Dying to get those chiseled six packs? Now, get it on your plate

A chiseled core is what most gym-goers yearn for. Spending extra hours at the gym will not get you the desired result unless you are eating right. To make the most of the abdominal works, here are the five ground rules you should follow.

A chiseled core is what most gym-goers yearn for. Now, mostly such reveries can be attributed to all those glamorous celebs and models sprawled all over the magazine covers.

Six-pack-abs-Photo-Thinkstock

However, day-dreaming about them and even spending extra hours at the gym will not get you the desired result unless you are eating right.

We got in touch with two leading nutritionists Marika Johansson and Nigel Jairaj of 6packmeals (http://6packmeals.com/) who have devised special diet meals to help their clients get those cover-worthy abs.

Their clientele is impressive with the likes of Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Sidharth Malholtra, Ayan Mukerji and Kangana Ranaut opting for their elaborate diet plans.

We asked the duo to lay down a few ground rules for us. To make the most of the abdominal works, here are the five rules you should follow:

Rule 1
Eat most of your healthy carbohydrates in the early part of the day and end the day with more fibrous carbs. Drink 4- 5 litres of water.

Rule 2
Exercise 3-5 days a week. A gym workout should be around 45-60 min. Cardio should be on average 30 min.

Rule 3
Eat 4-6 meals per day with the right balance of nutrients. Each meal should contain carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats in the right ratio. Healthy carbohydrates can be brown rice, quinoa, cous cous, whole wheat pasta and sweet potato among others. For proteins, vegetarians can take their pick from paneer, soy, tofu, tempeh and eggwhites and non-vegetarians can opt from chicken, turkey and fish. Healthy fats can come from flax seeds, olive oil, sunflower oil and fish oil (Omega 3) to mention a few.

Rule 4
The ideal calorie intake depends on a person's goals, weight, height, activities and gender. However, the average intake for a woman is 2000kcal and for a man it is 2500 kcal.

Rule 5
Avoid refined sugar, white flour, butter, deep fried food, fatty dairy products and carbonated drinks. You can allow yourself an off day from your diet in the week. A so called cheat day! Most of the time Sunday is the perfect day for this. This will motivate you to be strict in the week and get a reward in the weekend.

No more excuses to flaunt that pot-belly, anymore!