The use of baby food to build muscle mass is considered by many athletes and weight-lovers to be the cheapest and safest way. The use of this nutrition as a dietary supplement helps athletes and amateurs cope with intense physical activity.
The positive qualities of baby food are its relative naturalness and richness in vitamins. The production of baby food is under the constant control of relevant government agencies, which makes it safe for consumption and more affordable than protein supplements.
Sports and nutrition
Diet is of great, if not decisive, importance for an athlete. Any trainer will tell you what the three main components of effective muscle gain are. These include regular training, recovery after physical activity, as well as high-quality and healthy nutrition. At the same time, there is no disagreement with the first two points: each athlete knows his own pattern of physical activity. But the diet always causes a lot of controversy, in which everyone has their own opinion. Today, many people use baby food to gain muscle mass. Reviews from athletes confirm the active growth of muscle mass and a high level of physical activity. This provides a supply of protein that the infant formula shares with the body.
What does muscle growth depend on?
Many will answer that from physical exercise. This is partly correct, but for a muscle to grow, it needs increased nutrition. A strict diet and high loads in the gym will lead to nothing but exhaustion of the body. At the same time, muscle growth depends on the quality of food and especially on the level of protein content in it. Baby food is often used to gain muscle mass. Reviews say that an excellent alternative is a healthy diet, that is, eating enough protein foods. These are milk, eggs, chicken breast, legumes, whole grain cereals. But to quickly get good results, it is recommended to use special protein supplements. Can baby food completely replace specially formulated sports nutrition formulas? Let's watch.
Directions for use
Before starting weight training, it is advisable to consult with your doctor.
When engaging in active physical exercise with weights, you need to understand that you cannot gain weight with baby food alone. To obtain a good effect in muscle formation, it is necessary to find a reasonable balance between the consumption of baby food and natural products.
Natural products that must be consumed include products from various legumes, grains, products containing proteins and carbohydrates. The athlete must soberly understand that unbalanced and disorganized intake of foods can be harmful.
To organize nutrition, it is important to periodically consult with nutritionists. They will be able to competently advise how to properly find the balance in the consumption of food, baby food and dietary supplements for athletes.
Most athletes involved in pumping up muscles have a negative attitude towards the use of baby food. They allow its use at the beginning of the training process.
Because milk powder does not contain enough proteins to form muscle mass, but there is a lot of fat that is deposited in the body. When transferring training to a more active phase, preference is given to special food for athletes.
What are the benefits of infant formula as a protein supplement?
High physical activity increases the need not only for protein, but also for vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. At the same time, everyone knows that baby food contains high concentrations of them. To gain muscle mass (reviews offer a large number of real examples) you need adequate nutrition of all tissues and systems. Additionally, supporters of using infant formula instead of sports nutrition talk about the high quality of these products and the presence of control over the products produced. The risk of purchasing a product hazardous to health is minimal. However, let's listen to what doctors and nutritionists think about using baby food to gain muscle mass.
Weight gain with mixed feeding
Mixed feeding is feeding with both mother's milk and dry milk formula. With mixed feeding, the more the baby receives dry milk formula, the higher the risk of overnutrition and excess weight gain (paratrophy in young children).
— What could be the reasons that a child does not gain weight well on mixed or artificial feeding?
— The most common reason for insufficient weight gain is insufficient feeding, when the baby receives little nutrition. This applies to a healthy child. It happens that there is enough nutrition, but there is no weight gain - in this case, you should think about impaired intestinal absorption, and this is a reason to consult a doctor and undergo additional examination.
Obvious disadvantages
First of all, this is the chemical composition. Sports nutrition is intended exclusively for the nutrition and growth of muscle tissue. This is an exclusively protein shake that is completely processed into building material for muscles. What is baby food for gaining muscle mass? This is a complete diet for baby growth, which contains large amounts of fats and carbohydrates. An adult who plays sports experiences a protein deficiency, and all other elements come from the main food. If an athlete has a thin build and wants to gain additional weight, then this is an acceptable option. At the same time, for people with an athletic build and a tendency to gain excess weight, such a supplement can be harmful. In its composition, baby food is closer to gainers, that is, cocktails for gaining weight, rather than muscle tissue. So excessive consumption of such a product will lead to the appearance of unwanted fat.
Nutrition of low birth weight babies in the first half of life
At the age of up to 6 months, there are several main reasons for underweight, according to which nutrition selection will be carried out:
Premature babies and children born with IUGR (intrauterine growth retardation)
Breast milk will help your newborn gain weight well.
Immediately after birth, such babies have a low (less than 2500 g) body weight; they are often transferred to the intensive care unit, where they immediately begin feeding with artificial formula. However, mother's milk will be optimal for them, so the mother needs to maintain and stimulate lactation even if she is separated from the child. It is breast milk, even if obtained from a bottle after pumping, that is best absorbed and will help the baby gain weight. Well, when there is not enough milk or there is no milk at all, babies are prescribed special medicinal formulas for premature infants, the name of which contains the prefix “pre” (“Friso Pre”, “Pre Nan”, “Pregestimil”, etc.). In addition, artificial formulas for premature infants are divided according to the weight of the child (“Nutrilon Pre” - for feeding children weighing up to 1800 g, “Nutrilon Pre 1” - for children weighing from 1800 g).
Special formulas for premature babies, compared to regular formulas, contain more protein, fat and carbohydrates, and therefore are higher in calories. They also contain more vitamins, macro- and microelements. Some manufacturers produce mixtures with partially digested protein (“Nan Pre”). The enriched protein-fat and carbohydrate composition helps the child gain weight faster, the additional introduction of vitamins, macro- and microelements helps prevent the development of rickets and iron deficiency anemia, and partial hydrolysis facilitates the absorption of the mixture in the immature gastrointestinal tract of the premature baby.
If the newborn tolerated the formula prescribed to him in the maternity hospital normally, then after discharge no experiments are carried out and this same mixture is left either until the child reaches the age of 1 month or until he gains weight of 3 kg. Then the question is decided individually (in each case by a doctor): is formula needed (for mixed feeding) or will breast milk be sufficient? If necessary, a subsequent formula is selected.
False hypogalactia
They talk about false hypogalactia when the mother (or pediatrician) for some reason believes that the baby does not have enough milk, but in reality the child receives enough. Advice: do not immediately rush to supplement your child’s feeding, first understand the problem: carry out repeated weighings on the same scales, control weighing after feeding, consult another doctor if necessary, rule out pathology (primarily diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, enzymatic deficiency). Premature introduction of supplementary feeding will lead to a gradual decline in lactation and the development of true hypogalactia.
True hypogalactia
When the fact of insufficient breast milk production is established, and no measures to stimulate lactation have an effect, we can talk about true hypogalactia. In such a situation, the baby constantly lacks mother's milk and either additional introduction of artificial milk substitutes - supplementary feeding (mixed feeding) is required, or, in the complete absence of milk, a transition to completely artificial feeding.
Remember that supplementary feeding of a child under the age of 6 months is possible only with specially designed formulas for artificial feeding (usually marked with the number 1 next to the name: “NAN-1”, “Nutrilon-1”). The selection of the mixture should be carried out on the recommendation and under the supervision of a pediatrician.
Don’t listen to the advice of all-knowing grandmothers and neighbors and don’t start feeding your child whole cow’s or goat’s milk, porridge, cabbage soup and other “natural and healthy” foods. The gastrointestinal tract of a baby up to six months is not able to cope with the digestion of any food other than human milk (or at least adapted mixtures that imitate this milk). Otherwise, you risk not only not getting the desired result (weight gain), but also providing your baby with such unpleasant conditions as constipation, functional digestive disorders, pancreatitis, gastritis, etc.
Cost of baby food
At first glance, it costs much less than specialized sports nutrition. This is most likely why baby food for gaining muscle mass receives such good reviews. However, make no mistake: first you need to calculate how much mixture you will need per day. Remember that the athlete's goal is to get enough protein. To satisfy the needs of an adult who is seriously involved in sports, at least half a package is required at one time. Athletes are recommended to drink a protein drink at least 2 times a day. It turns out that the positive reviews are quite “mistaken”. Baby food for gaining muscle mass can most likely lead to an increase in body fat, and it is very expensive. Depending on the brand, you will pay about 3-4 times more than for a similar course of high-quality sports nutrition.
Diet rules for weight gain
A weight gain diet is the basis for gaining weight . If we want our child to eat healthy food, we need to enrich the baby’s diet with proteins and healthy fatty acids.
Healthy, high-calorie foods include:
- lean meat;
- soy products;
- nuts and peanut butter;
- whole milk;
- avocado.
Diet for weight gain requires compliance with several rules. The child should not snack between meals. It is also necessary to limit the consumption of drinks between meals, as large amounts of water, juices or other drinks will cause the child to feel full and eat less.
Analogues of protein shakes
It's no secret that everyday food contains large amounts of protein. Instead of looking for a magic solution, you can use the products that you always have on hand. Chicken breast is very healthy and can be eaten boiled or baked. To prepare protein snacks, use egg or milkshakes with the addition of cottage cheese, fruits and berries. This makes it more difficult to calculate the amount of protein consumed, but there is no need to purchase specialized products.
Baby food for gaining muscle mass “Baby”
This brand is known to everyone who had a small child in the family. Many generations in a row grew up on this breast milk substitute. It is based on protein, approximately 60%. These are lactalbumin, immunoglobulin, lactoglobulin. The required dosage of carbohydrates is presented in the form of lactose. Fats of vegetable origin, as well as vitamins and nucleotides are added to the mixture. Baby food for gaining muscle mass “Malyutka” has a similar composition. This composition helps a small child grow quickly and actively gain weight, and an athlete withstand high loads.
Baby food for gaining muscle mass: how to use
First of all, you will need to optimize your nutrition. Since infant formula contains a large amount of carbohydrates, you need to minimize your intake of them in your main food, otherwise you will gain weight not only due to muscle growth, but also due to fat storage. The body simply does not have time to process colossal amounts of carbohydrates. As already mentioned, in order to provide the required amount of protein, you need to consume approximately 150 g of the powder mixture at a time. It is diluted in a glass of water and drunk before and after training.
Every person should use common sense when choosing their diet. You can also use baby food to gain muscle mass. The proportions are approximately clear: if a child weighing 5 kg needs about a liter of formula per day, then an adult weighing 50 kg needs about 510 liters. At the same time, it would be difficult to call such a diet balanced, since it is designed for the needs of a growing body. Of course, we are now talking about a complete transition to formula nutrition for the period of active weight gain. Nutritionists and sports trainers recommend not resorting to extremes and regulating your diet using natural products. A large amount of chicken meat and vegetables, milk, cottage cheese and eggs are excellent nutrition for muscle mass. If the physical activity is so great that it does not allow you to get by with a standard diet, you should use specialized sports supplements. They do not cause harm and do not contribute to excess weight gain, and also allow you to quickly achieve the figure of your dreams. It should be remembered that the key to muscle growth is physical activity. But during the period of “drying” or reducing the amount of adipose tissue, protein shakes should be discontinued.
Directions for use
Doctors and nutritionists advise balancing baby food intake with natural foods. Dairy and grain dishes, beans, meat, eggs are suitable for increasing muscle volume.
Don't blindly stick to proportions. The athlete must understand the consequences of uncontrolled consumption of products on the growth and development of children and correctly assess their own capabilities.
The above remedies are very effective and, with the right approach, can bring results. However, in order to avoid the occurrence of adverse reactions of the body to the activity of consumed products for children, it is advisable to use biological supplements for athletes. Using specially formulated substances, hard training will bring greater benefits and help you achieve your desired body shape.
When deciding on an issue related to increasing muscle volume, it is recommended to consult a nutritionist or trainer. They are able to sensibly assess the capabilities of the human body and, based on their experience, will advise the best option: the use of baby food or protein supplements.
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How to make a protein shake for sports? A protein shake is an essential part of an athlete’s diet. Nowadays, literally at every step you can buy a ready-made mixture containing protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins in the right proportions. However, you can make an excellent protein shake at home from ordinary ingredients.
Below I provide a partial, although quite extensive, list of products that are ideal for making protein drinks at home:
Cottage cheese, eggs, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, milk powder, baby formula, whole milk, nuts (grated), soy milk, kefir, yogurt, jam, syrups, vegetable oils, berries, fruits, juices, sour cream, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, honey, cream, muesli or oatmeal, raisins, chopped dried fruits, cereal flakes, powdered milk, dark beer, ice cream, curdled milk, ice cubes.
You can also enrich cocktails with vitamin pills, glucose, fructose, amino acids, crushed tablets of Panangin*, Asparkam**, Calcium Glycerophosphate*** (1-2 tablets each).
*Panangin is a drug that replenishes the content of potassium and magnesium in the body. **Asparkam is a drug that replenishes the content of potassium and magnesium in the body. ***Calcium glycerophosphate is a regulator of Ca2+ and phosphorus exchange, has a general strengthening, tonic effect, and stimulates metabolic processes in the body.
Now in more detail about the listed products.
