Nutrition for bodybuilders - diet for losing weight and gaining muscle mass

When many people hear the term “bodybuilding,” they imagine huge men with magnificent muscles. Indeed, long-term participation in this sport helps to increase muscle mass. But first of all, such physical exercises are aimed at improving health, and only then at the beauty of the body. Bodybuilders, like any other athletes, often feel the need to lose extra pounds. Most often, “drying” the body begins before important competitions, when every gram of fat can spoil the standard indicators.

The essence of a bodybuilder's diet

The combination of proper nutrition and physical activity leads not only to weight loss, but also to the formation of beautiful muscle relief from within the body. Experts are well aware that this process is greatly influenced by the foods that are eaten.

The complexity of the task lies in the competent preparation of the menu - it should contain both protein products that promote muscle growth and low-calorie dishes that burn fat.

The main nuances of a bodybuilder’s diet: cooking should be accompanied by the addition of a minimum amount of fat and oil, all products must be natural.

Nutrition rules for weight loss and muscle growth

To achieve the desired results, a person must follow some diet rules:

Eat food at least 5 times a day. Under no circumstances should you skip meals, as this will lead to stomach tension and overload. A well-designed diet and its strict adherence is a guarantee that the body will receive the vitamins, minerals, micro/macroelements necessary for uniform growth of muscle mass on time and in full.
The daily amount of calories is divided into upcoming meals. But you need to take into account one nuance - 70% of the total should be consumed before 16-00. In the evening, especially before bedtime, only easily digestible, unsweetened and low-fat foods are eaten.
Drinking regime must be observed. Water is a substance that accelerates metabolic processes in the body. If it is consumed in limited quantities, then even a well-chosen diet and aggressive physical activity will produce too slow results. Those who adhere to a bodybuilding diet need to drink 2 - 3 liters of clean, still water per day.
You should control the amount of fiber you eat. The fact is that its excess leads to inhibition of the digestion process; food is digested in the stomach and intestines too slowly, which provokes weight gain, constipation, and abdominal pain against the background of increased gas formation. Experts recommend introducing no more than 30% of vegetables and fruits from the total number of products into the menu.
Eating after training should be done only 1.5 - 2 hours later. After physical activity, your appetite is always large; you can quench it with a protein shake or fresh juices. A full meal is allowed only after a specified period of time.

On a bodybuilder’s diet, you are allowed to eat quite a lot of foods, so a person’s nutrition will not be “poor” or insufficient. Here is a list of products that are allowed to be included in the menu:

buckwheat, rice, oatmeal and any other cereals - cooked in water with the addition of meat;
any fermented milk products with a low fat content - there should be a lot of it in the diet; cottage cheese is generally allowed to be consumed in an amount of 400 g daily;
meat - beef, chicken, steamed, boiled or in the oven;
sea and river fish - you should choose only fatty varieties, you can consume the product in any form and quantity, and in addition you should drink 1 capsule of fish oil;
chicken eggs - you can eat 3 pieces per day; if the yolk is excluded, then the rest of the egg can be consumed in unlimited quantities.

Vegetables, fruits, juices, compotes without sugar, tea and coffee without flavoring additives, dry cookies, rye bread and crackers - all this is also allowed.

We recommend reading about the ketone diet for weight loss. From the article you will learn about the principles of the ketone diet, a sample menu for women, and weight loss results. And here is more information about the egg diet for weight loss.

Ideal day - here are the ideal day menus for a novice bodybuilder weighing 90 kg

17:00 Before training

- 20 g protein shake (whey proteins are the best) - 2 slices whole grain bread - 3-5 g creatine

18:30 After training

- 20-40 g whey protein milk mixture - 3-5 g creatine - 1-3 g HMB - 0.5 liters of sports drink with sugar (a simple source of carbohydrates)

19:30 Dinner

- 150 g lean chicken breast - 1 large potato - 1 cup broccoli or asparagus

20:30 Before bed

- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese - 20-30 g casein - 2-3 teaspoons peanut butter or 1-3 teaspoons flaxseed oil - 1-3 grams HMB

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Are there differences between women and men?

A bodybuilder's diet must be individualized, as there are large differences in diet between women and men. Experts point out the following nuances:

if a woman needs to reduce body weight, then no more than 29 Kcal/kg should enter the body per day, and for men this figure is slightly higher - up to 32 Kcal/kg;
a man’s muscle mass will actively increase if he trains 5 times a week and consumes 42 Kcal/kg per day;
women will be able to make their body sculpted if they train at least 3 times a week and allow a maximum of 38 Kcal/kg per day to enter the body;
Representatives of the fair half of humanity need to increase their aerobic exercise to get sculpted muscles.

Women and men should consume different amounts of complex carbohydrates:

to burn fat, a man needs 3 g per kg of real weight, a woman – only 2 g;
To build muscle mass and form a beautiful figure, ladies will need 3 g of complex carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, men – 4 g.

Expert opinion

Yulia Mikhailova

Nutrition expert

In order not to get confused in the calculations and not to harm your own health, a bodybuilder’s diet should be compiled by a tandem of specialists - a nutritionist and a fitness trainer. If a person does not strive to exercise and only pursues the goal of losing weight, then it is impossible to adhere to such a diet - weight gain may occur rather than loss.

Basic rules for drying the body

Even if you are constantly in the gym, sparing no time and effort, it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve results like bodybuilders during competitions. The point is to achieve such results you need to get rid of all subcutaneous fat. Drying your body cannot be called healthy, but if you are a serious bodybuilder, then winning competitions is at the forefront, for which you need to look more pumped up than your competitors, and for this you need to burn fat. A bodybuilder's diet for weight loss involves the loss of body fat by drying the body.

The aerobic method of losing weight is simple and involves consuming fewer calories than the body needs. This technique allows you to use deposited fats as fuel for the body. The best option for an aerobic method of losing weight is running; it is best to start running in the morning on an empty stomach for at least 40 minutes. You should repeat the run in the evening to consolidate the results. You can buy fat-burning drugs for additional effect, which will make your task easier and increase the efficiency of your runs.

A bodybuilder's fat loss diet significantly limits the amount of food you eat. If there is a lack of building material, after training the muscles have nothing to take protein from to restore damaged fibers. Therefore, the approach to exercise should be changed, the number of exercises performed should be emphasized, and the weight should be reduced to reduce the likelihood of muscle damage. Thanks to a large number of approaches, energy costs will increase, which will accelerate weight loss. Multi-joint exercises are considered the most calorie-intensive.

What happens after you stop training?

If you have achieved good results in bodybuilding, go to the gym every day, your menu consists of a huge number of products, which contain 30% protein, and for some reason you decide to stop exercising, you should know something. You should not suddenly quit bodybuilding; this decision will cause more harm to the cardiovascular system and other organs. A bodybuilder's diet contains a lot of proteins and carbohydrates, they should be reduced along with physical activity. At first, you should reduce the weight of the iron, after a certain period you can do exercises without barbells and dumbbells, and just squat, do push-ups and run several times a week. After completely giving up exercise, you can stick to just cardio training and run several times a week, this will help keep your cardiovascular system in good condition.

Muscle reduction

After finishing training, the first thing that will happen is your endurance will begin to decrease, since it is associated with the supply of necessary substances through the blood to the muscles. It can be quickly restored, but just as quickly lost. If you decide to go to the gym, you will feel much more tired than before. But when lifting heavy weights, the difference will be unnoticeable.

After 2 months, you will begin to lose muscle mass as your glycogen stores begin to deplete. The body begins to struggle with unnecessary muscle mass, which is not used, but only consumes a huge amount of energy. Nature is designed in such a way that everything that is not beneficial must be removed, and this is also observed with the muscles. Powerlifters lose muscle size much more slowly because they use less glycogen stores. With this type of weight loss, the athlete loses a lot of mass in the first months, and after that the process slows down and within a year you can lose from 50 to 60% of muscle mass. Depending on what kind of life you lead.

After a 3-month break from working out in the gym, a loss of strength begins to occur, despite the fact that the muscles have long since decreased in size. Even after a long time, an athlete who could lift a 150 kg barbell will not become so weak that he cannot lift 100 kg, even without training.

Dangers Associated with Stopping Bodybuilding

The greatest danger lies in the cardiovascular system. Due to the unnecessary need for a large amount of blood and its ability to saturate with oxygen, the body switches to an economical mode. This leads to a decrease in the performance of the heart muscle. The blood begins to carry oxygen worse to the necessary organs, so the number of heart beats increases, which negatively affects the duration of normal functioning of the heart, since it begins to wear out much faster.

To reduce the risk of developing such problems with the cardiac system, you should be especially careful when stopping training and try to do it as gradually as possible.

Bodybuilder Diet Results

Weight loss and the appearance of muscle relief will begin only after a month of constant adherence to the training and nutrition regimen. And this is not a fact! You often have to wait 10-12 weeks for the first results, but if they appear, then the further transformation of your appearance will be quick and only in the desired direction.

It is worth knowing that you will be able to achieve your goal only if all the rules are strictly followed - no concessions, holidays or weekends. Exiting a bodybuilder's diet should be gradual and intelligent - you cannot immediately include fatty and fried foods in the menu, because serious problems may arise in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

It is believed that the option under consideration helps to lose weight by 10 kg per month, but such results will appear only after 1 - 2 months. But they will be stable.

We recommend reading about protein shakes for weight loss. From the article you will learn about the benefits and harms of using protein shakes for weight loss, and recipes for preparing them at home. And here is more information about losing weight by drying the body.

A bodybuilder's diet does not mean that losing weight will be accompanied by aggressive muscle building. On the contrary, the body will only acquire a beautiful relief and become slender and toned. A pleasant addition will be strengthening the immune system, stabilizing the psycho-emotional background and overall health.

Who are bodybuilders

Previously, it was believed that these were such scary guys and masculine women, smeared with bronze paint, gorged on steroids and consisting of a huge mountain of muscles.

In fact, a bodybuilder can be defined as any person who sculpts his or her body to meet some standard of attractiveness.

It is important to note that these may vary for some. For example, some young ladies place noticeably greater emphasis on exercises that shape the gluteal muscles; some young people strive to pump up their arms and torso more than their legs. But in any case, they all have one goal - to build muscle. But their lives are changed not only by the presence of training.

These people must follow certain nutritional standards that promote muscle gain. But what to do when the mass has gained? Why doesn't it turn out like in the picture? It turns out that this is only halfway. In order for the acquired relief to become clear and beautiful, you need to go through the “drying” phase. What and how do bodybuilders “dry”?

“Drying the body” does not mean wiping it dry, it is a process of getting rid of fat. Where did she come from? It turns out that to work with heavy weights, you need a lot of strength, and to work with very heavy weights, you need a lot of strength. Athletes get it from food, but they cannot eat exactly as much as the workout “eats”, so they end up with a reserve, which remains in the form of fat.

When the required mass has been gained, the athlete reduces the amount of energy consumed, reduces the amount of strength training and adds more cardio training. They allow you to burn more fat. It is also important to drink plenty of fluids to effectively remove waste products. If everything is in order with exercise and drinking, then many “builders” have difficulties with organizing meals.

Useful video

For information on the principles of losing weight while gaining muscle mass, watch this video: