Everybody needs to know that your muscle building diet plan or your nutritional plan is a lot more important than you think. There are a lot of people who work out like crazy at the gym but then they eat the wrong kind of food at home, and they wonder why they can’t see any muscle gain.

If you don’t have a muscle building diet plan, then you are planning to fail. So let us help you to create your own muscle building diet plan with this guide that is going to help you to build muscles and have strong gains from your commitment and hardwork.

Macronutrients

Calories

The first factor that you need to consider for your muscle building diet is the macronutrients (calories, carbs, and protein). If you want to maximize muscle growth while minimizing fat gain then you have to ensure that you are taking enough calories. But at the same time you don’t want to go overboard, in fact, research has indicated that more calories are not necessarily better for growth since there’s a limit on how much muscle growth you can gain in a specific amount of time.

Consuming too many calories will be stored as fat in your body, therefore you should go with the recommendations of multiple researchers within the field, which aim to slowly gain roughly two to four pounds per month depending on your training experience.

And to find out how many calories you need per day is by simply multiplying your bodyweight (pounds) by 15 and then add maybe 200-400 calories to it. If you’re a beginner, aim for the higher end since you had greater muscle potential. Whereas, intermediate lifters should aim for the lower end, although this likely won’t be spot on initially you can start with this and then adjust your calories based on how your weight gain progresses.

Protein

As for protein, again more is not necessarily better but there is an optimal range that you want to hit. Protein plays a vital role in muscle recovery and muscle growth so you definitely need to add proteins to your muscle building diet plan. As what was many studies suggest, intaking roughly 0.73 to 1 gram per pound of body weight seems to be optimal for muscle growth. Remember that going over that range will not provide an added benefit for growth.

See Also: Fueling Up: How To Create A Balanced Diet For Building Muscle Mass

Carbs and Fats

For carbs and fats, you need sufficient carbs in order to fuel your workouts and boost your performance in the gym. You also need carbs and fats to support your hormone levels and overall health. Several experts recommend taking roughly 0.25 to 0.5 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight and then the remainder of your calories coming from carbs. Therefore have a lot of flexibility with your carbs and fats because you can adjust them to better suit your lifestyle and food preferences.

And if you are confused about figuring out all these numbers, an easy way to get started is to simply use a macro calculator.

Example Of A Muscle Building Diet Plan

Now that you’ve learned the basics and foods that you needed to put in your muscle building diet plan, let me show you an example of a meal plan for a typical day of a bodybuilder.

On a typical day of eating the calories that a person roughly needs on average is 2,500 calories to be able to maintain their body weight. But try to aim for an intake of around 2,800 calories and this intake will be spread across four main meals throughout the day since as shown in many research studies. 2800 calories are optimal in order to maximize muscle anabolism.

See Also: Muscle Building Diet: How to Eat to Lose Fat and Build Muscle

Meal #1 (Liquid Calories)

We find this a very easy and convenient way to intake a lot of calories and nutrient-dense foods by simply blending them into a shake. A lot of research shows that taking liquid calories seems to impact satiety (feeling of fullness) less than taking the same amount of calories in solid form. Therefore, for those who are struggling to intake sufficient calories to gain weight, protein shakes or fruit shakes are excellent and convenient options to do so.

Meal #2 (Lentils And Chicken)

The next meal is really something that you would wanna add to your muscle building diet plan. This sample meal is a great option as it contains adequate protein and sufficient carbs which will help you fuel your workout later on.

This is just a simple combination of baked chicken, white rice, boiled lentils, and cooked zucchini with various seasonings and light sauces added. And one of the great things about this meal is the varied amino acid profile of the foods, for example, lentils on their own are a great source of protein but they lack two important amino acids. But the good thing about pairing it with rice is that grains are particularly high in these two amino acids that the lentils don’t have.

See Also: MEALS FOR GAINING MUSCLE: THE RIGHT NUTRITION FOR MUSCLE GROWTH

Snack (Nuts)

One of the best examples of snacks that you can add to your muscle building diet plan is almonds or any type of nuts. They’re not only a great nutrient-dense source of healthy fats and fiber but also provide a variety of other important micronutrients and minerals.

Meal #3 (Eggs)

A study indicates that ingesting whole eggs produces 42 percent greater levels of muscle protein synthesis when compared to ingesting the same amount of protein in egg whites alone. Therefore, pairing your egg whites with whole eggs may be more beneficial for this reason.

Eggs are also great for either pre-workout or post-workout meals so don’t ever forget to add them to your muscle building diet plan.

Meal # 4 (Salmons)

And for the last sample meal that you can also add to your muscle building diet is salmon, baked sweet potatoes, and stir-fried veggies if you want. Salmon provides not only sufficient protein but also all the important Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA), which have been proven to help muscle repair and growth. Sweet potatoes for replenishing your muscle glycogens and stir-fry veggies for some source of micronutrients.