How To Burn Fat Like A Bodybuilder

Below are some ways to make a bodybuilding diet plan work for you. They are presented in such a way for you to easily put into practice for your own personal success.

1.  Make a plan: The most important part of any lofty endeavor is to have a thorough plan of action. If you are new to this, however, the trick is not to jump in head first, but to gradually build consistency over time. To build muscle and lose fat takes time so apply the same thinking to your long-term dieting goals. Gradually clean up your diet, gradually become consistent with your meals, gradually build on your discipline. These, in turn, will create a solid and stable long-term foundation that you will add to each week. Make a plan and build on it.
2. Keep protein high: You’ve heard that axiom before but do you honestly practice it? Start by adding a little protein to each meal. This may include adding an ounce or two of meat or one or two more eggs or egg whites to meals. The first step is to make sure you are getting at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Later, you may need to increase this slightly to 1.25, 1.5 or even 2 grams per pound. The key is to take in a consistent supply of protein to help reduce the risk of losing muscle while dieting.
3. Support your training: While we are on the subject of protein, be sure to support your training with quality sources. Of course you want to eat several high-protein, quality meals per day but you also will want to bookend your training with amino acids as well. For convenience, a whey protein powder product can be ideal. 20-30 grams of whey prior and 40-50 grams after training will ensure the recovery process is at the forefront so you can reap all the rewards of your workout session. If you prefer whole-food sources, easily digestible proteins such as eggs and fish are viable options.
4. Fats can stay, increase them if necessary: The research touting the benefits of healthy fats continues to mount. Not only are they an excellent source of energy when carbs are kept low (on a diet) they also have been shown to play key roles in the regulation of key hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone which can be vital in the process of burning fat. Healthy fats such as avocado, nuts and olive oil should be normally kept at around 20-30% of total calories. On extreme low carb days your fat intake can increase slightly to compensate for the energy loss.
5. Types of carbs count: Another no-brainer is the fact that you should take in complex forms of carbohydrates. Brown and white rice, sweet and white potatoes, raw oatmeal, quinoa and Ezekiel bread are just a few examples of ideal energy sources. At first you will want to cut out highly processed carbs like desserts, cereals, pasta, most breads and snack foods. These not only do a number on your beltline but also on your blood-sugar levels as well. Aim for 1 to 2 grams of quality, complex carbs per pound of bodyweight to establish a baseline. Afterwards, you will know where you stand regarding energy levels, bodyweight changes and workout performance.
6. Cycle those carbs: Now, here’s the trick. Most successful bodybuilding diet plan will have you manipulate carb intake in some fashion. From my own experience cycling carbs seems to be an effective and fast way to drop fat, save muscle and maintain energy levels for your workouts. The way I see it, there are two ways to approach this, and either approach has you manipulating carbs by depleting and then feeding in a cyclical manner:
   • You can drop carbs to 1 gram per pound of desired bodyweight for low carb, non-training days and increase carbs to 2 grams per pound on training days. Also, you may have one day per week (preferably a heavy training day) where you take in 3 grams per pound as a “cheat” day.
   • You can have set days per week you go low and high such as 4 days of low carbs flowed by 1 day of high carbs. Keep cycling this 5 day approach.
7. Cheat tactfully: “Cheating” on your diet isn’t a green light to go crazy and eat whatever and however much you want. For the disciplined few it simply means eating more of the same bodybuilding-friendly foods. If you are carb cycling a high carb day would suffice for most as a “cheat” day. For those who can afford it having a cheat meal once per week can also be an option. Don’t fool yourself. If you aren’t making the progress of a pound or two of fat lost per week then you have no business eating high calorie meals every week.
8. Have patience and discipline: Anything worth getting requires serious hard work. Results don’t happen overnight or day to day or even weekly. The body is not a machine. It doesn’t respond in a linear fashion with evenly-spaced gains and losses. Especially during the major road bumps and periods of little or no progress, patience is a requirement on the long road to lean. As stated before, discipline is built over time just like your physique. Trying to do everything at once is a perfect plan for failure.