouldn’t get too much of these from carbs. Time your carbs before you train to get energy and after you train to replace the energy lost. This is one of the ways to ensure all the energy you consume goes towards your muscles and isn’t stored as fat.
You should also consume protein during your workouts to help you build muscle. A protein shake could be handy as your pre-, intra, or post-workout drink. It’s also important to stay consistent with your diet, even on rest days when you’re not training.
Breakfast
Your breakfast should be rich in proteins and give you enough carbs to start your day with energy. Egg whites are good for protein that you can fry, scramble, or make as an omelet, and oats are rich in carbs, protein, and fiber. There is also whole-grain bread, which is a healthy source of carbs and even higher in protein than other kinds of processed bread.
Oatcakes with hummus are a great option for a snack between breakfast and lunch. You can also eat apples as they are fruits rich in antioxidants for optimal health.
Lunch
- 150g of Turkey
- Swiss Cheese
- Salad
- Bread (Whole Grain)
Lunch is another high-protein affair where you can have turkey and Swiss cheese. Adding a salad will bring in some vegetables and supply your body with micronutrients. You can then top it off with whole-grain bread for carbs.
As a snack after lunch, you can have a protein shake. Since this is usually after you’ve done your workout or shortly before, it’ll help boost your muscle growth. Add some citrus fruits and black coffee to top it off. This trial on athletes showed that coffee helps post-workout recovery when consumed with carbs (2). Since coffee also has caffeine, it can be consumed pre-workout to boost workout performance.
Dinner
- 150g of Chicken
- 150g of Brocolli
- 150g of Brown Rice
You can have stir-fried chicken, broccoli, and brown rice for dinner. Chicken is an excellent source of proteins, and broccoli is a vegetable with lots of vitamins. Brown rice is a good source of carbs as it is unprocessed. For your after-dinner snack, you can consume another protein shake and some yogurt before you call it a night.
Getting ripped involves building muscle and then dropping body fat to reveal the muscle. You can build muscle in the gym with proper nutrition, including ample protein and calories. Then, you’ll want to enter a caloric deficit with high-quality foods to showcase your well-earned muscle mass. Consuming the meals in this meal plan — so long as it aligns with your nutrition targets based on your weight and body fat — will make getting ripped a breeze!
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References
- Phillips S. M. (2004). Protein requirements and supplementation in strength sports. Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.), 20(7-8), 689–695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2004.04.009
- Loureiro, L. M. R., Dos Santos Neto, E., Molina, G. E., Amato, A. A., Arruda, S. F., Reis, C. E. G., & da Costa, T. H. M. (2021). Coffee Increases Post-Exercise Muscle Glycogen Recovery in Endurance Athletes: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Nutrients, 13(10), 3335. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103335
