How To Get A Six Pack and Keep The Fat Off For Good
All Credits go to Broscience
I know a guy who is constantly asking me: how to get a six pack ?, I’m sure we all know that guy we would describe as a bit “soft”. You know, big guy (maybe 6’3 – 6’5), muscular, not necessarily fat but it wouldn’t hurt to drop a few pounds.
He plays a lot of sports, who wouldn’t at that size?
Guy is probably a force to be reckoned with) and therefore burns a lot of calories but still carries that bit of fat.
Obviously the guy does plenty of cardio and has enough muscle mass to burn a ton more calories daily. So why is he still a bit soft? Well, the guy likes to eat.
Truth is, there are a lot of guys like this in fact we know one ourselves. He’ll go out to a restaurant and order a couple of side dishes and a desert with his meal.
When you hit up a football game he’s the one getting a beer and footlong hotdog at halftime. A year ago this particular acquaintance of ours wanted to lose some weight opting for the Paleo diet. That meant no more high carb meals, sugars and snack foods.
He liked it because it was simple – it told him exactly what he should and shouldn’t eat not to mention a ton of shredded people at the gym swear by it. He was very strict about it and unsurprisingly lost a lot of weight! Good for him, or so we thought.
Over time he went back to his old ways of eating figuring he could maintain that new physique he had worked for.
Unsurprisingly after a few months he was right back up to his old weight – the fruits of his hard labor gone.
So why was he unable to maintain his weight? Why do so many people have a hard time after getting off a diet – particularly when they had so much success initially. Well, the problem with these diets is two-fold.
After reading this article I guarantee that you will not be asking the question: how to get a six pack ?
How To Get A Six Pack and Keep The Fat Off For Good
First of all,
you are assuming you will be able to completely avoid breaking the rules. While our friend’s logic in that some foods were “bad” and some were “good” made sense, he was actually setting himself up for failure because he figured he could just avoid having those foods ever again.
Truth is, if you love those foods you are going to have a hard time saying goodbye to them forever. The people who succeed at keeping their body fat levels low in the long run are those that understand that all foods – even bad ones – have their place.
A cheat meal here and there isn’t going to derail your physique if you are still respecting your macros but binging on McDonalds most definitely will.
Here’s an example to help you all understand it a bit better. Let’s say you took two people – one who was on a strict crash diet and another who was on a year-round balanced diet – and sat them at a table next to each other.
In front of each of them you put a juicy hamburger with cheese and bacon along with a large plate of fries and a milkshake plus an assortment of deserts. Who do you think is more likely to binge eat everything?
Who do you think is more likely to have a little bit?
Chances are the guy who has been denying himself the foods he loves for the past 6 months will go nuts and chow down on everything.
This is why crash dieters fail so much – once they go off-track they do so in a big way. You’ve already broken your “strict” diet so might as well do it up, right? Lets order a second round! A few days of this and you go right back to your original weight.
Secondly,
By constricting yourself with a crash diet, you are adding a lot of extra stress on yourself.
If you aren’t used to eating a particular way it can be challenging when, say, you go to a new restaurant and have to figure out if certain foods qualify as paleo, what the macro splits are, how many calories it adds up to, etc. As a result, when your life starts getting stressful – for whatever reason – your diet gets compromised very quickly.
You go back to your old ways while you try to cope with whatever is stressing you out. If, however, you eat clean year-round then there really is no stress involved in eating because it’s normal for you. Even when things start getting stressful you don’t compromise what you eat.
So what’s a “dieter” to do?
We’re not saying diets can’t work – in fact, sometimes they do. If you are disciplined about it and don’t cave in to your food cravings then you can do well.
These people on diets are always asking the same question year after year: how can I get a six pack ?
But look at it this way, in a 2005 study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, of all the people who began a weight loss diet only 20% of the participants were able to keep the weight off for at least one year.
However, once they reached the 1 year mark they showed a much better ability to keep the weight off. Why’s that? Well, they made their new diet part of their life.
They got used to it and worked around the cravings by having the occasional cheat meal. So instead of trying to rush into a new diet or meal plan try taking it slow and gradually change things.
As a result your body will get used to the changes and will have a much easier time implementing new ones and, more importantly, maintaining the ones you’ve already introduced. Here’s a quick guide on how you can implement some new diet changes.
Remember this is just a suggestion and can definitely be modified depending on how you are doing. You don’t “win” by getting to the end as fast as possible so take as long as you need to make sure each step is comfortable.
Weeks 1-2: Slow down your eating speed
We’ve been particularly guilty of this one when we were younger but it’s actually a huge problem for trying to limit calorie consumption. If you eat more slowly you will not only get full faster but you will also have a better idea just how much you’ve ate.
You will also enjoy your food more which is particularly important when eating your cheat meals as it means you won’t crave these foods as much. When eating a cheat meal, don’t do it in front of the TV or while surfing the net as you won’t be as focused on enjoying your food.
Weeks 3-4: Up the Protein Intake and Add Supplements
Chances are you probably already know a t least a little bit about the importance of eating protein if you are trying to lose weight or gain muscle. What you might not know is that it’s actually very filling so you won’t need to eat nearly as much in order to feel full.
Focus on egg whites, fish, chicken, cottage cheese and protein powder but don’t be afraid to mix in some fattier cuts of meat here and there. Fat burning supplements with proven ingredients are a great addition to a good diet to shed of the fat faster.
You have to be careful before you add a fat burning supplement to your diet because many of these supplements have an outdated and ineffective formula.
Make sure that you read our complete guide on fat burning supplements to know what ingredients to look for.
Weeks 5-6: Add in those Veggies
Veggies are important for two reasons. First, they deliver a ton of nutrients to your body which is important not only for transforming your body but also for your overall health.
Second, they are very low in calories so you can literally eat troughs of vegetables and only be consuming a few calories. They make a great replacement for those empty-calorie side-dishes you usually consume like french fries.
Weeks 7-8: Sleep more
Believe it or not, sleep is actually just as important as diet and training when it comes to transforming your body. If you don’t give yourself the opportunity to get the rest you need your body simply won’t perform to the best of its ability both in and out of the gym.
All of these combined might seem like a major adjustment and very difficult to do, but when done in steps they are much more attainable.
You will find that after a few weeks the momentum of your past successes will carry you forward and you will be excited about implementing the next change and have minimal issues maintaining your existing changes.
–>Most Important Out Of This Article<–
Consistency is probably the single most important factor in the process of shedding of the fat and get a six pack. It all boils down to the persistence that the individual has that will make all the difference if he succeeds in the quest of losing fat and getting six pack abs.
Using all the tools out there to reach your goal is something you will have to do in order to shed of the fat in the most persistent and fastest way possible.
Lift weights, do your cardio, sleep enough, eat your veggies and incorporate a legit fat burning supplement. By using these tools along with consistency you will get six pack abs faster than you ever thought possible.
After following these steps you will probably never ask this question again: How To Get A Six Pack ?
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