As important as what we eat each day is how often we eat and how the food is prepared. This is especially important for anyone looking to gain muscle. Exercising, workouts and a good diet are all inextricably linked; each piece is part of a larger plan, and if one area is neglected, we hamper or altogether destroy our progress.
There are some basic pointers to follow. Remember, firstly, that muscle is there because we continually work at it, and if we slack off, either through lack of exercise or lazy dieting, we will see a decline. Constant effort is needed to keep a toned, muscular body in that state. Any nutritionist will suggest putting a diet together that achieves a daily calorie rate, both in terms of minimum and maximum amounts. This is based on our body mass index (BMI) as well as our projected amount of exercise each day. On days we are exercising, aiming a little higher with how much we eat is recommended, whilst on non-training days, eating a little less is advisable; these allow for a slight over/under without adverse results. If we don’t eat enough on a training day, the fitness is there, but we risk not building any muscle. If we eat too much on a lazy day, any excess is going to end up converted to sugars and fat.
When we eat is almost as important as what we eat, and its suggested that we time workouts around larger meals, so training after breakfast, lunch and dinner means we turn all those calories into energy and eventually muscle mass. Exercising on an empty stomach will just leave you nauseous, exhausted and effectively running on an empty tank.
The biggest mistake we can make is concentrate solely on what we eat. It’s definitely a large part of a muscle gaining diet but the benefits of a good diet need to be maximised; eat well, time workouts around our main meals and be sure to hit our minimum required calories to ensure maximum energy conversion. You’ll see a far quicker increase in muscle.
