GAINING MUSCLE MASS: DIET
Gaining muscle mass directly depends on what and how you eat. For a sculpted body, follow our bodybuilding nutrition program. Our recommendations will help you correctly formulate your diet, learn how to choose the right foods, and achieve your sports goals much faster.
BODYBUILDER NUTRITION PRINCIPLES
High-calorie meals
Muscles can only grow when more energy is supplied to the body than is expended. When the calories burned in training exceed the received ones, the opposite process occurs – weight loss.
Reusable meals
To ensure that nutrients are constantly supplied to the blood, thanks to which muscle growth occurs, separate meals by 5-6 times. If there is no regular influx of “building materials” – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, the “building” of muscle mass will stop. The time between meals should not exceed 3 hours.
Meal mode
Try to eat at the same time – metabolic processes are carried out cyclically, and the body easily adjusts to a certain schedule. You will get the most out of your food if you follow the regimen.
Sufficient water intake
Drink 2 to 4 liters of water a day, depending on your weight. Try to drink between meals, rather than with meals, so as not to impair the digestion process.
The optimal ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats
Optimal diet:
- 30% – 35% protein
- 50% – 60% complex carbohydrates
- 10 – 20% fat
This is a conditional division – for each bodybuilder, the percentage is different. However, try to compose a diet based on these numbers.
Nutrition before and after exercise
Be sure to eat 1.5-2 hours before class in the gym. Food should contain complex carbohydrates, which will provide energy for training. Give preference to pasta, cereals, vegetables. You can drink a gainer. After class, refresh yourself with it or a couple of bananas. Eat a full meal in half an hour – lunch should contain a lot of complex carbohydrates and proteins, since at this time the anabolic window opens and the body assimilates the maximum amount of nutrients that contribute to energy recovery and muscle growth.
The right choice of products
Include healthy, fast-digesting foods in your diet. The main sources of protein: lean meat, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, soy, kefir, milk. Complex carbohydrates are found in buckwheat and semolina porridge, rice, pasta, oatmeal, and vegetables. There are many healthy fats in ocean fish, linseed oil, walnuts.
On average, a bodybuilder consumes per day:
- 0.5 kg of meat
- 0.3 kg vegetables
- 0.4 kg of cottage cheese
- 0.3 kg of porridge
- 5 eggs
- 2 liters of water