Fairly basic stuff, but might interest people who are unsure of some things. Again, as with most articles and opinions you'll have to take what you will from it:
Tip-1: Eat Enough Food To Build Muscle
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Eating enough food to build muscle for us skin flints is not as it seems.
In order to build muscle I have seen consistently with my tests on over a thousand skinny males that the usual recommended calorie intake of 12- 14 calories per pound of bodyweight is not enough to build muscle.
So if this is not enough to build muscle what is? For skinny guys, A total daily calorie intake of 19 calories per pound bodyweight seems to be the magic number. Of course when you are eating this much it is important to be eating the right foods in the right combinations and times.
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Tip-2: Eat the Right Types of Food So You Increase Muscle...Not Turn Into a Fat Pig!!
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Eating to build muscle is not as simple as just eating enough calories. You need to eat the right calories! What are the right calories? I recommend foods that are high in nutritional value to promote building muscle and not fat gain!
An example of this would be to eat a steak with green vegetables totaling 600 calories than deep fried chicken nuggets for 800 calories.
Another example would be to eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast instead of a bowl of Captain Crunch Cereal.
Eat nutritionally dense foods and to get the most out of your meals combine foods together that are compatible for best digestion.
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Tip-3: Combine The Right Foods
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Do you want to build muscle without gaining excess fat? Or how about avoid indigestion? (Indigestion is bad for assimilating nutrition out of food for building muscle) or... stop blowing sick farts at work, in class or worst of all when you meet new people in elevators!
Then you need to systematically combine your foods at every meal. Combining foods is a science but luckily easy to learn. For now I will give you some examples of good food combinations and bad food combinations for building muscle:
Good Food Combinations for Building Muscle:
Protein and fibrous carbs (steak and spinach salad)
Protein and fats (Chicken Cordon Bleu)
Bad Food Combinations For Building Muscle:
Protein and simple carbohydrates (many weight gain powders, most meal replacement bars ) Carbohydrates and fats (cheese bread,pizza)
Once you are eating good food combinations at each food serving it is important to follow the next step:
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Tip-4: Eat Consistently On a Schedule
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Eating consistently on a schedule is crucial to provide quality nutrients for building muscle when your body needs them.
A good rule to follow is to eat every two to three hours and never space two meals more than five hours apart. If you are eating the right foods consistently like this then you should always keep your body in an positive muscle building state.
But for us hard gainers there are some underground secrets you can follow to really boost muscle growth from a nutritional stand point. The next trick to sustain an explosive growth spurt is to eat the right foods at the right times.
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Tip-5: Eat The Right Foods At The Right Times
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By modifying your meals slightly at particular times during your daily routine you can increase lean muscle growth. There are two times when we modify our meals for maximum energy,assimilation to build muscle most effectively, breakfast time and after our workouts.
At these two times of day, instead of eating our regular meals, you can build muscle more effectively by eating what I refer to as a power meal...
Gain Weight Tip-6: Eat "Power Meals" For Added Energy and To Gain Weight.
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Power meals is the term I came up for a particular meal structure that if eaten at specified times during the day can boost your bodys abilty to Gain Weight.
A power meal is basically a meal which comprises of a quick digesting source of protein and particular energy foods which also digest quickly and help to increase blood glycogen levels as fast as possible.
An example of this would be a quality whey protein powder blended with certain fruits.
Power meals are for these specified times only. Too many power meals will compromise building lean muscle by increasing fat gain and lowering your sensitivity to insulin.
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Gain Weight Tip-7: Eat Foods Your Body Requires For Optimal Growth Hormone Production and Health.
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To naturally produce hormones your body requires for gaining weight, specifically testosterone, you need to give it the building blocks it requires.
Testosterone is made from cholestrol ( simplified).
To gain weight by building muscle you need testosterone.
This is the main difference why males are more muscular than females.
It is because men have higher testosterone levels than females.
To give your body what it requires for optimal hormone production you require the right fats in your gain weight diet.
Examples of these fats would include:
coconut oil
animal fats
eggs
Essential oils
butter
cheese
Stay away from trans fats and hydrogenated fats!!
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Gain Weight Tip-8: Eat Enough Fibre
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Fibre is not talked about much in relation to gaining weight but is important for digestive system health and nutritional assimilation.
It is also important to keep your digestive system moving and assimilating as much nutrient as it can per day. Kind of like an assembly line! The more production you can get out of your digestive system the more you can fuel your muscles for gaining weight!
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Gain Weight Tip-9: Eat Enough Protein Per Meal
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It is crucial you get enough protein per day and spread it out throughout your day. Protein requirements have been exagerated for many years in the interests to sell more protein.
On the other hand protein requirements are definitely higher for a person or athlete training to gain weight than for a lazy couch potato hunting for his next show with a remote control!
At least one gram per pound of lean body mass is required to build muscle to gain weight and up to 1.5 grams per pound of lean muscle mass is optimal for heavy intense weight training.
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Gain Weight Tip-10: Choose Your Supplements Wisely.
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There are lots of supplements to choose from on the market and 99% of them are inferior to natural food for building muscle to gain weight. Natural food is higher in many naturally occuring vitamins and minerals benficial for muscle growth.
Stay away from weight gain powders. These are just empty calories not much different than most junk foods on the market.
Supplements that are worth trying are Creatine monohydrate , L Glutamine ( in moderation and carefully) and a good healthy protein powder without artificial sweeteners, colors and flavours.
By James Jordan. originally posted on selfgrowth.com
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