It should come as no surprise that there are about 200 Google searches a month for the term, “diet to build muscle,” versus 1300 for “diet to lose weight.”
Diet is owned by the weight loss crowd. But dieting isn’t about losing weight, burning fat, or building muscle. Dieting is all about eating well. And in process of eating well, you tweak to either build muscle or burn weight (not lose weight or gain weight – that’s same as fat!)
Back when Larry Scott sat at the mountaintop of the bodybuilding world, the common notion was that nutrition and dieting was whopping 80 % of the pie. Guys like the Iron Guru, Vince Gironda, would preach that all the time. I don’t know where that number came from or where it stands today, but I do know this – its still a big number!
Consider this. As a hardgainer, you’ve no doubt been preached to, or read in countless magazines that you need to train less and rest more. You need to give your muscle the opportunity to grow.
Okay, so if you work out for an hour, say 3 or 4 days a week, that means a maximum 4 hours of training in a week. There are 168 hours in a week. You spend about 2.4% of your time working out. So what do you do during the other 97.6% of your week hours? What you do during those 164 hours will make or break your efforts to build muscle. Yeah, dieting is big part of whether you will succeed or not.
Dieting is not just for the weight loss crowd.
Because dieting is all about eating smart and eating well. The notion that to get big; you must eat big is not enough. What you eat is what matters. Besides, do you want to pack on 20 pounds of fat marbled beef to your body or add 7 to 8 pounds of lean muscle? Or do you want to be bulky and smooth or lean and hard?
Those are legitimate questions and your answers will determine what and how you will diet to build muscle.
So, as you plan out your diet and yes, you must plan, just be mindful of how absolutely critical your diet is to your growth plan. I learned long ago that in all parts of life, you must plan your work, and then, work your plan. If you have no plan, what are you doing?
Some dieting guidelines for you to look at. Of course, when in doubt, talk to your doctor.
- Water – lots of it. Even when looking to gain weight, you need to stay hydrated. You need to keep flushing all the toxins from your body.
- Calories – Yes, you need to take in enough calories for your body to work with. But you must consume, as they say, nutritionally dense foods. It cannot be calories for the sake of calories – only foods that are rich in macronutrients, micronutrients, and fiber.
- Fiber - Yes, fiber to keep you regular. Any macronutrients (see protein) not used by your body goes to fat. Being regular will help minimize that.
- Multiple Meals – Contrary to some of my thoughts on weight loss strategies; here, 3 squares are not going to do it. Of course 6 squares may be impractical. Some of us do work, I understand. So, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are the minimum. To that add a mid morning and mid afternoon snack. Or take a couple tuna/egg sandwiches to work. Take a break and wolf one down around 10 and another around 2pm. You may or may not want to add a protein drink before hitting the sack. You just want to keep a steady diet of protein and nutrients heading into your body.
- Protein – Always a big discussion on how much protein a body needs. It’s all moot. To get the calories you need, you must consume good amounts of protein. Chicken, fish, pork are all great for protein, not so much for calories. Beef is great. So are nuts and legumes. Complete versus incomplete essential amino acids – forget about it. Just get a good mix of beef, nuts, legumes, fowl, fish, and pork and you’ll be fine. As for quantity, have about about 4 oz of protein per meal and handful of nuts throughout the day. And forget the 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight. So, if you weight 250lbs - of fat – do you still need 250 grams? And if you weigh 150lbs – lean – what does that mean; you only need 150 grams? To my mind, just get 20 to 30 grams into your body every 3 or 4 hours and you should be fine.
- Calorie counting – Never really been into this. Why be a slave to the number of calories you should or should not consume? Use a 12″ dinner plate and divide it into quarters. In one quarter, put about 30 grams of protein – one serving. Complex carbs/starch in the other quarter. Fibrous vegetables in another. Bread, fruit or whatever you like in the last. It’s balanced and it’s nutritious. That’s what you want. Get full but don’t pig out. Everything on your plate should be nutrient dense. Supplement with mid-morning and mid-afternoon protein snack and finish off with a nice protein calorie shake at night. You’ll get your calories.
- Eat clean – Whether your plan is to just get big or to add some lean muscles here and there, you must eat clean. Working you plan means no cheating. No cheating means no empty calories. Sodas out, juices in. Alcohol out, juices in (be the permanent designated driver, girls will love you). Candy bars out, protein bars in. You get the drift. That said, if you have a no-no, it’s no biggie – just move on and eat better. Never beat yourself up.
And of course, this is just some suggestions from me to get you started. Guys like Jeff – in his Optimum Anabolics program – take dieting, nutrition, and timing to a different level. But that’s not my intent. My intent is just to give you some things to think about.
Don’t give into this notion of having to eat 200 or 250 grams of protein a day and wolfing down massive quantities of calories to get big. Because you will get big – but it might not be the big you want!
Be smart about your weight gain – hey, smart weight gain – diet to build muscle.
And that means eating smart and eating well.
