Building muscle requires more than just going to the gym and not exercising. You surely know that appropriate eating is essential for weight loss and muscle gain. However, I see customers and others I talk to make the same mistakes that ruin their gains. Thus, I've listed the four worst muscle-building eating blunders to avoid at all costs.
Diet terminology often includes "cutting carbs". Cutting carbs may help you lose weight, but it won't help you gain muscle. Weight training overloads muscle. Contracting against excessive load damages the muscle, which grows when restored. However, your muscles need nourishment to move the weight.
Carbs are the finest fuel for this. Heavy lifting requires more carbohydrates than aerobics since your body burns fat more efficiently at lower intensities. This makes it difficult to recommend a daily carbohydrate intake. For most people, three to five grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day is a decent estimate. A registered dietician can customize your dietary plan.
You're dehydrated when working out.
Dehydration has a significant negative impact on both performance and recuperation at different levels. It is possible that the fact that the daily water recommendations for males are three liters per day and the daily water guidelines for women are 2.2 liters per day may come as a surprise to you.
You're dehydrated when working out.
Having said that, if you are engaging in workouts that are lengthy or difficult and involve a high amount of repetitions, you should certainly aim for a higher intensity. It is highly likely that you are not fulfilling this criterion if you do not make a conscious effort to consume water throughout the day.
You're over-emphasizing protein.
Although this seems paradoxical, many of my customers—especially male clients who have done their own bodybuilding research—believe they need to ingest an absurd amount of protein to acquire muscle. Even though most people undereat protein compared to fat and carbs, your body can only process so much protein into muscle tissue every day.
You're over-emphasizing protein.
For muscle building, recent protein recommendations are 1.6 g/kg/day and up to 2.2 g/kg/day, or 0.7-1.0 grams per pound of body weight. While eating additional protein isn't harmful, it's not necessary for muscle building after that. You may gain body fat if your protein intake exceeds 300 to 500 calories per day.
Many people train while fasting and then fast thereafter due to intermittent fasting. It's fine to train fasted or wait before eating, but not both.