Diet for gym goers and bodybuilders to gain muscle and lose fat

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1. Some concepts

Bodybuilding or gym training is an activity that focuses on building muscle through weightlifting. It's not like weightlifters or Olympic athletes in that bodybuilding is judged on looks, not physical strength. Therefore, bodybuilders will aim to develop and maintain a fit, toned and muscular body.
To do this, bodybuilders must start with a muscle gain phase and move on to a fat loss phase. During the muscle gain phase, it can last from a few months to years. Bodybuilders must have a high-calorie, high-protein diet while increasing training intensity with the goal of building as much muscle as possible.
In the second phase (fat loss phase), the practitioner must focus on losing as much fat as possible while maintaining the muscle mass developed in the first phase. In order to achieve the goals of both phases, in addition to training to build muscle, specific dietary changes at each stage will be extremely important.

2. Benefits of bodybuilding

Some of the health benefits associated with bodybuilding:
Maintain and build muscle. It's about building regular muscle mass and doing both resistance training as well as aerobics. Resistance training increases muscle strength and size. Muscle strength is highly correlated with a low risk of dying from cancer, heart and kidney disease, and a number of other serious diseases. Aerobic exercise reduces body fat, improves heart health, and significantly reduces the risk of developing or dying from heart disease.

In addition to some of the benefits associated with bodybuilding, building a diet for the practitioner is important. It not only supports the practitioner when they practice, but it also helps the practitioner stay healthy. The eating pattern for athletes will include nutrient-dense foods from the food groups in the right amounts, and it can significantly reduce the risk of chronic disease.

3. Diet for bodybuilders

3.1. Calorie Needs for Bodybuilders The goal of bodybuilders is to gain muscle mass in the first phase and lose fat in the second. Therefore, in the phase of muscle gain, the practitioner needs to consume more calories than the second phase.
The easiest way to determine how many calories a practitioner needs is to weigh themselves at least three times a week and record the food consumed using a calorie tracker app. If the exerciser's weight is kept the same, then the number of calories used daily is at the maintenance level (i.e. the exerciser has neither lost weight nor gained weight).
In the early stages, it is often recommended to increase calorie intake by 15%. For example, if you maintain a calorie intake of 3,000 calories/day, you should eat 3,450 calories/day. When moving from the muscle gain phase to the fat loss phase, the recommended calorie intake will be reduced by 15% which means that the practitioner will eat 2,550 calories/day.
When weight increases in the muscle gain phase or weight loss in the fat loss phase, the practitioner needs to adjust the calorie intake at least once a month to be able to calculate the change in weight. During both phases, it is not recommended to lose or gain more than 0.5 - 1.0% of body weight per week. This helps ensure that the practitioner won't lose too much muscle during the fat loss phase or gain too much fat during the muscle gain phase.
3.2. Bodybuilding nutritional needs After determining and establishing the number of calories required for gym nutrition, the next must determine the macronutrient ratio. It is the ratio between protein, carbohydrate and fat. This build-up makes no difference in demand in both the muscle gain phase and the fat loss phase.
Recommended ratio of nutrients for bodybuilders:
30 - 35% of calories from protein 55 - 60% of calories from carbohydrates 15 - 29% of calories from fat (Conversion factor: 1g protein = 1 gram carbohydrate = 4 calories; 1 gram fat = 9 calories)

4. Food choices for bodybuilders

Eating the right foods in the right quantities will provide your muscles with the nutrients they need to recover from exercise and grow better. Therefore, the foods that should be selected into the bodybuilding diet usually include:
Meat, poultry and fish. Such as ground beef, pork loin, venison, chicken breast, salmon, tilapia, cod Milk. Examples include yogurt, cheese, low-fat milk Grains: breads, cereals, crackers, oatmeal, quinoa, popcorn and rice Fruits: oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, pears , peaches, watermelons and berries. Tubers: potatoes, corn, green beans, cassava Vegetables: broccoli, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms Nuts and almonds: almonds, walnuts , sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flaxseeds Beans: chickpeas, lentils, black beans Oils: olive oil, cold seed oil Some helpful supplements: whey protein, creatine and caffeine

Besides, people who practice bodybuilding should also avoid certain foods such as:
Alcohol. Alcohol is one of the stimulants that can negatively affect your ability to build muscle and lose fat. These foods are high in calories but low in nutrients. Foods that contain sugar include: cookies, candy, sugary drinks (soda) Fried foods.

5. Sample menu for muscle tightening and bodybuilding nutrition

Diets for bodybuilders are often limited by boring repetitions. In the traditional diet, food choices are limited and there is little variety in the food groups. This can lead to inadequate intake of essential vitamins and minerals.
Diverse diets not only ensure that nutritional needs during training are met, but also help trainees enjoy each meal with high efficiency for both muscle gain and phase. fat loss.
Sample menu of bodybuilding nutrition for a week:

Nutrition is very important not only for gym goers, bodybuilders but also very important for anyone. It will help you have a healthy body, reduce the risk of cancer.
In order to protect your overall health, you should also have regular health check-ups to detect diseases early and bring effective treatment results. Periodic health check-ups help detect diseases early, thereby planning treatment for optimal results. Vinmec International General Hospital has general health checkup packages suitable for each age, gender and individual needs of customers with a reasonable price policy, including:
Kim's general health checkup package outline Vip General Health Checkup Package Special General Health Checkup Package Comprehensive General Health Checkup Package Standard General Health Checkup Package Patient's examination results will be returned to your home. After receiving the results of the general health examination, if you detect diseases that require intensive examination and treatment, you can use services from other specialties at the Hospital with quality treatment and services. outstanding customer service.
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References: healthline.com, bodybuilding.com, nhs.uk