Definition - The comprehensive nutrition guide for your dream body

Are you satisfied with your muscle mass, but would like to get that “shredded”, defined look? Do you want the contours of your muscles to be clearly visible? Or is your dream wedding rapidly approaching and you still want that lean sporty look? Then you should read this nutrition guide carefully.

Looking defined is the long-cherished dream for many who work out regularly. It takes enormous effort, training, and nutritional adjustments just to build strength and muscle mass—actually making your hard-earned muscles defined and visible is a whole new ball game. So how do you get the famous fitness magazine look? it is about the right diet and, above all, the right combination of training methods. While pure strength training will bring you great gains in the muscle growth department, a combination of strength training and other highly intensive forms of training, such as sprints or jumps, will bring the best shedding, defining results. Next to your workout plan, the right diet is the other most important factor for body definition. To define your body, you must be much stricter and more disciplined with your diet.

This means knowing when, how much, and what exactly to eat to best achieve results. To define your muscles, you should usually train in the afternoons or evenings – so if you do 2 sessions on 1 day, at least 1 of them should be in the evening. And you should eat only ultra-low-carb foods until your workout (This means that if you do 2 sessions in one day, you should also eat only ultra-low-carb foods in-between the two sessions). Pay attention that the carb content is very low­–even with vegetables. By the evening you should have eaten a maximum of 50g of carbohydrates.

The macronutrient breakdown of your meals at this stage should be around 50% protein, 50% fat, which means lots of meat, fish, nuts, oils, and vegetables, spread over 4-5 meals. Since fat provides about twice as much energy per gram as protein, the quantitative distribution is 1/3 fat to 2/3 protein. Eggs and dairy products are only partially suitable during this nutritional phase (as they tend to contain more carbs). The result: Before your workout, your body burns its fat reserves for energy because there are no carbohydrates available in circulation. Don’t feel like doing your own nutrient distribution and calorie calculations? No problem: Use our practical calorie calculator to find out all this and more with just a few clicks.

It is important to recharge after an intensive workout. During training, your body’s glycogen stores are depleted in the active muscles. These have to be replenished with carbohydrates so that you remain efficient and your body does not start to lose muscle. After your workout, you should eat “fast” carbohydrates to replenish your body’s glycogen stores, stimulate muscle building, and make your muscles look fuller. In addition, you should also eat more proteins and fats, which support regeneration and cell signaling and building. The more muscle mass and definition you have, the less you have to worry about eating after your workout. With well-developed muscles and less than 10% body fat, you will know exactly what your body needs.

If you want to get defined means you should be in calorie deficit before your workout. This means that you should only consume about half of your daily calories before your evening workout, not only will you lose body fat this way but also—with intensive evening the right nutrients—you will build muscle and maintain it. (Tip: You can easily determine your optimal nutrient requirement with our BMI calculator) This path works very well for most to achieve a good level of muscle definition. If you do not see results quickly enough, “Intermittent Fasting” may be a good alternative for you.

Before your workout, eat low-carb vegetables, healthy fats, and protein. And eat regularly, i.e. about 4 – 5 smaller meals before working out. if your goal is to reduce your body fat percentage and get a defined, athletic body, you must be disciplined and stick to the following nutritional recommendations as much as possible.

The following vegetables are ideal for your low-carb pre-workout diet:

The following protein sources are recommended for your pre-workout diet:

The following foods offer you a high percentage of healthy fats for your pre-workout diet. About 10 – 12g of the fats you eat throughout the day should be made up of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Drink a post-workout shake with 1g whey protein per kilogram of lean body mass immediately after working out, Advanced athletes with <12% body fat should also supplement with 1-2g maltodextrin per kilogram body weight and 4g BCAA’s. Choose a BCAA product with the ratio 4:1:1 or 8:1:1 leucine: isoleucine: valine. If you do not know your body fat value, you should measure it using skinfold calipers or a body fat scale with foot and hand measurements. Most gyms offer one or both variants. Looking in the mirror can give you a rough idea of your body fat percentage: If you cannot clearly see the contours of your abdominal muscles (six or eight pack), you usually have a body fat percentage of over 12%!

You can really dig into the following meals (after your evening workout): rice, potato or sweet potato wedges, or legumes along with a good piece of meat or fish and a healthy portion of vegetables. For dessert choose fruits or the (occasional) ice cream. The more defined you are, the more carbohydrates from side dishes and desserts you can metabolize quickly. Bet on a mix of simple and complex carbohydrates. Start with around 2g per kilogram of body weight and increase the amount as you become more and more defined. If you don’t notice any results after 2 weeks, lower the number of carbohydrates. The main rule for this meal is that when you leave the table, the meal is over. It’s not about stuffing yourself all evening, it’s about eating one, single carbohydrate-rich meal.

Having an espresso before and/or after your post-workout meal will also boost fat burning and can help you reach your goal faster. Why espresso? Espresso contains less caffeine per serving than filter coffee or coffee from the machine. Your body can cope better with a constant, moderate caffeine level (2-3 espressos per day) than with a single or several large portions of caffeine. If you still have problems getting muscle definition, despite reading this guide, Don’t worry and just leave the planning to us: let the nutrition experts from Upfit create you an individual nutrition and workout plan designed specifically to get you the kind of body results you’ve always dreamed of.