Designing & Maintaining
Weight Gain Diets

As your goals are met, it will be the weight gain diets that you follow that deserve the majority of the credit. Bodybuilders and athletes who have gained significant muscle mass typically place the importance of their diets at 75 percent or more responsible for their success.

How and When To Eat

Another technique that can be used to effectively help the body build more muscle is to alter how and when you eat.

Eating five or six meals a day instead of the traditional "big three" can help the body stay in an anabolic state (building tissue). It can also discourage excessive body fat gains. To learn more about how and why eating frequent meals can be advantageous.

It is also important to remember that there are specific times when the body is most in need of quality nutrition. When you wake up in the morning, the body has gone 8+ hours without being fueled. At this point it has likely entered a catabolic state (breaking down tissue to use for energy). It is important to immediately eat a quality meal upon waking to re-enter an anabolic state as soon as possible.

Macronutrient Breakdown

Two foods that are typically associated with muscle building and bodybuilding are chicken and tuna. The reason bodybuilders have such a fondness for these foods is because they have very desirable macronutrient breakdowns - Both are high in protein and low in carbs and saturated fat.

Diets designed for muscle growth call for more protein than the normal diet (a minimum of 1 gram per pound of bodyweight is the typical recommendation). It can be a challenge to find foods that allow you to successfully attain these levels while not forcing too much of the unwanted stuff on you (excessive carbs, saturated fat).