Your bodybuilding progress is 90% dependent on your diet. The question arises, how to make a diet in order to achieve your goals in the design of your body? Some sports nutrition experts claim that tuna and egg white are the best sources of protein. Some dietetics gurus prefer chicken. Some athletes use a low-carb nutritional program, while many effective diets advise loading this nutrient.
Such a variety of recommendations can only indicate that when drawing up a nutrition program, it is necessary to approach this individually. And this is correct, because for a powerlifter and a football player there cannot be the same nutrition.
Here it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of the athlete's body and the task assigned to him. Today we are going to talk about how to determine the goal of a diet in bodybuilding and then create your own nutrition program that will be relevant to you. First, you need to perform several steps to establish the characteristics of your body.
How to determine metabolic rate on a diet?
A person's metabolism is more influenced by the body type. If you find out which of the three types of physique you belong to, you can also establish the speed of your body's metabolic processes. Let's take a look at how you can do this.
- If you work long and hard in the gym, and the result is not high enough, but the muscles look perfect, then you are an ectomorph.
- If the mass, including fat, is gained quickly, and during drying you have to use strict diets, then you are an endomorph.
- You need to do a good job to gain weight or burn fat. However, you do not need to exhaust yourself much in class and your body changes quite easily, then you are definitely lucky - you are a mesomorph.
How to Determine the Purpose of a Diet?
You need to determine what you want to achieve - gain muscle mass or get rid of subcutaneous fat. To do this, you need to know exactly what shape you want to have.
When your immediate tasks coincide with more distant ones, say, you only plan to gain weight, then you need to develop a nutrition program for yourself according to the recommendations that will be given below and adhere to it.
If you plan to tackle several tasks, then do not do it at the same time, for example, gain mass and burn fat. They need to be addressed gradually. First, you gain mass, and then you burn fat, after which the macrocycle repeats. In this case, your nutrition program should be designed in accordance with these microcycles. Most often, bodybuilders first gain muscle mass, after which they burn excess fat with the help of cardio exercises and diet.
How to determine the body's susceptibility to carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. But each organism has its own need for a nutrient. Surely every person is familiar with the feeling after a hearty dinner, when a feeling of satisfaction and laziness appears. After that, I really want to take a little nap.
This condition is associated with an excess of carbohydrates, however, low-carb nutrition programs can be harmful to the body. For some it is perfect, but not for others. If, after reducing the amount of carbohydrates consumed, your health worsens, then you should not continue these bullying of the body.
To find out the body's susceptibility to carbohydrates, you need to listen to it. Determine how you feel after a large serving of pasta (carbohydrates) and how after eating similar sized servings of meat (protein compounds) and vegetables.
When after pasta you feel sleepy, and after eating meat, you are full of energy, then your body does not accept carbohydrates well. If the situation is exactly the opposite, then the perception of carbohydrates is normal.
How to draw up a nutrition program?
Once you know your body type and carbohydrate tolerance, you can start designing your own nutritional program. Now you need to use the available data with the help of special tables to determine the daily requirement of the body for nutrients.
It is likely that you will find yourself in two categories at once, then in this case it is necessary to calculate the arithmetic mean. Let's say you are an ectomorph and want to gain mass, but find it difficult to determine the susceptibility of carbohydrates. According to the table, you need the same amount of fat and protein compounds, but the number of carbohydrates is different. In this case, it is necessary to calculate the average value. Carbohydrates - (6 + 7) / 2 = 6.5 servings. In the food table, serving size is indicated not by nutrient content, but by total calories. More often than not, only one in three nutrients is the main source of calories. However, there were some exceptions. Take eggs or salmon, which are cited as a source of two nutrients. As a rule, these are fats and protein compounds. This is due to the fact that in such products, the source of calories is not one nutrient, but both. In situations like this, you should count one serving of the product as half the serving of each calorie source. Take salmon as an example and see that one serving is equal to? portions of protein compounds and? portions of fat.
Throughout the day, you can safely change the number of servings. All you need to do is that at the end of the day, the total number of servings you eat is in line with the daily norm.
You can expand the list of products, as only the most popular ones are shown here. At first glance, it may seem to you that following our advice is difficult, but you will very quickly figure out all the tables. After putting together your own nutritional program, you can quickly see the progress.
For more information on how to correctly determine the purpose of the diet and compose a diet, see this video:
