Building Great Body Shape

by Caleb Lee

Nutrition is AT LEAST as important as any exercise regime in a good bodybuilding program.

Your muscles need the proper nutrients if they are to grow and give you the body you want. Of course good nutrition is important for overall health, which is a nice bonus.

In this article I’m going to give you a quick guide to what foods and in what amounts you will need to grow new muscle and preserve the muscle you’ve already built.

First thing is to change your eating patters a little. Instead of 2-3 big meals each day, you want to eat smaller meals more frequently all through the day.

The idea of this is to increase your metabolism. This will help you burn fat - in fact after four hours or so without food, your body switches into catabolic mode, where you begin to accumulate fat; a holdover from the days of being hunter/gatherers who literally didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.

Instead, eat four to six meals a day, about three hours apart.

What should I be eating?

Glad you asked. When you’re trying to build muscle, balance is the watchword. You want protein, carbs and fat in every meal.

The ratio you should be aiming for is roughly 40% of carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat. Getting all 3 at once helps your body use each element and gives you sustained energy without energy “crashes”.

“Don’t calories matter?”

What you should be looking for in terms of calories is an alternating pattern of low calories (about 2000 for men and 1200 for women) for two weeks followed by higher calories for two weeks (about 2500 for men and 1500 for women).

This will help you lose fat and build lean muscle mass; just what every bodybuilder wants. You should adjust these numbers upwards somewhat if you are doing energy intensive training such as running.

Are you now thinking, “OK, so what specifically are good things to eat while building muscle?”

You’ll want both simple and complex carbohydrates - while I don’t have enough room here to go into an entire nutrition plan, here are a few ideas:

Complex Carbohydrates: Oatmeal, broccoli, spinach sweet potatoes, rice,  Simple Carbs: Fruit is your best bet; whatever fruit you enjoy is fine here.

Go for these Proteins: Eggs, skinless turkey or chicken, tuna, very lean beef.

You also want healthy Fats: Stick with the healthy oils such as fish oils, olive oil, canola oil, and flaxseed oil. Natural peanut butter is also a good source of protein.

Last but not least, water - get plenty of water to keep your system flushed of toxins and adequately hydrated.

Following the above guidelines in this article will get you on your way to a good diet for building lean muscle mass.

About the author: Caleb Lee can teach you a lot about (http://www.doubleyourgains.com) building muscle. His website will teach you how to (http://www.doubleyourgains.com) build muscle fast.

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