Getting that taut, lean, muscle-ripping body can be a dream.
We see it so often on the pages of magazines that it seems incredibly easy to attain. But achieving a ripped, cut physique goes beyond merely doing some rounds of cardio and hoping that everything falls in place.

From your diet to your exercise and body composition, there’s a lot you will have to keep track of as you embark on this journey.

Ready to get that cut, lean muscular look? The ultimate key to success is discipline. With the right strategy, you can find that the cutting process is much easier than you think it to be. What follows is an effective strategy to set you on your journey.

Measure your body composition
Your body composition refers to the comparative percentages of muscle, fat, bone, and water in your body.

Your fat-muscle relative percentages (ratio) relay just how cut you would appear. While cutting, you want to drop your fat composition levels so that your muscle mass outpaces your body fat.

Measuring this composition is easy, and you can always keep track of it to measure your progress.

Plan
Jumping from a regular calorie consumption of about 2,000 - 2,500 calories a day down to 500 calories a day can be disastrous. Your body reads the drastic cut as a threat and immediately begin storing fat as a contingency plan. During this process, your lean muscle will be the first to go – converted into stored fat. You want to reduce the fat, not the lean muscles!

By properly pacing and planning your calorie reduction and cutting program, you get much better results.

Eat Some Carbs
Carbs are the enemy! That one belief leads so many to slash off their carbohydrate intake entirely to drop the pounds.

The result is that you begin to feel tired, hungry, and cranky, ultimately running back to these carbs for relief.

Your body needs carbohydrates, but not all of them. Consuming portions of legumes, sweet potatoes, and grains – which contain carbs – will be helpful; while it is also advised that you consume a measure of carb first thing in the morning and right after your first workout session.

Proteins help a lot
You need a high nitrogen balance to hasten the repair of your muscles after your workout and to aid the growth of more muscle cells. A high protein diet helps you feel full and speeds up the digestion of calories.

The result is that you can satisfactorily consume fewer calories and eat less fat without feeling hungry, and you also burn more calories each day.

Eat some fat
Fat consumption is not the reason you get fat. Because fat takes the body longer to break down, the consumption of dietary fats helps reduce your feeling of hunger.

Fresh nuts, avocados, and olive oil are examples of foods that contain healthy, clean fat. Be careful to avoid saturated fats (the kind most present in processed foods) as they harm your workout routine.

Drink enough water
The less water your body gets, the more it would try to store this water. This is because your body needs water to hydrate your tissues properly. By drinking more water more frequently, your body fins no need to store this water.

This keeps you hydrated while forcing your body to give off this water and let you lean out evenly.

The desire to get leaner, stronger muscles can prove daunting. But it is most definitely achievable.

If you find yourself having difficulties with keeping up, the right steroid alternatives can be of help.

The Cutting Stack from Crazy Bulk has several naturally derived supplements to speed up your cutting process, letting you get stronger, leaner muscles without any of the hassles surrounding standard calorie cutting.

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Author, Freelance writer