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Weight Lifting Diet
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Complete muscle building nutrition leads to optimal nutrition. Over supplementation of certain nutrients will lead to imbalances in overall nutrition and is damaging to your weight lifting diet and health.
If you want to build muscle you need to prepare a well balanced weight lifting diet that is rich in quality calories. Most people who start out weight lifting usually overlook the importance of a well balanced weight lifting diet when they are trying to build muscle.
The sooner you understand that you need an optimal weight lifting diet, the sooner you'll achieve your goals and objectives.
It is very important that you understand the importance of nutrition when building muscle. Without a good weight lifting diet, your muscle gains will be non existent and at best, poor.
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Weight lifters have special dietary needs that cannot be easily met by the traditional North American diet. As a weight lifter, it is very important that you get your weight lifting diet down to a science.
Your success is dependent on a well balanced and complete weight lifting diet that includes your optimal nutritional intake.
Poor dietary habits will hinder your progress and may eventually lead to injury to muscles and bones because they are not supplied with the nutrients needed to support the added stress of weight lifting.
New weight lifters and seasoned athletes require different proportions of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals to meet different demands of training. Focus on attaining complete nutrition when building your weight lifting diet.
Ok, I think you get the point. Let's build your optimal weight lifting diet and nutritional plan to get you on the road to building muscle.
Protein builds muscle. Without an adequate supply of protein, your body will not support any kind of muscle growth.
If you supply your body with the optimum amount of protein, you ensure optimal growth, it's as simple as that.
After all, you want to build muscle and to do that, you need a steady supply of high quality protein.
You must include an optimal amount of protein in your weight lifting diet in order to build and sustain muscle growth.
So how much protein should you include in your weight lifting diet for maximum performance and muscle gain? Each of us have very different body types and the amount of protein will differ from individual to individual.
Protein intake will also depend on the amount of activity involved and how frequently you do it.
Your weight lifting diet should be comprised of 20% to 30% protein. That roughly translates to .8 to 1.3 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you weight 145 pounds, your daily protein intake should be anywhere from 102 grams to 189 grams of protein per day.
You will have to do a bit of experimenting at the beginning to find out your optimal protein intake.
I suggest you eat 6 times a day spread out over 2 to 3 hour intervals. This way, you are constantly feeding your body the nutrients it needs. For example, if you are consuming 145 grams of protein per day, each meal will have 145/6 = 24 grams of protein per meal.
Here is a partial list of high quality protein sources:
Chicken breast
Venison
Round steak
Scallops
Sirloin steak
Lean ham
Pork tenderloin
Low fat milk
Lean turkey
Low fat cottage cheese
Turkey breasts
Low fat cheddar cheese
Whey
Egg whites
For a list of the different kinds of proteins and their sources, click here to visit Building Muscle101's "foods high in protein" page
If you want to build muscle, your going to have to take in a lot of quality, complex carbohydrates. No question about it. You are going to have to fuel your body to handle heavy weight lifting.
You must include an optimal amount of carbohydrates in your weight lifting diet in order to fuel heavy weight lifting sessions.
Carbohydrates are a very important source of fuel for the muscles as well as the leading source of energy for your body. When you have a hard workout, your body draws on carbohydrates, which is stored as glycogen in the muscles.
Glycogen is the product of glucose which comes from the breakdown of carbohydrates after the digestion of food. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscle.
During a long intense weight lifting session, you can easily deplete your glycogen reserves. When your muscles cannot get enough glycogen, fatigue sets in and your body begins to lose endurance and performance drastically reduces.
I'm sure all of you have experienced this drastic drop in strength and endurance at one time or another during a long intense weight lifting session.
However, there is a way to delay the onset of muscle fatigue. By taking enough carbohydrates each day in your weight lifting diet, you are ensuring that the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles is being constantly replenished.
Every meal must have sufficient carbohydrates to sustain your hard intense workouts. I like to think of my muscle cells as mini fuel tanks. If you want to keep going hard, you are going to have to keep the fuel tanks filled with top notch fuel. Always include quality carbohydrates in your weight lifting diet.
I suggest your weight lifting diet consist of 55% to 65% carbohydrates. If you want to build muscle, you need quality carbohydrates every meal.
If you don't consume enough quality carbohydrates, your body will resort to other fuel sources such as protein. Protein is a second rate energy source. Protein's primary job is to build muscle, not fuel it.
Therefore, keep your body filled with grade A fuel to support and maximize your hard, intense, muscle building workouts.
I strongly suggest that after your weight lifting workouts, you ingest carbohydrates with protein.
Why carbohydrates and protein? When carbohydrates is taken with protein, there's a blast of insulin. Insulin kicks the body's glycogen making machine into high gear.
Glycogen is considered the principal storage form of glucose and is found mainly in liver and muscle.
Glucose supplies the bodies active tissues with energy.
Therefore, insulin will speed up the movement of glucose and amino acids into cells which is what you definitely want and secondly, it activates a special enzyme which is essential for glycogen synthesis.
Wait, there's more. Additional research has shown that ingesting a protein/carbohydrate supplement after exercise triggers the release of growth hormone. Great news for building muscle.
If you want to build muscle, always consume a power drink that is rich in protein and carbohydrates after your workout and include it in your weight lifting diet.
Try using the following drink for your post workout meal.
Power Drink II
1 ½ cup strawberries
1 cup low fat strawberry yogurt
1 scoop(2oz) vanilla protein powder- 22 grams protein
1 tbsp honey
1 ½ cup low fat or 1% milk
1 cup orange juice
5 grams creatine monohydrate
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
The nutritional content is provided below. As you can see, this is definitely a power drink and will support a very intense weight training session. Remember to adjust the ingredients to match that of your own nutritional needs and to follow up with a full muscle building meal 1 to 2 hours afterwards.
Includes: 590 calories, 45 grams of protein, 93 grams of carbohydrates, and 6 grams of fat.
Here is a partial list of quality carbohydrates:
Whole wheat breads
Oatmeal
Whole wheat bagels
Cream of wheat
English muffin
Mushrooms
Whole wheat pitas
Cucumber
Rye bread
Granola
Baked potatoes
Whole grain cereals
Sweet potatoes
Spinach
Rice
Zucchini
What does fat do?
In order for your weight lifting diet to be effective, you need a certain level of fat. There are numerous vital roles that fats play in your muscle building diet. Fat provides your body with:
-fuel
-insulation
-essential fatty acids
-building blocks for cell membranes
I suggest you keep your fat intake to 15% to 25% of your diet. You don't want to cut fat out of your weight lifting diet.
If you slash fat or cut fat out all together, you risk an essential fat deficiency. When this happens, the body has trouble absorbing the fat soluble vitamins A, E, D, and K. Not good.
This will jeopardize the health of cell membranes because low fat diets are low in vitamin E. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps maintain and protect cell membranes. Very important.
For more vitamin information, please click here to go vitamins and minerals.
How do you construct a weight lifting diet?
A weight lifting diet will consist of 20% to 30% protein, 55% to 65% carbohydrates and 15% to 25% fat. Your muscle building diet will look something like this:
25% protein
55% carbohydrates
20% fat
Just remember that everyone is different and you will have to a little experimenting to find your optimal amount of nutrients to include in your weight lifting diet. Different people have different goals and therefore, different diets. Some will follow a weight lifting diet with heavy duty menus while others will follow other diets such as a low carb diet with low carb menus. For the sake of building muscle 101, we are concerned about heavy duty weight lifting diets that build muscle (of course!)
If you are gaining weight, think about putting on ½ to 1 pound of body weight per 100 pounds of body weight each week for two to three weeks.
After 5 weeks, gain an average of ½ pound of body weight per 100 pounds of body weight each week. You will need to monitor your progress and make any adjustments. If you have trouble gaining, add an additional 300 to 500 calories per day to your diet.
Just remember that you will need to experiment a little to find out your optimal caloric intake to include in your weight lifting diet. Everyone is different and will need different nutritional needs.
The thinking is quite simple. Hard, heavy and smart training followed by rest and consuming quality calories in the form of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Remember that Protein, carbohydrates, and fat need to be structured in a balanced combination to support optimal muscle growth while maintaining overall good health.
It is essential that you structure a well balanced weight lifting diet. Also remember to record any changes to your diet in either your weight lifting log or your diet log.
Remember the following points when putting together a weight lifting diet.
1. Determine the amount of calories in your weight lifting diet in order to achieve your goals
First, determine the amount of calories you need to add to your weight lifting diet in order to achieve your goals. There are a number of ways you can do this. Here are three simple ways to determine your caloric intake for your weight lifting diet.
1. Multiply your bodyweight by 17.
The easiest way to determine your base caloric intake is to multiply your bodyweight by 17. For example, if you weight 165 pounds, multipy 165 by 17 and you get a base caloric intake of 2,805. This will be your starting caloric intake to start your program.
This is a quick way to find your base caloric intake but remember that it is not 100% accurate.
2. Metabolic rate.
This method is also a relatively easy way to figure out your caloric intake. More accurate than the first method
Finding your base daily caloric intake
1)
For Men
1 x body weight (kg) x 24 =
For Women
.9 x body weight (kg) x 24 =
*1 Kg = 2.2 lbs
For example, Let's say you weight 145 pounds, your base metabolic rate is 1 x 145 lbs/2.2 x 24 = 1581
2)
Multiply results from step one by the coefficient under the multiplier which corresponds to your body fat level. That is, multiply the above figure with the figure beside your body fat percentage.
Men 10 to 14%,
Women 14 to 18% Mulitplier= 1.0
Men 14 to 20%,
Women 18 to 28% Multiplier= .95
Men 20 to 28%,
Women 28 to 38% Multiplier= .90
Men over 28%,
Women over 38% Multiplier= .85
Given as:
Base metabolic rate x multiplier = multiplier coefficient
For example, let's say that you weight 145 pounds and you have a body fat percentage of 10%. The equation is as follows: 1581 x 1.0 = 1581
3)
The above steps calculated your base metabolic rate. Now, we will factor in physical activity to get a more accurate picture of your caloric expenditure. Find the best descriptions that will apply to your current life style.
Daily Activity Ranges
Inactive
1.30 (130%) = sitting, talking, light walking
1.55 (155%) = light work, walking
Average Active
1.55 (155%) = light work, walking
1.66 (166%) = Moderate, light jogging, swimming or Building-muscle101 beginner Program
Average Athlete
1.80 (180%) = Heavy, hockey, football or Building-muscle101 advanced program
2.00 (200%) = Very heavy, two or more hours of intense weight training per day
Given as:
Daily activity range x multiplier coefficient = daily base caloric intake
Take the results from step two and times the multiplier for which your body fat percentage corresponds to. This equation will give your you base calorie intake for your activity level.
For example, let's say you weight 145 pounds, have a body fat percentage of 10% and you are quite active including weight training, your equationis as follows:
1.80 x 1581 = 2845 calories per day
In order for you to maintain your current bodyweight, you will need 2845 calories per day.
This method is a little more detailed but it is fairly accurate. You will need to find out your body fat percentage for this one. See the methods mentioned below.
3. Averaging.
Keep a written record of everything you are eating and take an average at the end of the week. Add up all of your daily calories and divide it by 7 (days in a week).
For a complete review of muscle building nutrition, you might want to try Will Brink's Muscle Building Nutrition. This book will deliver a complete explanation of determining your optimal nutritional program. Understanding optimal nutrition is very important to building muscle and strength. This book will certainly help you put together an effective plan, step by step.
Mr. Brink has worked with professional athletes and top body builders and can certainly help you put together an effective weight lifting diet.
Once you find out how much calories you consume on a daily basis, determine how many more additional calories you need to achieve your goals in your weight lifting diet. You may have to add more calories depending how active you are.
Remember that in order to gain one pound of body weight per week, you need an additional 3,500 calories per week. That means you need to add 500 extra calories per day to your weight lifting diet.
I suggest putting on ½ to 1 pound of body weight per 100 pounds of body weight each week for two to three weeks. After 5 weeks, gain an average of ½ pound of body weight per 100 pounds of body weight each week.
You will need to monitor your weight lifting diet and progress and make any adjustments. If you have trouble gaining, add an additional 300 to 500 calories a day to your diet.
A word of caution. You don't want to gain weight too fast because you will be gaining fat as opposed to muscle. Muscle takes time to build and fat, well, it takes not time at all.
Remember to monitor your weight lifting diet on a regular basis and keep your body composition in check at all times.
Ideally, healthy ranges of body fat are 18 to 25 percent for women and 15 to 20 percent for men.
There are numerous methods to determine your body fat levels but by far the easiest and one of the most accurate ways is to use the Accu-Measure Body Fat Caliper.
You simply take three easy measurements on your abdomen in the comfort of your own room and presto, you have your body fat percentage. It doesn't take any more than 2 minutes.
With the Accu-Measure body fat calipers, you don't need the assistance of other people and you don't have to take 10 different measurements on 10 different parts of your body. The measurement is very accurate
If on the other hand you don't want to use body fat calipers, you can use a quick and easy manual measurement. Although the numbers will not be as accurate as using the Accu-Measure body fat calipers. You will need a weight scale and measuring tape for this one.
For men:
1. Lean body weight = 94.42 + 1.082 (body weight) - 4.15 (waist in inches)
2. Body fat percentage = body weight - lean body weight x 100/body weight
For women:
1. Lean body weight = 8.987 + .732 (weight in kilograms) + 3.786 (wrist diameter in centimetres)
+ .434 (forearm circumference in centimetres)
2. Body fat percentage = body weight - lean body weight x 100/body weight
Remember to record your body weight, body fat and lean body mass figures. Always remember to monitor these three indicators on a weekly or bi weekly basis.
As an example, let's say you want to add another 10 pounds of body weight. You currently weight 145 pounds and consume 2,500 calories per day.
You will need to add an additional 500 calories per day to your weight lifting diet to gain an additional pound of body weight per week. Your new daily caloric intake will be 3,000 calories per day.
You've identified in your weight lifting diet that you will be eating 6 times a day. Therefore, you will need 3,000 / 6 = 500 calories per meal.
2. Determine the amount of protein you need to achieve your goals.
A weight lifting diet will contain 20% to 30% protein. I recommend 25% of your weight lifting diet be made up of protein. Remember that one gram of protein is equal to 4 calories.
To find out how much protein you need in your weight lifting diet, simply take your desired caloric intake that you figured out above and multiply that number by your desired protein percentage (25%).
Use that number and divide it by 4 which will give you your new daily protein requirement in grams.
For example, if you need 3,000 calories to gain an extra pound of body weight per week, you will need the following protein requirements:
3,000 x .25 = 750 / 4 = 188 grams of protein per day.
If you are eating 6 times a day, you will need 188 / 6 = 31 grams of protein per meal
3.Determine the amount of carbohydrates you need to achieve your goals.
A weight lifting diet will contain 55% to 65% carbohydrates. I recommend that 55% of your weight lifting diet be made up of carbohydrates. Remember that one gram of carbohydrate is equal to 4 calories.
To find out how much carbohydrates you need in your weight lifting diet, simply take your desired caloric intake (as above) and multiply that number by your desired carbohydrate percentage (55%).
Use that number and divide it by 4 which will give you your new daily carbohydrate requirements in grams.
For example, if you need 3,000 calories to gain an extra pound of body weight per week, you will need the following carbohydrate requirements:
3,000 x .55 = 1,650 / 4 = 413 grams of carbohydrates per day
If you are eating 6 times a day, you will need 413 / 6 = 69 grams of carbohydrates per meal
5. Determine the amount of fat you need to achieve your goals.
A weight lifting diet will contain 15% to 25% of fat. I recommend that 20% of your weight lifting diet be made up of fat. Remember that one gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.
To find out how much fat you need in your weight lifting diet, simply take your desired caloric intake that you figured out above and multiply that number by your desired fat percentage (20%).
Use that number and divide it by 9 which will give you your new daily fat requirement in grams.
For example, if you need 3,000 calories to gain an extra pound of body weight per week, you will need the following fat requirements:
3,000 x .20 = 600 / 9 = 67 grams of fat per day.
If you are eating 6 times a day, you will need 67 / 6 = 11 grams of fat per meal
6. Determine your meal plan
You will need to find out what recipes you will need to achieve your desired goals. I suggest Stella's Kitchen by Stella C. Juarez since it has great tasting muscle building recipes that are a snap to whip up.
You can also use some of the menus that are outlined in the body building recipes section of Building Muscle101.
Just remember to adjust the ingredients and nutritional content to match your desired nutritional percentages in your weight lifting diet.
When you are planning your weight lifting diet, I strongly suggest you plan your meals in advance. By planning your meals in advance, you have no excuse to go to the restaurant.
Break your meals down into breakfast, mid morning, lunch, mid afternoon, post workout and dinner. Remember to pack your meals in convenient containers and take them to work with you.
7. Go grocery shopping
Once you have planned your weight lifting diet and meals, prepare a grocery list and go out and do some shopping.
8. Record and monitor your weight lifting diet
This is very important as it will help you evaluate your weight lifting nutritional program. I suggest you evaluate you training and weight lifting diet every week. Sit down on a day where you are not so busy and evaluate your progress.
You should be able to identify weak and strong points in your muscle building program. By monitoring your training and weight lifting diet you will also identify if you are on target with your goals.
Here is a sample muscle building menu for a person who weighs 145 pounds and wants to gain additional weight and muscle. Let's assume that this person needs the following nutritional requirements to achieve his goals:
Weight lifting diet per day:
Calories:
3,220 per day
Protein:
3,220 x .25 = 805/4 = 201 grams of protein per day
Carbohydrates:
3,220 x .55 = 1,771/4 = 443 grams of carbohydrates per day
fat:
3,220 x .20 = 644/9 = 72 grams of fat per day
Weight lifting diet per meal:
Calories;
3,220/6 = 537 calories per meal
Protein:
201/6 = 34 grams of protein per meal
Carbohydrates:
443/6 = 74 grams of carbohydrates per meal
Fat:
72/6 = 12 grams of fat per meal.
The following schedule has been identified in order to achieve his goals:
5:45 am wake up
Two 8 ounce glasses of water
10 grams of L-glutamine mixed with water
6:25 am breakfast
1 whole wheat bagel
1 tbsp peanut butter
½ cup cottage cheese
½ cup strawberries
1 multivitamin and mineral tablet
Yields 529 calories, 30 grams of protein, 77 grams of carbohydrates, and 12 grams of fat.
9:30 am Mid morning meal
1 scoop protein powder (2oz)- 22 grams protein
1 cup orange juice
1 medium banana
1 ½ cup 1% milk
Yields 487 calories, 35 grams of protein, 73 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fat
12:00 pm Lunch -lean roast beef sub
6 " whole wheat bun
4 ounces lean roast beef
1 cup lettuce
1 tomato cut into slices,
½ oz low fat cheddar cheese
2 tbsp mustard
1 cup 1% milk
Yields 502 calories, 43 grams of protein, 47 grams of carbohydrates, and 16 grams of fat
2:30 pm Mid afternoon meal
1 granola bar -Quaker
½ cup blueberries
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup low fat natural yogurt
1 apple
½ glass of low fat milk
Yields 528 calories, 19 grams of protein, 90 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of fat
4:30 pm
2 glasses of pure water
Branched chain amino acids
5:15 pm workout
2-4 glasses of pure water while working out
6:30 pm post workout meal
1 cup strawberries
1 cup low fat strawberry yogurt
1 scoop(2oz) vanilla protein powder- 22 grams protein
½ tbsp honey
1 cup 1% milk
1 cup orange juice
5 grams creatine monohydrate
Yields 549 calories, 41 grams of protein, 75 grams of carbohydrates, and 6 grams of fat.
8:30 pm dinner -chicken teriyaki
3 oz skinless/boneless chicken breasts
1/3 cup prepared teriyaki sauce
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 tsp ginger
½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ cup small broccoli florets
½ can (4 ounces) sliced water chestnuts
½ cup rice
1 cup pure water
Yields 549 calories, 38 grams of protein, 69 grams of carbohydrates, and 13 grams of fat
10:00 pm
10 grams of L-glutamine with 1 glass of pure water
10:30 pm
Bed time
Daily total:
Actual
Calories: 3,145
Protein: 206 grams
Carbohydrates: 431 grams
Fat: 63 grams
Daily allowance
Calories: 3,220
Protein: 194 grams
Carbohydrates: 426 grams
Fat: 69 grams
As you can see, the actual numbers are pretty close to his daily allowances. Don't worry too much if your numbers don't add up exactly in your weight lifting diet.
I strongly suggest you read Will Brink's book, Muscle Building Nutrition. This book answers all questions about muscle building nutrition and weight lifting diets.
This book will show you how to structure your optimal weight lifting diet in an easy step by step plan. If you want to pack on muscle quick, this book is a must.
This is how you want to structure your weight lifting diet. Identify your nutritional goals and plan your menu around those goals.
Remember to keep track of what you eat in a diet log and remember to evaluate your weight lifting diet and progress on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Remember...consistency pays off
Building muscle is a slow and enduring process. In order to constantly improve your performance, you need to be consistent with your weight lifting diet. Strive to stick to your diet year round. This way, you are never that far off from your desired peak performance state.
For more information on supplements, try going to Supplecity.com.