Many times I will come across individuals who understand that they need to eat, but they are eating the wrong things. They figure that eating simply means eat anything you want. This is almost as bad as not eating anything at all.
If you want to gain muscle and not fat, do not make the assumption that all calories are equal. This will only lead to gaining large amounts of body fat.For example, if I said that you need to eat 2,500 calories per day to gain weight, and you eat 4 bags of potato chips and 6 donuts each day, do you think you would gain muscle? Not likely.
The majority of your weight would be fat. Why? Because potato chips and donuts, like most processed junk food, contain empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods do not provide you with the correct nutrient breakdown essential for gaining muscle. In addition, they accelerate the storage of fat and help to deteriorate your overall health by wreaking havoc with your blood sugar and increasing your bad cholesterol levels.
Here are two sample diets. Both provide the same amount of calories. If all calories were equal, then both diets will build muscle, but one will build a healthy, muscular body, the other will build fat, and promote poor overall health.
2,500 Calories 2,500 Calories8am -- Meal 1
Myoplex, 1 tsp flaxseed oil.
432 calories, 42g of protein, 25g of carbs, 14g of fat
8am -- Meal 1
3 Donuts and a glass of OJ.
644 calories, 11g of protein, 100g of carbs, 24g of fat
11pm -- Meal 2
4 Whole Eggs w/ 1 cup of hash browns.
440 calories, 28g of protein, 36g of carbs, 20g of fat
11pm -- Meal 2
Grabbed a bag of chips and a soda.
440 calories, 4g of protein, 71g of carbs, 18g of fat
2pm -- Meal 3
6 oz. chicken breast with 1/2 cup of rice.
319 calories, 50g of protein, 23g of carbs, 7g of fat
2pm -- Meal 3
No time to eat.
0 calories, 0g of protein, 0g of carbs, 0g of fat
5pm -- Meal 4
4 whole eggs in a flour tortilla w/salsa.
367 calories, 24g of protein, 17g of carbs, 20g of fat
5pm -- Meal 4
Fast Food Dinner w/fries and a soda.
1180 calories, 30g of protein, 143g of carbs, 56g of fat
8pm -- Meal 5
Myoplex, 1tsp flaxseed oil.
432 calories, 42g of protein, 25g of carbs, 14g of fat
8pm -- Meal 5
Snack of 2 cookies.
140 calories, 1g of protein, 19g of carbs, 7g of fat
11pm -- Meal 6
6 oz grilled tuna with large baked potato, 1 cup of veggies.
450 calories, 48g of protein, 56g of carbs, 6g of fat
11pm -- Meal 6
Pre-bedtime snack of hot chocolate.
103 calories, 3g of protein, 23g of carbs, 1g of fat
Total Calories: Protein: Carbs: Fat: 2,440
234g
Total Calories: 2,507 Protein: 49g Carbs: 356g Fat: 106g
The diet on the left is a diet that I have eaten in the past. The diet on the right is a diet someone emailed me when I asked them what they were actually eating. I will note that this person had an extremely high body fat, even though he was relatively thin.
Though his diet contains the same amount of calories, it does not have enough good quality protein, or complex carbs. The majority of his carbs come from sugar and the majority of his fat comes from saturated fat. This is an extreme case, but I hope that you get the picture.
Your ideal muscle building diet should provide you with plenty of high quality protein. That should be the focus of each meal. Next, you want to a fair amount of complex carbs, while lowering your overall intake sugar. Finally, you want to reduce your intake of saturated fat and replace it with good fat. You will not be able to totally eliminate saturated fat from your diet, but the majority of your fat should come from good fat sources.
If you focus on these few things, you will be miles ahead of most people and well on your way to building muscle without gaining fat. Below are a few rules to live by when choosing foods for your muscle building diet.