Bodybuilder Diet Examples

Bodybuilding diets use macro-nutrients to achieve a specific goal with your physique. Bodybuilders typically cycle through different diets throughout the year to achieve their current physique goal. Protein intake stays around 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Carbohydrates and fats are the variable that you must change to gain mass and/or lose body fat. You must also take into account your individual metabolism as different people require different amounts of nutrients.

Cyclic Ketogenic Diet

In this diet, for five days straight you take in only 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. You follow this carb-depletion with two days of carb-loading, taking in 100 to 300 grams of carbohydrates per day. Since your goal is to lose body fat, your calories are reduced to 500 below your maintenance caloric level. Fifty grams of carbs, multiplied by 4 calories per gram, only amounts to 200 calories. Therefore, if your daily calorie goal is 2500 and your body weight is 200 lbs., you would need to take in 300 grams of protein---1.5 multiplied by 200 lbs---which equals 1200 calories. The remaining 1100 calories come from fat, 1100 divided by 9 calories per gram, amounting to 122 grams of fat per day. Breaking these nutrients into six small meals, you get 50 grams of protein and approximately 20 grams of fat per meal. In the cyclic ketogenic diet you should take a multi-vitamin and get plenty of fiber and green leafy vegetables.

Moderate Carbohydrate Diet

Another bodybuilding diet, recommended by "Xtreme Lean" authors Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman, is the moderate carbohydrate diet. A 200-lb. bodybuilder would get about 150 grams of carbohydrates per day, split between six daily meals. You should take in about 60 grams of carbohydrates post-workout, leaving 90 grams for the rest of the day. Following the author's carb-stacking protocol, you might also have an apple before your workout to help supply energy for intense training. That would leave you with about 50 grams of carbs for the rest of the day. Keeping protein at 1.5 grams per pound of body weight, you would take in 300 grams of protein for 1200 calories. The 150 grams of carbohydrates equals 600 calories, or 150 grams multiplied by 4 calories per gram. With 700 calories remaining of your daily 2500 calories, you would take in approximately 78 grams of fat per day. Divided into six small meals, this amounts to 50 grams of protein and about 13 gm of fat per meal.

Mass Gain Diet

Surprisingly it is not extra protein that encourages mass gains, but rather carbohydrates. Fats play an important role too and should not be ignored. For that same 200-lb. bodybuilder a mass gain diet would require increasing caloric intake by at least 500 calories per day. For example, if you have a caloric maintenance of 3000 calories, you need to take in 3500 calories per day. Assuming a protein intake of 1.5 grams per pound of body weight, you would need 300 grams of protein per day, amounting to 1200 calories. Since the remaining calories must come from carbs and fats, they must total 2300 calories. "Optimum Anabolics" recommends dividing these calories equally between carbs and fats, getting 1150 calories from each. You would take in about 288 grams of carbs per day and 128 grams of fat. Break these numbers into six small meals and you would find that you need 50 grams of protein, 48 grams of carbohydrates and 21 grams of fat per meal. You can take a digestive enzyme to help absorb and assimilate the nutrients. Remember that taking in 50 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbohydrates and 30 grams of healthy fats post-workout makes a great muscle-building macronutrient ratio, according to "Optimum Anabolics."