Nutrition

Best Healthy Foods to Gain Muscle Mass Fast

If you want to gain lean muscle mass then you need a workout program for hypertrophy (muscle growth) and a diet plan for muscle gain. Your diet plan should consist of only healthy foods, so no junk foods and sugars. They are only bad for your health, and they don't build muscle, they build body fat. 

In order to build muscle mass, you need to consume all three macronutrients every day, in every meal. Macronutrients are Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Fats. Protein is a nutrient that is most important for muscle growth and you should eat Foods that are Rich in Protein. For muscle growth, best macronutrients ratio is 40% of Carbs, 30% Proteins, and 30% Fats. For example, if you consume 3000 calories daily and you are in caloric surplus, which is necessary for bulking, you will split those calories into 1200 calories from carbohydrates, 900 calories from fats and 900 calories from proteins. You need to include fats in your diet, and only fats that you need to avoid are trans-fats. Also, you should only eat foods that consist of slow-digesting carbs. When it comes to protein, eat any kind of protein. 




FOODS YOU SHOULD EAT TO GAIN MUSCLE MASS


Foods that are high in Protein:


- Lean Chicken and Turkey Meat
- Lean Beef and Veal Meat
- Egg Whites
- Fish (Tuna, Salmon)
- Low-Fat Dairy


Besides food, you can also add Whey Protein Supplement in your diet plan. Add one scoop in your post workout shake and you will consume 30 grams of protein. You can also make your own Homemade Mass Gainer, which is very good for faster muscle gains.


Foods that are the best source of Carbs:


- Oatmeal
- Brown Rice
- Sweet Potatoes
- Whole Grain Bread
- Whole Grain Pasta 
- Fruits
- Green Leafy Vegetables


Carbohydrates sources that you should avoid are cookies, cakes, white rice, white potatoes and especially white bread. 




Best sources of good Fats:


- Nuts
- Avocado
- Olive Oil
- Peanut Butter
- Foods that are rich in Omega-3


Nuts are a great choice for snacks, for example, Peanuts and Almonds are a good source of proteins and good fats. They are high-caloric and very healthy. Peanut butter is also great for building muscle mass with about 600 calories per 100 grams and 30 grams of protein in the same dose.



Now that you read which foods are the best for gaining muscle mass, check out my articles about Workout for Muscle Mass and you are ready to make some serious gains.  

Foods that are Best Sources of Protein

Why is protein so important?

Every athlete knows that protein is a very important nutrient for health, muscle growth, and weight loss. Also, we need to eat protein foods every day to keep our metabolism running and our blood sugars stable. Proteins are long chains of amino acids, which are very important molecules that we get from our diet. Without consuming enough of protein calories you can become deficient in amino acids that lead to low energy, no muscle gains, and low concentration and memory.

Those are just some of the facts that show the importance of consuming protein foods. For lifters, protein is the main macronutrient. The king of macronutrients among three of them. Others macronutrients are carbohydrates and fats. You can't build muscle mass or lose weight in a healthy way without consuming proteins. So, for a conclusion of an importance of proteins is that you have to consume protein foods if you want to:

• Build Lean Muscle Mass
• Lose Weight
• Be Healthy
• Have More Energy

What are the best sources of protein?

   1. Whey Protein Supplement

   2. Lean Meats (Chicken, Turkey, Beef)

   3. Fish (Tuna, Salmon)

   4. Nuts (Peanuts, Almonds, Walnuts)

   5. Eggs (Egg Whites)

   6. Low-Fat Dairy

   7. Beans

   8. Soy

Last studies of protein say that ideal dose of protein per one meal is 35 grams. Only 4 ounces of Lean Chicken Meat contains about 35 grams of protein and only 196 calories and 5 grams of fats. Chicken and Turkey meat are some of the best sources of protein. Whey Protein Supplement became many famous and there is no lifter that didn't hear of it. Whey Protein is a very good supplement and I recommend it for every athlete as it is a great source of clean protein, and usually contains 80 - 90 grams of protein per 100 grams. There are also other types of Protein Supplements like Soy Protein, Rice Protein, Milk Protein but Whey is the most popular and his effect is proven a long time ago. 

So, buy a Whey Protein Supplement, make diet plan of a combination of foods from my list and don't forget about other two macronutrients too. Don't just focus on protein, but be sure that you are consuming at least 0.5 gram per pound to maintain muscle mass and 1 - 1.2 grams of protein per pound for athletes that want to build muscle mass.

Also, check out my Diet Tips for Lean Muscle Mass.

Homemade Protein Shake for Muscle Mass Gain

There is no need for spending a lot of money for those mass gainers in gyms and supplement stores. They are full of simple carbs and there is a healthier and cheaper solution - HOMEMADE GAINERS.

For skinny guys, ectomorphs that are hard-gainers and it is very hard for them to gain a pound of weight or muscle mass, Homemade Shakes for Mass are a great choice for addition in their meal plan. They can be consumed 1 - 3 times a day, they contain a lot of healthy calories and counting meals is easier with shakes. Let's say that you can eat three big meals that consist of proteins, carbs, and fats and consume 3 homemade shakes that are alternative of big meals and you have 6 high-calorie meals and you don't need to eat food whole day. Drinking shakes is easier, not expensive and you can choose a different flavor every day, for example, Homemade Shake with extract of vanilla, chocolate or hazelnut. 

Let's say that you split your nutrients into six meals, three meals that consist of food and three shake meals. If your every meal contain about 40 grams of protein you will consume 6 x 30 = 180 grams of protein and that is enough protein for one day. Add about 80 grams of carbs and you will have 6 x 70 = 420 grams of carbohydrates for a day, that is also enough. Together it makes about 2400 calories because 1 gram of protein has 4 calories and 1 gram of carbs also 4 calories (180 grams of proteins = 720 calories + 420 grams of carbohydrates = 1680 calories and the result is 2400 calories). Then you should add some good fats to make that calories number higher. Add about 120 grams of fats which consist of 960 calories and you have about 3500 healthy calories every day. That is a pretty big number of calories and it is enough for many skinny guys to build muscle mass.

Whey Protein can be a good ingredient of your homemade shake and you can also add eggs and milk as other sources of protein, then add some complex carbs (you need to consume more carbs than proteins for muscle building), and you have a great homemade shake for muscle mass gain. 

Ingredients recommendation for muscle-building homemade shakes:

Protein sources: Whey Protein, Eggs, Milk

Carbohydrate sources: Oats, Banana, Fruits

Fats sources: Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, Cocoa

HOMEMADE GAINERS RECIPES:

• 1 Scoop of Whey Protein
• 1/2 Cup of Oats
• 1/2 Cup of Low-Fat Milk
• 1 Raw Egg
• 1 Tablespoon of Peanut Butter

You can also find more homemade gainers recipes in my another post:

Homemade Mass Gainers - Gain Muscle Mass Fast

Diet Tips For Lean Muscle Mass Gains

In order to achieve great muscle gains, you have to focus on heavy weight lifting and a proper diet plan suitable for lean muscle mass gain. In this post, I will list best foods for you to add to your diet plan so you can gain lean muscle mass fast.

Nutrients

The First thing to remember is that you need to eat a lot of healthy foods that include three macronutrients that are important for muscle building:

• Proteins
• Carbohydrates
• Good Fats

Let’s mention how many calories you need and how many calories are in proteins, carbs, and fats. For muscle mass gain you will need at least 16 x Your weight in pounds, so calculate it now and you will see what is the minimum number of calories that you need to consume every day. Try adding little more calories after workouts because you need more proteins to repair your muscle fibers after hard training and carbs and healthy fats for more energy and all together for lean muscle gains.

Let’s do a little calculation:

Person is having 150 pounds and wants to gain more muscle mass:

150 x 16 = 2400

So, 2400 calories are enough for that person to gain mass, and it can be counted as 2500, there is not so much difference in 100 calories but don’t eat more than you need because that will be stored as fat in your body.

Let’s divide these 2400 calories on macronutrients:

1 gr of Protein contain 4 calories

1 gr of Carbs also equals to 4 calories

1 gr of Fats contain 9 calories

Don’t avoid eating good fats from nuts, fish oil, olive oil and avocado. They are very healthy and good source of healthy calories. Eat protein butter or any kind of nuts, but peanuts are my favorite because they provide the most proteins from all other kinds of nuts.

So, divide 2400 calories on carbs, proteins and fats intake, you need about 30% of Proteins, 30% of Fats and 40% of Carbs to fuel your muscles every day.

Approximately that would look like this:

150 grams of Proteins = 600 calories

300 grams of Carbs = 1200

75 grams of Fats = 675 calories

Well, that is little more than 2400 calories but that doesn’t mean that you will become fat. You can also add little more protein so that your intake of proteins will provide 650 or 700 calories and lower fats intake. Proteins are the most important nutrient for muscle building among them all. This calculation is made for 150 pounds person so if you have less or more pounds, do some calculations with my directions.

I already mentioned some good sources of good fats so let’s talk about best proteins and carbs sources.

Good sources of Protein:

1. Chicken and Turkey Breasts  (30 grams of protein per 100 grams)
2. Red Meat (30 grams also)
3. Eggs (30 grams of proteins per 5 eggs, good source of fats)
4. Low-Fat Milk (8 grams of proteins per one glass)
5. Whey Protein (30 – 35 grams of proteins per dose)
6. Tuna Fish, Salmon (28 grams of proteins per 100 grams)
7. Peanuts, Peanut Butter (25 grams of proteins per 100 grams)

There are more good sources of proteins like tofu, low-fat yogurt, quinoa, beans but proteins animal sources are the best for muscle building and of course, best supplement is whey protein. Consider buying whey protein and creatine as they are best supplements for mass gain but more about that you can read in my post about supplements that you can find on my blog.

Best sources of carbs are slow digesting carbs like oat meals, brown rice, any green leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes, pasta, beans, and bananas.

Well, I think that I gave you enough facts for your muscle building diet so start creating your diet plan now and don’t forget to leave a comment.

Eat Healthy and Build Muscle.