Muscle Gain Diet – The Diet You Should Follow

One thing that is not usually portrayed in television and movies is how gaining muscles are not only based on exercise. There is a need for people to focus on their muscle gain diet so that the proper food can improve their muscle growth tremendously.

You have finally decided that you are going to start building muscles. It looks easy when it is portrayed on television. You will see thin or scrawny men who would go to the gym for the first time and after a few minutes, they would look good.

This is also the same for overweight guys who are shown in movies and television shows. They would start out looking pudgy and they are made out to be unattractive than they actually are. After a few sessions at the gym, they would have the type of body that only men can wish for.

Even if you have started exercising recently, you have to ask yourself, when was the last time that you paid attention to your diet? When was the last time that you actually ate what you are required to eat? A lot of people try their best to exercise and to follow what their trainers are telling them only to forget about the effort that they exerted the moment that they get home and see all of the amazing food that they can eat.

Muscle Gain Diet You Should Follow

You need to know the right muscle gain diet so that you will start building your muscles soon. Take note that you should be building muscle and not fat. You can eat all the ice cream in the world to become bigger but the growth will not be because of your muscles. Rather, it would be because of fat.

You have to know the different food products that can promote lean muscle growth and later on, you will learn how to create meal plans that you can actually prepare at home. Right now, let us focus on the food that will provide effective muscle gain diet first.

Beef

One thing you should know, not all beef are created equal. There are some that are good because the beef comes from grass-fed cows. Some may not have enough of the nutrients that you need. Always check the different sources of beef and make a choice depending on what is the healthiest option available.

Beef is important because it can help provide muscles some needed nutrients like the following:

• Protein
• Cholesterol
• Zinc
• B Vitamins
• Iron

When you choose beef from grass-fed cows, this contains CLA also known as conjugated linoleic acid. This can be effective in reducing the fat content of the body overall.

Brown Rice

There are some people who dislike brown rice. They do not like its taste and they do not like its texture but if you truly want to start building serious muscle, this is one of the foods to include in your muscle gain diet. This whole-grain digests slowly so you would feel fuller for a longer period of time.

You also need this when you are exercising because you want food that can help you feel fueled while you are working out. Can you honestly workout when you do not have energy? A cup of brown rice is already sufficient to provide your needs.

Eggs

You are aware that eggs are meant to provide the right amount of protein that the body needs. Some people eat eggs without the yolk but do you know that the yolk of eggs has good cholesterol? If you truly want to start building muscles, you need to eat the egg yolks too.

Eggs are very versatile and you can cook them in different ways. Most people prefer eating fried eggs but to lessen the possible bad fat and just focus on the nutrients you deserve, you can eat hard-boiled eggs or poach them. Some would bake and roast them too. The decision will be up to you. The right spices can make some differences with the taste.

Quinoa

If you have stopped eating rice, and rice for a long time, quinoa can be a great option for you so that you can get the right amount of carbohydrates that your body needs to feel energized. This is not only a slow-digesting carb, this also contains enough protein to fuel muscle growth. This can increase the IGF-1 in the body so that you can build stronger muscles.

This is one of those food products that you should not forget to consume because of its ability to provide you with lean muscle gains you can benefit from.

Organic Cottage Cheese

Take note that when choosing cottage cheese, you cannot just choose a random cottage cheese you can find in the grocery. Look for organic ones that will give the best nutrients possible to help you in building your dream muscles at the soonest possible time.

Cottage cheese is actually a good source of protein because it is full of casein protein which is slow digesting. This means that this protein that will be used up to build your muscles will not be used to provide the energy that your body needs.

You can keep your muscles and make them stronger while you sleep at night. It is best that you add this to a meal that you are going to take in the evening.

Skinless Chicken

Are you enjoying the information that you are learning about muscle gain diet so far? You have to brace yourself because there are more information and details that you are going to learn about how you can build your muscles well.

Chicken is known to be one of the sources of high-quality protein so you know for sure that it would be effective in building your muscles and will also help maintain the muscles that you have formed so far. Aside from building muscle chicken is also a good source of other nutrients that will help your bones become stronger. You can also help maintain your weight when you eat the right chicken parts.

Of course, the chicken will not be as healthy if you would keep the skin on because this is full of bad cholesterol. It will not be effective too if you would fry it. Get to know the different ways that you can prepare chicken so you will know how to enjoy it without worrying about the extra calories.

Whey Protein

Whether you are new to the gym world or you have been working out for years, you already know that whey protein is one of the most important things that you should consume for lean muscle growth. This is one of the most popular supplements you can take and there is a good reason for this.

Whey protein is known to provide the protein that you need without spending a lot of money in the process. There are proper times when you can take this type of protein. You are recommended to drink them before your workout but there are also some who take it upon waking up.

Oatmeal

Do you know that oatmeal is a good source of carbohydrates? It has a low GI (Glycemic Index) and this is not processed too much too so you will not have any problems with adding this to your diet for sure. If you have always loved eating oatmeal then you will not have issues including this in your diet as one of the foods to add to your muscle gain diet but if you think that oatmeal is just a bit too bland, do not worry, there are so many oatmeal recipes available that you will have fun trying out each one.

When you eat oatmeal, you can expect the following:

• You are going to have more fiber in your diet.
• You will not feel too hungry which means you are going to eat less than usual.
• Will lose weight.

This is not only effective in helping you build more muscle, this can be effective in helping you lose weight so that you will have enough space to start building your muscles soon.

Apples

You know what they say, you should consume apples every day so that you can stay healthy and fit but do you realize that apples can be effective for your muscles too? This is known to improve the strength of your muscles so that you will not suffer from muscle fatigue.

When you feel that your muscles can take more than usual, you can do more reps and you can work out more effectively. There are also some studies that show how polyphenols that are found in apples can be effective in weight loss. If you would like to lose weight and build muscles at the same time, adding apples to your muscle gain diet is a done deal.

Healthy Fats

The moment that people say the word “fat,” it is already enough to make a lot of people become filled with dread. There are a lot of people who do not like to be called fat whether they are men or women. This makes people stay away from all types of fat, even healthy fat.

Even if you have always thought that all types of fat are evil, now is the time for you to stop this way of thinking. Good fat can be very helpful for you. In fact, it can help improve the rate of some hormones that will make your muscles grow stronger and faster. Some good sources of healthy fats are the following food:

• Avocadoes
• Salmon and Other Fatty Fish
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Flaxseed

Other Details about Building Muscle

You have already learned the different details on how you can start building muscle. It is essential that you learn more about how you can incorporate these different food products to let you formulate a muscle gain diet that will be effective for you.

How Much Protein Should You Take?

It will be easy to just choose all of the food products that contain protein and add them to your diet but if you consume too much, it will also be bad for you. You need to consume more protein than usual if you are just starting out or if you used to build muscles but stopped. If you are already starting to build muscles regularly, you can also lessen the amount of protein that you can consume.

You need to take about .73 grams of protein for every pound of your body weight. Bodybuilders usually take a gram for each pound but if you only want regular muscles for the typical folk, .73 will be enough.

It is also ideal that you speak to a nutritionist about this if you want to be sure about the amount of protein you should take.

How Often Should You Eat?

This is still one of the issues that people have regarding the amount of food that they should take. There are some who eat their usual 3x-a day meals but there are some people who would like to maximize their muscle growth would eat more than usual.

Take note that it does not mean that just because you are eating too much protein from what is recommended, it already means that you are going to start building more muscles. It depends on when you are going to supply your body with the proper protein that it needs.

There was a time when people would load up on carbohydrates for breakfast, consume a moderate amount of protein for lunch then eat high amounts of protein for dinner. This may be effective for some people but studies show that it is best if you would consume protein evenly throughout the meals that you take.

For example, if you need to consume 100 grams of protein a day and you are going to eat 5 times that day, you can take 20 grams of protein for each meal. This is better compared to just eating a lot of protein at night.

There are some people who eat more than 6 times a day but some experts are saying that this is a bit excessive. If you want the meals to work, you can take 3 – 5 but not more than that.

It will help when you know when your muscle growth is going to occur. This means that you are going to elevate your muscle growth effectively. When you are working out, your muscle rate will be higher than usual especially about 16 – 24 hours after your workout.

Building Your Muscles Effectively

Do you honestly think that you have all of the details that you want to know about building muscles? You already know the details regarding the type of food you are going to eat plus the number of times you are going to eat.

There are still some more tips that will help you build the muscles that you want and achieve the body you have always wanted.

Try to maximize building your muscles

How will you gain muscles if you would not make any effort to make changes with your present diet? There is a good reason why you have learned more about muscle gain diet, this is meant to help you make changes immediately. If you would not make these changes then nothing will happen.

Remember that your body normally makes use of protein in order to build hormones. If you still have enough for your muscle growth, that is the only time when you can improve the size of your muscles.

You should eat meat.

You have already learned the right food that you should take in order to build muscle but if you truly want the muscle gain to be fast, you should eat meat. This is not a problem if you are a meat-eater all your life but if you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you need to work harder to get more protein.

Plant-protein and meat-protein are different from each other. Plant protein still needs to be transformed by the body to make it the type of protein that people can use while protein that comes from meat can be used immediately.

If you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you can consult with a nutritionist immediately so that you will know just how much of plant protein you need to take for it to be equal to the type of protein you can get from a meat source.

If you are a regular meat-eater, a sample of the sources of protein you can eat in a day are the following:

• You can eat 8-ounce chicken (the breast part will be sufficient)
• A cup of cottage cheese
• A few thin slices of lean beef
• 2 eggs
• A glass of milk
• 2 ounces of peanuts

You need to start eating more.

You may be pretty happy with your weight so far but if you want to build muscle, you need to eat more than usual. So, you are going to need more calories so that you can burn. If you want to start gaining weight, you need to wait about 2 weeks before you start seeing some effect. If you have made an effort to consume more calories but you still have not gained any muscle weight, you can increase the calories that you are taking by about 500. if nothing is happening, go to your nutritionist or ask your trainer about it. You may be doing something that is not proper for your body to not undergo any type of change.

You can start building some of your big muscle groups first before focusing on small ones.

When you are just starting out, expect that the changes are going to be immediate because you are going through some things that your body has never experienced before. You are going to see a little bit of muscle growth little by little but if it has been a while since you started, you can focus on your biggest muscle groups first. You can focus on your chest, your back, and your legs.

Do you know what exercises will promote the most muscle growth? If you answer no, then these are just a few of the exercises you should think of including in your usual routine:

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Bent-over rows
• Pull-ups
• Dips

These are just a few of the exercises that you should do. There are still more than you should familiarize yourself with to be sure.

Feed your body enough carbohydrates after your workout.

There are some people who try to avoid carbs as much as possible but if you would like to build muscles, you need enough carbs especially after your workout so that your muscles will be able to rebuild properly. The muscle gain diet you formulate should allow you to eat the right carbs that will increase your insulin level that will slow down the breakdown of proteins. This means that proteins will be stored longer inside your body which can improve muscle growth.

Some people know that the proper exercise will allow them to build the body that they have always wanted but some do not know that even their food will have an effect on the rate that their muscles will grow and develop. Even a simple cup of ice cream after your workout can already improve your muscles.

It will help increase the amount of insulin that you have in your body to slow down the digestion of protein. Of course, you can only eat ice cream on days after you work out and if you consume too much, you will have too much sugar that may turn into unwanted fat.