Protein diet for gaining muscle mass

The goal of any diet for gaining muscle mass is not to burn extra calories (workouts help with this), but to rationally use food products to form a beautiful body relief. And any athlete can say that without sufficient protein, muscle growth is impossible, just as it is impossible to build a house without building materials.

So, protein is the main material for muscles. It is not for nothing that bodybuilders so diligently focus on protein drinks, placing their hopes on them in terms of increasing muscle volume. But you can’t get full with just special nutrition. And you don’t need to be a doctor to understand that the body needs proper nutrition.

A protein diet for gaining muscle mass is exactly the kind of nutrition that satisfies the athlete's need for proteins to the maximum, but at the same time does not exclude fats and carbohydrates from the diet, which are equally necessary for the body. It's just that the amount of protein in the diet in this case significantly exceeds the amount of fats and carbohydrates.

What is the benefit of a protein diet? It allows you not only to gain muscle mass, but also to dry out your body a little (burn existing fat). At the same time, fat is burned not only due to intensive training.

The thing is that protein is digested in the body for quite a long time, which means it requires more energy. Protein reserves are constantly replenished during the diet, which means energy expenditure is unlikely to affect them, especially if you eat often (at least 6 times a day). But the fat layer will gradually be consumed. Therefore, this diet can be successfully used for both weight loss and muscle gain.

In the first case, fractional nutrition involves eating small portions. The main thing is that a person does not feel hungry, and excessive satiety is inappropriate here.

If we are talking about gaining muscle mass, then the portions should gradually increase so that the athlete feels full after eating. But not due to high-calorie food, but due to the high content of protein products in it. At the same time, it is not necessary to completely exclude high-calorie food from the diet, it is enough to simply limit its consumption.

As for the ratio of proteins and other components, the former should be about 70% of the diet, while fats and carbohydrates can make up no more than 30% of the diet. The requirements for drinking water are not so strict, but still at least 2.5 liters should be drunk per day. We are talking about pure water without gas and sugar, which are excluded in a protein diet.

Considering that protein makes up a large part of the diet, I would like to know what exactly you can eat on a protein diet and what you should avoid. The following are considered healthy in terms of rich protein content:

• boiled and raw eggs (preferably the whites),
• low-fat sour milk cheese,
• whey,
• boiled chicken or turkey meat, from which the skin has been removed,
• squid and sea fish with a low fat content,
• nuts and legumes.

Until 4 pm, these products should make up 70% of the diet, and in the evening they can replace other foods.

It is recommended to get fats and carbohydrates not from bread, baked goods and sweets, but from the following products:

• kefir, ryazhenka, sour milk, natural yogurt without sugar, which can be made even at home,
• porridge (the best ones are easily digestible buckwheat and oatmeal, but they should be cooked without fat, salt or sugar),
• vegetables (with the exception of potatoes, which promote the growth of fat),
• unsweetened varieties of fruit (with the exception of high-calorie pears, bananas, and grapes).

Basic requirements of a protein diet:

• You should not allow long breaks between meals and eat irregularly.
• All food is prepared without sugar and salt, so in the first weeks such a diet is difficult to tolerate. But over time, the body gets used to other tastes, and food begins to seem more appetizing.
• The main methods of cooking food are boiling, steaming and baking in foil. The latter is only applicable to vegetables and fruits.
• Vegetable oils are preferred among fats. No more than 30-40 g of olive oil can be used per day for dressing salads and other dishes. But the dishes will still taste better if you add homemade yogurt to them.
• It is recommended to exclude bread and pastries, pasta, sweets and confectionery, honey, butter, and sweet drinks from the diet during the diet. Protein should come from meat, not from sausages, which contain a lot of fat. For the same reason, it is not recommended to get carried away with hard cheese, because its fat content sometimes reaches the fat content of butter.
• If the goal of the diet is to build muscle mass, the daily calorie intake should not be less than 2800 kcal. At the same time, the amount of calories consumed should gradually increase, but not more than 300 kcal per day.
• 2/3 of the daily diet should be consumed in the morning and afternoon.
• It is better to train in the afternoon. 2 hours before training, it is recommended to eat the protein of 1 egg (or a whole egg) with a small portion of porridge, and after active training, replenish your strength with a protein drink or a homemade cocktail of whey and fruits or berries.
• Dinner, which should take place no earlier than 2 hours after physical activity, should consist strictly of protein foods.
• Despite the fact that the protein diet is considered a complete diet, it still has certain limitations that can negatively affect the athlete's health if used for more than 1 month.
• After finishing the diet, you can return to your previous diet. But you need to do it gradually. First, we return bread and pasta to the menu, after 5-7 days - sweet vegetables and potatoes, and after 2.5-3 weeks you can gradually eat "confectionery" and fried foods.

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