6 Golden Rules Of The Muscle Building Diet

Getting geared up to build muscle? If so, you’re likely taking a good hard look at the nutrition protocol you’re using – or at least you should be if you hope to make optimal progress.

Diet easily ranks in as one of the top elements that must be in place for long-term success to be seen. While your gym workouts will be vital since they will be what supplies the stimulus that prompts your muscle to grow, it’s your build muscle diet that supplies the raw materials to build that new muscle tissue out of.

If all you do is go to the gym but you fail to provide the raw materials for growth, you might get stronger, but you definitely won’t be getting any larger.

That said, you might think that muscle building diet nutrition is simple and straightforward.

Not so.

Let’s go over 6 of the top rules of any build muscle diet plan so that you can make sure yours lines up as it should.

#1 You Must Look After Post-Workout Nutrition

First, of all the things that must be in place, your post-workout nutrition tops the list. Immediately after your workout session, your body is going to be crying out for fuel.

Your muscle tissues are torn apart and they now need nutrients for optimal growth.

If you fail to supply those nutrients, growth will fail to occur.  You want to superload your nutrients during the post-workout period as this is the time they are most utilized for the purpose of rebuilding that muscle tissue. Do not be afraid to place a higher dose of carbohydrates along with your protein during this time.

Just note that fat should be kept out of the immediate post-workout period as you will be spiking insulin levels higher with all those carbohydrates. Save fat for later on in the day instead.

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#2 Your Muscle Building Diet Must Be Balanced

Next, you must also make sure that your diet is as balanced as possible. This means that you are taking in all three macronutrients – proteins, carbohydrates, and dietary fats.

Some people will try and build muscle utilizing a low carb diet, but this will almost always lead to less than optimal results. Carbohydrates cause the release of insulin, which is the most anabolic substance in the body as far as muscle building goes.

While too much insulin at the wrong time is very bad and can lead to excessive body fat and eventually diabetes development, insulin at the right time – post workout, is very good.

You also must have fats in your diet as well as fat intake is key for making sure you sustain optimized levels of testosterone.

#3 You Must Include Variety

Variety should be looked after in your diet as well, if not for nutrition sake, for making the diet easier to get down.

You will be eating a much higher volume of food during your building muscle diet and if you are eating the same foods day in and day out, you can rest assured you’ll be bored and sick of that diet in no time.

Including variety helps make the diet more manageable and in addition to that, it’s also going to mean that you will take in more overall nutrients as well.

This doesn’t mean you can’t eat the same meal twice, but do try and make sure that you aren’t eating just two sources of protein and one course of carbohydrates all day long.

#4 You Must Master Food Prep

If you want to succeed with your diet to build muscle, food prep is one thing you need to get ahold over.  Nothing is going to slow your progress faster than if you aren’t organized and aren’t preparing your food ahead of time.

Rather than cooking up one chicken breast for example, cook up six to eight or try healthy chicken stir fry.

Rather than making one cup of rice, make four cups.

Rather than cutting and chopping vegetables for one meal, cut and chop them for six.

This way, you can save time throughout the week and still maintain your diet plan. One of the biggest excuses people give for not maintaining their muscle building diet is simply not having the time to cook.  But, if you are aiming to cook 6-8 times per day for each of your meals, it’s no wonder you don’t have the time.

If you cook once per day for all your meals, you’ll find it’s far more manageable.

Invest in some good Tupperware containers and always be making leftovers for meals ahead.

#5 You Must Seek Out Calorie Dense Foods

Another golden rule of the successful build muscle diet is to make sure that you are eating calorie dense foods.  Especially if you are someone who doesn’t build muscle all that easily, you are going to have to take your calorie intake up much higher than it was before.  Along with this can come bloating and discomfort if you aren’t careful.

To help avoid this, it’s time to seek out more calorie-dense foods.  Calorie dense foods will help you tally up a higher total intake, without adding more bulk to the stomach.  This then means you not only have to eat less food volume, but you’ll cut back on how frequently you may have to eat during the day.

Good choice for calorie dense foods include nuts, dried fruit, salmon, raw oats, whole milk products, steak, and avocados.

It’s also worthwhile to consider having at least one or two shakes per day as part of your overall food intake.  Liquid calories won’t fill you up as quickly as solid food calories will.

Be careful about using any commercial weight gainer however. More often than not, these are filled with sugars and unhealthy fats that won’t do your body well. Instead, prepare your own weight gainer with Protein Build protein powder, dry oats, frozen fruit, and almond or peanut butter.  It’ll be a far superior and healthier way to build that lean muscle mass.

#6 You Must Track Everything

Finally, also make sure that you are tracking everything you eat just like you would track your workouts.  Just because your goal is muscle gaining doesn’t mean it’s a free for all to eat anything you want.

Do that and you will be gaining body fat faster than you are comfortable with. While you may not need to be quite as precise with your tracking as you were when you were looking to get leaner, you should still have a fairly good and accurate idea of how many total calories you are consuming along with your protein, fat, and carb intake.

This way, if you aren’t seeing the results you had hoped for from your plan, you can also make a few adjustments to the diet and this will then help you push onward to see the muscle gain you are after.

Since there are so many calorie and nutrient tracking websites and applications today, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to track your daily diet with accuracy.

Conclusion 

So keep these points in mind. If you hope to succeed with your goal to build muscle mass, you must make sure that you are dieting correctly. Failing to do so will mean failing to progress forward.

-Terry Asher

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6 Golden Rules Of The Muscle Building Diet

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What are the top rules of the Muscle Building Diet? This post explores the top 6 rules to stay with your Muscle Building Diet.

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Terry Asher

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Gym Junkies

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