Nutrition for Building Muscle

There are two different things you need to focus on when you are building muscle.  The first one (of course) is the actual exercise it's self.  The second thing is nutrition and diet.  In my opinion, nutrition and diet is the most important factor there is when it comes to building muscle.  If you are following a good work-out routine then you can expect to spend 45 minutes to an hour and a half in the gym.  Eating takes up a HUGE part of everyones day regardless and needs to be treated as such.

Most people who don't know a thing about how to build muscle will usually work out really hard for an hour or so and then starve themselves for the rest of the day.  Then at the end of the week, they wonder why their body hurts and they see no gains!  Let me tell you why...

Your body needs food to repair (and more importantly, to live!).  Food is not a bad thing, so squash that idea now.  When you are trying to build lean muscle and get some serious gains, you need to eat -- A LOT!  

How many calories you need to consume is completely up to you and should be based on how you feel.  More important than calories is your macro nutrients though, things like: protein, carbs, fat.

Protein of course repair your muscles after you've destroyed them with a workout, carbs replinish energy levels quickly, and fat is for more longer periods of energy depletion. 

You need a certain amount of each if you really want to build muscle.

For protein, you need at least 1.5 gram for each lean body pound that you weigh.  So let's say you weigh 200 pounds, but your lean body weight (Your body weight - fat weight) is only 170 pounds.  That means you need around 255 grams of protein today if you want to have some serious muscle gains.  Carbs and fats are equally as important, but they don't require such strict rules.  However, if you are getting 255 grams of protein and only 20 grams of carbs and 10 grams of fat, most of your energy will come from your protein and you won't build any muscle.  A good "happy medium" for everyone to start out is what's called 40/40/20.  That means 40% of your calories are from protein, 40% of your calories are from carbs, and 20% of your calories are from fat.  If you can reach these requirements while also getting the required amount of protein, you will be a mass monster in no time!

Now, what type of foods should you eat?

Protein: Chicken, Fish, Beef, Steak  -- usually your best bet for protein will always be meats.

Cabs: Wheat bread, rice, potatos, vegetables

Proteins: Peanuts, flax seeds, fish (again)

You should also be eating every 2-3 hours.  This is because your body is constantly metabolising food and you need to be constantly replinishing calories so that your body will burn that as energy instead of burning your hard-earned muscle for energy (which can and will happen!)