What To Eat For Lean Muscle Gain And Fat loss
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Do you wonder why you push so hard in the gym, yet you aren't seeing the muscle gains that you want? Maybe you're doing great muscle building workouts and dumping down protein shakes, but if you're not paying attention to your overall nutrition, you'll have a tough time building muscle. If your body doesn't have the fuel and nutrients there to build muscle, you're working so hard in vain.
Although no nutrition program will work perfectly for everyone, certain basic nutrition principles are universal when you're trying to achieve fat loss while building muscle. Here's a helpful look at some of the best nutrition principles that you can immediately implement into your life to begin seeing big muscle gains while losing excess fat.
Macronutrients and Their Importance
Macronutrients are an essential part of your diet. What are macronutrients? Macronutrients aren't as complicated as they sound - they're just nutrients that your body requires in large amounts. These nutrients provide energy or calories.
The three macronutrients include:
The body needs all three of these macronutrients, as well as water and micronutrients (which we'll talk about later) to function optimally.
Why are macronutrients important? Building muscle isn't just about counting calories. The source of your calories also matters. For example, if you're aiming for 4,000 calories a day but you get most of your calories from fats while your protein and carb intake is deficient, you'll have a tough time reaching your muscle building goals. Even if you work out all the time, unless you have the right balance of macronutrients, it's tough to reach your fitness goals.
Let's take a closer look at each macronutrient and how you can figure out the right balance of each macronutrient to optimize your muscle gains.
The Role of Proteins in Muscle Building
Protein plays an important role in muscle building because the body uses proteins to construct all body tissues. Your body uses proteins to help repair muscles after a tough workout, which is why it's so important to get enough protein. It's also essential to make sure that you're eating the right kind of proteins.
All proteins are made up of amino acids. Certain amino acids can be made by the body, while others cannot. Your body doesn't need the amino acids it can make on its own. However, the amino acids that the body can't make must be taken in through your diet. The body must have all the essential amino acids in order to repair or build tissue.
Proteins are broken into two categories:
Recommendations for how much protein you should eat for maximum gains can vary. Some bodybuilding experts recommend two grams of protein per kilo of weight each day. However, an easier way to calculate your protein needs to make sure that approximately 30% of your calorie intake comes from protein.
What kinds of proteins should you be adding to your diet? Here's a look at some of the best muscle building protein foods, as well as some tips you can use to add them to your meal plans.
Other great sources of protein include:
Carbs for Muscle Building
Many people make the mistake of cutting out carbs when they try to gain muscle, but you need those carbs to fuel the body when you're exercising. Carbs are the main source of energy for your body, and if you severely reduce your carbs, you'll also reduce your energy levels, making muscle building more difficult. Carbs are stored as glycogen in the body, and it's important to keep the glycogen levels high enough that the body never starts to use protein for energy.
It's important to eat enough carbs each day to make sure your body has plenty of calories to use for energy. This ensures that the protein you eat is left to support the growth and repair of muscles.
Carbohydrates come in two different groups:
About 40% of your calories should come from carbs when you're focusing on lean muscle building. Grains, beans, and vegetables offer a great source of complex carbs. Some of the best nutrient dense carbs to add to your diet include:
Fats for Muscle Building and Fat Loss
You also need fats to achieve your muscle building goals. Many people make the mistake of trying to avoid fasts when they're working to build muscle. Even if your goal is fat loss and muscle gains, you still need to consume enough fat. Fats are essential to your body, and certain types of fat are essential for muscle growth, muscle recovery, joint health, brain function, and more. Don't assume that eating fat will make you fat. It's eating too many calories that can make you fat, not consuming fat.
Fats come in three main groups, including:
How much fat should you have on a daily basis? Approximately 25-30% of your calorie intake should come from fats. However, since you're focusing your efforts on muscle building and fat loss, you do need to focus on your fat intake on healthy fats that will improve muscle growth. Great foods and oils that offer you a great source of health fats include:
The Importance of Micro Nutrients
Although macronutrients are required in large quantities, you also need to take in small amounts of micronutrients to support your muscle building and fat loss efforts. What are micronutrients? Micronutrients are parts of food sources that don't offer caloric energy, yet they still perform many different physiological duties and are essential to maintaining good health.
Micronutrients include:
Important Vitamins and Minerals Your Body Needs
Do you know what vitamins and minerals your body needs? Here's a list of essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs:
Great Sources of Micronutrients
How do you make sure you get plenty of micronutrients in your diet? First, cut out the junk food, since most junk food does not contain high amounts of important micronutrients. Second, focus on eating a wide variety of healthy foods. Some great foods to add to your diet to ensure that you get plenty of micronutrients to support your muscle building efforts include:
What if you're not getting 50 grams of carbs all the essential micronutrients in your diet? Micronutrients are essential for healthy bodily functions and muscle building, so if you don't think your diet is offering all the micronutrients you need, you may need to consider taking a supplement. This ensures your body has the micronutrients it needs to provide you with optimal health and performance.
Common Nutrition Mistakes to Avoid
Now that you're familiar with the macro and micronutrients your body needs, you're armed with important information that will help you improve your muscle building results. However, along with nutrition dos, you also need to learn about nutrition mistakes that need to be avoided. When you want to build muscle and encourage fat loss, make sure you're not making these common nutrition mistakes.
Sample Diet Layouts to Try
Now it's time to put all this information into practice by creating your own muscle building and fat loss diet. To help you begin building your own plan, here's a look at a 3-day meal plan that includes 3 main meals and 6 snacks. This plan totals 3,000 calories daily. You may need to increase your calories, depending on your muscle building needs, so this plan is only an example. It's also important to note that you should always talk to your doctor before beginning a new nutrition or exercise plan.
Day 1
Breakfast:
1 cup of cold cereal (low sugar)
¾ cup of low fat cottage cheese
½ cup of pineapple
2 cups of milk
28 grams of protein powder
2 1/3 teaspoons of salmon, flax, or olive oil
Snack:
½ cup of Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
2/3 cup of oatmeal
28 grams of protein powder
Snack:
2 2/3 cups of fruit juice
42 grams of protein powder of choice
Lunch:
1 2/3 cups of rice
9 0z of boneless skinless chicken breast
2 1/3 teaspoons of olive oil or other healthy oil
Dinner:
¼ cup of chickpeas
1 1/3 cups of brown rice
¼ cup of romaine lettuce
13 ½ ounces of Fish
2 1/3 olive oil
1/8 cup of cucumber
Snack:
1 cup of plan Greek yogurt
¾ cup of low fat cottage cheese
9 cashews
1 cup of raspberries
Day 2
Breakfast:
35 grams of protein powder
3 eggs
1 cup of oatmeal
2 1/3 teaspoons of healthy oil (ie. olive oil)
2 cups of milk
Snack:
½ cup of Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon of olive oil (or other healthy oil)
28 grams of protein powder (or other healthy protein)
2/3 cup of oatmeal
Snack:
2 2/3 cup of fruit juice
42 grams of protein powder
Lunch:
1 1/3 cups of rice
2 1/3 teaspoons of olive oil
2 1/3 teaspoons of olive oil
9 ounces of tuna steak or salmon
Dinner:
½ cup of onions
¾ cup of pasta
2 1/3 teaspoons of olive oil
13 ounces of ground beef
½ cup of tomato sauce
Snack:
1 cup of milk
2/3 cup of oatmeal
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of olive oil (or other healthy oil)
Day 3
Breakfast:
2 cups of milk
3 ounces of cheddar cheese
7 tablespoons of slivered almonds
28 grams of protein powder
1 ½ cups of bran cereal
Snack:
2 kiwis
2 ½ tablespoons of barley
35 grams of protein powder
1 cup of milk
Snack:
2/3 cup of oatmeal
1 ounce of sunflower seeds
28 grams of protein powder
1 cup of milk
Lunch:
¼ cup of chickpeas
1 cup of rice
9 ounces of tuna in water (drained)
1 1/3 teaspoons of salmon, olive or flax oil
½ cup of salsa
Dinner:
¼ cup of cucumber
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
1 cup of rice
9 oz boneless skinless chicken
1/3 cup of applesauce
7 tablespoons of slivered almonds
1 Capsicum
1/8 head of iceberg lettuce
Snack:
9 whole almonds
½ cup of Greek yogurt
1 cup of cottage cheese
2/3 cup of oatmeal
Does low carb eating really work for weight loss? Many people would like to lose weight and they want to know what this style of eating is really all about. Can you really lose weight this way? If so, how?
The term "low carb," which is short for "low carbohydrate," means a diet that is much lower in carbohydrates than other diets or eating plans. Because there are only three macronutrients our bodies get from the food we eat - protein, carbohydrates, and fats - by reducing carbohydrates, we will eat more protein or fat (or both) if we maintain a similar number of total calories.
The idea behind low carb eating plans is that eating carbohydrates causes a rise in blood sugar within your body. This causes your body to react in certain ways, including telling the fat cells in your body to store body fat. By greatly reducing carbs in your diet, your blood sugar does not rise and, therefore, your body's mechanism for storing body fat does not get called into action.
Not only will you not gain fat, but you will lose excess fat you already have! That's the theory. Does it work?
Research shows that low carb eating plans have been documented to go back more than 150 years, and many people report losing large amounts of weight. Many, many people report losing well over 100 pounds of body fat, and countless others have lost lesser amounts because they had less to lose.
One of the problems people run into, however, is they want to have their cake and eat it too (pardon the pun - cake is loaded with carbohydrates). Food manufacturers have stepped in to offer "low" carbohydrate products that people normally eat on a regular-carb or high-carb diet, such as cake, pies, pasta, flour, etc. These modified versions of traditional treats are not really low in carbs, though. They are only low-er carb, as in lower than normal. People who eat these foods and think they are eating low carb are in reality only kidding themselves. These foods are not low in carbs -- or, at least, not low enough.
There is no common agreement as to what the definition of "low" carbohydrate eating really is. This is one of the problems for people when they look into low carb eating plans. There are many differences of opinion as to what it really means. Some say less than 50 grams of carbs per day is low carb, others say 20 grams or less, and others say something else.
Most likely, almost anybody can lose weight through low carb eating, but they do have to find out for themselves just how low they need to go. Some people can tolerate more carbs in the diet without gaining weight while others must restrict much more.
Does low carb eating really work? Yes, countless people have proven it does. The only question is: How low do you need to go to make it work for you?