Getting ripped abs usually involves exercise routines to strengthen and build your ab muscles, along with a healthy food diet that helps you lose body fat and allows the abs underneath to become visible. Constructing and following a strict dietary plan is essential for reducing your total body fat and helping your abs become more visible.

Here is a diet plan that can help you achieve your goal of getting ripped abs.

Diet and nutrition: What to eat?

The diet required to lose body fat as quickly should be high in protein and healthy fats.

Proteins

Your diet should largely consist of protein-rich foods such as lean beef, salmon, beans, and greek yogurt. Consuming proteins increases your metabolism, which speeds up the rate at which your body uses up calories. This can lead to significant fat loss results over time.

In addition to helping you slim down, eating proteins can also aid in building ab muscles when you work out. So your diet should be high in protein-rich foods if you want to get ripped abs.

Fats

It may seem counterintuitive to eat fats in order to lose fat, but studies have found that eating healthy fats such as polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats can prevent abdominal fat accumulation.

Foods that are high in unsaturated fats include fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel, nuts such as almonds and walnuts, and vegetable oils such as sunflower and corn oil.

Foods to avoid

Your diet should contain limited quantities of refined carbs and bad fats. The term “limited” is used here because it is difficult to completely eliminate these macronutrients from your diet.

Refined carbs

Refined carbs should be avoided as they digest quickly, and their high glycemic index can cause spikes in blood sugar levels. Consuming refined carbs regularly can lead to the build up of fat over time.

Refined carbs include products made from grains that have been stripped of their fiber and nutrients. These include white bread, pasta, white rice, and pastries.

Bad fats

The “bad” fats you should avoid include trans fats and saturated fats. Trans fats are often found in foods such as cakes, doughnuts, and margarine. Many fried foods such as french fries and onion rings are fried in trans fats at restaurants.

Eating trans fats is believed to lead to weight gain and fat accumulation around the waist, so your diet should exclude any form of trans fats.

Saturated fats are less harmful than trans fats, but the jury is still out regarding their net effects on the human body. Some studies have shown that consuming saturated fats can contribute towards weight gain, so it may be best to limit the quantity of saturated fats you eat.

Saturated fats are found in whole milk, butter, cheese, fatty meats, and coconut oil. So you should limit your consumption of these foods.

How much should I eat?

In addition to monitoring the type of foods you eat, you should also limit the number of calories you are consuming in meals each day. The rule of thumb for losing fat is to consume less calories than you expend per day. You can calculate how many calories you burn every day using a total daily energy expenditure calculator. 

The results of this diet plan can take several months to see, but you will certainly see a reduction in body fat over time if you stick to it. Remember to pair your diet with an effective workout plan to get the best looking abs.