Do you really obsess about what to eat to gain muscle? Maybe you shouldn’t be worried at all. The fitness industry would have you believe that gaining muscle is more about eating than training. In fact, the opposite is true. Building muscle is more about how hard you use your muscles and less about diet. Eating regulates the amount of body fat you have on your body. Here is a great video put up by Brad Pilon about how much protein you actually get in your diet.
[So you see, it isn't just things like eggs, milk, and meat that contain protein. You probably get more now than you think!]
So What to Eat to Gain Muscle Quickly?
When we talk about gaining muscle, lets talk about gaining fat free muscle. It is super-easy to gain overall body mass. Simply drink 2-3 glasses of milk with every meal and eat 5-6 times per day. You will gain a lot of mass, but a lot of that size will be body fat. In fact, if you try to eat your way to building muscle, you are going to wind up with a lot of fat to lose to reveal that muscle.
[Former supplement developer John Barban believes that nutrition plays a small role in building muscle mass.]
So Gaining Muscle is More About Training and Less About Nutrition?
Yes this is hard to accept given the fact that we have been pushed the idea of eating every few hours to gain muscle quickly. Although you don’t have to eat crazy amounts of anything to gain muscle, we should talk about what you do want to eat.
Get At Least Some Protein In Every Meal If Possible
So you don’t have to be obsessed with getting protein but it helps to get at least a bit in each meal. Things like meat, eggs, cheese are great protein sources as is dairy. If you are having trouble getting protein in the food choices you make, you can chase down your meal with a glass of milk. Don’t stress out too much with this, since many foods besides the obvious contain protein.
“When to Eat” Is Almost as Important as What to Eat to Gain Muscle
I would strongly suggest you go into all workouts in a fasted state, even when trying to build muscle. When you train in a fasted state your body increases HGH release which burns fat while maintaining muscle. The advantage here is that you will be less likely to put on excess body fat when adding muscle. Then eat more than normal after you train to take advantage of the fact that your body will absorb nutrients like crazy after training. So what to eat to gain muscle isn’t as big of an issue as many would have you believe.
