To increase muscle mass, it is important to follow some strategies, such as consuming more calories than you burn, increasing the amount of protein ingested during the day and consuming more good fats.
Furthermore, if you want to lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time, you should avoid consuming sugar, white flour and processed products, and give priority to consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains.
In addition to diet, it is also important to practice aerobic exercise regularly, to promote muscle growth, and it is important to have the support of a physical education professional so that an appropriate training routine can be indicated according to your objective.
How to increase muscle mass
Some tips for increasing muscle mass are:
1. Consuming more calories than you burn
Consuming more calories than you burn is essential to gain muscle mass faster, as excess calories, together with training, will allow you to gain muscle.
To find out how many calories you need to consume to reach the weight you want, fill out the calculator below:
2. Don’t skip meals
Avoiding skipping meals is important so that you can reach all the calories you need during the day, without encouraging possible losses of lean mass during a prolonged fast. Ideally, 5 to 6 meals should be eaten per day, paying extra attention to breakfast, pre- and post-workout.
3. Consume more proteins
Increasing protein consumption is necessary to allow muscle growth, and it is important that protein foods are well distributed throughout the day, and not concentrated in just 2 or 3 meals.
These foods are mainly those of animal origin, such as meat, fish, chicken, cheese, eggs and milk and derivatives, but proteins can also be found in good quantities in foods such as beans, peas, lentils, peanuts and chickpeas. . Discover foods rich in protein.
The foods to be consumed and the amount of proteins that should be consumed per day to increase muscle mass vary according to the intensity of physical activity practiced, weight, gender and age of each person, and between 1.5 to 2g may be recommended. /kg body weight protein.
Furthermore, it may sometimes be necessary to use protein-based supplements, such as Whey Protein and casein, especially used post-workout or to increase the nutritional value of low-protein meals throughout the day. See the 10 best supplements to gain muscle mass.
Check out the video below for more tips on how to incorporate proteins into your daily diet:
4. Consume good fats
Contrary to popular belief, consuming good fats helps reduce the accumulation of fat in the body and also makes it easier to increase calories in your diet to gain muscle mass. These fats are present in foods such as avocado, olive oil, olives, peanuts, peanut butter, flaxseed, chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, fish such as tuna, sardines and salmon.
Throughout the day, these foods can be added to snacks such as crepioca recipes, fit cookies, yogurts, smoothies and main meals.
5. Drink plenty of water
Drinking plenty of water is very important to stimulate hypertrophy, as for muscle cells to grow, more water is needed to fill their larger size. If you do not drink enough water, gaining muscle mass will be slower and more difficult.
A healthy adult should consume at least 35 ml of water for every kg of weight. Thus, a person weighing 70 kg would need to consume at least 2450 ml of water per day, and it is important to remember that artificial or sugary drinks do not count, such as soft drinks and alcoholic drinks.
6. Consume at least 2 fruits per day
Consuming at least 2 fruits per day is important to gain vitamins and minerals that promote muscle recovery after training, favoring faster and more hypertrophied regeneration of muscle mass.
Furthermore, the vitamins and minerals present in fruits and vegetables are important for muscle contraction, reducing the feeling of fatigue during training, preventing cramps and strengthening the immune system, especially those that are rich in potassium and magnesium.
7. Avoid sugar and processed foods
Avoiding foods with sugar and highly processed foods is important to avoid stimulating fat gain in the body, especially since the diet to gain mass already has excess calories.
Therefore, to prevent weight gain from fat, it is necessary to remove foods such as sweets, cookies, cakes, toast, fast food, sausages, bacon, cheddar cheese and ham or ham from the diet.
8. Avoid alcohol consumption
Excessive and regular consumption of alcoholic beverages can reduce protein synthesis, slow metabolism and reduce the body’s ability to burn fat, which can compromise muscle growth. Therefore, it is important to avoid excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages.
9. Consume complex carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates are important for the formation of muscle mass, as they provide energy to the body for the hypertrophy process to occur. Furthermore, muscle cells store glucose in the form of glycogen to be used during exercise as a form of energy and for muscle recovery after training.
Therefore, it is important to know how to choose which complex carbohydrates should be included in your diet, giving preference to those that are rich in fiber, such as rolled oats, quinoa, lentils, chickpeas, beans, peas, sweet potato, English potato with skin, rice and whole grain pasta.
Menu to gain muscle mass
The following table provides a menu option to gain muscle mass with 2g/kg of protein and 1800 calories. However, the amounts indicated on the menu may vary according to age, gender, physical activity practiced, intensity and time of exercise and whether the person has any illness or not. Therefore, it is important that a nutritionist is consulted so that a complete assessment can be carried out and a dietary plan adapted to your needs can be created.
When to take a supplement
Depending on your goals, it may be necessary to use nutritional supplements to complement your diet and promote an increase in muscle mass, as they not only help to improve performance during physical activity, but also promote muscle recovery after training. Some of the supplements that can be used are whey protein, BCAA, glutamine or creatine, for example.
As there are several types of supplement, to find out which is the most suitable, how to take it, the quantity and whether it is necessary or not, it is recommended that a nutritionist be consulted for an evaluation. This way, the nutritionist will check which supplement is best according to your objective. Discover supplements to gain muscle mass.
See more tips on supplements to gain muscle mass in the following video:
