How to Get Ripped and Still Eat Your Favorite Foods
Many people take an extreme approach with their diet to get ripped. They cut out all their favorite foods and go on a very low-calorie diet just to get a shredded physique.
The truth is, you don’t have to do this. If anything, you’re doing more harm than good when you give up your favorite foods. For most people, this isn’t sustainable, and crash diets are anything but healthy for you.
Is it worth cutting out your favorite foods to be ripped?
Eating chicken and broccoli all day isn’t fun for anyone. I don’t know about you, but you couldn’t trade me the best physique in the world if it meant I had to give up my favorite foods.
Well, once you know what it takes to lose fat, you’ll know that you can whatever you want. To lose fat, it’s about the number of calories you consume.
Fat Loss
Fat loss always comes down to burning more calories than you take in. If you eat less and exercise more, you’ll lose weight.
Cutting calories out of your diet is what allows you to burn fat.
What you eat doesn’t necessarily matter if you’re in a caloric deficit. You can eat pizza, wings, chips, donuts, you name it, if you eat it and you’re still in a caloric deficit, then you’re still going to lose fat.
Now, that’s not to say to have a buffet every night and eat whatever you want. That’s because healthier foods are more nutrient-dense and fill you up with fewer calories than unhealthy foods.
But there’s nothing wrong with a little moderation.
Body Fat Percentage
To be ripped, you need to make sure you’re at the appropriate body fat percentage. You’ll need to be under 15% to be lean and under 10% to be ripped.
To me, 10-12% is the sweet spot because you’re pretty lean without taking things to the extreme.
At this body fat percentage, you can be pretty flexible with your diet as long as you’re controlling what you eat, hitting certain nutritional targets, and on a quality workout plan.
But for all you go-getters out there that want to be completely shredded, you’ll want to make sure in single-digit body fat to be ripped and shredded.
Just know it will come with a little more sacrifice.
You Can Eat Whatever You Want
To lower your body fat percentage to get ripped, you’ll need to make sure you’re putting your body in a caloric deficit. This is not going to be fun. You’ll be hungry.
But here’s the catch, you can still eat some of your favorite foods. As long as you make sure you’re hitting your calorie target for fat loss, you’ll be good.
How to Get Ripped With Intermittent Fasting
The best approach to hit your calorie target while allowing some room for bigger meals and your favorite foods is through intermittent fasting.
This is going a time without eating and allowing yourself to eat during a set window or after fasting for a while.
This is effective because it allows you to eat bigger meals and your favorite foods that are likely higher in calories than healthy foods and still hit a caloric deficit.
But you’ll want to monitor how much of your favorite foods you consume.
Intermittent fasting has also been shown to provide a host of benefits.
Benefits
- Increase HGH (human growth hormone) and Testosterone
- Suppressed appetite
- Bigger, more satisfying meals
- More mental clarity and concentration
- Increased longevity
HGH plays an important role in muscle growth. Studies link intermittent fasting to increase HGH.
Add intermittent fasting to your lifestyle, and you’ll find fat loss becomes a breeze.
Sometimes you’ll wonder how you indulged in that tub of ice cream last night and woke up the next morning leaner.
How to Get Ripped With Flexible Dieting
That’s where flexible dieting comes in. Flexible dieting allows you to eat whatever foods you want as long as you’re hitting your macros and calories.
If you’re eating the number of calories, protein, fat, and carbs your body needs, then no food is off the table.
Although you need to keep in mind that this is very hard to do if you don’t eat healthy most of the time.
So I recommend you eat healthy 80% of the time, and whatever you want 20% of the time.
Healthy foods contain lower calories and are more nutrient-dense than junk food. For example, sweet potatoes only contain 200 calories, but they’re satiating. You would need to eat like 800 calories of junk food to feel the same level of fullness.
There’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little cake here and there though. Just make sure you hit your total daily calories for the day.
Conclusion
You can get ripped and still enjoy your favorite foods.
Fat loss comes down to the calories you eat not the foods you eat.
Eating healthy foods does make your body function better and makes it easier to consume fewer calories, but you can still enjoy your favorite foods in moderation if you’re hitting the nutritional targets that put you in a caloric deficit.
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