How To Create A Muscle Building Diet
If you want to reach your goals to build muscle, one of the important elements that must be covered is creating a muscle building diet. Nutrition plays such a vital role in your overall success that if you aren’t doing things right, you aren’t going to see results.
You may be able to get stronger without eating the right type of diet, but you won’t gain muscle mass. In order to build muscle mass it’s vital that you’re taking in a surplus of calories, otherwise the body simply won’t have the raw materials to process the muscle with.
Now, creating a muscle building diet is not nearly as difficult as creating a fat loss diet can be from a physiological standpoint (since you won’t have to worry about hunger, leptin levels, and so on), but there are a few factors to keep in mind.
Here’s what you should know about creating a muscle building diet.
Total Calorie Intake
The very first thing you need to do before doing anything else is figure out how many calories you should ideally be taking in. This will vary from individual to individual and depend a lot on your own metabolic rate, body composition, and genetic tendency.
Some people will require vastly higher calorie intakes with their muscle building diet than others, so the only thing you can really do is guess and test for yourself.
As a general recommendation I’d say to take in somewhere between 15-18 calories per pound of body weight. Active individuals should be at the higher end of the scale while those with desk jobs should be at the lower end.
After eating at that intake for about two weeks, assess your progress. Not gaining weight?
Add more.
Feeling like you’re getting a tad too soft in the middle?
Reduce it back.
Real life experience will dictate the direction you move with regards to this and your bodybuilding diet.
Protein Intake
Next up you have your protein intake for building muscle. Most trainers will recommend about one gram of protein per pound of body weight. Now, if you’re dead set against taking in this much (for whatever reason - there are a few people out there like this), then the lowest I’d ever recommend is 0.8/lb. Since you are taking in a surplus of calories you could potentially get away with this. Is it optimal? In my opinion, no. But the decision is yours. It’s your muscle building diet.
On the flip side, some people will shoot their protein intake up to astronomical levels, sometimes taking in as much as 3 grams per pound of body weight (waaaay overkill). The highest I’d say you would ever need it is 2 grams/lb, 1.5 be really pushing it. There’s just no reason to take in more protein than this unless you like using expensive fuel. You’d get better results from adding more calories from fat or carbohydrates.
Extra protein does not necessarily mean extra muscle. Enough protein is definitely necessary for building muscle, but extra…not really going to do a whole heck of a lot.
Carb Intake
Third, you have your carb intake. Some people will argue for the case of low carb bulking (keep carbohydrates lower), but personally I think at least a moderate carb level is a good plan. It simply puts you in a more anabolic state, which gets you better results.
You don’t have to go crazy and do like 80% carbs by any means, but I’d set your intake to at least 150 grams a day in addition to those carbs needed for training. Unless you require a pretty low calorie level to build muscle, this should easily be able to be worked into the muscle building diet.
Place the vast majority of your carbohydrates right around your workout for best results and make sure you are eating a few fruits and vegetables for proper nutrition as well.
Fat Intake
Finally we come to your fat intake. Fat for a muscle building diet program helps to increase calorie intake, keep testosterone levels slightly higher, and make the diet easier to digest (since, extremely high calorie intakes can be slightly difficult to stomach at times).
Try to choose most of your selections from healthy sources of fat such as peanut butter, nuts, olive oil, fatty fish, and flaxseeds. How much fat you choose to eat will depend on your individual calorie intake and how many you’re allotting to carbohydrates. Basically, set protein, set carbs, and then the remaining calories are for fat. I’d recommend no less than 15% total calories from fat, however.
So, keep these steps in mind if you’re wondering how to create a muscle building diet. I kid you not, if you don’t put the time and effort into the diet side of things, the time and effort you put in at the gym will largely go to waste. Diet is that important.
If you need some ready done meal plans for you, you can check out this program that comes with a muscle building diet plan.
—–> No-Nonsense Muscle Building (click to go to program site)
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