Dave in all seriousness I have the same exact problem, I cannot get ripped I mean real ripped for the fuck of it, you and me (and I know this is true) our type of bodies don't get really ripped easy, its super easy to put "mass" *even fat* on for us, but loosing it is a pain.
You can get really ripped if you lose no more than 1 - 1,5 pound per week until you have lost enough weight, while keeping calories as high as you can (starvation = fatloss will almost halt after some time, while you loose tons of muscle).
If you are 220 @ 22% bf, you have 48,4 pounds of fat on your body and 171,6 pounds of lean body weight. If you lose 1 pound of fat each week until you are 181,6 pounds, your bodyfat will be 5,5%. You will probably lose some water weight and shit, but the reality of it is that if you want to be truly ripped and are 220 @22% (very common), you have to persistently diet for 38,6 weeks on the 1 pound a week plan. That's about 8,82 months. If you go for 1,5 pounds per week (which is the most you should ever loose each week(, it will still mean 5,88 months If you have never dieted for this long before with a structured plan, you can not claim that "I can not get ripped".
These calculations does not factor in shit like water loss and so on, but if you diet for 6 - 10 months on a 1 pound per week plan, you will get ripped.
