The Best Muscle Building Diet Plan

If you’re reading this, it means your primary goal is building muscle.

I don’t care if you want to build 5lbs of muscle or 50lbs. I don’t care if you’re male or female, young or old.

If you want to know how to build muscle as effectively as possible, and put together the absolute best diet plan to make it happen… then this is for you.

The Guidelines Of The Best Muscle Building Diet Plan

Throughout the course of my guide to creating The Best Diet Plan, we’ve covered every single aspect of how to create the diet that will be most ideal for you and your specific goal.

Here now is a recap of every major component that goes into creating the best muscle building diet plan possible…

Calories

  • A caloric surplus is the #1 dietary requirement for building muscle.
  • Specifically, the ideal daily caloric surplus for men is 250 additional calories per day. For women, it’s 125 additional calories per day.
  • The ideal caloric surplus will cause you to gain weight at the ideal rate. For men, that ideal weight gain rate is about 0.5 pound per week (2lbs per month). For women, it’s about 0.25 pound per week (1lb per month).
  • Weigh yourself at least once per week first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and keep track of your weight (or, weigh in every morning and take the weekly average). If it’s increasing at the ideal rate, you’re perfect. If it isn’t, adjust your daily calorie intake up or down until it is.

Protein

  • The ideal daily protein intake for men with the primary goal of building muscle is 0.8-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For women with the primary goal of building muscle, it’s 0.8-1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
  • This protein intake should typically come mostly from high quality whole food sources (chicken, meat, fish, etc.) and if needed or preferred, protein powder.

Fat

  • The ideal daily fat intake is between 20-30% of your total calorie intake, with an even 25% probably being pretty perfect in most cases.
  • This fat intake should primarily come from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated sources (nuts, olive oil, fish/fish oil, etc.). Saturated fat should account for no more than 1/3 of your total fat intake, and trans fat should be avoided completely.
  • An added emphasis should be placed on getting a sufficient amount of your essential fatty acids, specifically omega-3 (which is easiest to get by taking a fish oil supplement).

Carbs

  • The ideal daily carb intake is simply whatever is left after an ideal protein and fat intake have been factored in.
  • The majority of this carb intake should typically come from unprocessed nutrient-rich sources (rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, oats, whole grains, etc.). Highly refined junk should be limited to some extent.

Enjoyability And Sustainability

  • Once you’ve set your total calorie and nutrient intake to their ideal levels, the key is putting your entire diet together in whatever way will make you most likely to stick to it consistently.
  • Meal frequency and timing doesn’t matter (PRE/POST workout meals are the only exception). So if you’d rather eat 3 meals per day, go for it. If you’d rather eat 6 meals per day, go for it. If you’d rather eat early instead of late or late instead of early, do it. In the end, all that matters is what you eat and how much you eat… not when and how you eat it. Do whatever is most enjoyable, convenient and sustainable for you.
  • Choose foods and adjust your diet based on your own personal preferences and needs. As long as you get your calorie and nutrient totals right for the day (and get them from mostly high quality sources as opposed to processed useless junk), everything else is just a minor detail that should be put together based on what’s best and most all around preferable for you.

PRE & POST Workout Nutrition

  • Surround your weight training workouts with meals that contain a good amount of protein and carbs.
  • For your PRE workout meal, either consume a normal solid food meal 1-2 hours before your workout, or consume a fast, easily digested liquid meal/shake 0-30 minutes before your workout (and/or sipped throughout it).
  • For your POST workout meal, either consume a normal solid food meal or a liquid meal/shake as soon after your workout as possible (ideally within the first 30 minutes).

Supplements

  • NO supplement is required for building muscle. However, there are some that could definitely be beneficial and help improve some aspect of the muscle building process (and your overall health) to some degree.
  • In no specific order, the main ones are: whey protein powder (and/or casein), fish oil, a multivitamin, and creatine.

A Muscle Building Workout Routine Is REQUIRED!

Even though this entire guide has been about creating your diet plan, there’s something very important (and fairly obviously) that I need to tell you.

If you don’t combine this diet with an intelligent workout routine that is designed specifically for building muscle, you will fail to build muscle. Even worse… you’ll just get fat.

Creating a caloric surplus without signaling your body to use those calories to build muscle means your body will have no use for them and therefore just store them all as body fat.

So, in order to get the results you want, you will most definitely need a proper workout routine that optimally signals muscle growth.

Now, the bad news is that explaining how to create a “proper workout routine” would require a whole separate guide.

But the good news is… I already wrote that guide. And the great news is… it’s FREE!

Check it out here: The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine

That guide will explain every single thing you will ever need to know about creating the best muscle building workout routine possible.

Plus, it even includes the 2 workout routines that I most often recommend:

NEW: Superior Muscle Growth Has Arrived

Since writing this guide a few years ago, thousands of people have asked me for more highly effective workout routines, more details, specifics and examples, and one entire program that puts everything (diet, nutrition, weight training, supplements, cardio, lifestyle, etc.) together for you in the way that will produce the best muscle building results possible.

You asked, and now I answered. I call it: Superior Muscle Growth

Basically, if you want to build lean muscle as quickly and effectively as your body is realistically capable of making it happen, and you want to avoid gaining excess body fat while you do it, Superior Muscle Growth is the program for you. In my honest opinion, it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. Learn all about it right here: Superior Muscle Growth

What’s Next?

Well, if you’ve ended up here as a result of following my guide to creating The Best Diet Plan, then the only remaining step is to bring this guide to its conclusion and pass along some final important information. Let’s do that…

The End Of The Best Diet Plan

(This article is part of a completely free and amazingly awesome guide to creating the absolute best diet plan possible for your exact goal and preferences. Check out the entire guide here: The Best Diet Plan)