Bodybuilding nutrition for gaining muscle mass. Nutrition for gaining muscle mass in men: a balanced diet

Don't know what to eat for breakfast? Dinner? Dinner? Or all of the above? Now you will definitely master this knowledge. In one of the previous articles entitled “”, we examined the most important aspects and components of proper nutrition for gaining muscle mass, without which, unfortunately, it is simply impossible to succeed in the metamorphosis of your body.

Today we will answer the question of how to eat properly to gain muscle mass and discuss nutrition strategy. The menu is universal and, by adjusting the portions and replacing some of the ingredients (for example, porridge with milk instead of water and vice versa), is suitable for almost any athlete.

So what is the ideal nutritional “recipe” for building muscle? The answer is frighteningly simple, at least in general terms:

1. Firstly, you need to eat the right amount of food at certain times of the day
2. Secondly, eat the right types of food

Doing one or the other is NOT ENOUGH! An example would be an ectomorph who is insanely meticulous about choosing foods to gain muscle mass, but does not eat enough in one sitting. Or an athlete who goes beyond all limits in his mass-gaining quest, devouring absolutely everything in his path until his stomach becomes his largest body part.

In contrast to the above examples, the ideal diet for muscle gain should be that will allow you to grow, gain muscle and mass without turning into a “ugly ogre”. This type of plan requires a more methodical approach. This is what we will look at in the next 9 rules. And it doesn’t matter whether a girl or a man is reading this - this applies to anyone, the only differences are in the portions of the dishes. Try them for yourself, noting the effect of each of them. As a result, you will be able to create your own ideal diet and, combined with a good one, you will definitely succeed in your goals.

Eat more often to gain muscle mass

You won't be able to maximize your growth and gain muscle mass if your meals are split into three or four meals a day. Instead, you need to stick to 6 or even 7 meals a day. The benefits are incredibly multifaceted: smaller amounts are absorbed much more easily, which means you will get many more amino acids, vitamins and minerals than if you ate larger amounts, but only a few times a day.

More frequent doses will help increase testosterone and insulin levels, which promote growth, while reducing levels of cortisol, a growth-inhibiting hormone that is produced during exercise. Take this into account when creating a nutrition menu for gaining muscle mass.

Keep Proteins at Proper Levels

Protein consists of amino acids - the main components of muscle tissue and the most important thing in nutrition for gaining muscle mass for an ectomorph. You need a lot of amino acids for your body to build muscle. You need to consume AT LEAST 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. If you weigh 90 kg, you need to include at least 180 grams of protein in your daily plan.

This 26-30 g in one sitting, which is equivalent to approximately 150 grams of chicken breast or 170 grams of cottage cheese. It's simple math, but many people neglect it and their goals become unattainable.

Manipulate your protein intake at key points

Follow the rule "2 grams of protein per kg of weight" within three or four weeks. If after a while you don't see significant results, adjust your protein intake at two critical times: post-workout and before bed. Post-workout, increase your intake to 40-60g, preferably using fast-acting whey protein. Before bedtime, 30-40 grams of casein protein will help keep you in an anabolic state while you sleep. Otherwise, it will be too long and harmful fasting for the body, and your nutrition for gaining muscle mass and your weight training program will be ineffective.

Increase carbs

Carbohydrates work together with protein to create hormonally favorable conditions for growth. They help the process of transporting amino acids from food into muscles, which will be made into new muscle tissue or used to repair damaged tissue during exercise. Well, I think everyone already knows that carbohydrates are a powerful source of energy. Start with 4 g ang. per kilogram of body weight per day. But, unlike protein, divide them between the first five or six meals, removing carbohydrates from the last one or two meals.

Thus, a 90 kg athlete should eat 60-72 grams of coal. in each of his first five or six sittings, with minimal angles. after.

Manage Carbs at Key Points

Follow the rule "4 grams of carbon per kg of weight" within three or four weeks. If results are not observed, increase your carbohydrate intake at two critical times: the first meal of the day and after your workout. Adding even more carbohydrates to breakfast, combined with protein, helps stop the breakdown that occurs during the last two to three hours of sleep at night and speeds up your metabolism (contrary to popular misconceptions, increased metabolism actually increases muscle growth):

• Number of angles for breakfast and after training it is necessary to increase by 50%. For example, if you ate 60 grams for breakfast, increase to 90 grams.
• By the fifth week of following the muscle building diet, if you have not yet seen improvement, increase the amount of carbohydrates in your diet to a total of 5 grams per kg of body weight per day.

Don't avoid fats

A common mistake among those trying to gain muscle size is the inability to distinguish between good and bad fats. The truth is that not all fats are the same. Healthy monounsaturated omega 3 and 6 fats can be a huge support for athletes trying to eat healthy to gain muscle size. Emphasize the following foods that are great for gaining muscle mass: avocados, salmon and other fatty fish, nuts, and healthy oils such as canola and olive.

Say YES to vegetables

Eating a ton of vegetables will not help you get a huge body, but it will be an indispensable aid in processing the other foods you consume. With the digestive system of hardgainers, during mass-gaining diets, problems often arise with excess calories. It is dietary fiber in our diet that is designed to help with digestive processes - they will provide us with useful microelements and vitamins.

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When visiting the gym in the hope of getting a sculpted figure, they first of all try to remove excess fat and gain volume in the biceps. If there are no particular problems with losing weight, then muscle growth stops after about two months of training.

A common cause is lack of nutrients. To further increase muscle volume, you need to combine training with proper nutrition.

Diet for gaining muscle mass for men

The first thing that admirers of a beautiful figure try to do is to increase the amount of food consumed, excluding fats. In their opinion, the latter can only lead to an increase in total body weight. Fats are as important an element as protein and carbohydrates.

Fats are a great help for muscle tissue, maintaining the metabolic reactions of the body. Some animal fats can be replaced with vegetable oil, fish, and nuts. They increase the elasticity of the walls of blood vessels and are divided into beneficial - unsaturated and harmful - saturated. The latter contains butter, sausage, and fried foods.

Protein is critical to muscle growth. Due to the fact that the body is not able to process the protein it needs at one time, the daily diet for gaining muscle mass should be divided into several times. Beef, chicken, milk, low-fat cottage cheese, nuts, egg whites, and fish contain a lot of protein.

Carbohydrates have a beneficial effect on muscle volume. This is a powerful source of energy and also serves to restore tissue damaged during training. Carbohydrates are found in pasta, cereals, bananas, potatoes, honey, and buckwheat porridge.

The latter needs to be given special attention. It contains glucose, a minimum of useful substances for the functioning of the body. A large amount of carbohydrates is converted into glucose, which serves to increase body fat.

Nutrient intake per day should be as follows: 60% carbohydrates; 25% proteins; 15% fat. It is undesirable to consume less than 15% fat in the daily diet; the level of testosterone, which forms protein, decreases. Some animal fats can be replaced with vegetable fats.

Meal frequency

To maintain muscle strength and growth, it is recommended to eat 6 to 8 times a day. Between main meals you should have a snack with juices, fruits, and vegetables. The best option for building relief is to eat meals at intervals of no more than three hours.

• 08.00 – rise
• 08.30 –
• 10.30 – second tomorrow
• 13.00 – lunch
• 15.00 – afternoon tea
• 16.30 – training
• 17.30 – snack
• 18.30 – dinner
• 20.00 – snack
• 22.00 – glass of milk at night

It is necessary to gradually increase the calorie content of food so that the amount of energy received exceeds the amount spent during training.

Important Meals

The first important meal of the day is breakfast. It restores muscle energy after sleep. Having processed the slow protein - milk before bed, the extraction of energy from muscle cells begins. Two hours before active strength training, you can thoroughly eat protein foods, or an hour before eating foods containing glucose and sucrose.

It is equally important to eat after strength training; the body needs energy to restore and grow muscles. After training, you need to eat a couple of bananas or a protein-carbohydrate mixture. After 30-40 minutes, you can start your main meal, consisting mainly of protein, starches, and dietary fiber:

1. Breakfast can consist of a choice of oatmeal or buckwheat porridge, cocoa, dark chocolate, egg omelet without yolk, black bread, juice.
2. For lunch, you can cook soup, buckwheat porridge with chicken, fish with a side dish of rice or lean meat with potatoes, scrambled eggs without yolk.
3. Dinner – buckwheat porridge with fish, cottage cheese with jam, vegetable salad, scrambled eggs without yolk, berries, fruits.
4. Intermediate food includes oatmeal, low-fat cottage cheese, kefir, milk, tea, cheese, dried fruits, honey.

The healthiest thing in this example is a chicken egg, low-fat milk . Protein-rich foods are effective for muscle growth.

An accurate calculation of daily calories is calculated using the formula: weight (kg) x 30 = Kcal. To maintain weight and gain muscle mass, you should consume 500 calories above the daily norm. For a thin figure, 500 extra calories will be the minimum. For - the norm, but for plump endomorphs it will be the maximum. An increase in muscle mass of 400-600 grams per week is considered normal.

Drinking regime

To maintain water balance and dehydration, the athlete must drink at least 2-3 liters of fluid per day. In case of intense physical activity, water consumption should be increased to 4 liters per day.

Dehydration of the body by 1-2% leads to a decrease in muscle strength by 10-30%. It is preferable to drink water between meals; drinking it during meals makes normal absorption difficult. Read about: .

Complete rest

Muscles do not grow when you exercise; it happens during recovery from exercise. For their complete recovery and growth, it is preferable to get at least 8 hours of sleep at night. A day's rest will also not be superfluous; through it it may be possible. Many people would like to quickly increase muscle mass in a few sessions by eating foods indiscriminately.

Such omnivorousness will only affect the overall weight of a person, but not the muscles. Lamb and fatty pork should be excluded from the diet. The protein they contain is poorly absorbed by the body, which leads to the deposition of fat cells.

Chips, crackers, and quick-cooking pasta do not have the best effect on the body's contours. To satisfy hunger, it is better to eat grain bread with low-fat kefir or. This will not create additional stress on the cardiovascular system.

Conclusion

A diet for gaining muscle mass, rich in proteins and vegetable fats, as well as properly selected physical activity, will be the key to the beautiful and sculpted figure you dreamed of.

All you need to do is give up junk food, which will slow down the desired result, and remember about the drinking regime, which plays an important role.

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There are two categories of people in the hall: some came to lose weight, others came to gain it. For beautiful muscle definition, it is not enough to get rid of excess kilograms, you need to build muscle mass. And many athletes are faced with a problem: the weight is normal, training is on schedule, but the desired relief does not appear. To achieve your goal, you need to balance your diet to gain muscle mass.

Basic Rules

The diet should be organized so that nutrients are supplied evenly throughout the day, so introducing three meals a day is a bad idea. Divide your daily calorie intake into 5-6 meals. There should be intervals of 3-4 hours between them. This is not the only important rule, there are others:

• Drink plenty of clean water. To gain muscle mass, you need at least 2.5 liters of water per day, because without fluid, many physiological processes necessary for muscle growth will occur slowly.
• The daily amount of calories for an adult athlete is from 3 to 4 thousand. At the same time, high-calorie foods should account for no more than 70% of the daily requirement, the rest is nutrient-rich non-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables.
• Maintain a balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in your diet. The daily intake of carbohydrates is 50-60% of the diet, proteins - 30-35%, fats - 10-15%.
• Do not exceed the recommended dose of fats; give preference to vegetable fats. Completely exclude margarine, lard, smoked meats and sausages from the menu.
• Avoid fried and baked foods. Use gentle cooking methods: boiling, stewing, steaming. Vegetables are best eaten raw.
• Consume the main part of the daily menu before 17:00. Two hours before training - a portion of proteins and carbohydrates necessary to nourish the muscles. After training - sports shakes with protein, vitamins and minerals.
• Eat healthy foods with a high glycemic index within 3-4 hours after exercise to recover from exercise and replenish muscle glycogen stores. Although sweets and buns are high in calories, save them for exceptional occasions.
• Don't expect quick results. Normal weight gain is 600-800 grams per week. If you gain weight faster, this is a reason for concern, not joy: not only muscles are growing, but also fat tissue.

Body types

Some athletes build muscle mass more easily, while others find it more difficult. Someone can train for years, lifting weights for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but will remain thin, without a hint of relief, while someone went to the gym for a couple of months - and already flaunts perfect abs. It depends on your body type. It influences your training plan and food choices for gaining muscle mass. Therefore, before creating a diet, it is important to determine your body type.

The hardest thing is for ectomorphs. People of this physique are excellent athletes and climbers: they are naturally thin, energetic, and agile. They have a fast metabolism, so an ectomorph can gain weight only due to serious health problems. But it is not easy for such an athlete to build muscle, so they are recommended to consume proteins before and after training.

If you belong to this category of athletes, do not be discouraged: yes, you need to balance your diet so that you get a lot of proteins, and the results will not come quickly. But when it appears, you will look great. The lack of fat and narrow bones allow you to achieve a very beautiful muscle definition.

The direct opposite of an ectomorph is an endomorph. If you have a hard time losing weight but gaining it back easily, have a naturally powerful build and solid, slow movements, you most likely have this body type. The good thing is that you are gaining muscle mass quickly. The bad thing is that it is not visible behind the adipose tissue. Endomorphs should train to burn as much fat as possible. If this is your case, after training, do not under any circumstances eat flour, fatty or unhealthy foods. You should keep your consumption of such foods to a minimum.

Mesomorphs achieve brilliant results in the gym the fastest. These are men of athletic build, with developed muscles, but without a tendency to be overweight. They do not need to put as much effort into increasing muscle mass as ectomorphs, but they also do not need to limit themselves in food, like endomorphs. Mesomorphs can afford greater freedom when choosing a training and nutrition program to gain muscle mass.

Calorie content of food

To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in. To grow muscles, you should follow the opposite principle, but do it in such a way that excess calories go into muscles and not into fat tissue. There are different ways to calculate the optimal amount of calories. Sometimes trainers recommend this method: write down the amount and weight of all food for the week, calculate the average daily calorie content, and then simply add 500 calories to the resulting figure. In theory, this is enough for the body to build muscle.

But there is an easier way to calculate the correct number of calories: multiply your weight by 30, the resulting number will be the approximate amount of calories per day. You need so much energy for your body to function normally. Since you want to build muscle tissue, you need a little more energy, so add another 500 calories to your total.

The complete formula for calculating daily calorie intake is as follows:

Weight × 30 + 500 = calorie intake

However, also take into account the specifics of your physique. If you are an ectomorph, 500 calories will not be enough, add 1000 at once.

Proteins for weight gain

Not all calories are created equal for your muscles: you can't eat a pizza that contains your daily dose of energy and think that it promotes muscle growth. To gain muscle mass, nutrition must be balanced, and proteins in one form or another should make up no more than 30% of all food.

Most bodybuilders do not count plant proteins, but only animal proteins, because they are better absorbed. You can also get your protein intake from supplements, but it is optimal if you consume both supplements and animal proteins.

The norm for an adult athlete is approximately 2 grams of protein per kilogram of weight. For example, if you weigh 85 kg, you will need 500 grams of chicken breast (contains 100 grams of protein), 100 grams of cottage cheese (30 grams of pure protein), 5 eggs, 2 glasses of milk per day. This is just an example, you can include more or less of the foods you like in your meal plan.

Carbohydrates account for the bulk of nutrition: 50-60%. If you have calculated the optimal amount of protein, calculating the daily amount of carbohydrates will not be difficult - exactly twice as much protein.

Keep in mind that carbohydrates can be simple and complex. Simple ones are absorbed quickly, causing a sharp jump in glucose in the blood. Complex ones are broken down more slowly, maintaining glucose levels over time. You should give preference to complex carbohydrates, which are found in cereals and legumes. However, if you need to replenish your energy reserves urgently, you can also eat fast carbohydrates: sweets. But you can’t take them as a basis for nutrition.

Finally, don't forget about vegetables and fruits - they are high in fiber, which slows down the absorption of food. Therefore, in reasonable quantities, fresh vegetables can be eaten without counting.

How much fat should you consume?

The daily fat intake is 10-20%. They cannot be completely excluded, but it is important to give preference to fats of plant origin, reducing animal products. The only exception is seafood rich in Omega-3 fatty acid.

Meal schedule

Stick to a routine: eat at approximately the same time every day. Chaotic eating can cause fat gain, and for people who actively train, it can cause slower muscle growth.

Breakfast

Breakfast options: oatmeal with milk, two hard-boiled eggs, toast with jam. Or corn porridge with milk, an omelet, a sandwich made from whole grain bread with butter. Rice porridge with milk, omelette, and dried fruits are also suitable.

Dinner

For lunch you can eat rice, boiled chicken breast, cucumbers, tomatoes and some whole grain bread. Another day - pearl barley porridge, beef goulash, vegetable salad and a slice of rye bread. Or pilaf, shrimp, cabbage salad.

Afternoon snack

Don't skip your afternoon snack: It's important to maintain your diet. At this time, you can eat buckwheat, turkey fillet, and vegetables. Or barley porridge, steamed beef cutlets, banana. Another day - lentil stew with vegetables and chicken fillet.

Snacks

For snacks, a glass of yogurt and a piece of hard cheese, cottage cheese with yogurt, a milkshake, and low-fat cottage cheese are suitable. Don't take snacking as permission to eat something like Snickers.

Dinner

Pollock, beans, and vegetable salad dressed with sour cream are an excellent option for a sports dinner. You can replace this set with rice, veal and Greek salad. Or lean pilaf, fish soufflé and squash caviar.

What to eat before training

Before training, you need to eat a hearty meal 2-3 hours in advance: try to have complex carbohydrates and animal proteins as the basis. For example, rice with chicken or turkey is suitable. Taking extra whey protein and a few amino acid capsules before exercise will protect your muscles from breakdown.

What to eat after training

After intense exercise, the body needs to be fueled for 24 hours, so don't rely on one meal and stick to a meal schedule. Immediately after, you can drink a protein shake or resort to its closest analogue: eggs and cottage cheese.

Best Foods for Muscle Growth

The first thing many coaches tell athletes is that it is good to eat egg yolk no more than twice a day, and as much white as you like. After all, this is a source of protein necessary for muscles! But the light did not converge on the egg white. By combining different foods to gain muscle mass, you will create a correct, healthy eating schedule.

Porridge

Porridge provides the energy needed for training. They are rich in slow carbohydrates, as well as amino acids and protein.

Fish

Fish helps effectively build muscle. It contains not only protein, but also amino acids and Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids necessary for the proper absorption of proteins. Therefore, do not deny yourself the pleasure of snacking on tuna, salmon, cod or mackerel. Ocean fish is best; it contains the most nutrients.

Fruits

Fruits contain a lot of fiber, vitamins and amino acids. The most useful for athletes are pineapples, melons, sour apples, as well as citrus fruits: grapefruits, oranges.

Meat

Poultry meat contains up to 50% protein, but it must be eaten without high-calorie skin. Beef and rabbit fillet contain creatine, an acid necessary for burning fat and building muscles. It is important that the meat is lean. In terms of benefits, the advantage is on the side of chicken and turkey fillet, beef, and rabbit.

Sweets

Not all sweets are equally harmful: among them there are also low-calorie desserts that will help replenish the supply of fast carbohydrates, and in addition, will bring pleasure. Sometimes the only reason for the painful feeling of hunger is a lack of pleasure, joy from food. Therefore, do not deny yourself small portions of dark chocolate, marshmallows or marmalade.

Dairy

Hopefully you're not lactose intolerant, because whole milk and fermented milk products are rich in calcium and vitamin D. There's a lot of debate about whether lactic acid bacteria are good for the body, but in any case, calcium is needed for muscle growth. A little trick: full-fat milk reduces post-workout pain.

Vegetables

Like fruits, vegetables are rich in fiber and beneficial substances such as vitamins and amino acids. Athletes are recommended to eat foods to gain muscle mass - for example, lettuce, cabbage, asparagus, spinach. And naturally fermented soy sauce will replace salt.

Flour

White bread, sweet buns and custard cakes are those foods that are recommended to be avoided. But it is not necessary to exclude all flour products from your diet. This is not even advisable: whole grain bread, bread with bran, yeast-free baked goods and diet bread are quite suitable as a source of carbohydrates.

Athletes recommend not only choosing a healthy diet and counting calories, but also keeping a diary of nutrition and training. This will help you control your weight and adjust your diet taking into account your circumstances, body type, and health status. In the future, you will be able to develop an optimal diet for yourself. However, at the initial stage, consult an experienced trainer.

If a change in diet has caused an increase in waist size, train more intensely than usual, and cut your daily food intake by 10%. Only a systematic approach to sports and diet will help you always stay in shape.

While one part of the stronger half is sweating in the gym and exhausting itself to lose weight, the other is looking for something to eat in order to gain the desired kilograms of muscle and get rid of a thin physique.

We understand the problem, create the right nutrition system with a weekly menu and begin to change the body for the better with advice from Life Reactor.

Nutrition for weight gain for men at home - what and when to eat + table

EATING	DISTRIBUTION OF PROTEINS, FATS AND CARBOHYDRATES
Breakfast	Choose simple carbohydrates
During the day	Complex carbohydrates and slow proteins
Before training	Complex carbohydrates
During training	Sweet water with glucose is acceptable
After training	Complex carbohydrates
Before bedtime	Long-lasting proteins in the form of cottage cheese or casein protein

It is best to start the day with liquid - a glass of freshly squeezed juice, compote or just water. Have breakfast in half an hour.

Do not forget that after a hearty meal you should never go to training - the difference between food intake and exercise should be two hours.

Don't forget about vitamins - be sure to eat half a kilo of fresh vegetables and fruits a day. Carrots, apples, citrus fruits, berries, etc. are especially useful.

You will have to give up confectionery products - they cause a rapid jump in blood sugar, and the body transforms glucose into fat.

Squirrels

They are especially needed after sleep and intense workouts, when the body is starving/actively expending energy.The daily consumption rate is 2 grams per 1 kilogram of weight, i.e. a man weighing 70 kilograms needs 140 g of protein per day.

These include:

1. Dairy products: cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, kefir
2. Nuts, seeds
3. All types of legumes: beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, mung beans, etc.
4. Some types of vegetables: spinach, broccoli, asparagus

Fast and slow

Fast ones should occur in the morning and the period immediately after training in the gym - they are needed to quickly cover the need for energy.The rest of the time, you should give preference to slow ones, and completely abandon them at night. The daily norm is 0.4-0.5 kg.

The nutrition menu for weight gain for men at home will ideally fit:

1. Porridge - rice, buckwheat, oatmeal, millet
2. Durum wheat pasta
3. Bran, black and rye bread
4. Muesli
5. Potatoes, carrots and beets within reason

Fats

They are divided into rich- unhealthy (mayonnaise, butter) and unsaturated- healthy (vegetable, olive, flaxseed, sesame and other oils).From 16 to 28 years old, 160 g of fat is needed per day, at 29-40 years old - 95-150 g, after 40 years - 70 g.

Why is protein so important and where to get it?

Protein- building material for muscles.During intense training, you cannot do without it - the greater the muscle mass, the more protein it needs.

Plant cells contain lentils, peas and soy; animals- cottage cheese and milk. These products should be on your menu every day.

Beginners in bodybuilding often begin to abuse ready-made powder cocktails.However, this is not an absolute requirement for gaining muscle mass.They are most effective if you know that after training there will be no time for a full meal.

Nutrition for weight gain for men - example

EATING	SAMPLE MENU
Breakfast	Any porridge with milk and butter, coffee or tea with milk and honey, toast with cheese, a handful of nuts
Lunch	Pasta with cheese and eggplant or cottage cheese with yogurt and tea; fresh fruits
Dinner	Soup (borsch, rassolnik, pea), vegetable cutlets and salad with sour cream, rye bread
Afternoon snack	Vegetable salad with cheese, freshly squeezed juice
Second afternoon tea	Milk with cookies or fruit salad with yogurt
Dinner	Vegetable omelette with cheese and warm milk with honey or cottage cheese casserole with sour cream and tea

Nutrition Basics for Weight Gain for Men at Home

The cause of excessive male thinness may be a specific body structure, accelerated growth, health problems and bad habits.

We immediately omit the last two points - before planning a new menu and training/smoking system, a visit to the doctor is required by default.

Having made sure that thinness is not the result of a disease, we build a new diet according to the following rules:

1. We eat more high-calorie foods, based on the principles of healthy eating - it is important to increase not the amount of food, but its calorie content
2. If the reason is fast metabolism, select the menu to slow it down
3. We move more and play sports, so that food goes not into the fat layer and stomach, but into the muscles
4. We increase the diet to 3000-4000 calories, eating 5-8 times a day- the body copes with small portions faster and does not have time to store anything as fat
5. We eat less fat: 30-40% of the diet is allocated to proteins, 45-50 to carbohydrates
6. Don’t forget that the male body works faster than the female body, which means it absorbs and digests food faster - traditional diets for gaining weight in this case will be inappropriate
7. We do not limit ourselves to certain types of products- only proteins or only carbohydrates; calories, vitamins and microelements must come from everywhere
8. If necessary, we dilute the menu with BCAAs, proteins, protein-carbohydrate cocktails, to stop catabolic reactions

Advice: thin-boned people are often endowed with pathological thinness - they always look miniature and even flimsy, but by properly developing the menu and in this case, you can build muscle.

Nutrition for weight itself consists of three steps:

1. Working with heavy weights in the gym
2. Consuming the right amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, if necessary, specialized sports nutrition
3. Complete muscle rest

Some athletes are afraid of gaining fat instead of muscle, and combine intense training with cutting - a carbohydrate-free diet.

This approach is fundamentally wrong - simultaneously getting rid of fat with a calorie deficit puts the body under stress and can lead to health problems, especially in the gastrointestinal tract.It makes more sense to do it first and then dry it out a little.

Separately, it is worth mentioning nutrition and training for ectomorphic men.This body type implies a low level of strength, tall height and a lean physique with narrow bones and minimal subcutaneous fat.

Such athletes are great at endurance exercises, but when doing bodybuilding, you need to pay attention to heavy basic split training.Ectomorphs hardly gain fat, so in their case it includes a large amount of any food.

Tip: To see results as quickly as possible, it is recommended to eat every 2-3 hours.

Meals for weight gain for men at home - weekly menu

The diet consists of three main meals and three snacks. Approximate calorie content - 3000 units.Don't forget to stay hydrated and drink 2 liters of water a day.

Monday

1. - oatmeal with water or milk, tea/coffee, banana
2. - stewed potatoes with vegetables in a slow cooker
3. - a handful of nuts, cottage cheese
4. - rice with vegetables
5. - vegetable smoothie, toast with cheese
6. - fruit salad and a glass of yogurt

Tuesday

1. - millet porridge with honey and milk, a handful of nuts, grapefruit or orange
2. - pasta with eggplant
3. - a glass of kefir and whole grain toast
4. - cottage cheese with kiwi and nuts
5. - baked vegetables with tofu
6. - a glass of yogurt and toast with peanut butter

Wednesday

1. - oatmeal with banana, apple and a handful of nuts
2. - pilaf with vegetables, tea
3. - vegetable omelette with black bread, apple
4. - smoothie with fruits and milk
5. - fresh vegetable salad, buckwheat cutlets
6. - cottage cheese with jam and yogurt

Thursday

1. - rice noodles with vegetables, a handful of nuts and an apple
2. - vegetable soup, stew
3. - a glass of kefir and a slice of whole grain bread
4. - fruit salad with yogurt
5. - baked potatoes with cheese
6. - cheesecakes, tea

Friday

1. - bread with cheese, fresh herb salad, tea or coffee
2. - cottage cheese and banana
3. - buckwheat pancakes with mushrooms, juice
4. - vegetable smoothie
5. - vegetable cutlets and boiled rice
6. - yogurt with berries

Saturday

1. - oatmeal with banana and nuts, tea or coffee
2. - oven-baked vegetables
3. - a glass of kefir with whole grain bread
4. - cottage cheese with honey and fruits
5. - couscous with vegetables
6. - fruit salad

Sunday

1. - vegetable omelette, toast with cheese, tea or coffee
2. - cream of mushroom soup
3. - cottage cheese with yogurt and banana
4. - rice with vegetables
5. - fruit smoothie
6. - fresh vegetable salad with sour cream

Tip: 70% of all food you eat should come before four o'clock in the afternoon.

As you can see, gaining weight for men is quite easy.With the above 3000 calorie diet, approximately 600 kcal are allocated to proteins, 1500 to carbohydrates, 900 to fats.

If your goal is to gain lean muscle mass, it is especially necessary to strictly control the amount of foods containing sugar.The diet will have to be completely revised and chocolate, flour products and sweets should be excluded from it.

You also need to increase the amount of vegetable fats and reduce animal fats.You will find useful information about drying the body in the article.

You will learn some tips on the intricacies of nutrition for weight gain for men from the video below:

Nutrition for mass is a two-component phenomenon. The diet should “supply” the actively training male body with the necessary energy (its source is carbohydrates), and also provide building material for “building” new muscle fibers (protein products).

By and large, the process of gaining mass (in other words, increasing muscle volume) includes three main steps:

1. Muscle stimulation as part of the training process by working with heavy weights;
2. Supplying the body with nutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) with food and special supplements (BCAAs, protein, vitamin-mineral complexes);
3. Quality rest necessary for muscle recovery and effective growth.

Below we will discuss the key points related to nutrition, the goal of which is a qualitative increase in body weight (that is, muscle gain).

Meals for gaining muscle mass for men should be high in calories, so the amount of nutrients obtained from the diet should exceed those consumed during periods of intense training.

Some athletes (especially beginners) are afraid to gain excess fat along with muscles. Of course, there is always the possibility of an additional layer of fat appearing during the active mass gain stage. It is extremely difficult to avoid this. However, you can give your muscles a beautiful definition later with the help of a carbohydrate-free diet (“drying”).

Some athletes take a different path - their diet for gaining weight is initially “dry” - that is, they simultaneously build muscle and get rid of fat. Although this approach has obvious advantages, it overloads the body - the body is subjected to daily high-intensity training in a calorie (and, therefore, energy) deficit. With an improperly organized diet for men, “gaining lean mass” can harm the body of athletes.

For example, three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are supplemented with two carbohydrate snacks (second breakfast and afternoon snack) and a glass of protein shake before bed.

This approach will help increase the total daily calorie intake and “accelerate” metabolism.

The advantages of such nutrition for an athlete for weight are obvious:

• There may be significantly more food than the athlete is accustomed to eating during the day;
• You can increase the number of meals from 6 to 10. This will evenly distribute the intake of amino acids and other nutritional components into the body throughout the day and speed up metabolism.

To gain quality mass, an athlete needs to eat every two to three hours - this can be either a full meal or a snack.

So, the first two requirements that should be adhered to while gaining muscle mass were discussed above:

1. Increase in total daily calories;
2. Correction of diet (the number of meals increases from 6 to 10).

Now it is necessary to pay attention to one more important point - changing the structure of an athlete’s diet when training to gain weight, that is, correcting the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (hereinafter referred to as BZhU).

Optimal proportions:

• Proteins – 25-30%;
• Fats – 10-15%;
• Carbohydrates – 50-60%.

This ratio is considered not only “healthy”, but also useful for anabolism (increasing muscle mass). This structure is designed to provide the body with a sufficient amount of amino acids (“building materials”), as well as to give it the necessary energy while “supporting” a minimum amount of vegetable fats.

About nutrients

Obviously, the basis of nutrition for muscle growth is BJU. Each of these components can also be different. Thus, proteins can be fast (protein, whey protein isolates are instantly absorbed) and “long-lasting” (meat products are absorbed extremely slowly).

Fast proteins are needed when the athlete’s body has been “starving” for a long time and requires replenishment of building materials - this happens early in the morning and immediately after an intense workout.

“Long” proteins are required by the body at all other times. The best time to take a protein shake is right before bed.

The best sources of protein for a sports diet for weight gain:

• Meat (preferably poultry);
• Seafood, fresh fish;
• Dairy products: low-fat cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir, milk;
• Eggs;
• Nuts;
• Legumes (lentils, peas, beans).

Along with this, athletes (especially beginners) need to avoid the following protein products:

• Smoked meat;
• Homemade fat cottage cheese;
• Ham;
• Sausage (particularly salami);
• Sweet milk formulas (for example, yoghurts).

Carbohydrates are also divided into “fast” and “slow”. The first group includes fructose and glucose (compounds that are quickly absorbed and raise insulin levels), the second group includes dietary fiber, which is slowly absorbed and therefore does not cause a sharp “jump” in blood sugar.

Fast carbohydrates should “enter” the body immediately after training and early in the morning, immediately after waking up. Their task is to “supply” the body with the necessary amount of energy or quickly replenish its massive costs. At all other times, as part of main meals, athletes require slow carbohydrates (porridge). Before going to bed, you should avoid any carbohydrates.

The best carbohydrates for athletes gaining muscle mass:

• Porridge (millet, rice, buckwheat, oatmeal);
• Pasta (only from durum wheat);
• Black, bran, rye bread;
• Muesli (cereals);
• Vegetables such as potatoes, beets and carrots are recommended to be consumed within reasonable limits - they contain a large amount of starch.

Fats can be saturated (bad) and unsaturated (healthy). The last group includes vegetable oil, fish, omega 3. Their main task is to reduce the level of “bad” cholesterol in the body. It is better to avoid bad fats (mayonnaise, butter) - consuming them can lead to gaining extra pounds.

The best fats:

• Vegetable oils (olive, corn, flaxseed);
• Avocado;
• Fish.

Power scheme

Consider an approximate menu for building and growing muscle mass:

• Morning – water + simple carbohydrates;
• Throughout the day – slow proteins + complex carbohydrates;
• A few hours before training – light proteins + medium carbohydrates;
• Half an hour before training – free form amino acids + whey protein isolate;
• During the session - sweet water with glucose (if the athlete wants to increase muscle mass), BCAAs (when the athlete also wants to “dry out”);
• Immediately after training – simple carbohydrates (juice, gainer) + amino acids in a simple form;
• An hour after class there should be a full meal;
• In the afternoon – complex carbohydrates + complex proteins;
• Before bedtime – there are no carbohydrates, “long-lasting” proteins (cottage cheese, casein protein) are recommended.

Athletes gaining muscle mass should completely avoid sweet and flour confectionery products. Of course, they are very tasty, but when they enter the body, they immediately cause a spike in blood sugar, stimulate appetite, and, in truth, they themselves are a source of a lot of unnecessary calories. In response to this “behavior,” the body immediately begins to convert glucose into fat.

It is also better to limit fast carbohydrates and fats in the diet. Under no circumstances should there be any smoked meats, sausages, store-bought sauces, ketchups or mayonnaise on an athlete’s daily menu.

It is recommended to eat as many fruits, vegetables and greens as possible - fiber has a positive effect on the digestion process and slows down the absorption of carbohydrates - thus, the level of glucose in the blood increases gradually, and mono-, di- and polysaccharides do not turn into hated fat cells.

You need to pay attention to your diet. “Mass” athletes should not eat large portions several times a day (and heterogeneous food).