Are you looking for building or maintaining your muscle mass? Or to lose fat? Whatever you feed your body plays a great role in how your body looks. The major key to transforming your muscles lies in the macronutrients. Whether you are a multitasker or not but your body is. It is capable of building muscle while losing fat simultaneously which is excellent for body-building enthusiasts. For achieving the best results, you might need to familiarize yourself with macronutrients & learn to maintain a proper balance between their consumption to achieve your goals. This article will help you with that!
What are Macronutrients?
Carbohydrates, proteins & fats are called macronutrients. They are the cornerstones of the diet you take. These are nutritive components of the diet food which supplies your body a major amount of energy that it needs to maintain the body’s structure & systems. A healthy diet does not exclude or restrict the intake of macronutrients. Because your body’s major nutrient needs are met by them. A healthy diet promotes the best source of macros. Following a certain diet type can affect their consumption i.e plant-based. Manipulating their intake can have a big impact on the body. Altering their ratios largely depends on your ultimate goals. Everyone has to follow a certain road for shaping their body in the way they want.
Fitness Goals
The first step is choosing what is important to you: mass gains or losing fat. There are ways in which you build muscle mass while losing fat side by side. Like carb-cycling, in this cycle, you get to alternate the muscle-building phase of high carbs ratios with lower carbs diet for burning fat. No matter what method you go for, the mass gain will be prominent in most of them. Thought for building a bulky body diet is only one component for the gains you must get in your bodybuilding clothes and perform dedicated workouts.
For many, gaining weight might feel like the opposite of what they think health & fitness is. Bulking is something everyone can benefit from. It doesn’t always refer to getting “big”. The main reasons for bulking up are:
- Increased lean mass,
- Make weight maintenance easier,
- Improve strength & overall performance,
- Increase lean mass.
More lean muscular tissues you have, the better your overall body composition is and also better your metabolic rate.
4 Steps for Calculating Macros for Muscle Gain
Consuming more calories is one part of gaining muscles. For maximizing muscle gains will need to combine certain factors such as more calorie, Good nutrition, Macronutrient balance, and Adequate strength training.
- Determine the Bulking Calories,
- Estimate the amount of you need to build Lean Bulk,
- Calculate the Protein Needs for Gaining Muscle,
- Determine the number of Carbs You Need for gaining muscle.
Macronutrient Ratios for Muscle Gain
Macro ratios for building muscle mass do not vary a lot. You have to focus less on the percentage splits (besides fats), & more on taking the required daily amount of protein and carbohydrates.
The perfect ratio for calculating macros for bodybuilding should be (depending on the total amount of calories you are taking in a day) = (1gram of protein x total body weight) + (1granm of fat x .25 calories + (Carbs). Once you determine daily calorie consumption, you can simply know about your carbohydrates needs,
Most people while building lean muscle mass cut down their fat. Make sure it doesn’t go below 15% of the total calories you are intaking. Most of your body’s hormones are made from cholesterol & other fat, consuming less than this amount will suppress the normal production of hormones. It can affect your body development, metabolism mood, and reproduction. Low-fat ratios result in poor absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, & K. You must include healthy fat sources in your diet.
Tracking your calories:
The hardest part is keeping a record of your daily energy expenditure in total. It helps determine the total amount of calories needed for gaining muscle mass. It can be done by using a digital calorie calculator. However, most of the calorie calculator undergoes protein consumption. The detailed formula is based upon your age, height, gender, weight, body type, lifestyle habits, & exercise you perform on a routine basis. Muscular results in a high metabolic rate.
Always remember that for gaining muscles your calorie consumption ratio might alter but the protein ratio should remain the same. Macro-nutrients as mentioned earlier change in the form of carbs and fat; your protein intake must remain one gram for every kg of your muscle mass. Protein not only promotes muscle growth, but research shows that it helps in cutting down body fat.
Body Type
Your body type also plays a role in consuming macros. How tolerant you are to certain nutrients and how you should start. Mainly there are three body types which are described below
Ectomorph
An ectomorph can be described as slender. These bodies have a delicate bone structure, slimmer shoulders & chest, with a fast metabolism. They are known as classic “hard gainers.” Gaining weight and putting on muscle mass can be hard for them. The benefit of this body type is getting lean is way easier for them. They need to get a greater carbs percentage for preventing muscle catabolism, and higher calorie intake.
Diet Recommendations: Stick to the upper range of carbohydrates consumption, which lies in between 30-60% of the total calories you take. High carbs ratios promote the gain of lean muscle mass, lowering the ratio caused by overall fat loss. They should take high carb and low-fat diets. At least 25% of their total calories should be from protein.
Mesomorph:
These body types tend to be muscular naturally. They are strong, have natural athletic hard-bodies with defined muscles, wide shoulders, & denser bones structure. They face a little trouble when it comes to muscle gaining or fat losing, they tend to gain more fat than ectomorphs. These bodies can handle moderate levels of carbs due because of their ample capacity for storing muscular glycogen. They will also gain weight if their carbs & calorie consumption are overly high.
Diet Recommendations: These body types perform well when fed with the middle range of carbs, between 20-50% of the total calories. For muscle building 40-50%, for maintenance 30-40%, & for low-end fat loss, 20-30% should be the carbohydrates consumption ratios. If such body types want to lose fat, protein consumption should be increased with lower fat & carbohydrate intakes. Calorie coming from fat should not cross 40% of the total calorie diet.
Endomorph:
These body types are described as endomorphs and they tend to be soft mostly. They are typically round and pear-shaped, with shorter limbs, stocky build, & slower metabolism. They have a natural tendency of putting on a lot of muscle mass, but they carry more adipose tissues & thus store large amounts of fat. If these body types have an excess amount of carbs it ends up as fat.
Diet Recommendations: People who have these body types should stay at the lower end of the carbs consumption range, 10-40% of their total calories, should come from carbohydrates. For mass gain, the limit should not exceed 30-40%. For maintenance 20-30% & 10-20% for fat loss. .
Maria Khatun Mona is a Founder and Editor of Nursing Exercise Blog. She is a Nursing and Midwifery Expert. Currently she is working as a Registered Nurse at Evercare Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has great passion in writing different articles on Nursing and Midwifery. Mail her at “maria.mona023@gmail.com”
What is the best diet for gaining muscle mass for a beginner? a really detailed and helpful post!