subject: I Got Ripped in 4 Months: Here's How I Did It [print this page] I Got Ripped in 4 Months: Here's How I Did It
I get asked all the time how I got ripped, especially by people that know me, because I used to be about 40 or 50 pounds overweight. The funny thing is, I got fat because I was trying to bulk up with the idea that I would just cut the weight a few months later. Well, it turns out that cutting up and getting ripped is a lot harder once you've put on 40 or 50 pounds. I would start to diet and try to cut body fat, and I would do good for a few weeks, but I would always get into a cycle of eating clean and healthy for a few weeks and then I would do a week or two of binging.
How I Finally Got Ripped
It wasn't until I embraced the concept of counting calories that I finally got ripped. The formula is simple: your body burns a certain number of calories each day, and if you put in more calories than your body can burn, you'll gain weight. On the other hand, if you put in less calories than your body needs, you'll lose weight and lose body fat.
For me personally, I went on a 1,500 calorie diet.
At first, I tried to eat 100% healthy, all of the time. I'm talking stuff like boiled chicken breast, steamed vegetables, and oatmeal all with no salt or sugar. That lasted about 3 days. It was just too hard to eat completely clean like that. Some people can do it, and they're either insane or their tastebuds don't work.
A friend of mine that is in great shape told me that I would go crazy and ultimately go on a mega-binge if I didn't eat some things that I liked each day. He also told me that as long as I stayed within my calorie range, I could eat some tasty things each day to balance out all of the "health food".
Turkey Sandwiches, Crystal Light, and Kashi TLC Bars Became My Best Friend
They say that the most successful dieters find foods that are healthy and that they like, and then they eat those foods over and over again. I found this to be true. It wasn't until I found three or four staple meals that I could eat over and over again that I made any real progress getting ripped. My favorite meal is a simple turkey sandwich. You have to take it easy on the mayo obviously, in fact, I use light mayo. The other thing that makes them great is some sliced up avocado.
The next thing that can kill cravings in between meals is a tall glass of Crystal Light. I drink a lot of water, and a lot of Crystal Light whenever I'm feeling hunger in between my planned meals.
The holy grail of sweet-craving-killers is a Kashi TLC bar. The mocha-chocolate flavor is my favorite. When my body is telling me to gobble some ice cream or cookies late at night, I just eat a TLC bar and the craving is destroyed, and I sleep like a baby.
