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Part 3: Muscle-Building Diet
1. Increase your calorie consumption by 10%.To gain weight, consume high-fat and high-calorie foods or beverages to bump your calorie count. Keep a log of the calories you eat each day and add those numbers together. Then, divide that number by the days of the week (7) to find your daily caloric needs.
For example, if you ate 15,350 calories over the course of a week, divide that by 7 to get an average of 2,193 calories per day.
Make sure your calories are coming from a variety of healthy, minimally processed foods to provide quality nutrients for muscle-building.
2. Eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight for muscle growth. Aim for about 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (1.6g to 2g per kg). For example, if you weigh 180 lb, take 144-180 g of protein daily. If you're overweight, use your lean body mass as your body weight instead of your current weight.
To determine your lean body mass, subtract your body fat percentage from your weight. You can use online body fat calculators to find out your body’s fat percentage, which may require your body weight and measurements.
You could meet a 120-gram daily protein goal by consuming high-protein foods like a 4-ounce broiled sirloin steak (33g), 2 cups of cooked lentils (36g), 4-ounce sockeye salmon (30g), and 4-ounce ham steak (22g).
If you're having difficulty meeting these protein levels, you can always use protein shakes to make up the difference.
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3. Drink at least 8 cups (1.9 L) of water each day. The body needs sufficient water to build muscle at an optimal rate. Aim to drink at least 8 cups (1.9 L), but you'll likely need more to build healthy muscle. Here's a great little formula to help make sure you are getting enough:
Imperial units: Bodyweight in lbs X 0.6 = water intake in ounces.
Metric units: Bodyweight in kg x 40 = water intake in milliliters.
This includes all water from food and drink, not just glasses of water.
If you are over 30, you can lower these numbers to lbs x 0.46 to 0.54 or kg x 30 to 35.
4. Eat small meals before and after exercising. To gain muscle, increase your calorie intake so your body has an energy surplus to support muscle growth. Instead of having 2-3 large meals, eat 5-7 smaller meals throughout the day. It helps if you're able to eat before and after your workout session, so you have the energy to expend and recover.
To help keep your protein intake high, make 1 of your meals a protein shake. To make a basic shake, blend 8 ounces (230 g) skimmed milk, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) peanut butter, and 2 scoops of protein powder.
5. Consume healthy fats. Not only does it make food taste good, but fat is also good for you, as long as you eat the right amounts of fat! Saturated fats—the fat in a stick of butter, a bag of chips, or bacon—should be limited to about 20g or less. However, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are necessary to distribute vitamins A, D, E, and K and improve muscle-building and recovery times.
Determine your fat intake by multiplying your calorie intake by 0.008 for maximum saturated fats and 0.03 for the "good fats." For example, for a 2,500-calorie diet, you would limit saturated fats to 20g or less and up to 75g of mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
Monounsaturated fats can be found in olive, canola, sesame oils, avocado, and nuts such as almonds, cashews, peanuts, and pistachios.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn, cottonseed, and safflower oils; sunflower seeds and oils; flaxseed and flaxseed oil; soybeans and soybean oil.
Omega-3 fats are an ideal choice as they benefit the heart, blood, eyes, and, for children, brain development. It can be found in salmon, tuna, trout, sardines, and omega-3-enriched foods.
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6. Take a multivitamin, as recommended by your doctor. In addition to a well-balanced diet, include a multivitamin supplement. It will ensure your body gets the full vitamins and minerals needed to stay healthy. There are many options, depending on your age, sex, and particular health and diet needs. Find the right one for you, and make it part of your daily routine.
Alternatively, you can take a glutamine supplement to produce more glutamine, which is lost after an intense workout. Glutamine is a building block of protein, which helps your body function and protect against injuries and compromised immune systems.
Always check with your doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements.
In this section, we discussed the nutrition of any athlete and the supplements that every athlete should have. I hope all three parts were interesting to read and follow. Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow.
Artemus Vazhui