How To Build Muscle Fast & Lose Fat At The Same Time: Diet Rules For Getting Ripped!

You know, we’ve all heard that you can either bulk or cut... but you can’t do both at the same time.

This has led many of us to believe that this is true, but it isn't.

If you've heard this for a while, then you won’t even try to understand how it’s possible to build muscle fast and lose fat at the same time, and thereby get ripped in the shortest possible space of time.

In this article, we’re going to talk about how to do it.

It takes a bit of adjustment to our diet, but when you get it, and understand the tricks, you can find yourself getting bigger muscle mass, and also able to show it off as well, as you have less fat covering them all up!

Firstly, we need to understand that it’s going to be a combination of a good workout, with a very precise diet plan.

But you have to do it in a specific way.

Here’s the scoop.

A great workout is the first step. If it’s not there, the rest of the plan will not work.

The best routine for a particular person is different to that for another person, but you’d typically workout a muscle group, whether it’s the chest, biceps, triceps, back, legs or abs, once every 5 to 7 days.

There should be intensity in the workout, either in the form of supersets, or use of lifting weights to failure over 6-15 reps, the optimal partly depends on your body type.

This provides the stimulus for growth, yet gives enough time for the muscle to grow in between sessions, for a gain in size.

There are other factors in your workout that leads to you getting bigger quicker, but this gets quite detailed, so we won’t delve into the details here.

Next comes the diet.

This is where you can make it or break it. And this is where you’ll need to do some refining.

What you need to do with your diet is:

1. To provide enough protein and calories to gain muscle, plus,

2. To promote testosterone production, which stimulates more muscle and fat loss,

3. To promote a high metabolism, and,

4. To avoid too many, or the wrong type of calories to start putting on fat.

It is important that you follow these rules, as they will allow your body to kick into the right gear to get ripped.

But how’s this done?

Here are the 5 steps in your diet to build muscle and burn the fat quickly and easily:

1. Eat lean sources of protein, of about 0.9 g per pound of total body mass, or even higher at 1g per pound of lean body mass.

You can achieve this with lean sources of protein such as egg, fish (including raw, tinned or cooked salmon or tuna), lean chicken, and whey protein powder. This will provide the fuel for muscle growth. Have about 25% of the daily amount straight after your workout.

2. Have the good fats that will stimulate testosterone production, which are… the monounsaturated fats.

The best sources are found in avocado (eg half per day), and extra virgin olive oil (eg 2 teaspoons per day). The second good fat you’ll need is omega 3 or fish oil (eg 1 teaspoon a day), because if you’re deficient, you won’t be able to metabolise and burn off fat.

3. Straight after your workout, have a high GI carbohydrate.

This is when you’re allowed to satisfy your sugar cravings for the day. High GI carbs include foods such as honey or jam. These carbs are very quickly absorbed into the muscle to replace the glycogen lost, and will also help the protein that you’re taking at the same time get into your muscles.

But after this time, have only low GI and low glycemic load carbohydrates, that is, the good carbohydrates.

By doing this, you won’t stimulate insulin production, and therefore will allow your fat to be burned off. This is important! One way of doing this is to increase the vegetables, and decrease the breads and pastas.

4. Strictly, no high GI carbs in the evenings, especially before bed.

There are many bodybuilders who time after time have proven to themselves that they make great muscle gains and fat loss, until they begin to have these kinds of carbs at night. Your metabolism is slowing, so no high GI carbs at this time please!

5. Eat 6 meals a day, not 3 big meals.

You’ve heard that this increases your metabolism. Well, it’s true, and when you do eat, stick to the above rules.

When you do this, you’ll find yourself bulking up muscle within 1-2 weeks, and within a month, give or take (depending on how much body fat you have to begin with), you'll notice a big difference.

This involves a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, but as you’ve just seen, there are some important refinements to it.

Then one of these things will happen.

Either you’ll gain muscle and lose fat, in which case you’ve hit the mark right on! Keep doing what you’re doing.

If you find yourself gaining muscle but also gaining fat (as evidence by your fat % body scales or by your appearance), then you’ll need to make sure that you’re following all the rules.

The most common cause of this is that you haven’t followed the rules. The next most common reason is that you’ve been taking excessive dense carbs such as pasta and bread, or too much fat. You should have heaps of vegetables instead (these are the right kinds of carbs – these are low GI and low glycemic load).

If you’re not gaining muscle or fat, then you’re probably not having enough protein and calories in total. Either that, or you’re overtraining.

Got it?

If you want to get ripped in no time, and be healthy at the same time, have a look through these rules carefully.

There are more tips available to refine your diet further, to ensure that you’re maximising your muscle mass gain and to lose fat at the same time.

Learn more about the high protein low carb diet for fast muscle gain.

Find out more about bodybuilding diets and nutrition.