Don’t Make These Muscle Building
Diet and Nutrition Mistakes…
If You Want to Gain Muscle
In and earlier post on how to gain muscle mass I laid out 10 rules you needed to follow if you wanted to build muscle fast. Today I would like to expand on those 10 rules and focus on nutrition for muscle building with your mass building diet rules.
Diet and nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. If you follow the basics you will get incredible results. People ask if they need to do cardio on an empty stomach, or if they forget their post workout protein shake has their workout been a waste. All that thought and worry is completely unnecessary for 99% of us. Yes, me included too. Now… if you decide down the road you want to become a fitness model or professional bodybuilder then things change. When your pay checque depends on it, and the difference between you and your competition is slight, these minute details will make a difference. But to look good naked and be healthy the rules are simple, just make sure you don’t do these things.
How to gain Muscle Mass – Nutrition Guide
1. Don’t Eat Processed Foods
Too many gym rats work out hard but eat junk. I was there too, I have to admit I still am at times. Back in the day I use to devour deli meat, and protein bars are one of my worst offenders. They are basically candy bars with protein in them. I make them now, but every once in a while when my homemade protein bar supply runs out, or while on the road, I will pick one up.
What you want to do is stick with real, whole foods. The less ingredients, the better. And if it comes from a bag, box, or can, chances are it isn’t all that good for you. It needs to stay on the shelf. When you go shopping the majority of your food items come from the perimeter of the store. I have listed some of the better food choices below.
Stick with these foods to gain muscle:
- Free Range Eggs
- Bison
- Free Range Poultry
- Grass Fed Beef (Flank Steak, Top Round Steak)
- Wild Caught Seafood
- Omega-3 eggs
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Nuts
- Quinoa
- Whole oats
- Avocados
- Mixed nuts
- Healthy Oils (coconut, red palm, olive, fish, flax, macadamia)
2. Don’t Eat Like A Bird To Gain Muscle
If you want to build muscle you are going to have to eat, and eat a lot of those above mentioned foods.
If you need a little help in the kitchen I suggest you check out Healthy Muscle Building Recipes, in it you will find great recipes to help you burn fat and build lean muscle. Best of all, everything is super easy to make and takes no time at all. If you need to impress someone these recipes will make you look like a grommet chef. They taste so good no one will know they’re healthy and so easy to make.
There is a lot of controversy about eating schedules. Some say you need to eat at regular intervals others say take the eat stop eat approach. This is another one of those details that don’t matter too much. I suggest you pick one of the methods, try out and see what works best for you.
There are a few things you do have to follow if you want to gain muscle…
- Keep an accurate record of your daily calories and what nutrient source they come from, fats carbs, and proteins. No need to be a fanatic about this and carry around a calculator and scale but you do need to have a good idea of your daily calories. If you’re having trouble building muscle, or losing belly fat you will need to keep a more accurate count.
- To gain muscle eat 17 calories for every pound of body weight. That means 180 pound guy left to eat roughly 3000 cal a day to build muscle. Adjust this total by 10% if you don’t see an increase in weight after two weeks.
- Build muscle not fat. You want lean muscle gains so you don’t want to scale to be going up 10 pounds a week. If you’re gaining weight too fast the vast majority is going to be fat so you want to reduce your calories by 10% and do a little cardio.
3. Don’t Conserve Water
The human body is more then half water.
Water is vital in your efforts to gain muscle mass. Without it you will get weaker, and the recovery process will take longer.
Water is by far your best choice. You’re best off avoiding pop, juices, and milk. On a side note, if you can get fresh unpasteurized raw milk, they’ll deftly help you gain muscle. But unless you live on a farm chance of you finding it are pretty slim.
A general rule of thumb for water consumption is to drink half your bodyweight in ounces per day. an active 200 pound guy, ideally will be drinking 100 ounces of water a day. This may sound like a lot but it will ensure you stay plenty hydrated so that you’re able to…
- flush your system
- store carbohydrates more effectively as glycogen in the belly of your muscle
- lubricate your joints
- get a better pump
- and of course look a little fuller and better
4. Don’t Eat Carbs Every Day
If you want to gain lean muscle, that means muscle without fat you are going to have to cycle your carbs.
To gain muscle you are going to have to consume a fair amount of carbs, but too many and at the wrong time will make you gain plenty of unwanted belly fat along with that muscle. The best way to avoid this in cycleing your carbs.
- Rest days, limit your carb intake
- Training days eat more carbs, having the bulk of them around your workout
5. Don’t Limit Your Protein To Gain Muscle
They don’t call bodybuilders meat heads for nothing. You are going to have to have lots of protein.
A good recommendation for your daily protein intake to gain muscle is 1g per pound of body weight. If you’re tipping the scales at 185 than you need to have 185g of protein each and every day. For those of you on the metric system you need to point to grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight. A 90KG guy will need 200g of protein per day.
Your 1st choice is to eat meat and fish from the list above, though whey protein is a good option if those aren’t immediately available. But for those of you trying to build muscle with the vegetarian bodybuilding diet vegan protein is suitable too. if you’re in the market for some protein powder I recommend Pro Grade, or Sun Warrior.
Protein does more than just build muscle, it’s highly thermic, that means when you eat it your body will burn more calories during the digestion process it would if you’re consuming carbs and especially fats. This makes it harder to get fat by over eating protein than it is by over eating carbs or fat.
If you’re looking to gain muscle make sure you avoid these 5 nutrition mistakes.
- Not drinking enough water
- Eating processed foods
- Not eating enough portion
- Eating all carbs all the time
- Not eating enough calories
Instead, to gain muscle make these changes to your diet…
- eat whole foods
- have plenty of water
- cycle your carbs
- make sure you have at least 17 cal per pound of body weight
- eat at least 1 g of protein per pound of body weight
Do that and you will burn fat and build muscle fast, and look better than ever.
How to gain Muscle Mass Nutrition Guide