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Nutrition is a vital element in any bodybuilding program.

Your muscles need the proper nutrients if they are to grow and give you the body you want. Of course good nutrition is important for overall health, which is a nice bonus.

In this article I’m going to give you a quick guide to what foods and in what amounts you will need to grow new muscle and preserve the muscle you’ve already built.

First of all, your eating patterns are going to have to change a bit. Rather than two or three larger meals a day, you want to eat smaller meals frequently throughout the day.

The point of this is to increase your metabolism. This will help you burn fat and help your body get into muscle building mode. In fact after 4 hours without food, your body switches into catabolic mode, where you begin to accumulate fat; a biological function of the body from the days of being hunter/gatherers who literally didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.

Instead, eat four to six meals a day, about three hours apart.

What should I be eating?

Glad you asked. When you’re trying to build muscle, balance is the watchword. You want protein, carbs and fat in every meal.

You want to strive to get all three in a ratio of roughly 40% of carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat. When you get all three at once it helps your body make the most of each element… and… fights energy crashes by giving you sustained fuel for energy.

What about calories; don’t those matter?

What you should be looking for in terms of calories is an alternating pattern of low calories (about 2000 for men and 1200 for women) for two weeks followed by higher calories for two weeks (about 2500 for men and 1500 for women).

This will give you what every bodybuilder wants, it will help you lose fat and build lean muscle mass — all at the same time. But remember this: You should adjust these numbers upwards somewhat if you are doing energy intensive training such as running.

Are you now thinking, “OK, so what specifically are good things to eat while building muscle?”

The key is variety and balance — again. While I don’t have enough room here to go into an entire nutrition plan, You’ll want both simple and complex carbohydrates — here’s a few ideas:

Complex Carbohydrates: Oatmeal, broccoli, spinach sweet potatoes, rice, Simple Carbs: Fruit is your best bet; whatever fruit you enjoy is fine here.

Focus on these Proteins: skinless turkey or chicken, eggs, tuna, very lean beef, fish, etc.

Fats: Stick with the healthy oils such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oils, and flaxseed oil, also natural peanut butter is a good source of protein/fat.

And don’t forget: you need a LOT of water. You need water to keep your body flushed of toxins and to stay hydrated for optimum performance/health.

Following the above tips will get you started on your way to a healthy diet for building lean muscle mass.

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Tags: Exercise and Fitness