10 Muscle Building Diet Rules

A diet for building muscle is all about eating quality food, eating ample of it, and eating it at the right times of the day. Diet is the most important aspect of bodybuilding, followed closely by weight training, recovery and sleep.

Make yourself a diet plan based on the 10 rules given below:

Muscle building diet rule 1: Don’t go more than 3 hours without food

Eat every 3 hours for the time you are awake. If you are awake for 16 hours of the day, you need to eat at least 5 meals throughout the day spread over 3 hour intervals.

Sounds impossible? You’ll get used to it, you have to. By ingesting food every 3 hours you keep your body in anabolism. You can grow only in this state.

Muscle building diet rule 2: Eat optimum amounts of proteins with each meal

For many years we’ve been led to believe that muscle building diets should provide 1-2 g of proteins per pound of body weight. It’s a myth perpetrated by supplement companies to push their powders into the lucrative supplement market.

The truth is that diet for muscle building must consist of healthy proteins from real solid foods. And you need 0.6-0.8 g of them for every pound of body weight daily.

Load up on lean protein from whole foods. Good proteins rev up your metabolism, build up muscle and aid in quick recovery after workouts. Here is a list of the best sources of proteins:

Fish, wild salmon, eggs, egg whites, lean cuts of meat, chicken breast, lean turkey, skim milk, strong tasting cheese, yogurt, legumes, nuts, beans, quinoa.

Muscle building diet rule 3: Eat ample carbs with each meal

Never neglect carbohydrates; you need 2-4 g of them daily for each pound of body weight to get bigger. The best sources of carbohydrates are:

Oats, oat bran, whole grains, whole grain bread and pasta, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato, variety of vegetables, variety of fruits.

As a thumb rule make sure you include 2 cups of vegetables in most meals. Eat plenty of fruits for breakfast.

Muscle building diet rule 4: Eat good fats as one third of each meal

One third of your calories must come from good fats. Low intake of fats will lead to low levels of testosterone and low thyroid activity. Fats are needed for revving up metabolism.

Lack of essential fats in food slows down metabolism. Low intake of fat might cause problems in the joints, leading to disastrous effects on your training program.

Fats are also essential for the skin to look good. Lack of fats can give you the impoverished look. Make sure you consume enough of goods fats like:

Olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil, fish oil, avocado, nuts like peanuts, walnut, almond and cashew, omega 3 eggs, wild salmon.

Muscle building diet rule 5: Eat Big!

Building muscle mass is 80 percent nutrition. Eating to build muscle mass can never be underestimated. So how many calories a day should you eat to grow larger muscles?

The rule of thumb for beginners is start with 19 multiplied by your body weight in pounds. If you weigh 150 pounds, you must start eating 2850 calories a day.

Check your progress after 2 weeks. If you seem to be putting on flab, cut your calories by 250. If you are not gaining weight at all, pile on 250 more calories per day.

As you eat, work out, grow and progress week by week, you’ll need more and more amount of food.

Muscle building diet rule 6: Have a huge breakfast

After sleeping for 8 long hours at night your body is in a catabolic state, breaking down tissues for energy. To reverse this process, you need to feed your body with proteins and carbs first thing in the morning.

Like mentioned in rule 1, your breakfast should be one of the two biggest meals of the day.

Muscle building diet rule 7: Drink a protein and carb shake 15 minutes before workout

Ingesting proteins and carbs in liquid form 15 minutes before your workout improves blood flow to the muscles. Liquids act fast and create the insulin spike needed to transport nutrients to the muscle tissues.

Fast acting carbohydrates also prevent the conversion of protein to energy required for the workout. Shakes ingested before and even during workout prevent potential loss of muscle and glycogen in exchange for the energy required to work out.

Muscle building diet rule 8: Drink a protein and carb shake immediately after workout

Muscle building period begins immediately after the workout and lasts for about 2 hours. To make the most of this phase, drink one more protein and carb shake as soon as you complete the workout. Carb:protein ratio in the drink should be about 2:1.

After an intense workout, storage areas in the muscles, liver and fat cells empty out. This is the best time to replenish them with energy.

If you supply them energy when they are already full, where do you think the excess will go? Fat cells. Fat cells are the only places that accommodate excess supply.

Muscle and liver cells are limited in their storage space. Therefore the post workout time period is THE time to load up on carbs and proteins.

Shakes ingested right after the workout help raise insulin levels needed to transport proteins to the muscle tissues.

Muscle building diet rule 9: Eat nuts and oils to achieve the target calories per day

Once you progress to 4K and 5K diet plans you might find it difficult to achieve the number through regular meals. Nuts and oils are the best way to add extra calories to your diet.

Muscle building diet rule 10: Eat a variety of good foods and dump the bad

Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables to draw the most of everything on offer. Each food has something unique; make good use of it. Avoid junk foods at all costs.

For the complete skinny-to-burly guide on how to build muscle and fast, refer to the No-Nonsense Muscle Building e-book by Vince DelMonte. It is a step by step program consisting of some conventional and many unconventional methods to add bulk to your frame in quick time