How To Gain Lean Muscle Through Nutrition

To gain lean muscle, you must train regularly with heavy weights. Without proper nutrition, all your efforts in the gym may be wasted. Eating the right kinds of foods at the right time will support your goal of gaining and maintaining lean muscle mass.

Step 1

Eat enough calories daily. Do not starve yourself to lose fat while trying to gain lean muscle. Seek, at the minimum, to eat as many calories as you burn daily. Increase your calorie intake by 250 to 500 calories per day to gain more lean muscle mass as the calories will help with muscle synthesis and repair following workouts.

Step 2

Ensure that your calories come from nutritious, unprocessed sources. Buy products that have short ingredient lists--or, like fruits and vegetables, no ingredient lists whatsoever. Anthony Ellis, a fitness expert with Iron Magazine, says eating junk food will likely lead to fat gain because it does not contain nutrients that your body can use to gain lean muscle. Choose foods such as steel cut oatmeal, brown rice, chicken breast, raw nuts, egg whites and sweet potatoes.

Step 3

Plan five or six small meals to consume throughout the day. Help optimize nutrition absorption with this strategy. The Journal of the American Dietetic Association in September 2009 reported that 30 g of protein consumed in one sitting helps increase muscle synthesis by 50 percent, but that consuming more did not cause further gains. Make the most out of your protein consumption by spreading it over your day, rather than overloading in one meal. Small meals also help keep your hunger under control and your metabolism stoked.

Step 4

Consume protein around the time of your workout. Enhance muscle growth by eating a small serving of protein before and after your workout as per the International Society for Sports Nutrition. Go for a few scrambled eggs or deli turkey before you lift weights and drink a protein shake after your workout.

Step 5

Include fat in your diet. Shun saturated and trans fats and choose healthy monounsaturated fats found in foods such as olive oil and nuts. Eat fatty fish a few times per week to obtain omega-3 fatty acids. These healthy fats help with nutrient absorption and hormone production, which support lean muscle development.