If building muscle mass and burning calories are your goals, you must first reconcile to the fact that there is no miracle process and it cannot happen overnight as many spurious websites claim. The process is slow and steady and you can certainly achieve your goals if you consistently follow the proper procedures. Everyone knows that a proper blend of diet and exercises alone will get you the desired results. Read on to know how you can use both these elements to your maximum benefit.
Here are some of the points that you should incorporate into your daily diet.
Diet
- Boost your calorie intake by an average of 25%. For example, if your current intake is around 2,000 calories per day, increase it to 2,500.
- Make sure that you take in sufficient proteins to support muscle growth - 1 to 2 grams per pound of body weight is ideal. So, one who has a body weight of 100 pounds should consume at least 100 to 200 grams of protein.
- Change your eating habits. Eat five proportionate and balanced meals per day at more frequent intervals instead of the 3 large meals that you consume normally. This increases your metabolism rate.
- Surprising as it may sound, you should not eat fat, especially those saturated fats that you find in butter, chips or bacon. Instead, go for the beneficial monounsaturated fats that are most essential for distributing Vitamins A, D, E and K that are important for improved eyesight and enhanced skin conditions. You can find monounsaturated fats in olive, canola, sesame oil, avocado and nuts like almonds, cashews, pistachios and peanuts and these have a positive impact on your general health.
- Omega-3 fats are extremely conducive to the proper running of the heart, improving eyesight and brain development. You can find these mainly in salmon, sardines, trout and tuna.
- If you want to check up on how much fats you would be consuming, there is a simple thumb rule for it. For the right assessment of Trans fats input, multiply calorie intake by 0.001 and for saturated by 0.008%. For good fats, multiply by 0.003.
- Vitamins also form an important input for a well-balanced diet. For this, you would well include a vitamin supplement in your diet for a healthy body and mind.
Exercise
While a good diet exploits the potential of your body and builds up your stamina, you can make no progress in muscle-building without a slew of exercises to replace your old toothless muscles with the leaner and stronger new ones. Here are some tips on how to go about it.
- Warm up exercises are indispensable before you start on a workout routine. A low intensity routine meant to warm up your body system, stimulate the muscles, and prepare them for the normal and more difficult routines that are to follow. They then make way for a better mindset and readiness to continue the more difficult routines and complete them without injury.
- Restrict your workouts to about 30 to 45 minutes per day and make sure you target the three to eight muscle groups with about 6-12 repetitions each.
- Vary your routines every 4 to 6 weeks when you find that a particular routine are not getting the required results.
- Make sure to give yourself rest every alternative day to help the muscles to repair and recuperate.
- Go for a whole body workout, which involves using more muscles and producing more hormones that stimulate muscle growth. In this, make sure that you provide for equal attention to all muscle groups.
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