How to Gain Muscle Mass on 3 Meals a Day
By Nick Nilsson
For those who work for a living, it can be extremely tough to get
the 5 or 6 meals a day often recommended. I've got a plan that
can help you get the calories you need on
limited time (and appetite!).
Three square meals a day...breakfast, lunch and dinner. Can a person achieve great muscle-building results with just three meals a day?
Absolutely...and I'll tell you how.
It's all about meal timing and quantity.
Before I get started, please note it IS very true that you're better off eating smaller, more frequent meals, both for muscle building and fat loss. I'm not going to argue with that.
The problem arises because many people simply CAN'T get more than 3 meals day.
Here's my solution...
1. Plan to train in the late afternoon/early evening, if you can. For our meal timing, this will be the best option.
2. Have a moderately large breakfast...eggs, oatmeal, broccoli...whatever else you normally eat. Breakfast is the second most important meal of the day (for our purposes here, at least) and it's not going to be your biggest.
3. Have a medium-sized lunch...at this point, you're looking to not overload your digestive system with food (you already did that with breakfast) because you'll be training fairly soon.
4. Do your workout and have your post-workout shake.
5. DINNER is going to be your biggest meal of the day. Because your body is primed to take full advantage of whatever you eat after training THIS is the time to load up. You should get at least half your days calories or more in this meal...overloading calories like this is extremely anabolic and your body will thrive on it.
6. Next day, repeat.
That's the plan! It's nothing complicated, of course, but I've been using this type of eating and training schedule for a long time and it's been extremely effective for me.
If you can squeeze in a few small snacks during the day, go for it! But if you don't have time for 5 or 6 meals a day, don't stress about it. Your body can cope and you can definitely still make great progress!
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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.
Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at Fitness e-books.com!
8 comments:
you know? After I have my post-workout shake, I cannot manage to eat some more. I think my stomach is already half full. And this guy said to load up. Aiyoo......
Usually I eat a good meal about 2 hours after drinking my post workout shake. Seems ok. Why don't you try that next time.
If I eat a meal after drinking my shake I think I'll puke la. There's only so much my perut can handle.
hm....2 hrs after post shake eh? then by that time, its my sleeping time already. hehhe...
what time do you usually have ur dinner? i'm quite curious about your workout and meal schedule...
A few days ago I read in Rajan's blog that how much you eat can be 'trained' and I totally agree with that because I have experience on that. Have you started to add more to your plate like how you stack more weights over a barbell through time? It has got to be in an incremental fashion, and it takes time, but you will grow with surety.
Kevl : One bad thing about me is that, I'm always afraid to eat more than I workout. that's why always control my food intake. My bf always said I eat less, but I feel full. Is it my mind or I AM really full?
FatLouie: What are your goals? To gain mass? Or to lose bf? I mean bodyfat, not boyfriend :P
KevL : Lose bf and look lean, and gain muscle. hehehehe.. can i do these at the same time?
ya. bodyfat, not boyfriend. hehe...
FatLouie: you can give the ZigZag diet a try kot.
If you still don't know about it, you can read about it here: http://fitnessmalaysiablog.blogspot.com/2010/07/zig-zagging.html
Or here, for a more detailed version of it. I first read about it here: http://drsquat.com/content/knowledge-base/zigzag-diet
Couple that with interval cardio, or the run/walk cardio where you run/jog for 15-20mins at an intensity of 70-80% and then jog at a slow steady pace for the next 15-20mins or more - best combo to lose fat, IMO.
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