Did you ever think what it would be like to be 'that' guy? The guy you see at the beach, in a bar, in a magazine, or doing some egotistical video on Instagram with his top off... The guy that is absolutely shredded. He is so lean you can see every line in every rippling muscle, it's like an anatomy chart got shrink wrapped and then walked down the road.
If you've ever thought about trying to look that like guy then you're in the right place. In my last article, The Real Truth To Getting Shredded Part One, I wrote about the first steps you need to take in order to be ready to get ripped. It was all about the groundwork. You must get your training, muscle mass, food and rest to an optimum. Once this is in place you're ready to rock. A word to the wise, trying to get really lean or even basic fat loss without even attempting to sort yourself first, will ultimately be futile and will yield little to no results.
Let's assume you did read the last article. Now you should be champing at the bit and ready to get ripped, so let's see how to do it. First thing, do nothing. I don't literally mean do nothing, I mean just stay exactly the same for two weeks. Normal food, normal exercise. Take note of your weight and take a naked selfie, then, do it again in two weeks. Doing this will ensure you've achieved energy balance. You don't want to be losing or gaining weight at the start of your cut phase. This is critical as it gives you the ideal start point and means every time you change something it'll make a difference.
Once you've established energy equilibrium you can make a dent into the fat. The first step is to cut the crap. As much as you think you stick to your diet plan, you don't. There is always that cheeky Nando's, some chocolate, or finishing your child's left-overs. These tidbits all add up. You need to stick to your plan exclusively. This will be the first reduction in calories and you'll definitely see a drop in fat mass. Most people underestimate their calorie intake when you're not paying attention. It may also seem a bit extreme or boring to cut out the nice foods but remember this is a 'getting ripped' plan not a 'lose a bit of gut' plan.
The 'cut the crap' phase will last the duration of your diet. There isn't room for eating nutritionally poor foods. You should only give your body what it needs and must be quality foods. The beauty of being so consistent is you only need to make a change when you stop seeing one. On this sort of approach, I'd expect 0.25-1 kg fat loss a week, depending in your stage of the process. If you stay the same for two weeks in a row it's time to adjust. In my opinion I'd rather add in exercise before cutting calories. I may start doing some extra cv on top of my usual weight sessions. This will of course burn up some calories and create a deficit so fat loss will re-commence
Incrementally add exercise in. Don't start by adding seven days a week of intense interval training, try three days a week first. You can always increase further down the line. It's all about keeping the deficit there, but maintaining high metabolism. Metabolism chases intake, so as you reduce calories your body will adapt to the new lower levels, which is why a diet doesn't exponentially make you leaner and leaner or you'd eventually disappear into nothing.
I continue week on week assessing weight and condition. It's not always about weight as this can be misleading, you must consider what you look like too. There are a phenomenal number of variables inside your body. As controlled as you are you cannot control everything, inevitably there will be anomalous figures some weeks. The trick is to keep your sensible head on and stay on track. I keep nipping away at my daily calorie intake from all macro nutrients. I will however, have base line figures for proteins and fats as these are needed for health, around 2g/kg BM protein and 0.5g/kg BM form fats but my carbs can swing high and low. As a rule, I tend to never go lower than 3000 kcals daily, but this is just me, I can handle a lot of food, bearing in mind I would have started at 4500 kcal, it is a significant reduction. I will peak at; CV seven days a week and weights six days a week. This will have been done over a period of around 20 weeks. I believe in a slow steady cut; this way allows me to keep my food high. Much faster than that and you'll risk muscle mass. I'd look do drop 10kg in this time frame which is around 500g per week.
As you can see there is nothing glamorous about getting super lean, it isn't even that complicated and I promise this is what I actually do and what my clients will do. It is all about your start point, pure determination, and consistency. It takes enormous control and dedication but who said anything worth having comes easily. There is the matter of cheat meals but if you're already asking about that then you're not ready to start the process.
If you want to learn more about dropping body fat or you want a personalised plan designed for you please contact me at Ali@FatAlsGym.co.uk