10 Muscle Building Diet Rules

If you’re looking to get started with your very own muscle building diet, there are some important rules that you must make sure to keep in mind so that you can see the best results possible.

Getting a good muscle building diet plan all lined up is a vital component of success, so take a few hours and get yours put together. It will be time well spent because it’s going to ensure that you’re fueling the muscle building process to come.

Let’s have a quick look at ten of the top muscle building diet rules that you should be following.

1) Cycle Your Calories

The very first of the rules to follow with your diet for building muscle is to consider cycling your calories. Calorie cycling tends to work very well because it’s going to allow you to place more calories on those days when you have the hard workout sessions scheduled in, and then back off on the days when you don’t.

This will help you stay leaner as you go about the muscle building process and therefore get better overall results.

2) Get Lean Protein Sources

Second, always make sure that you’re getting plenty of lean protein sources with each meal or snack. If you are filling your diet full of high-fat, low quality protein, you just won’t see the muscle density development you’re looking for.

Chicken breasts, egg whites, lean red meat, and seafood and fish are all excellent protein sources to be getting in.

3) Chow On Healthy Fats

Healthy fats are the next must-have for your diet plan. Healthy fats will be extremely calorie dense at nine calories per gram compared to the four calories per gram proteins and carbs have, so will easily help you meet your total daily calorie requirements.

Add healthy fats to each meal you eat, except for the pre and post workout period as it’s at this point you want to avoid them. They’ll only slow digesting and prevent the nutrients from getting directly to the muscle tissues.

4) Don’t Neglect Meal Timing

Our next vital element of your muscle building diet is to make sure you’re thinking about nutrient timing.

One great strategy to use on your diet for building muscle is to focus on loading up with protein and carbohydrate rich foods before and after the workout period and then focus the meals later on in the day towards proteins and healthy fats.

This will provide your body with the right type of fuel sources based on the activities you’re doing, so will mean better overall results for you.

Many muscle building diets completely overlook nutrient timing, but this can play a key role in success.

5) Go Easy On The Vegetables

Normally you hear a lot of advice saying to eat as many vegetables as possible. But, for the person who is looking to set up a muscle building diet plan, you will want to go easy on them.

They still must be there for added nutrients, but take caution about consuming too many. If you do, you will not be able to reach your total calorie intake for growth requirement as vegetables are so high in volume while being so low in calories.

A smart move is to actually blend your vegetables into your sauce so that they don’t take up all that extra room in your stomach.

6) Consider Calorie Dense Foods

Our next must-do tip for your muscle building diet is to make sure that you are thinking about calorie dense foods. Rather than feasting on vegetables, feast on foods that contain a number of calories for just a small amount of food.

This will reduce the chances that you end up very bloated on your muscle building diet and unable to meet that calorie target.

Great calorie dense food choices include nuts and nut butter, flaxseeds, salmon, raw oats, whole eggs, as well as dried fruit. Add these into your diet daily and you’ll be seeing faster progress.

7) Assess Your Progress

Speaking of progress, be sure to assess it regularly. If you aren’t building muscle at the rate you had hoped, this indicates that you’re not consuming enough calories.

Increase your calorie intake up by around 200-300 and that should get things moving along. Without this constant adjustment process it can be hard to spot plateaus, and that can just lead to wasted time on your muscle building diet plan.

8) Cheat Once In A While

Since it is so important to choose quality food sources when going about the process of building lean muscle, this means that you should approach cheat meals carefully. While you should never omit foods from your diet entirely as that can just cause you to obsess about them and eventually give in and binge, you should limit how often you do cheat.

For best results on your muscle building diet plan, aim to have a cheat meal every one or two weeks. This will help satisfy your cravings without adding extra body fat.

9) Don’t Neglect All Saturated Fat

Another important tip to use on your muscle building diet is to make sure that you are taking in some saturated fat. While you do definitely want to focus primarily on unsaturated fat, having some saturated fat will help to keep your overall testosterone levels higher, and this is a key hormone involved in the process of building muscle.

Don’t shun it entirely – about 15% of your total fat intake can safely come from saturated fats.

10) Drink Up

Finally, the last tip for your muscle building diet is to make sure you stay well hydrated. Hydration is vital for proper recovery from your workout sessions and so that you have the energy you need to go about your daily activities.

Many people do find that they get thirstier when using a very high calorie intake, so down at least 10-12 glasses of water, milk, or juice for extra calories daily.

So there you have the top tips to remember about developing a muscle building diet plan to help build lean muscle mass.

To get done-for-you diets so that you can take the guesswork out of what you should be eating and when, be sure to check out the No-Nonsense Muscle Building program.