Think You Could Eat Like A Bodybuilder

People all over the world embark in diets and they consume less calories in order to lose weight. Weight loss is the new trend that’s sweeping America. Bodybuilders have a diet plan all on their own to GAIN weight. That’s right, I said GAIN. In order to be a bodybuilder and continue to keep gaining muscle, the athlete must consume an outrageous amount( how much) of calories in order to  keep them going through the vigorous training that takes place to become a bodybuilder. A bodybuilder’s? diet is a diet in its own league which requires a special and determined individual. .

Take a look at what the biggest icon of bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger recommended concerning bodybuilding nutrition and dietary intake. The 7-time Mr. Olympia would primarily focus on eating whole, natural foods and avoiding processed or refined foods. He recommends the following:

• Eat 5-6 smaller meals a day.
• Eat carbs half an hour after exercising.
• Eat 30 to 50 grams of protein with each meal every 3 hours.
• Not avoid saturated fats because they raise hormone levels.
• Eat no more than 3 eggs a day.
• Substitute beef and pork with chicken and fish.
• Avoid sugar — it contains empty calories; eat fruits and vegetables for carbs instead.
• Use supplements and protein shakes to get the required daily amount of protein.

Eating many meals provides your body with a constant stream of calories and protein. In addition,the intake of carbs after your workout can help to raise insulin levels which increases  your protein uptake. A good rule of thumb for a successful muscle gain program is to eat cholesterol, fat and protein at every meal, with a ratio of 40% fat, 40% cholesterol and 20% protein. A mistake which  many beginners make involves attempting to avoid fat and cholesterol, yet these components  are necessary for the production of testosterone so it is counter-productive to avoid them. It was said that in Arnold’s  early days, his post workout meal included a whole chicken and a pitcher of beer. Liquid meals which included eggs and ice cream were also supposedly on his list. I am not sure of his reasoning behind eating no more than 3 eggs a day. Eggs are a great source of protein and have a high biological value, but who can argue with his success. Arnold ate a lot of good muscle building foods, and not many can argue with the advice of the 7 time Mr. Olympia champion.

There is more to bodybuilding than most people think. To be a body builder, you must be a food genius and know your facts about food and their nutritional value. To really get a grasp on ration sizes, it would be smart to invest in a food scale and precisely weigh each food and document each meal to ensure you are meeting your daily caloric goals to achieve muscle gain.

Feed Your Muscles: A Sample Bodybuilding Diet. (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/samplediet.htm

Feed Your Muscles: A Sample Bodybuilding Diet. (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/samplediet.htm