When it comes to building a lean muscular physique there are times when you need to tip the scales in favor of building maximum muscle mass. And other times when you need to change focus and tip the scales in favor of burning maximum bodyfat.

It’s a delicate balance, but when done properly the end result is a BIGGER & LEANER physique.
(Which is what we are all striving for.)

As for tipping the scales in favor of maximum fat burning, one of the best approaches is following a “Low Carb” diet plan.

However, the thought of eating low carbs is one that scares many people. They fear that they’ll lose all their hard earned muscle, have low energy, and just feel like a piece of crap…

But this is just not the case. In fact there was a study done by Australian researchers with 60 overweight people. The subjects were divided into 2 groups. Half were following the typical high carb / low fat eating plan. And the other half followed a low carb / high fat eating plan. The interesting thing was that the test subjects ability to exercise, energy levels, perceptions of fatigue and exertion – were consistent for both groups.

However, the big difference was that the low carb group lost more weight and burned a higher percentage of bodyfat during exercise than the high carb group.

When I’m training for a bodybuilding competition and maximum fat loss is my main goal, I follow a low carb diet plan and it works really well. Now the key point here is that I said “Low Carb” not “NO Carb”. There is a huge difference.

The Atkins diet and other similar type diet plans generally recommend drastically cutting carbs to virtually zero. They even go to the point of dropping healthy carbs like vegetables in order to get your carbohydrate intake down as low as possible. It’s this ridiculous approach to cutting carbs that often leaves people feeling low energy, constipated, and just down right miserable when following such a drastic diet plan.

However, I DO NOT do this when I’m following a low carb eating plan.
My version of a low carb diet plan consists of:

• Lots of lean protein foods such as; poultry, fish, beef, eggs, and protein supplements.
  
  
  
• Lots of veggies such as; fresh garden salads, broccoli, celery, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, peas, carrots, bean sprouts, etc.
  
  
  
• I also include moderate amounts of healthy fats in the form of almonds, olives, fish oil, flax seed oil, natural peanut butter, almond butter, etc.

The key trick that allows me to stick to such a diet plan, satisfy my appetite, and maintain my energy levels is consuming high amounts of veggies.

Veggies are pure sources of nutrition. They are loaded with phytonutrients such as chlorophyll, polyphenols, carotenoids and other antioxidants help protect and nourish the body. By filling up on veggies you are getting all the good stuff you need, without all the empty calories that are often associated with typical high carbohydrate foods. When it comes to veggies the more the better. After all nobody ever got fat from eating veggies.

A little trick that I use to help me consume veggies with every single meal is to combine them with healthy fats. So I’ll keep a big veggie tray in my refrigerator consisting of chopped broccoli, celery sticks, carrot sticks, etc. and I’ll dip these veggies in natural peanut butter or natural almond butter and chomp away. The peanut butter / almond butter makes the veggies taste better and it also satisfies my appetite more and fills me up.

So even if you don’t have time to sit down to the table for a full meal, you could simply have some chopped veggies dipped in natural peanut butter, and wash it all down with a protein shake. Presto! a super quick, high nutrient, healthy low carb meal / snack.

Another trick that I use when trying to sneak extra veggies in my diet is to use blender smoothies. You are probably familiar with mixing up things like protein shakes and frozen berries in the blender now. But what you could use in place of the frozen berries, is add in frozen vegetables.

I know it probably sounds gross, but it’s not. The protein powder masks the taste of the veggies and it’s actually pretty good. You could even add in some artificial sweeteners like stevia if you want to make it taste a little sweeter.

The secret to successfully following any diet plan is enjoying the foods you eat. No one can stick to an eating plan if they have to force down foods they don’t like. However, if you get creative and find ways to make healthy eating more enjoyable, you’ll be able to stick to an eating plan over the long term and actually reap the results you are looking for. In my Extreme Fat Loss Program I cover in detail the exact meal by meal low carb diet plan that both myself and my wife Patricia follow while training for Bodybuilding competitions. Following this kind of low starchy carb – high veggie eating plan is the key that allow us both to get our bodyfat levels super low for that lean ripped look.

Our pictures below show what’s possible with this style of “healthy” low carb eating…

If you’d like more information on how you can apply this type of eating plan into your own routine, just click on the link to find out how you can get your own copy of the Extreme Fat Loss Program – for FREE!