Gaining Muscle Mass: Eating More

If you want to increase your muscle mass, you need to eat more and work out. Thanks for coming, have a safe drive home!

Alright, so there's a bit more to it than that. Realistically, however, that is the simple truth. There is no miracle to be purchased at a health food store or off of an infomercial that will build your muscle mass without consistent and intelligent adherence to those two concepts: eat more and work out.

For people who need to lose weight but also want to gain muscle mass, you need to make a choice. The way you eat and the way you work out are very different for both of these objectives. While not impossible to do both at the same time, it is much more effective for most people to focus on one or the other.

We're going to look at these two concepts individually so that you can actually put them into that consistent and intelligent practice.

Eat More
You're not going to get bigger unless you increase the number of calories you put into your body. When it comes to mass, your body works in a very simple manner: if you take in more calories than you burn you will gain weight and if you take in fewer calories than you burn you will lose weight. Ninety percent of the other people in gym are there because of this fact; they've just allowed it to run rampant in their life unchecked. You're not going to do that, you're going to be intelligent.

Being intelligent about it means that you're not going to stuff your face with anything and everything you want whenever you want it. Doing that leads to being one of that 90%. You're going to be taking in greater quantities of proteins, carbohydrates and fats so that your body can utilize them for muscle building. You're not going to get the proper forms of those nutrients from junk food or fast food (oh, wait, is there a difference?)

One method of determining the number of calories you need to bring into your body for building muscle mass is to multiply your current weight by 18. The number you get on your calculator will probably shock you. It's going to be a big number. When you're paying attention to the number of calories you take in every day, this number may seem overwhelming, in fact.

The secret is almost paradoxical: you'll get to that number by eating less food…but you're going to be eating it more often. We've all been raised with the concept of "three square meals a day," which isn't actually the optimum eating schedule for human beings. If you're trying to lose weight, eating that much food at once is a serious impediment but, if you're trying to intelligently gain weight, it's nearly impossible to do it in three sittings a day.

So, you're going to be eating five to seven smaller meals a day. Work to make certain that each of those meals contains a good mix of nutrients and plenty of protein. Protein is incredibly critical to building muscle mass, as this nutrient is used by your body in the actual act of building new muscles. Fish, chicken, eggs and red meat are excellent protein sources. If you can afford it, you should try to get these from an organic producer because it's simply better for your overall health.

Finally, in addition to increasing the total amount of calories you take into your body, make sure you drink enough water. In fact, strive to drink more than enough water because your body actually needs more water than you think it does. Water is another critical component to muscle building and you won't experience maximum gain if you're not taking in enough water.