I need to be honest with you guys…
The nutrition and fitness industry really makes eating enough calories to build muscle more complicated than it has to be. In reality, all you need is a simple muscle building diet for maximum gains.
The fitness industry says that you have to eat these exact nutrient ratio’s to build muscle, you have to eat at precise meal times, and you have to eat xxx times per day. The list goes on and often times most of the rules conflict with each other!
Well I got news for you – this is complete BS.
In fact, a simple muscle building diet is all you need. You really don’t have to eat 6-8 meals a day. Unless you want to put on a bunch of FAT and not have a life! Seriously, who can live normally eating 6-8 times per day?
What I recommend with the simple muscle building diet is to eat 2 to 3 meals and an optional snack for building solid muscle.
How Fast Can You Build Pure Muscle?
Your body can only put on so much muscle and any EXTRA calories that are not being used to build muscle will be stored as fat!
So from my experience, if you’re getting plenty of rest and lifting weights 3 times per week, your body has the potential to put on 0.5-1.0 lbs of muscle per week. That’s it! Nothing more. Outside of a simple muscle building diet, this is a critical piece you must understand. You’re body can only synthesize so much muscle naturally!
So stop listening to the muscle magazines and infomercials that claim you can put on 10 lbs of muscle in 10 days with the “build muscle fast diet.” This just isn’t gonna happen. I mean if this was possible, then almost every guy would be muscular.
For those that say they put on 10-20 pounds of muscle in a month, well, there’s no way. Even on steroids this is unlikely. Chances are they probably gained 10-20 pounds in a month and most of it was fat gain.
Besides, 0.5-1.0 lbs of muscle in a week isn’t bad at all. Especially if you’re doing strategic muscle building that makes that 5 pound muscle gain look like 15+.
In three months of training you can put on 6-12 pounds of muscle and it will probably look like you gained 20! Especially because you didn’t put on any fat.
Now, it takes 2500 calories to build a pound of muscle. So by knowing this, you only have to eat 200-400 calories above maintenance (the number of calories it takes to maintain your weight) to reach a muscle gain goal of 0.5-1.0 lbs per week. This could be as simple as adding another small meal or snack into your daily diet. My favorite snack is frozen yogurt and chocolate chips or another recipe from KinoChef. Seriously this isn’t very complicated at all.
This is why structuring a diet for building muscle around eating 1000-2000 calories above maintenance is complete nonsense and a wast of time. The reality is, most of that converts to fat.
But for some reason these guys think that if they eat way about their maintenance level they will force their body into gaining more muscle. Sorry the body doesn’t work like that!
That’s why I put together my Greek God Program, to teach guys how to put on muscle properly and create a natural and stunning physique as easy as humanely possible.
*Your results may vary. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results and are not intended to guarantee, promise, represent and/or assure that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.
Here’s the simple muscle building diet I would recommend for someone that wants to build muscle:
The Simple Muscle Building Diet Plan
Intermittent Fasting
Sparkling Water
Lunch
Chicken/Steak/Fish
Veggies
Brown Rice or Sweet Potatoes
Dinner
Steak/Chicken/Fish
Yams, Brown Rice Pasta, Wild Rice or Brown Rice
Salad or Veggies
Snack
Dessert/treat of choice
Notes on the Muscle Building Diet
- The goal here is to get a moderate amount of protein (.82g to 1g per pound of bodyweight), a balance of fats and carbs, vitamins/nutrients, and only about 200-400 calories above maintenance.
- Track your progress every week to see if your improving. I recommend measuring your waist circumference and weight. The goal is for your weight to increase about 0.5-1.0 lbs per week without your waist increasing. If you gain any fat then reduce your calories – if you aren’t gaining at least 0.5 lbs per week then increase your calories.
- If you want to build muscle while getting even leaner, I’d suggest getting the Greek God Program.
- If you need help cooking delicious meals with great macros for building muscle and staying lean, I recommend checking out KinoChef.
Your Kino Question For The Day: How can you use the information discussed in this article to improve your muscle building journey? Which aspects do you struggle with the most? Let me know in the comments below.
