Diet For Lean Mass Bodybuilding

A diet for lean mass bodybuilding provides the nutrients your body needs to adapt to each workout and sustain your bodybuilding progress. No single dietary regimen suits everyone, and getting the most bodybuilding results from your diet requires that you actively monitor the results. Your diet may require a combination of foods and dietary supplements, which provide concentrated doses of nutrients required for lean mass bodybuilding.

Calories

You must ingest a sufficient amount of calories to support muscle growth while adhering to a diet for lean mass bodybuilding. Eating 500 daily calories more than the amount required to maintain your weight supports muscle growth, says the National Federation of Personal Trainers. Calculate your weight maintenance calories by adding your basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories you burn at rest, to the calories that you burn during physical activity.

Protein

Dietary protein is essential for maintaining, repairing and building tissues throughout your body. Bodybuilding workouts damage contractile proteins in your muscle fibers. A diet for lean mass bodybuilding provides sufficient amounts of dietary protein to repair the damage, and adapt to the stress of each workout by increasing the size of your muscle fibers. Bodybuilding expert Dr. Lonnie Lowery recommends a diet that includes approximately 1 g of protein per pound of your body weight to support lean mass gains. Lean meats, particularly fish, provide a rich source dietary protein.

Carbohydrates

Your body converts carbohydrates into glucose, which is the primary source of energy for most of your body systems. Carbohydrates are essential in a diet for lean mass bodybuilding, because insufficient carbohydrate intake diminishes the amount of protein available for lean mass gains. Carbohydrates give you the energy you need to push hard enough during each workout, and provide energy required for muscle recovery mechanisms in between workouts. Getting around half of your daily calories from carbohydrates supports lean mass gains, according to the website T-Nation. Meeting your target carb intake may include foods, such as potatoes, raw oatmeal, fruit, pasta, rice and bagels.

Monitoring

Monitoring the effectiveness of your diet helps you determine your unique dietary needs. The amount of nitrogen in your urine corresponds with your protein intake. Maintaining a positive nitrogen balance every day ensures that your diet includes enough protein for lean mass bodybuilding. Monitor your nitrogen levels by measuring nitrogen in your urine with over-the-counter urinary urea nitrogen test strips. Skinfold measurements, bioelectrical impedance devices, body circumference measurements and hydrostatic weighing can reveal the proportion of your weight from fat and lean mass. See a fitness trainer or health care provider for regular body composition tests to make sure your diet increases lean mass, without increasing body fat.