To maximise muscle-building processes in your body, eat more frequent meals – maybe a
small meal every 2.5 or 3 hours. Also, consume the right proportion of proteins,
carbohydrates and fats. But these are facts that every gym enthusiast knows like old news.

We all have tried them, they work but they don’t have that extra ‘edge’ we need to get
crazy ripped.

So here are 5 new diet tips that you haven’t seen before.

1. Stop Looking For A Magic Diet

Stop asking people, ‘Which diet works best?’ There is no BEST diet; every individual has
unique needs and how to make adjustments in your diet depends on the results you get by trying various diets yourself. While there is no one ‘best’ diet out there, there is a best diet for you, which will suit your specific needs. To fine tune your fat loss, start with a reasonable caloric intake per day where proteins, carbs and fats are closely monitored, so that you can analyse where you need to make cuts.

Important Tip: One way to see faster results in through carb cycling – try low, medium and high days to keep caloric intake fluctuating.

2. Ease Up On The Cardio

Did you think that getting ripped means doing extensive amounts of cardio? You’re wrong – diet is way more important than cardio in this case. Create a diet chart that allows you to consistently lose weight.

Once the fat loss has become consistent, try a little cardio to accelerate the fat loss. Remember that your body is already struggling with a huge calorie deficit that comes from cutting, so don’t add too much cardio too soon because that will only result in muscle loss.

Important Tip: Forget running and try HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training for a more
effective cardio workout in a shorter time span.

3. Control The Rate Of Your Fat Loss

Losing too much fat too soon can result in disaster. You need to lose no more than 1kg per week, unless you are carrying around a lot of weight. But if you are trying to get shredded by losing body fat levels consistently, losing the weight at a slow rate will prevent muscle loss and will also help you keep the weight down permanently.

Important Tip: You always lose weight a lot faster in the first week. Wait till week three to carefully analyse where you need to make cuts in your diet.

4. Well-Defined Abs Can Only Come From Your Diet

No matter how many crunches, sit-ups and leg raises you do, your abs are a result of your diet. Since you already are cutting and have a healthy diet, you can relax on these. To strip belly fat, overusing your direct abs is not the best technique. Keep abs workout to no more than two or three sessions a week and ensure that your diet has high fibre coming from nuts, green vegetables and fresh fruit as well as full of high-quality protein.

Important Tip: Instead of leg raises and crunches, try cable crunches and weighted sit-ups for adding resistance to your abs workout.

5. Cheat Once A Week

Now this may sound silly, but did you know that strict dieting can reduce the levels of a
hormone called leptin in the body.

As leptin levels dwindle, your body’s metabolism starts to stagger and this is not good if you are trying to get shredded. To avoid that, simple keep one cheat day a week, or even one meal a week where you forget all the rules and eat to your heart’s content.

This cheat meal will bring the leptin levels back up and increase your metabolism once more.

Important Tip: If you don’t have great self-control, keep the cheat window no more than
one hour per week. You can also move this window to include some social activity or a meal out with friends.