Muscular-Fitness

The most important thing you need to know in terms of what to eat to get lean and muscular is a diet low in sugar. Actually I don’t like the word diet, I prefer to use the term eating plan. A diet sounds like something nobody wants to do, you can read more about it in the following article Why Diets Don’t Work. To start up a new plan of what to eat to get lean and muscular you need to first of all know that you can stick to it without cheating. I have figured out a great way over the last 20 years as a bodybuilder how to stop cheating on your diet.

Whenever I work on a new eating plan to get muscular for myself or a personal training client the first thing I do is allow for the fact I will want to cheat or expect that my client will cheat on their diet at least sometimes. So I allow one full day of cheating every week. A full day of eating what ever you like every week. You could spend the whole day eating ice cream if you like but you will not get fat on my diet if you follow the eating plan exactly as I lay it out.

Ok now for the serious part of what to eat to get lean and muscular. The other 6 days a week you will be on pretty much the same foods each day although you can choose from a handful of different meals each time you eat a meal. Ideally you should be eating 5-6 small to medium meals per day for a man or 4-5 for a woman.

You need to remember the importance of fiber in your diet so for this reason I always start off the day with oatmeal or non toasted muesli. The ideal breakfast is always going to be one that contains several essential ingredients and I make sure that my breakfast always supplies me with what I need to start each day. The oatmeal or muesli supplies the fiber to keep your body regular, meaning your stomach, intestines and bowel are all functioning well. This is so important for anyone wanting to become muscular or maintain a muscular physique, in fact it really is essential for anyone who wants to remain healthy. My breakfast also includes 2 types of fruit, I like pineapple as the enzymes in pineapple allow the body to better digest protein. Any 2 fruits are ok but it’s good to mix these up so you don’t get sick of the same fruit. The fruit also acts a powerful antioxidant to collect and flush harmful free radicals from your body’s system. Lastly you need an easily digestible form of protein with your breakfast. I like eggs for breakfast or whey protein powder which can be blended with the fruit and the oatmeal if you like and that way you can sink your breakfast easily and quickly. A couple of pieces of whole grain toast are also ok. I have either 2 scoops of protein powder or 6 egg whites plus 2 yolks. You need at least some egg yolk to digest the egg white properly.

Ok now, the next meals I will list you can eat in what ever order you like but you need to choose, depending on your size, 4-5 meals from this list and eat them at intervals of about 3 hours during the day. I say 3 hours because eating to get lean and muscular requires at least 30 grams of protein every 3 hours to keep your nitrogen levels at the optimum point where you will remain in an anabolic state which promotes muscle growth as opposed to a catabolic state where your muscles become smaller over time.

Meal options.

200 grams canned tuna

250 grams boiled rice (any kind of rice, I like white)

200 grams chicken no skin (I like some chili or soy sauce with this)

250 grams pasta

200 grams beef

Green vegetables

200 grams lean pork

Green vegetables

200 grams fresh fish

Green vegetables

4-6 egg whites 2 yolks omlette with small portion low fat cheese

200 grams low fat cottage cheese

2 slices whole grain toast

(Substitute meal or after workout meal) 2 scoops whey protein powder blended in water.

The meals listed are just a guide, you could eat larger servings depending on your body size. I am currently around 240 pounds and reasonably lean and I eat slightly more protein than the above portions. Eating the breakfast I mentioned plus 4-5 meals of the above size would be ideal for a man around 170-200 pounds or 3-4 meals for a girl around 100-130 pounds. Bigger guys will need more protein and perhaps slightly more carbohydrates. This is not a bulking diet, this is to become relatively lean and muscular. More carbs will only make you bulkier and will not help give you that chiseled muscular looking body.

Like I mentioned earlier this is what to eat to get lean and muscular, if you can stick to it you can reward yourself with 1 day per week to eat anything you like. The psychology behind this diet that works for me, and many of my personal training clients have told me that it also works for them, is when they follow this diet they really look forward to the one day per week to eat whatever they want but on that day most of them only eat one meal of junk food or sweets or what ever they like and then they stick to the regular diet for the majority of that day. However, they like to know that the option to eat anything at all is only ever a maximum of 6 days away. If you try and eat super healthy 100% of the time it is just not going to work in my experience. Food is one of the great luxuries in life and I want be able to eat what I want at least some of the time yet eat well most of the time and keep my body lean and muscular for the rest of my life.