Are you ambitious for gaining lean muscles? Keep in mind that your resistance program at the gym is only half the battle. The other significant part is proper nutrition. Without lean muscle diet which suits your body requirements and makes up for the damage done by your workouts, your aim of developing lean muscles and body contours is far from reality. Your body demands certain nourishment before, during and after the workouts and weight training, in order to grow and repair the muscular tissues. It is also in need of constant supply of energy to make your workouts rigorous and result oriented. All this is unlikely if you do not pay attention to proper diet.
Know your needs
Identifying the needs of your body is crucial. Human body reloads its energy from macronutrients. Each macronutrient has to perform a certain function in our body system. We just need to regularize them and maintain a proper balance among them. The most important factors which you have to consider when making a lean muscle diet plan to fulfill the needs of nutrition and calories of your body are listed below.
- Proteins & Lipids
- Carbohydrates
- Fats & Oils
- Water
What type of calories do you need?
As you know that calorie is the unit of heat and heat is the energy which our body requires. When it comes to diet, calorie is defined as the quantity of food capable of producing the amount of energy equal to one such unit. There are three types of calories.
• High quality calories which are full of nutrients such as:
- carbohydrates
- minerals
- vitamins
- antioxidants
- fiber
• Low quality calories which do nourish our body but also contain fats and other harmful compounds that are not good for our health.
- Milk
- Cream
- Butter
- Ghee
- Beef with fatty cuts
• Empty calories which contain almost no nutrients.
- Most of the processed food items
- Sugar
- Soft drinks
- Alcohol
- Artificially flavored juices etc
Functions of the Essential Nutrients
The power and energy required for our workouts is supplied by carbohydrates, fats and proteins but carbs are the source of instant energy to keep us active physically and mentally. Proteins and lipids, fats, vitamins, minerals and water have a part to play in muscle building and the growth of tissues. The job of mending the wear and tear of our muscle mass and revamping the ruptures in our tissues is assigned to proteins. Fats play a pivotal role when it comes to the growth of bones and rejuvenation of our body cells as they help our body suck up necessary vitamins such as A, D & E.
How much protein to be included in lean muscle diet?
There is a common misconception that if you want to build lean muscles, you should consume as much proteins as you can. Though proteins do play an important role in muscle building yet taking more than the actual need of your body will, certainly, not help achieve the desired results. Proper intake of proteins is closely associated with your body weight and how much physical exertion you do. For a person having not much physical activity may be 0.30 to 0.35 grams per pound is sufficient whereas the athletes, body builders and laborers do require an intake of 0.60 to 0.75 grams per pound of their body weight.
Important considerations
Lean muscle diet is, in fact, the appropriate amount of all the essential nutrients. It is not the matter of eating more of everything. Lean muscles need continuous supply of power and energy to preserve itself. Increasing your meal timings from 3 to 5 will surely help in this regard. Another thing to take care of is the supply of water in our body. Water plays an important role in running our body system. There is a general tendency in muscle builders to use drugs, generally known as diuretics to increase the discharge of urine so the body contours become more prominent. However, maintaining the proper amount of water to keep it hydrated is essential for your daily routine as well as the workouts. If the workouts are your actual weapons in the battle ground so the proper diet is the ammunition for those weapons. Therefore, maintaining the supply of ammo is crucial if you want to win the battle.
