Eating For Your Muscles

If you want to work on your muscle mass, you probably already know that you should do lots of lifting. You probably already know that you’re expected to spend lots of time in the gym. There are some very basic things though that you probably don’t know can help improve building your muscles. For instance, you can work on your diet. After all, eating for your muscles is just about as important as lifting for them. 

 

While the people who want to get thinner avoid calories, you know you should take a lot of them. They’re not the key though! While it’s acceptable to eat fast food once in a while, devouring boxes of pizza and pigging out on ice cream are definitely not advisable. True, rebuilding muscle tissue that has broken down requires energy (thus, calories), but the multitudes have been over-informed. High-calorie intakes is not encouraged; they might turn into fat. You might end up big, sure, but not muscly – instead, simply fat. Generally, 300-500 calories more than what your body burns is what’s best.

You must, on the other hand, concentrate on protein. It is essential to have lots of protein in your body since they are what’s in charge of muscle growth. 2 grams of protein per pound is ideal for a day. If you eat every three hours, it ensures that you are absorbing the protein you need to support the growth of your muscles.

You should eat after a workout. Nothing beats a meal that’s rich in both carbs and protein. After training, the body is really bad at taking in the carbohydrates towards the fat-storing pathways; they’re sent out to the growth-promoting pathways instead. Together with protein, you will be able to achieve maximum feeding of your muscles. The carbs will be in charge of delivering the amino acids into the muscle tissue by boosting your insulin levels. The insulin, in turn, drives nutrients towards the muscle cells, thus making it possible for the muscles to grow.

When building muscles, it’s also especially advisable to drink lots of water, most especially during the hours before your workout. It helps you feel full. While training, you can drink 8 ounces of water every 20 minutes and more on hot days. The body’s performance declines when it’s dehydrated. Do not wait until you’re thirsty either. For some people, they prefer low-calorie sports drinks, which is okay too since they are especially made for hydrating. Fluids in cooler temperatures make people drink more of them too.

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How Many Calories Do I Need a Day

How much calorie intake should you have a day in order to achieve the body you dream? That’s everybody’s question. Interestingly, not a lot of articles tell you the answer. But good news is we will, and it’s not as complicated as you think. Knowing how many calories to lose weight can be done in three steps. Your basal metabolic rate or BMR can be solved by:

655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

This BMR equals the number of calories you need to get by a day. But of course, that doesn’t mean that’s the least you can take since you surely use up calories, as well. You need a little more depending on the work that you usually do. Ranging from 1.4 to 1.9, your activity factor reflects how much you work a day – your movement and your activity. Your activity factor should then be multiplied by your BMR to obtain the number of calories you need a day in order to maintain your weight. In order to lose weight, you need to take less than this.

Organizing how much weight you have to lose per day is actually a fun thing. A lot of factors have to be taken into consideration, and the overall must reflect more calories taken out than taken in. The exercise you do matters. Remember that interval training burns a lot of calories – a lot more than just aerobics. Diet also matters. Take a lot of protein to make sure your body digests and metabolizes well.

Whilst the numbers we solved can help, they are only approximations and not exact. Do not use them as gospel. Rather, use them as a starting point and an estimate of how much you should cut down. To lose a pound or two a week, you need to subtract at least 500 calories from your weekly diet. If you do weight training or protein diet, you can subtract only about 250.

When you have finished your game plan, all you have to do is put them to action. See how much weight you lose in about two weeks. If the weight you’ve lost is already enough for you, keep going. If not, do more activity. Try this one out again until you find out which diet and which amount of exercise is perfect for you. In no time, you will be able to achieve the body you’ve always dreamed.

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1000 Calories a Day

We’re saying this point blank: eating less than 1,000 calories a day is not the healthiest. Women need about 1,200 calories each day while men need up to 1,500 to give them the nutrients and energy that their bodies need. However, if you have consulted with your specialist and he or she has approved of this diet plan, we might as well give you the healthiest 1,000 calories you can take in. 

Generally, the meal plan that we are suggesting gives you less than 1000 calories a day. The food, while having fewer calories than everyday diet plans, are still very rich in nutrients. Most of the meal are green leaf vegetables, lean protein, dairy that’s low-fat and grains. As there are three meals a day, each should only contain about 300 calories. 20% of your calories, surprisingly, must be fat because this will make sure your skin, hair and hormones are in good condition. Vitamins from fat are also essential. 

For your first meal, poached egg is okay – as well as a glass of milk that’s skimmed. Get yourself a whole toast of wheat and put on peanut butter and plum. Now you got yourself a yummy, healthy and low-calorie breakfast. For lunch, get yourself salad with romaine lettuce, a bit of grilled chicken, cucumber and cream for dressing. Eat wheat crackers with this. If you’re hungry in the afternoon, get yourself snacks! Apricots or yogurts are good. For dinner, broiled Tilapia is a good idea, especially with corn tortillas. Eat a bit of avocado and a cup of steamed zucchini. This plan doesn’t exceed a thousand calories. 

Meal number two can be composed of a smoothie of plain yogurt, strawberries and flaxseed oil. This alone can already be your breakfast. For lunch, get yourself tuna packed in water, mayonnaise that’s low-fat and celery. Serve all of this with an English muffin made of whole wheat and put tomatoes on the side. As for dinner, get yourself a half-cup of black beans and serve this with salsa, mozzarella cheese and a half cup of brown rice. You can even get yourself skimmed milk with peach for dessert. This, again, does not exceed a thousand calories. 

For the last meal plan, you can start your day with extra-lean turkey in oregano and fennel seeds. You can wrap this around a tortilla that’s full wheat and even put mozzarella cheese with it. If you want a snack in the morning, get yourself a cereal like puffed-rice and put on blueberries and skimmed milk. Get yourself cottage cheese and chopped apples for lunch. Add raisins and crackers to that too. For dinner, simply get yourself fried tofu, with sliced red peppers and broccoli. Serve all of these in steamed quinoa, and you’ll only get about 975 calories.  With this meal plan, you’re all set to 1000 calories a day diet! 

*** Consult your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.