The best diet plan for building muscle

Everybody knows building muscle isn’t easy, it requires hard work and a lot of dedication, not just at the gym but in the kitchen too. That dedication will pay off when you can look at yourself in the mirror and be proud of what you see.

Regardless of your reasons for wanting to build muscle everyone deep down wants to look good naked, the fitness, body building industry’s are all built on vanity. With that in mind building lean muscle requires large amounts of calories, which if not controlled properly can lead to more fat than muscle.

Restricted diets are just not the way to go if you are looking to build muscle. They are ideal if you are looking to cut down your weight or even if you just looking to maintain your size. However for people looking to build mass they will just impede your efforts and stop you from gaining. This does not mean you should just eat and eat, you need to do it intelligently you need a structured diet to make sure you get the full benefits from your diet. Ideally you should be structuring your diet to be eating 6 well proportioned meals a day. You should try your best to avoid snacking, eating six meals will also insure your metabolism is running at full capacity.  If you are spreading out your meals like this always make sure your breakfast and your post workout meals are your biggest. The reason for this is when your body most needs to be replenished.

Protein

The most popular and generally excepted rule of protein is that you should consume 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. This may also equate to 35% of your daily caloric count which is the optimal number if you are looking to build muscle mass. It is important to remember however that the body is only capable of absorbing and utilizing a certain amount of protein per hour, meaning it is vital that you spread your intake of protein out throughout the day. With the key ties being morning and before and after a workout.  When choosing your protein sources try first to choose natural lean proteins such as egg whites, chicken turkey and fish (you ideally should try get fish twice a week) when choosing supplements whey isolate is king(but can be expensive) ,however a shake containing whey isolate and concentrate is a good alternative just check for how much of each is in it.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are vital  they provide the body with the energy needed to complete a workout, you should ideally higher and lower your carbohydrate intake on a day to day basis. For example on a day you don’t plan on training cut down as you don’t require as much as you would on a day you train. Try your best to avoid simple carbohydrates such as bread and pasta’s made with white flour, corn syrup and table sugar. When choosing a carb go for complex whole grains, fruit and veg. When choosing your portion size remember to adjust depending on your activity levels that day and try to stick between 40 – 80 grams per meal.

Fats

Fats get an awful reputation for being bad for you,  that is simple not true there are plenty of fats that the body needs and are healthy and beneficial to our health. When considering a diet to help build lean muscle fats should not be forgotten or neglected. Healthy fats are essential in hormone production and also help with the absorption rate of vitamins. Also healthy fats assist in the reduction of inflammation, increase heart health, and help lower blood cholesterol. Your best source of healthy fats should be nuts, avocado, peanut butter,  oils and fish which as stated earlier should be consumed twice a week.

Supplements and vitamins

A good muscle building diet wouldn’t be complete without supplements, just remember these come after the diet and should never take preference over it. Supplements are a excellent way to get quick nutrients into the body in a hurry, especially when you need them.