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Diet advice for building lean muscle

After getting some positive responses from the training for mass article I wrote, I have decided to follow it up with some dietary advice that will help you maximise your gains.
 
Winter is fast upon is and the majority of gym goers are thinking about starting a bulking period - on with the baggy jumpers and hoodies and away with the vests as you don’t want your big fat belly on show. If this was the case for me I would probably be depressed for 6 months of the year. I personally like to keep a relatively low body fat percentage all year round which is not an easy task. I’m not talking about maintaining 6% body with abs that you could strike a match off 365 days a year though! It’s a life style choice and one I work hard at. I want a fit and healthy body all year round as for me that is what training is all about.
 
Adding lean muscle is an achievable goal and the healthy choice when it comes to putting on some lean muscle. The main factor that you need to think about when bulking are the same for when you are dieting down - it’s a slow process. If you’re a natural athlete and have been training for a few years then your gains in weight should be expected to be roughly around 1lb a week. I know this doesn’t sound much but over an extended period of time you would make some very impressive progress. It takes time and to give yourself a minimum of 6 months in which to do this in is a must. 
 
I will do a bit of maths for you. Let’s say you only gain 1lb a week for the minimum recommended time then a good muscle building phase will see you potentially adding 1.7 stone to your weight. That’s just over 10kg! Now let’s be realistic, that’s not all going to be muscle some body fat will be added but if done correctly I’d say at least 80% of that gain will actually be muscle.
 
You may read articles and see videos of people on YouTube saying “I don’t bulk”, which is great as they must be happy with the amount of muscle they have. It’s a scientific fact that you cannot put muscle on by creating a calorie surplus unless you have just started training with weights and are overweight. I, along with the majority of today’s athletes just don’t like the word “BULK”. I personally can’t stand it. I have been approached a few times in work and at the gym recently and I have been asked “are you bulking?” To which I reply “no, I’m in a lean muscle building phase” and for me there is a massive difference between the two.
 
As always, I only preach what has worked for me. In the pictures posted on my section I weighed 10st 6lb - a light weight no doubt about it but all muscle. I was lacking in a few areas such as legs and back mainly. At the moment I am currently hovering around 11st 3lb from about 6 weeks of creating a calorie surplus from a 95% clean food source. I still feel in good condition. I do sometime have a wobble and think I’m putting on too much body fat but I think we all have similar feelings. Whether you’re training for fun or as a body builder, feelings will mess with your head but as always, consistency is the key. Stay true to the goal: BUILDING SOME LEAN MUSCLE! If a few pounds of fat come on have a look at your diet maybe reduce the fat content by 10g a day for a week to see how you feel.
 
For those of you who follow me on twitter you will know I use the app from www.myfitnespal.co.uk. It makes everything so much easier when counting calories It allows you to meticulously calculate calories without really any effort .
 
The Maths
 
Back to numbers again now. To be able to calculate the calories you need for the day, you need to know your Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is the rate at which your body burns calories during rest. For example when you are sitting, sleeping etc. To calculate this all you need to do is some simple maths and you only need to know your age, weight and height.
 
Step 1. Calculate your Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR)
 
Here is how it should be calculated for women:
 
Imperial
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.7 x your height in inches) + (4.35 x your weight in lbs) – (4.7 x your age in years)
 
Metric
Women: BMR = 655 + (1.8 x your height in cm) + (9.6 x your weight in kgs) - (4.7 x your age in years)
 
Here is how it should be calculated for men:
 
Imperial
BMR = 66 + (12.7 x your height in inches) + (6.23 x your weight in pounds) – (6.8 x your age in years)
 
Metric
BMR = 66 + (5 x your height in cm) + (13.7 x your weight in kgs) - (6.8 x your age in years)
 
Example - I am 170cm tall, I weigh 70Kg and I am 28 years old.
 
                 5 x 170 = 850    13.7 x 70 = 959     6.8 x 28 = 190
 
So for me 66+850+959-190=1685 (Metric)
  
Step 2. Calculate your Active Metabolic Rate (AMR)
 
The Active metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body burns during activity and work, obviously this is going to depend on the amount of exercise or what type of job you do. I personally don’t take into consideration the exercise part here I just know that I sit at a desk and occasionally walk to the water fountain so my BMR (1685) means I need to consume 1685 calories from a clean food source to maintain weight, which doesn’t sound a lot.
Here is how you calculate it using the BMR.
 
For both men & women:
 
No or very little exercise: AMR will equal BMR (me sitting at my desk for the majority of the day)
 
Light exercise: AMR will equal BMR x 1.375 (maybe someone who works on their feet at a check out)
 
Moderate exercise: AMR will equal BMR x 1.55 (painter, Plumber, Joiner etc)
 
Difficult exercise: AMR will equal BMR x 1.725 (personal trainer, an active one doing spinning classes not a sideline shouter)
 
Extremely difficult exercise: AMR will equal BMR x 1.9 (a professional marathon runner open water swimmer)
 
Those are just my estimates. You will have to interpret that part yourself I don’t want a load of angry joiners or carpet fitters emailing me saying they should have been put in the difficult category!
 
The reason I don’t add the exercise in yet is because I use the myfitnesspal app and whatever I burn off for that day I add to my calorie intake. For example in order for me to maintain weight we have establishes that I need 1685 calories. I walk my dogs every morning for 45 minutes at a 15 minute mile pace. From using a route tracker or a quick search on the Internet you will find for my weight that I will burn 263 calories so I know have to consume 1985 calories.
It’s starting to sound a little bit better now! I train with weights for 45 mins 3 to 4 times a week and on those days I can add another 220.
 
We now have a calorie target of 2088, happy days! So we have already said that to build muscle we need to create a calorie surplus and as I mentioned in my protein article, the magic number of calories we need to be over our maintenance amount is no more than 500cals. For me to build muscle I’m looking at 2705. Just so you know when I signed up to my fitness pal it did all the maths for me and took into consideration a few more factors I put in all my details and stated that I wanted to gain weight at a rate of 1 pound a week. It calculated my calorie amount for me and came up with a total of 2933 so I tend to aim for somewhere in the middle.
 
I will be uploading my diet plans soon, but for now you can view my diet here -
 
 
 
 
 
If you follow me on twitter you will get these every day, well Monday to Friday at least. As you can see I keep my fat intake down and my carbs and protein reasonably high but they’re from good, wholesome food 95% of the time.
 
Thanks for reading
 
Ben