7 Reasons You’re Not Getting Ripped – Muscle Building Tips

Getting Ripped and Shredded Now! Fix Your Blunders to Become a Ripped Wonder!

So, you’ve been dieting for a while now. Results, lackluster at best. Why can’t you lose the weight? Why are your abs just a blurry outline in the mirror? You think you’re doing everything right, but really you’re not.

This article compiles seven very common blunders that prevent people from losing body fat. I’m sure at least one of these you’re guilty of doing…maybe all seven! Take a look and see what needs fixed. You’ll be on your way to getting ripped up and an alpha physique!

You’re Eating Too Much

Even eating too much healthy food can hinder getting a ripped and shredded body.

Too much of a good thing is bad. Applies also to cleanest diet foods. Losing fat is a simple equation. Calories in versus calories out. Taking in more calories than you spend won’t burn off the fat. Many often either don’t realize this basic fact, or choose to ignore it.

Sadly, usually necessary to experience hunger when dieting. Unless your metabolism is freaky high, you shouldn’t be eating until you feel full. Many who diet with the goal of getting leaner, continue to eat larger portion sizes than needed.

How much should you be eating per meal and how many calories per day? No one can answer that question for you. You need to track all your meals and calories.

Back in the good old days, before smart phones, you had to log all that in a notebook and do the math yourself. Now days, you have no excuse not to track your nutrition.

You have hundreds of apps at your fingertips-literally! You can use your phone, laptop or desktop computer. If you’re not losing weight, you need to eat less than you are now. Even if your strict and eating clean. Too many calories is too many calories.

You’re on the Fence-Pick a Side

What if you decide to travel north and south at the same time? You don’t move. The most common problem to losing fat is the inability to fully commit to the task. Many, mostly guys, can’t wrap their heads around not trying to gain muscle mass. Even if it’s only for a limited time, say 10-12 weeks.

That inability to throw the mental switch also prevents many physique competitors from getting in shape for contests. Wanting to get ripped for the show, but wanting to get bigger overall. Instead of cutting back the carbs and calories, and doing cardio as needed.

They worry about their gains. Dieting is not a time for muscle growth. Focus on losing fat and what needs to be done. After you’ve reached your goal and lower body fat, there will be plenty of time for gains again.

Forget about walking on both sides of the road. Pick a side, in this case, choosing to drop weight and body fat. Unless you cut calories to drastically or go crazy with cardio everyday, you’ll maintain your existing muscle mass. The real bonus is with substantial fat stripped away, you muscles will appear to be larger than they were with all that fat covering them.

It Kills You to Lose Weight on the Scale

getting ripped
Focus on the cuts and veins that will show up, not the weight

If you started out as a smaller guy, you probably have great joy in watching your body weight on the scale creep up. Becoming proud of how much you weighed, and protective of that number.

Working long and hard to put that weight on, you don’t want to part with those precious pounds. Saying you started your diet at 240 pounds. A few weeks in, you might be down to 225 pounds.

This is where panic sets in. Once hitting 220 or under, the mind games start. “I’m shrinking!” “I’m wasting away!”It’s very difficult to be lighter than you are comfortable with. With these diets, you only want to lose fat, not weight. You must understand the skinny kid inside is not operating on logic. You’ll have to silence him and focus on the cuts and veins that are making their way to the surface day by day.

You Refuse to Do Cardio

When most of us start lifting weights, you just want to get bigger and stronger. Pumping iron to get swole! Why walk the treadmills like hamsters on a wheel? Being ripped is not the idea at first. You just want to lift heavy and get big.

Eventually, you come to the point where you want to get ripped and shredded. Then cardio rears itself. The idea of doing boring, repetitious cardio, many bodybuilders will think their way out of it. Thinking, “I’ll just rely on my diet”. Hoping they have the rare genetics to pull it off. Diet will only take you so far.

Eventually, your metabolism will slow down. That’s your body’s survival mechanism kicking in. To keep things moving, you may have to do some cardio. Maybe you’ll only need three 20 – 30 minutes sessions per week. Or you might have to suck it up at 45 minutes everyday. Just get your headphones ready and turn that music up and get moving.

You Feel Entitled to Cheat Meals

The entitled cheat meal-a big DON’T when trying to get ripped!

Back in the good old days of weight lifting, “cheat meals” did not exist. Then welcome to the new millennium. Everyone wants a great body, but doesn’t want to put in the hard work. Coaches pushed fat-burning drugs like clenbuterol to take the effort out of dieting.

Endearing themselves to their prep clients by rewarding them for a week of strict dieting with all out food binges called cheat meals. Understanding that cheat meals can serve a real purpose to kick start the metabolism after long phases of very low calories.

Simply having a scheduled cheat meal every week or even more often as a reward to sticking to your diet abuses the tactic and makes you lazy with no discipline.

You’re Cheating on Your Diet Without Even Realizing It

You’ve been through it a hundred times. You might be at the gym, a birthday party or hanging with a family member. They ask you for weight loss advise. They tell you “they eat good” and they believe it. Only once you have them run you through a typical day and what they eat, they really don’t eat as well as they think they do.

They skip breakfast, eat fast food, thinking Subway is healthy. Maybe they fast all day and gorge at night. You may even be making these same mistakes. Sabotaging your own fat loss efforts.

Do you eat white bread? Breaded chicken or fish? Do you cover your salads in ranch dressing? Drink fruit juice? Maybe coffee drinks from Dunkin Dounts or Starbucks? All of these compromise the results of your diet.

Educate yourself what clean eating really is. 12 chicken nuggets from McDonald’s may have the same amount of protein as one chicken breast. But the nuggets have a ton of fat and salt that takes you further away from your six-pack and veins.

You’re Procrastinating

Many are champs at putting off diets. It’s almost a cliche to see someone pigging out on the weekend and letting you know “diet starts on Monday”. In many cases, that Monday turns into next Monday and so forth. As more times goes by, something else always comes up. Diets are hard.

Why eat plain grilled chicken and brown rice out of a container at a BBQ, when everyone else is eating burgers and ribs? It is impossible to get to where you want to go if you don’t take the first steps. Putting off the diet over and over again, you’ll probably never start. Then you’ll never get lean.

Accept the reality to lose body fat and show muscle shreds, you have to pass up a lot of fatty foods. You’ll be around people who are eating cheeseburgers, ice cream and pizza. You won’t be able to eat those unless you give up. If dieting and clean eating were super easy, 74% of men and 60% of women in the USA would not be overweight or obese.

The hardest part is taking that first step. It won’t be easy to stay on a diet. Stop putting it off already! Get on your way to getting ripped and shredded!