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A 48-year-old bodybuilder has shared the secrets to her ripped physique
Belinda Dare-Cracknell has been following a strict diet and fitness regime
She took out the crown title at the ICN ICompete Natural World Championships
Her competition-ready figure was the product of months of counting calories
Here, she revealed how she tracked her macronutrients of carbs, protein and fat

Published: 19:35 EDT, 30 October 2018 | Updated: 19:38 EDT, 30 October 2018

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A 48-year-old bodybuilder has shared the secrets to her ripped physique after following a strict diet and fitness regime.

Belinda Dare-Cracknell, from Queensland, took out the crown title at the ICN ICompete Natural World Championships on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

But her body transformation didn't come without hard work, sweat and even tears.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Belinda said her competition-ready figure was the product of months of counting calories and weighing out food portions.

For 12 excruciating months, she lived on macronutrients where she restricted the amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat.

Bodybuilder Belinda Dare-Cracknell, from Queensland, took out the crown title at the ICN ICompete Natural World Championships on the Gold Coast on Saturday

Her astonishing body transformation didn't come without hard work, sweat and even tears

What Belinda's average day on a plate looks like

Breakfast: Strawberries 80g, 250g Chobani yoghurt and chocolate 30g

Lunch: Chicken breast 115g and handful of spinach

Third meal: Chicken breast 115g and handful of spinach

Fourth meal: Chicken breast 115g and handful of spinach

Dinner: Salmon with skin 115g and salad

'I call it the macro-prison because I think the last few months feels like solitary confinement,' Belinda said, laughing.

'I had to weigh and track my food everyday. It's a lifestyle, it's everyday of the year leading up to the competition.

'I eat five meals a day so I keep the metabolism up - but I have to stick to a strict daily allowance of carbs, protein and fat.

'It's insane and you literally can't socialise. I pretty much live in lockdown. You can't have a glass of wine or a sausage at a friend's BBQ because one tiny slip up can ruin your chances of winning.'

Four weeks leading up to the contest, Belinda - who started bodybuilding in 2016 - said she strictly cut down her intake down to 1,100 calories a day.

During her intense training, she also eliminated all processed foods, alcohol, sugar, carbs and dairy.

Belinda said her competition-ready figure was the product of months of counting calories and weighing out food portions

She starts her morning with 80 grams of strawberries, Chobani yoghurt 250 grams and 30 grams of chocolate

She starts her morning with 80 grams of strawberries, Chobani yoghurt 250 grams and 30 grams of chocolate.

For lunch, she eats 115 grams of chicken breast and spinach.

'I have chicken breast and spinach three times between breakfast and dinner. I'm not allowed to have flavour or salad dressing with it.

'You can't have salt because you're not allowed to have sodium. Sodium holds water and it affects the conditioning. I can't eat broccoli because it gives you gas and it could leave me bloating.

'Before bedtime, I would eat 115 grams of salmon with skin and salad. Again, we can't have any flavour or salad dressing.

'We have to be super lean and grow muscle - it's very hard to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. You have to get the diet and training right.'

Belinda explained she's also very strict on water.

'Water is very limited. Water sits between muscles so you could look soft - but you want your muscles to pop out so you need to be dry, almost like paper,' she said.

'The less water you drink, the leaner you get.'

Four weeks leading up to the contest, Belinda - who started bodybuilding in 2016 - said she strictly cuts down her intake to just 1,100 calories a day

During her training, Belinda said she also had to become a recluse in order to sculpt her dream body for the competition.

She said depriving her body of food left her with mood swings.

'There were times where I nearly gave up. I wanted to quit. There were times when I was at the gym, I would have tears run down my face. Sometimes, I just cried because I felt so sad and tired. ' Belinda recalled.

'You get mood swings and your hormones are completely crashed. It was awful, it was a nightmare. I thought I was going mad. I was hungry all the time.

'You're like Godzilla. I had no patience during the last four weeks of training. I couldn't cope with anything, it just changes you.

I'm usually a very happy person but when I'm training, I feel like my soul goes into a coma, you feel soulless, heartless, ruthless, cold and you're not yourself

'I'm usually a very happy person but when I'm on prep, I feel like my soul goes into a coma, you feel soulless, heartless, ruthless, cold and you're not yourself.

'I know it's insane and it sounds strange that I put myself through this but I love it. I'm very passionate about bodybuilding and it really is worth it.'

Belinda - who has been exercising at the gym for more than 20 years - said she trains at least six times a week.

'I do weight training for one and a half hours. I'm not allowed to run or feel breathless after a workout because it takes away the muscles that I'm trying to build,' she said.

'The training needs to be low impact so I could kill the fat and keep the muscles. I also do 15,000 steps a day, whether it's rain, hail or shine, I have to do it before I go to bed.

'Also, I'm all natural. I don't take steroids. I train extremely hard and do a lot of weight training to get the muscles and burn all the fat.'

During her training, Belinda said she also had to become a recluse in order to sculpt her dream body for the competition

Belinda - who has been exercising at the gym for 20 years - said she trains six times a week

Belinda said she's looking forward to competing again next year

The day before the competition, Belinda said she binges on carbs.

'We get a carb load the day before. They feed me a lot of carbs so I would eat things like rice, sweet potatoes, Coco Pops without the milk - everything's dry,' she said.

'We deprived our body of carbs leading up to the competition - so when you eat the carbs the day before, it makes your muscles pop.'

On the day of the competition, her body fat was just five per cent.

'It's very low and it's hard to maintain so after the competition finishes, I have to be very careful with what I eat. I want to stay lean so I just control what I eat,' she said.

And it really paid off for Belinda after she won the world championships.

'I feel like I'm on cloud nine,' she said with excitement.

'Two years ago, I told myself I wanted to be a world champion and so I lived a very strict life - and here I am today.

'I always had this ambition to compete before I was 50 years old. It was something I wanted to do - I knew it was going to be challenging and hard.

'Often, I had people say to me "why are you doing this? It's not worth the struggle". I guess you need to be in it to get it. It was something I wanted so bad so I kept going.'

So what's next for Belinda?

'I'm definitely competing again in October next year,' she said, laughing.

'For now, I'm on probation. So I don't have to be as strict, I got to eat a banana today, normally eat bananas because it's three quarters of my daily allowance of carbs.

'I'm still careful with eating but I've been able to enjoy a few glasses of wine and eat fruits like mangoes.

'When next year comes around, I'll start the strict diet and training again. It takes time and it's bloody hard work. Abs are definitely made in the kitchen.'