I hate the word diet. Ew

But anyway, good news! You don’t have to diet to build muscle. You just have to eat smart.

Let me explain.

When someone thinks of a diet, they think of: eating less, tonnes of salad, no fast food, no fun, no life etc. However, when it comes to building muscle, you need to eat more.

Think about it this way: when you build muscle you are gaining weight. And how do you gain weight? By eating more food.

“But Mike! Whenever I eat more I just get fat? Why you lying to me?”

Wait, hear me out.

 
One thing you have to understand is that it is very rare to build muscle and lose fat. That’s why bodybuilders have a ‘bulking phase’ and a ‘cutting phase’. You either build muscle and gain fat or lose fat along with some muscle. What we can do, however, is control the muscle/fat ratio that we gain.

So how do we do this?

1. Eat Enough

Eat enough calories so you are gaining about 3lbs (1.4kg) of weight a week.
Basically, studies show that we can only gain about 1-2lbs of muscle a month; eating stupid amounts of food and gaining 10lbs in a month will not lead to you building muscle faster – You will just get fat.

Therefore, you want to eat just enough to help you gain about 3lbs, which should lead to most of it being muscle – as long as you are training efficiently and effectively.

 
When you first start off you may be able to gain muscle faster, but after your beginner gains settle be aware that if you are gaining more than 4lbs a month you are likely gaining an unfavourable amount of fat.

To get a rough value of starting calories, times your weight in (lbs) by 15, and then add 300. Track your calories using MyFitnessPal.

2. Get enough protein.

Protein is a key component to muscle growth; it stimulates protein synthesis, which is largely responsible for repairing and building your muscles after a workout. You need to make sure that you are eating enough protein consistently to ensure that you build muscle.

 
A good value to start with tends to be around 1g per lb of bodyweight (If you are a kg person, times your weight by 2.2).
*Click here to find out the truth about how much protein you can digest in one sitting.*

Now in terms of what you should be eating, it doesn’t really matter as long as you are getting the right amount of calories and enough protein. Obviously, your body is likely to respond better to healthier, less processed foods – This may help you increase your muscle-to-fat gain ratio – the choice is up to you.

So yeah, if you train hard, eat enough protein, and eat enough food, you should be fine!

-Mike

Got any questions? Email me at mike@unigains.com