The best muscle building foods offer a combination of protein and carbohydrates and several other nutritional substances needed for good health. Your muscles are composed of proteins, the raw materials for which are amino acids. Several of these are known as essential amino acids, meaning that your body cannot manufacture them itself so they must be included in your diet if you want to build muscle.

Your body can generate amino acids from dietary protein, which it then converts to muscle protein. Not only that, but when you build muscle you burn a lot energy so your body also needs oxygen and carbohydrates, the latter of which are other essential dietary components. The carbohydrates are metabolized during digestion to glucose. You also need Vitamins and minerals to build muscle, particularly iron, manganese, magnesium and zinc, and the B Vitamins

Oxidation of your blood glucose to generate energy in your body cells results in the formation of oxidation products known as free radicals that can damage your body cells and DNA. The stress caused by exercise also leads to inflammation of your muscle cells and other body components. For these reasons, your diet must also include antioxidants and anti-inflammatories such as Vitamins A, C and E.

Here are 15 of the best muscle building foods that supply you with all the components you need to build muscle tissue. These are not presented in any particular order.

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1.  Chicken and Other Poultry

One ounce of chicken will generate 7 grams of protein, but hold the skin. Chicken is also packed full of amino acids, and the white meat is the leanest with less fat than the leg and thighs. The same is true of turkey and duck. As stated before, protein is digested to the amino acids needed to create new muscle tissue.

2. Beef

Beef also contains high quality protein, again around 7 grams to the ounce. Beef also contains iron and zinc, and tests have shown that the production of muscle protein increases by half with just 4 ounces of beef. It also contains creatine that helps your metabolism generate ATP energy. The same is true of other red meats such as lamb.

3. Cheese

If you are vegetarian, cheese is a good substitute for meat, again offering 7 grams protein per ounce of cheese. This food also produces a significant insulin response, which helps your body to use blood glucose for the energy needed to generate muscle tissue.

4.  Eggs

Each egg offers 6 grams high-quality protein, which offers the essential amino acids in just about the correct proportions to build muscle.  They also offer a good quantity of Vitamin D, essential for healthy bones, and how you cook them is immaterial. Use both the yolk and the white.

5.  Fish

Most types of fish are good muscle building foods, containing easily metabolized protein:  cod, salmon, halibut, haddock, plaice, trout, tuna and even canned sardines. Fish also contains important omega-3 fatty acids and a host of Vitamins.

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6.  Nuts

Nuts offer a good source of vegetable protein, together with carbohydrates and essential fatty acids.  Almonds in particular are good for repairing muscle damage after exercise. Peanut butter is full of carbohydrates and energy.

7.  Spinach

Spinach is packed full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories that help to repair the damage to your muscle tissues after exercise.  It also rich in iron and chlorophyll, each of which contribute to the generation of red blood cells and hemoglobin, essential components of your metabolism and of muscle building. Although it also contains ecdysterone which is a plant sterol (not a steroid), this has little anabolic effect on the muscles, if any, so don’t believe the hype behind it.  There is no science to back up the claims made for ecdysterone.

8.  Beans

Beans contain a combination of carbohydrates for energy and protein for amino acids. This is a good combination to promote building of muscle tissue. Black beans are rich in Vitamins B and C, and has a high fiber and protein content. It is also a good source of efficient carbohydrates that combine with the protein for an effective muscle building food. Kidney and pinto beans are also good sources of general nutrition and protein.

9.  Olive Oil

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats and also omega-3 fatty acids. These are highly anti-inflammatory, helping recovery after muscle-building exercises, and help to maintain a healthy heart and reduce the effects of excess cholesterol. They also help to boost insulin levels which in turn help to promote muscle growth by facilitating the transportation of amino acids to the muscle cells.

10.  Oatmeal, Wheat and Other Cereals

A bowl of porridge each morning will provide you with complex carbohydrates that will last you through a morning workout and more. Cabs are metabolized to glucose that provides the energy you need for you muscle-building exercises.  Whole wheat bread and grains are an ideal source of complex carbs.

11.  Rice: Brown or White Rice

While brown rice provides roughage, both brown and white offer a good source of carbohydrate. This type of cab is easily digested and helps to replace lost glycogen for emergency energy, and also to power the exercising you carry out to convert amino acids to muscle protein.

12.  Fruits

Most fruits are high in the antioxidant Vitamin C, and are also useful in helping maintaining the health of your heart. Your heart is an essential component of the bodybuilding process, since it is responsible for the high blood flow needed to supply the nutrients needed for muscle metabolism. Oranges offer beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, while apples are even more powerful in this respect. Berries are also important components of a muscle-building diet for the same reasons. Avocado is a great carbohydrate source.

13.  Pasta

Pasta is a rich source of complex carbohydrates, and can be use to power long training sessions. It is a popular food with marathon runners, who stock up on pasta the night before their race. Pastas are muscle building foods because they provide thy lasting energy needed for training and for the biochemical processes that create muscle tissue.

14. Milk and Milk Products

Drink plenty milk and your muscles will grow! Milk is a rich source of protein and essential amino acids, necessary for muscle growth. Greek yoghurt is twice the protein of regular and fat-free: take it with banana for more nutrition. When you feel thirsty, milk is a better drink than most, although sometime pure hydration works better than any other type of liquid.  Which leads us to #15:

15.  Water

Water is essential, and not only does it hydrate you but washes away all the poisons generated by your metabolism when you exercise hard to build these muscles. If you fail to drink enough, your body tends to retain its water as long as it can. When you drink sufficient water, your muscles recover faster an your blood flow is more efficient in passing the amino acids and nutrients to the muscle cells where they are used.

There are many other muscle building foods you can include in your diet, such as mussels (mussels for muscles!) and other shellfish. Also broccoli that is antioxidant rich, and buffalo and venison that are lean meats and good sources of amino acids to help you build muscle.

Nevertheless, the above were selected on the basis of their average cost and availability, and most people should be able to afford most of these muscle building foods and find them in their local stores.

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There has been more written about how to get rid of belly fat then just about any other form of weight loss! Perhaps this is connected with the fact that belly fat is more obvious than fat anywhere else on your body, but be careful about the advice you take because there is a great deal of misinformation online.

That is because every man and his dog is trying to sell you body fat solutions, and while some might work, many are based on bad science. It is not our purpose here to point out the charlatans, but simply to offer good science-based advice and offer you a potential solution to your problem. We say ‘potential’ because no solution to any form of fat loss is universal, and suitable for everybody.

What is Belly Fat?

There are two types of what is colloquially known as ‘belly fat.’ One is stored immediately under your skin, known as subcutaneous fat, and the other is known as ‘visceral fat’ which is stored around your liver, kidneys an intestines. Subcutaneous fat, also known as adipose tissue, is stored as an emergency source of energy: fat is a source of energy, and can be metabolized to glucose by a process known as neoglucogenesis. Glucose is oxidized by blood oxygen in a metabolic process known as cellular respiration, the process that generates ATP energy in your body cells.

Although visceral fat can be used in the same way, it is also a serious health risk. While you should not ignore fat on your thighs, upper arms or booty, visceral fat is a real danger to your health. Although both types of fat are unhealthy, it is this type of belly fat you should work hardest to remove, and if you do so, the subcutaneous fat will also go. You will not only be healthier, but slimmer, trimmer and will look better.

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What Causes Belly Fat?

Fundamentally, most excess fat is caused by using up fewer calories than you eat. A calorie is unit of measurement of heat energy. The more calories you eat, the more energy you consume, and if you eat more calories, or energy, than you use up, your body stores the excess as adipose tissue to be used when food is scarcer.  It was nature’s way of providing an energy source in winter, when hunter-gatherers found food scarcer than in summer.

When you are born, you body has a certain number of adipose cells, commonly known as fat cells, most of which are full to provide you with the energy you need until your mother feeds you – hence ‘chubby’ babies! You need energy simply to live: to breathe, to digest, to think and for your heart to keep beating for example.  These fat cells are used as storage depots for excess calories (energy) and the more calories you eat in relation to those you use up, the more are filled up and the fuller they become.

To put it in simple terms, if you have excessive belly fat, it is because the fat cells in your abdomen are full. To lose that fat, you have to use up more calories, or energy, than you eat. That’s the simple explanation, although heredity and medical conditions can also affect the situation.

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Ways to Get Rid of Belly Fat

Given the above information, here are a few ways to get rid of belly fat.

1) Use More Calories Than You Eat

This means exercising sufficiently to give yourself a calorie deficit – so you are using up more calories than you are consuming. There are charts online that will give you the calorie content of the food you eat, also charts that will give you a basic idea of the calories you use up in certain types of exercise.

Regular exercise will help to ensure that you have an overall calorie deficit that will help you lose weight overall.  You need a calorie deficit of 3,700 to lose a pound of fat: around 2 lb/week is a healthy weight loss.

Crash diets rarely work because you tend to put the weight back on again fairly quickly, so eat a little less and exercise more and calculate how much of a calorie deficit you are achieving.  Keep a diary of the food you eat, and work out the calories from a chart – use the same chart all the time. Then if you are losing weight too slowly, you know what foods to eat less of to lose more – or how much extra exercise you must carry out. A good starting guide is to aim at eating 2000 calories a day for women or 2200 for men.

2) Measure Your Progress

Keep an eye on your Body Mass Index (BMI).  A healthy BI is 19-25. This is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. So if you weigh 90 Kg (198 Lb) and are 1.78 m tall (5 ft 10 in) your BMI would be 28.4 and you would need to lose some fat!  A healthy weight for someone of that height would be 60 -79 Kg (132 -174 lb).

However, your BMI is not the whole story, because your body fat percentage is also important. Since we are discussing how to get rid of belly fat here, determine your waist and your hip measurements with an inch tape, then divide the circumference of your waist by that of your hips. That ratio should be a maximum of 0.8 for women and 0.95 for men. You should aim for that plus a healthy BMI.

3) Losing Overall Weight – Lowering Your BMI

You can lower your BMI by reducing your intake of white sugar and animal fats, and eating more fruit and vegetables as explained above. Also increase your intake of fiber by eating whole grains, peas, beans and lentils. Reduce or cut out alcohol and drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. Also increase your physical activity with exercise, particular cardio workouts or aerobics. Examples include brisk walking, jogging, cycling and swimming. Aim for that calorie deficit mentioned earlier.

Eating a well balanced diet, such as plenty fruit, vegetables, fish and whole grains will help you to lose both types of belly fat, while chicken will help to provide the protein you need to build muscle. Thermogenic foods burn belly fat faster than others, examples being low fat dairy products, hot peppers, whole grains, legumes and nuts and lean meats, while drinking green tea really burns through the fat.

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The Effect of Stress

There has been much written about the effect of stress on fat.  Research has shown that stress contributes to visceral fat, but does not make you fat as such. Stress raises your blood cortisol levels, and cortisol can relocate subcutaneous fat to deep inside the body (visceral fat). Cortisol and stress are not what make you fat, as many claim, but can convert your by fat to the more dangerous regions around your major organs.  If you have a healthy BMI and a good waist to hip ratio, then the effect of stress on your fat distribution will be minimal.

By taking the above advice on how to get rid of belly fat, you should find that your weight, your BMI and your waist to hip ratios should drop. A final tip is to eat slowly, and chew well.  Eating too quickly and rushing meals have been proved to pack on the pounds quicker than if you savored every morsel! A final tip:  eating 4-5 small meals daily is better than 2-3 large meals. There is less chance of excess calories being converted to fat.

There is a reason men are better at building muscle than women, and it is not that we are more prepared to push to the front of the queue for the squat rack – it is because we have more testosterone. So if you have the testosterone levels of a 13-year-old ballerina, you are going to struggle to put on mass.

This hormone, often known as T, is directly involved in building muscle and promotes the pituitary gland’s secretion of growth hormone (GH), which is also essential for tissue repair and fat-burning.

Optimal T levels correlate with a lean body composition, while low levels can lead to fat gain and muscle loss, and are associated with disease including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression.  After the age of 40, men’s T concentration declines by up to three per cent every year, eventually resulting in a condition known as andropause, or the male menopause. At this point you will be wondering what you can do to increase T levels. Well, that is why I am here.

Stress test

First, you need to understand the relationship between testosterone and cortisol (C), the catabolic, muscle-degrading hormone associated with stress. Levels of T are measured against C levels. In the T:C ration, a high T level generally equals a low C level and vice versa.

Lifting weights raises testosterone levels, but it can also raise cortisol levels if you go too hard for too long because your body simply cannot cope with the stress. So the trick is to raise T levels without raising C levels.

To achieve this, the first thing you need to do is go heavy and do big lifts – squats, deadlifts, power cleans and snatches. In a study of rugby players, a program of these four exercises for three sets of five at 85 per cent of their one-rep max resulted in a greater increase in T after the workout than a program of three lighter loads equated for volume.

Research shows that a hypertrophy-type protocol (eg squatting for four sets of ten at 75 per cent of 1RM) is more effective at creating an anabolic environment than a strength-type protocol (eg squatting for 11 sets of three reps at 90 per cent of 1RM) or a power-type protocol (eg eight sets of six reps of jump squats). Under study conditions a hypertrophy protocol resulted in a significant increase in T, C and protein synthesis.

Gone fishing

Another way to improve your T:C ratio to build muscle and burn fat is to take fish oils. Recent research shows that fish oil supplementation enhances protein synthesis and decreases C levels. In one study, participants increased lean mass and decreased body fat after taking fish oil for eight weeks – and they had done no exercise or resistance training during that time. The lower C levels are likely to be the reason for the positive body composition improvements.

Fish oil has not actually been found to raise T levels, but zinc supplementation has. Research shows a significant relationship between low zinc levels and low T levels in men. Also, in a placebo-based test, taking a zinc supplement was shown to produce more T response to high-intensity cycling.

Root and branch

If you have not added branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) to your diet yet, two recent studies should convince you to do so. One of these studies found that taking BCAAs while resistance training results in much higher T levels and a lower C response. This is significant because both strength gains and a decrease in protein degradation are correlated more with a better T:C ratio than with total testosterone levels.

A second study compared taking 10g of protein in a drink that was 18 per cent leucine (a type of BCAA) with taking a similar drink that was 35 per cent leucine. The higher leucine concentration resulted in greater concentration resulted in greater anabolic protein signaling, which means less muscle breakdown from the degrading effects of C.

So there are plenty of ways to maintain health T levels and no excuse not to do so. Unless you want to have muscles like a little girl’s, of course.

When building muscle bulk, it is important that you include enough protein in your diet to provide the amino acids needed to create the muscle tissue you need. Muscle tissue is composed of protein, and protein is composed of carbohydrates and amino acids. Without sufficient protein in your diet, you will not build sufficient muscle tissue, no matter how much you exercise.

That’s one of the major reasons why professional bodybuilders use protein shakes as a major part of their diet. When you exercise, your metabolism has to generate the energy needed for that exercise. If you eat a lot of carbohydrate foods, such as cereals, beans, fruits and potatoes, you can generate a great deal of energy. However, you will not necessarily build muscle bulk, no matter how much you exercise.

Carbohydrates contain only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and are converted by your digestive system to glucose. That glucose is combined with oxygen in cellular respiration to create ATP energy. If you do not exercise enough to use up all the energy available in your carbohydrate diet, the balance is converted to fat – also composed only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms and historically used by your body as an emergency carbohydrate source when food is scarce.

So eating carbohydrate-rich foods will get you fat unless you are extremely active. Building muscle bulk involves changing your diet to include more protein – a molecule that also contains nitrogen atoms in the form of amino acids that are the basis of your muscle tissue.

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Proteins, Carbohydrates and Amino Acids

Proteins are formed from carbohydrates and amino acids. So four ounces of protein-rich foods such as chicken or soy beans will offer fewer calories than four ounces of bread, rice or potatoes that are predominantly carbohydrate. However, chicken and soy beans will provide some carbohydrate, plus amino acids that can be used to generate more muscle bulk.

If you rely on proteins for your carbohydrate intake (or calorie intake) then you cannot generate as much energy from the same bulk of protein as you can from the same bulk of carbohydrates, but you can generate some energy and some muscle tissue. In other words, four ounces of fish or meat generates less energy than the same weight of rice or potatoes but also generates amino acids, and therefore muscle tissue!

Balance Carbohydrates and Proteins

So, if you eat a protein-rich diet, you do not have to exercise as much to use up the carbohydrates in your protein than you would in your carbohydrate diet. The protein breaks down into carbohydrates used for energy, and amino acids used for muscle tissue.

The question is, how much protein do you need in your diet to build muscle tissue? The answer is simple. Work out the calories in the carbohydrate components of your normal diet. Then add to these the calories contained in the protein components of your normal diet. These are the calories you have to work off before you can begin to build muscle tissue.

There are calories charts online you can use to provide you with the calorie count of a wide range of foods, including proteins such as legumes fish, meat, soy beans and proteins obtained from various fungi. By using up the calories in the carbohydrates part of your diet, you can calculate how much extra protein you are taking. Any protein offering carbs over and above those otherwise provided in your diet will also be providing amino acids to build your muscles.

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A Simple Equation

Here’s a simple equation to explain that – it is slightly more complex than this, but is near enough to offer a simple guide.

It has been calculated that the average American male has a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) of around 2200 calories: that is the number of calories they use up to stay alive, and carry out their normal daily life. So let’s say they eat 2000 calories/day in cereals, bread, potatoes etc + 200 in fish and steak: 2200 to use up in exercise (average western diet).

Then up your exercise levels in order to lose fat and gain muscle bulk: say up to burning 3200 calories/day – an extra 1,000 calories used in exercise.

a) If you eat 1000 more calories as more cereals, fruit and rice. You would burn off the calories you eat, but lose no fat and gain no muscle bulk.

b) Eat the same weight of food as protein: a mix of chicken, soy and protein shakes. You will be eating fewer calories than the 1,000 of carbs, and would burn off your body fat.  You also release large quantities of amino acids that will be converted to muscle tissue.

First Step: Calculating Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)

Conversions: (1 inch = 2.54 cm), (1 pound = 0.455 kg), (1 foot = 12 inches), (1 stone = 14 pounds)

For Example:

You are a man. You are 6’3″ tall. You weight is 12 stone and 3 pounds. You are 30 years old

Using equation:

6’3″ = (6 foots x 12) + 3 inches = 75 inches

75 inches x 2.54 = 190.5 cm (to nearest 0.1 cm)

12 stone 3 lb = (12 stones x 14) + 3 = 171 lb

171 lb x 0.455 = 77.1 kg (to nearest 0.1 kg)

BMR = 66 + (13.7 x 77.1) + (5 x 190.5) – (6.8 x 30) = 1870.8 calories/day

Second Step: Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

To do that, you need a multiplier factor to apply to your BMR. That depends on an approximated description of your daily activity:

Sedentary (very little exercise + sedentary job): BMR x 1.2

Lightly Active (light exercise, walk or sports up to 3 days/week): BMR x 1.375

Moderately Active (moderate exercise, jog or sports 3- 5 days/week): BMR x 1.55

Very Active (Frequent exercise, jog or sorts 6-7 days/week): BMR x 1.725

Extremely Active (Daily hard exercise, hard physical work, Hard sport): BMR x 1.9

You are the man above and work as a teacher who does not exercise. You are then considered as sedentary.

Your TDEE = 1870.8 x 1.2 = 2245 calories (to nearest whole number)

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The Conclusion

Check how much food you eat each day to maintain your current weight. To replace some of that weight with muscle bulk, or even add to it, replace a large part of the bulk of your carbohydrates with protein. Protein gives fewer carbs, and hence less energy, per unit weight so you will use up more of your energy stores, or fatty tissue, by eating chicken and protein shakes than if you ate potatoes or rice.

The protein will also provide the raw materials for new muscle bulk – the amino acids in your dietary protein. That will be converted to muscle fibers in the muscles you work when you exercise.  So exercise these muscles, replace carbs with protein and then work out how much of each works for you. There is no set amount – everybody is different.

In this weight-conscious age, a high protein diet plan has been considered by many dieters as the most popular weight loss plan. The high protein diet regimen is effective not only for weight loss but for muscle building as well. Athletes all over the world have been using this high protein diet plan to maintain their weight, build muscles and control their hunger.

Proteins are the building blocks of your body. They are needed for the maintenance, production, and repair of your hair, bones, skin, and other vital organs of your body. Proteins play a very crucial role in the production of your hormones and enzymes. Proteins form an important part of a balanced and healthy diet. A high protein diet plan helps in achieving physical beauty and health.

Meal Plans for a High Diet Protein Plan

Here are some meal plans that can help you reach your ideal body weight and muscle.

MEAL PLAN FOR HIGH PROTEIN DIET PLAN # 1

For Breakfast (around 8:00 am):

2 eggs (boiled or scrambled with low-fat margarine)

2 slices of toast

3 slices of tomatoes

1 link of sausage

½ sliced orange or grapefruit

½ cup of low-fat milk

For Lunch (around 12:00 noon)

3 oz of chicken salad (This could be prepared by tossing 3 oz of chicken with 4 pieces of rape halves and 1.2 tsp of light mayonnaise)

8 oz of water, tea and coffee, unsweetened

1 cup of sliced vegetables

If you plan to do your workout, take this high protein diet plan meal before or after doing your exercise regimen.

For Evening Snacks (around 5 pm):

1 oz of nuts or other mixed nuts

½ cup of cottage cheese with pineapples or peaches

2 teaspoons of peanut better garnished with some celery

For Dinner (around 8:00 pm)

4 oz of lean beef, pork, fish or chicken (fried in your pan or cooked)

1 cup of carrots, green beans or broccoli

Before going to bed during the night, your body needs a high protein diet plan meal because your body is repairing, recharging and recovering while at rest.

MEAL PLAN FOR HIGH PROTEIN DIET PLAN # 2

For Breakfast (around 8:00 am)

Steak

Eggs either scrambled or boiled

One cup of tea or coffee, no milk, please

For Lunch (around 12:00 noon):

A small serving size of almonds

Tuna salad placed on pita pocket

For evening snacks (around 5:00 pm):

Peanut butter smoothie

For Dinner (around 8:00 pm):

A glass of seltzer water

A mixture of broccoli, cauliflower and broiled salmon

For sure weight loss, try this meal set.

MEAL PLAN FOR HIGH PROTEIN DIET PLAN # 3

For Breakfast (around 8:00 am):

2 slices of whole-wheat bread that has cheese spread on it

2 eggs, hard boiled

A glass of low-fat milk

This is a typical meal for you. There is a little fat in the diet plan

For Lunch (around 12:00 noon):

Brown rice

Steamed broccoli

Grilled poultry with sauce made from scallion-ginger

A glass of fresh fruit juice without sugar or a glass of water

For Evening Snacks (around 5:00 pm):

Whole grain bread with salmon spread or sprouts salad

 You can add a peanut butter smoothie in case you want to practice your health workout.

For Dinner (around 8:00 pm):

2 whole grain flour tortillas

Steamed chicken ala hummus that has been made from an excellent dip high in protein – the chick peas

A glass of water

To avoid having monotonous meals, substitute your meals with a change of schedule.

MEAL PLAN FOR HIGH PROTEIN DIET PLAN # 4

Breakfast (around 8:00 am):

¾ cup of scrambled egg whites (around 4 egg whites will do)

A small apple

A small banana

A slice of multi-grain bread

Morning snack (around 11:00 am):

A glass of protein shakes

Lunch (around 2:00 pm):

1 cup of fresh baby carrots

2 oz of fresh turkey breast, deli cut

2 slices of multi grain toast

1 tablespoon of regular mayonnaise

½ cup of cottage cheese, the low fat kind

Afternoon snack (around 5:00 pm):

A 20g protein bar

Protein bars and shakes have a big advantage. They are easier to eat, handy, and more convenient.

Dinner (around 8:00 pm):

A cup of lentil soup

A piece of chicken breast, skinless and medium roasted

2 pieces of celery sticks with cream cheese, the non-fat kind

Calorie Count: 1500

Notice the different meal schedules. You have to experience them all and choose what’s best for you.

As the name high protein diet plan would suggest, the ordinary foods on a high protein diet plan should have a high protein content and low in fat. High protein foods include the following:

•        Beef

•        Eggs & Egg Whites

•        Chicken

•        Fish

•        Bacon, Ham and Corned Beef

•        Cheese

•        Turkey

•        Veal

•        Tofu

•        Pork

•        Nuts

•        Beans

•        Milk

You can create your own high protein diet plan to build your muscles and maintain weight loss.

Does creatine work? The answer is yes, but you must understand how creatine phosphate is involved in the metabolic systems that enable your body to generate muscle energy. Creatine can work for you or against you, and without understanding its purpose it is very easy for you to become bloated and over-hydrated.

First, you must understand that creatine is a natural substance that is created in your liver from the amino acids arginine, methionine and glycine. Your body then goes on to use this substance in your muscle tissue – over 95% of your body’s creatine stores are locate in your muscle tissue. You can increase this store.

In order to understand why creatine is important to the muscle energy of bodybuilders and some athletes, it is first necessary to consider how your body generates the energy needed for muscle fibers to contract.

Cellular Respiration and ATP Energy

Energy can be generated by your body in a number of ways, the most common being cellular respiration. Glucose and oxygen in your blood are used to undergo a process known as cellular respiration within the mitochondria in each cell of your body.  The result is an energy molecule known as ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

This contains three phosphate groups, and when energy is expended by the contraction of muscle fibers, one phosphate is lost and ADP is formed (adenosine diphosphate). You can regard ATP as a natural battery that discharges its energy to become ADP. In order to be recharged, the ADP molecule needs another phosphate group added to it to become ATP again.

The amount of ATP generally stored in your muscles offers only about 3 seconds worth of muscle energy – perhaps up to twice that if you are very fit and well trained. Athletes involved in endurance sports can generate energy by aerobic cellular respiration over the course of their event, having the time to take in the oxygen need to generate the ATP from their carbohydrate stores. Carbohydrates metabolize to glucose.

However, in explosive sports such as weightlifting, weight training and sprinting, there is insufficient time to recharge the natural ATP batteries, so your body uses a different means of providing that additional phosphate group needed. That is where creatine comes in.

Creatine and Creatine Phosphate

You will not be able to maintain many bodybuilding sets, or sprint very far, with only 3-6 seconds of available energy. In order to improve on this, your muscle cells contain creatine phosphate. When asked to do work, your muscle cells release an enzyme that can detach the phosphate from the creatine phosphate and donate it to the ADP, converting it to the charged energy molecule ATP.

Muscle tissues contain several times the amount of creatine phosphate as ATP, sufficient to keep you going for another 20 seconds or so. This is enough to get you round almost 200 meters on a track or to complete a good bodybuilding set. After that initial critical period, regular aerobic and anaerobic respiration will have had time to build up further ATP energy stores.

Creatine, taken in the form of creatine monohydrate or some other easily absorbed form, is converted by your body into creatine phosphate and stored in your muscle tissue. There is no benefit to taking creatine phosphate (or phosphocreatine) as a supplement since it contains less creatine per gram than the monohydrate.

How Much Creatine to Take

There are many different recommended supplement intakes that are recommended, so check below for some of the side effects. Think of what creatine phosphate is – whatever form of creatine you consume, your body will change it into creatine phosphate – up to a saturation level. One recommended intake is five supplements of 4-5 grams daily – spread over the day taken for five days. Your body them will be saturated with creatine – any extra will excreted. You could then maintain that level by taking no more than 10 grams/day. You can do this for about 5 weeks then stop for about 2-3 weeks.  Then start all over again.

Creatine Side Effects

It should first be stressed that millions of people using creatine properly have reported no side effects at all. However, in order for creatine phosphate to work properly it needs lots of water. You therefore have to drink a lot because creatine phosphate would otherwise use water intended for your major organs.

A major side effect is that you must drink more water – about 8 pints (4 liters) daily – in order to make sure your vital organs are not short of water. This moisture tends to bulk up your muscles, and while you will look great with defined muscle shape while taking creatine, when you stop they will begin to sag because all that water is lost.

That is why you should follow the above program, or continue taking creatine until your bodybuilding, weightlifting or athletics career is over. In fact, many people do this. The benefit they receive in return is that they can carry out more repetitions. They believe it worth it because the extra hydration enables them to work out longer and more effectively.

Finally. . .

The benefits of creatine in developing muscle energy more than outweigh the side effects which only become apparent when you stop taking it, and then only until you excrete the excess water. There is no other supplement that will enable you to make the best of your natural exercise safely.

Is there a muscle building diet that is guaranteed to enable you to build muscle tissue? What to eat to gain muscle – a common question! What bodybuilding diet is used by professional bodybuilders and strength athletes? These common questions are not as easy to answer as most believe, and there is also a great deal of misunderstanding of human metabolism that could lead you down the wrong path.

If you search online, or in any of the bodybuilding magazines that most read, you will find a certain amount of conflicting advice. So what advice is correct, and what type of foods should be included in a muscle building diet that not only enables you to gain muscle, but also to maintain a good BFP (Body Fat Percentage) and good health?

Building Muscle Tissue

Let’s consider the part protein plays in muscle development, because one fact is certain:  you cannot build muscle tissue without including protein in your diet. When you eat to gain muscle, dietary protein is the most important component in every meal (read High Protein Diet Plan). No bodybuilding diet is short of protein, and whether or not you also need separate carbohydrate components depends upon your dietary preferences and your current Body Fat Percentage (BFP).

This discussion is a general one on the concept of a muscle building diet, and not aimed at any particular sector: meaning that you can follow this advice to build muscle whether you are currently overweight and want to replace your fat with muscle, or are currently lean and mean, but want to further define your muscle groups. Whether you generate muscle tissue or fat tissue with your diet depends upon what is known as the ‘energy balance’.

The Energy Balance in a Bodybuilding Diet

Fundamentally, if you eat more calories than you lose in exercise, you will gain weight.  If you use more calories than you eat, then you will lose weight. This a very loose generalization since a lot depends on thyroid activity, which controls your metabolic rate, and other factors that can combine to enable you to use more or less energy while resting.

Carbohydrates (fats, cereals, oils, sugars, etc) are broken down by your digestive system into glucose. Glucose and oxygen are metabolized, either aerobically in the Kreb’s Cycle or anaerobically without oxygen to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate) energy. Most human energy generation is aerobic, hence the need for oxygen.

Any energy not used is stored in the form of fat.  Fats are stored in fat cells – you are born with a certain number of such cells, and they can be full, partially full or empty. If you have a positive energy balance (more energy than you use) your fat cells begin to fill up. If your energy balance is negative (use more than you create), your fat reserves are used to provide the energy deficit and you lose fat.

Exclude carbs completely from your diet, and your body will break down your muscle protein to use its carbohydrate content – that’s why severe starvation makes people skeletal: they have used up all their fat reserves and also their muscle tissue for the energy needed to keep their heart beating and brain working.

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Muscle Building Diet

Proteins are large molecules consisting of carbohydrate tails and amino acid heads. If you have insufficient carbohydrate in your diet, your metabolism will use the protein in your diet for its carbohydrate content, thus releasing the amino acids.

If you exercise certain muscle groups while on a high-protein diet, these muscles will have a greater blood flow, and the free amino acids will be used to create new muscle fibers within them. In other words, by consuming a muscle building diet containing more protein, the carbohydrates needed to generate the energy you use when exercising will come from that protein, and the amino acids released will build muscle tissue.

What to eat to gain muscle would therefore appear to be mainly proteins. However, although a muscle building diet comprising solely of protein would therefore appear to be a sensible bodybuilding diet, there are other factors to consider in your metabolism.

A Balanced Muscle Building Diet is Essential

You must look after your thyroid, which controls your metabolic rate, and the other components of your endocrine (hormonal) system. What that means is that a balanced diet, containing simple and complex carbohydrates, antioxidants and anti-inflammatories from highly colored fruits and vegetables, and certain essential oils such as Omega-3 and Omega-6, are all components of a good healthy bodybuilding diet.

However, to gain weight in the form of muscle tissue, you should eat more calories than you use in exercise. Take these extra calories in the form of protein – chicken, fish, red meat, soya protein, whey and protein shakes – then the carbs in the protein will be converted to glucose and the amino acids converted to muscle fiber in those muscle groups you are exercising.

There is no ideal muscle building diet, but if you understand the above principles of weight loss, weight gain and making sure you gain muscle tissue rather than fat, then you will be able to work out what to eat to gain muscle.  A good bodybuilding diet contains a combination of complex carbohydrates, healthy unsaturated Omega fats and high-protein foods.

How Many Calories?

That is not a question that can be answered without knowing your current body weight and BFP. In general, however, 3500 calories daily with about 1.5 – 1.7 grams protein for each pound you weight is about average. That equates to about 11 ounces protein/day if you weigh 200 pounds.

You should try that first, and if that seems too little then increase it, but 3/4 pound of protein should be enough for anybody – you might even be able to reduce that to a half-pound or less according to your gender and exercise program. The important factor is that that you consume fewer calories than you expend in exercise.

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Sample Bodybuilding Diet: A Day in the Life of Tom Venuto

Tom Venuto, the well-known bodybuilding champion, has published a number of his diets online. Tom subscribes to the view that eating six smaller meals each day is better that eating three large meals.  This is because the nutrition is available when needed, and not just morning afternoon and evening. Here is a typical daily medium carbohydrate muscle building diet for Tom:

0645:  A cup of oatmeal, a dozen eggs (whites only), a whole egg and a half grapefruit.

The oatmeal provides roughage, zinc and iron, the egg white protein, the whole egg offers fatty acids and minerals, and the grapefruit vitamin C and also acts as a diuretic.

0930: oatmeal, half grapefruit and protein powder

As above, but the high protein powder can be taken as a shake.

1230:  8 oz each of yam, chicken breast and broccoli

The yam is high in Vitamin A and beta carotene, and also in other minerals and vitamins. It also offers a healthy source of carbs. The chicken is protein and the broccoli offers a mixture of vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients such as antioxidants an anti-inflammatories.

1500:  8 oz each of lean sirloin and broccoli: the sirloin offers protein and iron, plus other meat-based nutrients such as Vitamin B complex (including B12 – rare in vegetarian diets).

1730:  8 oz each chicken breast and asparagus, and 1 tablespoon EFA oil.

Asparagus is a diuretic that also maintains healthy skin and arteries. EFA (essential fatty acids) offer many health benefits such as increased energy and stamina, and reduced recovery times.

2000:  8 oz tuna or salmon, spinach and lettuce salad with low calorie dressing and more EFA.  The tuna and salmon offer protein, while the oil is as above, with the additional benefit of improving heart health, digestion and helping reduce weight. The salad offers roughage, vitamins and minerals and also antioxidants and anti-inflammatories to help recovery after exercise.

This is just one bodybuilding diet used by Tom Venuto to help him maintain a very low body fat index, and well-defined muscles. It has been carefully formulated to provide Tom with protein and just enough carbohydrate for his energy needs, but not so much that his body does not break down the protein into amino acids and carbohydrates. Tom uses this diet 3 days and then a high carbohydrate diet one day.

He exercises the muscles he wants to build so that the amino acids are preferentially used by these muscles sets rather than all his muscles equally. That’s one of the secrets of a good muscle building diet: lots of protein, small amount of carbs plus vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and roughage.

The antioxidants help to neutralize the harmful free radicals generated by cellular respiration, and anti-inflammatories reduce the inflammatory effect of sore joints and tissue damage after exercise.

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The Bottom Line on Muscle Building and How to Gain Muscle

The bottom line on a muscle building diet is that you must exercise. The more you exercise the more calories you use. The more calories you expend and the more protein you eat, the more muscle tissue you will develop – if you work these muscles in your exercise program. Also include essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and roughage in your diet and that is how to gain muscle while staying healthy.

It is possible to build muscle tissue by eating only protein, but you are advised to include healthy unsaturated fats, plenty colored fruits and vegetables and also complex carbohydrates for long-term energy creation (whole grains and other polysaccharides).  Knowing what to eat to gain muscle (a healthy muscle building diet), and also how to exercise your muscles correctly,  will enable you to use a healthy bodybuilding diet and exercise regime that will keep you feeling good as well as looking great.

PS: The information I cover above is merely a general guideline. Every person has different physiological responses when they consume food. So, to find out exactly what type of nutrient you really need to take, you should visit The Muscle Maximizer to customize your nutrition plan.

Knowing the best way to gain muscle bulk will enable you to build muscle while avoiding needless exercise or diets that achieve virtually nothing. Before lifting one weight or eating one ounce of carbohydrate, you should first learn the principles of weight loss, fat loss and muscle development.

Always keep in mind that you must use up more calories than you eat, or otherwise the excess carbohydrates will be stored as fatty tissue for use when food is scarce. Our ancestors ate well in summer and fall, and stored fatty tissue to provide the carbs needed for life throughout winter and into spring (just like hibernating animals).  Although modern agricultural science now enables us to eat well all year round, this does not change the way our metabolism works.

Also keep in mind that muscle tissue is protein, and protein consists of carbohydrate and amino acids. Without a good intake of amino acids you will not build muscle – but there are not enough carbs in protein to meet your energy needs. You cannot therefore survive on protein alone or you would lose muscle tissue as it used up to provide the carbohydrates your body requires to function.

Here are some tips on the best way to gain muscle bulk, and how to build muscle without also becoming fat! The answer is a combination of a good diet and correct exercise:  a combination of complex carbohydrates, proteins, nutrients and exercise.

The Best Way to Gain Muscle: Muscle Building Diets

In order to create muscle tissue you need a good source of amino acids, protein being the most common.  However, you cannot ignore carbohydrate-rich foods altogether, both for the reason explained above and due to your need for glycogen. Glycogen is an emergency energy source that is generated from carbohydrates.

Sprinters use up their glycogen stores over the full 100 meters and weightlifters use glycogen in their own anaerobic activity. It offers the ‘reflex’ energy for the first ‘flight’ activity when your body is in danger. That said, here are some sources of protein that are essential components of all muscle building diets.

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Protein Sources

Fish:  Fish such as salmon and tuna offer a significant source of protein. A total of 25% of the weight of salmon you eat is pure protein. Other good fish sources are mackerel, herring and other oily fish.  They not only offer you protein, but also a range of vitamins and minerals, including Omega-3 fish oils. White fish also provide protein and other nutrients, but not so much carbohydrate.

Chicken:  White chicken meat consists of 30% protein – more than fish, but with fewer other healthy constituents. However, it is leaner than fish and offers much less fat. Almost all bodybuilders use chicken as a major source of protein.

Soy Protein:  There is no vegetable source of protein as good as the soy bean, and common forms of soy apart from the bean itself include tofu, soy milk and edamame, an immature form of the bean. Soy is packed full of amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

Eggs:  One egg offers around 5 grams protein in a very easily assimilated form. In fact, no other protein source is so easily assimilated by your body than the egg protein that is contained primarily in the white (albumin). If you want to build muscle rapidly, then eat eggs because your body will convert egg protein into amino acids and then into muscle tissue. Eggs also provide the cholesterol essential for the biosynthesis of testosterone.

Beef:  Lean beef is another excellent source of protein:  in fact lean beef contains 27% protein, not much lower than that of chicken and more than fish.  However, it does not contain the nutrients that fish offers, and also contains saturated fats – up 10% or more of fat overall.

Shellfish:  Shellfish such as oysters can contain up to 20% protein and only a small amount of fat.  Oysters are very rich in zinc, as are many other shellfish, and zinc plays an important part in the synthesis of protein from amino acids. Without zinc you would not be able to build muscles from dietary protein.

Cheese: Cheese contains protein, and many weightlifters and bodybuilders eat cottage cheese because it can contain up to 14% protein. Cheese also offers the B vitamins and cottage cheese is low in fat.

The best way to gain muscle bulk is to eat a good muscle building diet containing the protein sources above plus some carbohydrates to ensure that your glycogen stores are maintained.  Oily fish will provide carbohydrates in the form of fats, and chicken, eggs and beef will help maintain a good supply of amino acids.

You should also eat complex carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes and wholemeal bread to make sure that your body does not use your muscle tissue as a source of energy.  There is a fine balance between too much and too little carbohydrate in your diet, and this balance is an individual one. What works for you might not work for your partner. This is why it is important that each individual works out their own muscle-building diet.

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The Best Way to Gain Muscle: Diet and Nutrition

The best way to gain muscle bulk is to focus on your diet and nutrition. You can train all you want, but without the carbs to give you the energy and the amino acids to build the muscles your exercise and training will do nothing but make you thinner.

A good daily diet will include from 1.2 to 1.5 grams protein, 2.5 grams of carbohydrate and around 0.2-0.3 grams fat per pound of bodyweight. You can increase the protein. So let’s say you are 14 stones in weight: 196 lb. Your ideal daily diet would contain:

235-295 grams protein (8 – 10 ounces approx)

17 ounces complex carbohydrate

1.7 ounces fat

You can use the above information to arrive at a reasonable diet regarding protein, but one example would include:

1 lb chicken (450g=150g protein),

6 eggs (30g protein),

9oz lean beef (262g=70g protein),

and 100g cottage cheese (14g protein)

This equates to 254g protein.  Add to that around ¾ pound of mixed pasta, rice, potatoes and wholemeal bread, then you will have the ideal diet. You would be advised to take some fruit and vegetables in place of part of your carbohydrate allowance in order to maintain a good intake of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.

The vitamins and minerals you take in your diet will help to convert protein into amino acids and then back to protein in your muscle tissue. While you will get most of what you need from the above diet, supplements will certainly help.

In fact, the best way to gain muscle bulk is to include dietary supplements such as protein shakes that provide the raw material for the amino acids needed for strong muscle tissue, and also supplements that help to maintain good health and promote rapid recovery after exercise.

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How to Build Muscle: Exercise

There are two ways in which your body generates energy: aerobic cellular respiration, where glucose is oxidized to create ATP (adenosine triphosphate) energy, and anaerobic respiration, where electron receptors are used rather than oxygen to create ATP energy. Jogging and circuit training are examples of the former, while weightlifting and sprinting involve anaerobic respiration.

The Effect of Body Build on Muscle Development

Your body build is likely due to your metabolic rate, and there’s not a great deal you can do to change that.  Some people have a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR) than others – that’s the rate at which you burn calories when at rest, such as when sleeping.

The Naturally Fat

Naturally fat people burn calories slowly, and have to exercise a lot more than others to maintain a decent weight. Such people also find it easier to add muscle bulk than those with a higher BMR. By cutting back on fats and carbohydrates, and eating protein-rich foods instead, the naturally fat will find it easier to replace their fatty tissue with muscle – exercise will also help!

The Average Build

If you are average then you will likely find your weight to oscillate – sometimes up and sometimes down. The best way to gain muscle bulk for you is again to increase your protein intake but also to follow the above dietary advice and take in a certain amount of fat and complex carbohydrates.  You will have to exercise more to burn off your excess fat and generate muscle tissue.

Skinny People

If you are skinny, you will find it harder to add muscle bulk because you will naturally burn off the calories in your diet. You will have a high BMR, but must still eat a high protein diet.  However, you should also eat foods that contain large numbers of calories in a small bulk of food, because you will likely have less of an appetite than others. You will burn your carbs faster than others, and some of these might be from your muscle tissue.

Avocados, rice, potatoes and pasta are ideal for you, together with eggs, chicken and fish. Exercise for short periods of time:  use fewer repetitions in weightlifting and rest longer than the fat or average body builds. By doing that you will not continue to burn off calories, and also with them your protein – muscle tissue contains protein, which in turn contains carbohydrates.

The Importance of Sleep

Sleep is an important factor for skinny people trying to build muscle tissue – particularly for those with a high BMR. While sleeping, your metabolism is at its lowest and so burning fewest calories.  That means the protein you eat is being used more to build muscle tissue than to provide the calories needed to keep you moving, breathing and your heart beating.  Each of these is slowest when you are asleep.

That is fundamentally how to build muscle:  there is no ‘best way to gain muscle bulk’, but you can design your diet to include the protein and carbohydrates you need, keep your fats to a minimum and take your body build into consideration because that is a reflection of how fast you burn calories when resting.

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