How To Make Sure Your Diet Is Optimized To Build Muscle

By Russ Howe


Everybody has different goals in the gym, but usually they revolve around learning how to lose weight or build lean muscle mass. If you are to do either, however, you will need to discover how to build your diet plan to suit your individual goal. Diet is the most overlooked part of any workout routine, and overlooking this aspect is a very costly mistake to make.

In today's post, you will learn how to do this for yourself.

Both weight loss and lean muscle gain can be attributed to one particular aspect of your diet and that is your calorific intake. If you consume less calories, the general rule is that you will lose some pounds. Likewise, those who increase their calorie intake should expect to see an increase when they step on to the scales.

However, when it comes to building lean mass we need to look at something a little bit more in depth. That is because we don't simply want to add some size, we want to ensure it is the right kind of size. In order to do this, we need to see where those calories are actually coming from. []

If you need assistance in creating a solid calorie target for building lean size and retaining it, try the following equation. While everybody is free to tinker with it and strike a balance which works for them, the basis of this equation works for the vast majority of individuals:

* Total daily calories = target body weight in pounds x 15.

So for someone who wanted to be 180 lbs, they would multiply 180 x 15. This will give that individual a daily calorie target of 2700.

* Your protein intake = Total calories x 30%, divided by four.

The individual here, who wants to weigh 180 lbs, would need to eat 202g protein each day. That's because 30% of his calories is 810, we then divide this by 4 which is the number of calories in one single gram of protein. That's how we get our answer.

* Carbohydrates = 55% of your calories for the day. Divide the answer by 4 to get this in grams.

For our daily intake of carbohydrates, we need to do a similar equation with some slightly larger figures. 55% of 2700 is, of course, 1485. Divide this by four and we get 371 grams of carbohydrates.

* Total daily fat intake = 15% of overall calories divided by 9.

To establish the fat intake for our 180 lb male, we would take 15% of our calorie target and divide the figure by 9. So, 15% of 2700 calories is 405. This figure divided by 9 is a total of 45 grams per day in healthy fat sources.

If your goal is to learn how to lose weight or build lean muscle then you need to be able to understand the importance not only in how much food you eat throughout the day, but where those calories are coming from. It's quality, rather than quantity. If you are able to follow the guidelines above then you will be set on the right track to building a leaner, stronger body in no time.




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