Five key points in your diet if you want to increase your muscle mass

In this way, in this article we want to explain the five most important keys that you must take into account if you want to gain muscle mass.

As we said, it is not enough to eat what we consider good.

We do not doubt that you follow a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, quality proteins and healthy fats, but when looking to gain muscle mass and weight, calories matter.

In this way, you must know your maintenance calories (basal metabolism multiplied by an activity factor) and apply a surplus of between 15% and 20% approximately. To know the calories you need in Vitónica we have guides in this regard. If you do not apply this surplus, you will not be able to aspire to gain muscle.

Once we know the importance of applying the first lesson regarding calories, it is important to correctly distribute these in the three macronutrients: proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

At this point, it is important to remember that all the advice we give here requires a daily tracking of the food we eat and its more or less exact amounts.

If we want to gain muscle mass, the ideal is to start by setting the total daily grams of protein, that can oscillate around 2 grams per kilo of weight. If you are overweight or obese, lose fat sooner, don’t try to gain muscle mass now.

Second, we must fix the fats, that can range between 0.7 and 1.5 generally.

Finally, the remaining calories go to carbohydrates, keeping in mind that each gram of protein and carbohydrates provides 4 kcal. per gram and each gram of fat, 9.

The third key: don’t forget about micronutrients

Once the two previous lessons have been completed and internalized, we cannot ignore the fact that eating is not a means to an end such as gaining muscle, you have to think long-term and in health, and for this the body needs micronutrients to function well, which includes vitamins, minerals or fiber.

That said, it is important that you consume fruits and vegetables daily or at least if you do not consume much of one of the two, that the other is so highly varied that it compensates for the lower intake of the other. A good recommendation is to try to consume as many different colors as possible when choosing fruits and vegetables. The color of the food says a lot about the nutrients that await you inside.

Timing is the time of day when we ingest the nutrients. It is important? Yes, but not as much as meeting calories, macro and micronutrients.

An example of timing is if we eat more meals a day or less, or if we take more carbohydrates at breakfast or dinner, or even if we eat the protein shake (in case we want to take it) when we leave the gym. The decisions we make in these cases shape the timing.

It is no longer important to drink a protein shake after training that the fact of reaching the adequate daily protein count, just as it is not more important if we eat five meals than the fact of reaching the caloric requirements.

Fifth key: only at the end think about supplements

The last lesson. Supplements can put the icing on the cake depending on the context. There are no mandatory supplements unless you are vegetarian and vegan or have any condition that requires them.

There are supplements of all kinds: for general health, for performance, to help us meet nutritional requirements (proteins, carbohydrates …), for fat loss …

But remember, the nutritional supplement industry is governed by the same laws as any other type of industry: supply and demand. These laws make a wide range of supplements of all kinds available to the customer that does not always meet the buyer’s expectations.

Keep the above in mind when buying any supplement. Your expectations about him may never be met or you may even be buying something that does not have evidence in humans or that only exists in sick people or very specific population groups. Of course, a supplement will never ignore the fact that the rest of the diet must comply with all of the above.