How to properly manage your bodybuilding diet?

1 Calorie requirement and energy balance

Since the car needs gasoline to move, our body needs energy to live and perform everyday tasks. This energy is measured in calories, but when counting them in thousands, we use the term “kilocalories” (= 1000 calories), which we refer to in kcal or calories (with a capital letter). Our energy consumption can be divided into two main needs:

Basic metabolism: This is the minimum energy that the body burns in a day to maintain vital functions, like in a car. stopping the engine;
l Physical activity: walking, public transport, climbing stairs, etc. for seated people – “1 hour of football, 1 hour of 30 minutes or 45 minutes of racing” for active people.

There are other energy needs, such as thermoregulation and digestion, but we decided not to complicate them.

The basic metabolism varies greatly from person to person: it depends on age, gender, weight, thyroid activity, etc. This can be twice as important for a growing teenager as it is for an adult.

The sum of your basic metabolism and other energy needs gives your total metabolism, which therefore represents the total energy you consume in a day.

To give just an average figure, the average total metabolism of an adult male (average height and weight) is about 2,500 kcal (up to 2,800 kcal for an athlete), including 1,800 kcal of metabolism. the main one (hence, it accounts for 60% to 70% of the total metabolism, which is significant for costs that we have little control over).

For a woman, this is less: on average, more than 1800 and 2100 calories.

Why do we lose weight or gain weight?

Thus, food contains calories that correspond to three types of macronutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and lipids.

It’s that simple. So let’s focus on comparing a person who eats this and stays dry, or ready-made sentences like “bread makes you fat” or “ice cream doesn’t make you fat if you eat it in moderation.” If you are gaining weight, you are eating more than you need to, and if you cannot gain weight, then you are not eating enough!

As you have seen, the average total metabolism is 2500 kcal per day. A Big Mac that produces 500 kcal, an average person can stabilize with 5 Big Macs a day (but no more!) And lose weight with 4 Big Macs a day (on the other hand, he will not age for a long time).

Hence, energy balance is an important concept to remember that explains why you are gaining weight or why you are losing weight. However, this statement must be justified: certain circumstances induce the body to accumulate more or less fat. This is especially true for the hormone insulin, which we release when we consume high glycemic carbohydrates. We’ll come back to this question later.

There is no magic formula for estimating your metabolism, the rule of thumb remains the best approach (we calculate everything we eat in a week, we estimate its weight gain or loss in a week, and we calculate its average expenditure this way), but there is several formulas that allow us to estimate it: daily calorie requirement.

Should I lose weight or gain weight?

When losing weight or gaining weight, this is a question only you can answer.

To build muscle, you need a positive energy balance (total calorie intake total metabolism or total calorie intake – total metabolism 0), so eat more than you need to. But if you’ve looked at the site and forum, you will know that we don’t recommend taking wild masses to SuperPhysique. Eating a little more than you need may be sufficient (but it is also the most difficult to achieve in practice), especially since otherwise the diet that follows the increase in wild mass will be all the more rigid, prolonged and likely to make you lose more and more muscles.

If too much fat has accumulated on the arms of your love, or you can no longer see your abs, then it is time to raise the alarm.
If you are starting bodybuilding and Too fat, it is better to start with a diet to start with a good foundation. Your beginner’s condition will also allow you to build muscle while losing fat (which becomes less and less likely as you progress in strength training).

Now that we’ve laid these foundations, let’s take a look at the heart of the question: How do you manage your diet?

2 Macronutrients

A. Proteins

As you probably know, proteins are meat (red, white), fish, dairy products, eggs, etc. There are two sources of protein (animal and plant), but animal protein is theoretically more effective in building muscle masses.

To study the subject, we recommend reading Julien’s article on this topic. Nutritional Basics: Proteins.

How many proteins?

If you weigh 70 kg, that’s the equivalent of 126 g of protein; if you weigh 80 kg, this is equivalent to 144 g, etc.

Also, if you think 120g of protein is 120g of meat, you should stop reading this article immediately to get the basics! Food consists of proteins, as well as carbohydrates, fats, and, for the most part, water in large quantities. 120g of protein, so that’s an average of 600g of meat, which is not the same … But rest assured, there are other ways besides feeding meat all day.

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Which proteins should you choose?

As we said, we will prioritize animal proteins that are more digestible, of better quality and contain all the essential amino acids (which is not a vegetable protein, with a few rare exceptions such as soy).

To provide protein, we recommend:

• eggs: they know that a priori there are no contraindications to use several times a week if you are in good health, and on the contrary, the quality of their proteins is unmatched, and the cholesterol they contain is essential, especially for our sport … I invite you to read Julien’s excellent article on this topic: cholesterol, egg yolk and ugly … For better absorption, prefer cooked white and liquid yellow (scrambled eggs, egg shells, etc.)

• meat: white is preferred most of the time. High consumption of red meat can indeed bring in too much iron (especially if you are a man) and is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (and this is even more so as your beef will be elevated to the hormones that corn is fed, etc.). Chicken breast and turkey should be an important part of your animal protein.

• fish: it could be one of the best sources of protein if people didn’t pollute it with heavy metals (especially mercury). We will develop this point later in the section on lipids. However, fish should not be left out of the diet.

• sausages: only if they are low-fat, such as ham, bacon fillets, grisons, etc. I prefer to cut them to avoid nitrite / nitrate-based preservatives (in particularly E249, E250, E251 and E252)

• dairy products: cheeses that are low in fat (otherwise they contain too much unhealthy fat), low fat blank. Excessive consumption of dairy products is suspected to promote certain cancers and we recommend consuming them in moderation.

Protein Serving Equivalents

How to distribute proteins throughout the day?

The body cannot store proteins and return them according to its needs: therefore, it is necessary to provide proteins throughout the day.

There has long been a myth that the body cannot absorb more than 30 g of protein per meal. This is obviously not true, the actual rate depends on many factors and can vary from one person to another, depending on the circumstances: thus, during and after exercise, the body is able to absorb much more protein than usual. Therefore, it is at this time that you will need to use it for the most efficient administration.

A recent study also shows that the minimum protein intake per meal should be 40g.

According to his training?

We will address this issue in tutorials.

B. Lipids

These are fats and fatty substances: oils, oil, oilseeds, etc. and hidden fats that you do not see in industrial preparations.

You may have heard of good and bad fats, but the reality is a little more complicated.

To deepen the basics, Julien’s article would be appropriate: Dietetics Fundamentals: Lipids.

We will try to simplify things: there are completely unhealthy fats, so-called “bad” fats, so-called neutral fats and good fats.

Which lipids should you choose?

• unhealthy fats: these are so-called “trans” fatty acids and partially hydrogenated oils. Without going into details, they are accused, among other things, of increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. To avoid them, you should eliminate as much of prepared meals as possible from your diet, such as baked goods, baked goods, cookies and other industrial treats.

• bad fats. These are saturated fatty acids. They say they are “bad,” but we still use a small amount per day: so the question is not to eliminate them entirely, but to minimize them. To find out if fat is saturated, or if a food is essentially saturated fat, just look to see if it is solid at room temperature, so animal fats (meat fat, ham skins), butter, cheeses, creams fall into this category. fresh, etc. There are certain oils rich in saturated fatty acids, such as palm or coconut oil. Try to keep these fats to a minimum (even if the official guidelines just increased the saturated fatty acid ratio from 1/4 to 1/3), and if you must consume a minimum, there are more interesting sources than others like coconut, dark chocolate (in measure), avocado …

• neutral fats: these are monounsaturated fatty acids, which are mainly found in olive oil (rich in oleic acid, says “omega-9”), avocado, oleic sunflower oil (not to be confused with sunflower oil! ), macadamia or avocado oil; as well as oilseeds such as almonds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts and other pecans. Oil seeds are interesting, especially almonds, but they are also rich in omega-6, which should not be overused, as we will see.

• Good fats: they are good because the body needs them, but does not know how to make or replace them (in addition to other direct effects they have on our health): therefore they are considered “substantial” and any deficit can have dramatic consequences. These are omega-6 and omega-3, which are part of the polyunsaturated fatty acids. But this is where things get complicated because there are several subtleties that need to be understood. I advise you on this topic in Julien’s excellent article: Omega-3 and Omega-6: Poseidon’s Power.

Thus, the body functions optimally at a certain ratio of omega-6 / omega-3, so the absolute value of these two lipid sources taken separately is not so important, but the relationship between them will be necessary. However, the report on this issue is alarming: our consumption of omega-6s is significantly higher. Therefore, we will have to act in two directions to restore this ratio: lower omega-6 on the one hand and increase omega-3 on the other.

• 1- Reduce omega 6 intake

Our agriculture has for many years given the privilege of growing corn to feed animals, omega-6s are found absolutely everywhere in our modern diet: in our cereals, our meat, our eggs … So it becomes necessary not to overload the boat controlled by external sources. Start by banning sunflower oil in your cupboards, as well as any cooked meal containing sunflower oil: this oil is indeed overwhelmingly composed of omega-6s and is largely responsible for our imbalances.

• 2- Increase our omega-3 ratio

If you read Julien’s article, you will realize that there are two sources of omega-3: vegetable and animal. A plant source is not beneficial (except perhaps the one found in algae) because the body is struggling to convert it into compounds that are actually beneficial for it. The animal source is much better absorbed, and therefore we will give preference to the latter, which is … in fish! These are the well-known marine EPA and DHA.

Give preference to oily fish and preferably choose a fish located at the beginning of the food chain (“small” fish), which will suddenly be less contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury. In this category we find mackerel, sardines, anchovies, herring, red mullet.

Salmon can be eaten less often (unfortunately, it is more contaminated), and tuna is rarely found on plates (or even banned if you are pregnant).

If you eat little or no fish, your ultimate salvation may come from fish oil supplements.

How many lipids?

Equivalents of lipid portions

How to distribute lipids throughout the day?

Like protein, fat can be distributed evenly throughout the day (although the distribution is yours). The only time limiting lipids is important is post-workout meals because they slow down digestion and are stored very quickly, which is not our goal.

For example, you can get into the habit of putting on a little more fat in the morning to make it easier for you to hold out until your next meal, especially if it’s far enough away.

According to his training?

Exercise has virtually no effect on your distribution throughout the day, except for one detail: the food that follows the exercise is taken in the so-called “metabolic window”. This means that everything that we consume during this “window” of time will be quickly assimilated and preserved. When it comes to protein and carbohydrates, we, on the other hand, will avoid eating foods too rich in lipids to not promote fat gain.

The question that is constantly raised on the forum, as elsewhere: “How to manage my diet?”

This seemingly simple question actually hides many concepts that are not easy to understand: How many calories should I consume? what type? At what point? and my training in all this? Should I dry out or gain weight? When to dry? In short, there are so many questions that we will try to give clues to so that you can compose your own diet.

It would be nice to have a minimum of reason in advance, and in particular to know what proteins, carbohydrates, fats, calories, etc. are. But we will still accept these concepts.

This article is designed as a method: following the paragraphs, you need to be able to determine your diet step by step. Therefore, we recommend that you read this article with paper and pencil.

C. Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are all foods that people usually know as “fast sugar” and “slow sugar”. As you can imagine, once faith has developed in nutrition, it is not so easy … However, it is not so difficult.

You can read Julien’s article on this topic: Dietetic Basics: Carbohydrates.

Which carbohydrates to choose?

We have always heard that simple sugars (eg table sugar, candy) are fast sugars, and complex sugars (pasta, bread, rice …) are slow sugars. It’s not.

Rather than talking about fast or slow sugar (which is an outdated and outdated concept, even if it is firmly entrenched in the minds of people), we are going to talk about high and low glycemic index sugar.

High-glycemic sugars include so-called “simple” sugars like table sugar, pastries and other sweets, as well as refined cereals like white bread, white pasta, white rice and top potatoes!

This revelation is very difficult to accept, because the reflex was: “I was always told that pasta and potatoes are slow sugar ?!”, but the reality is completely different when you swallow a dish of homemade puree or, even worse, potatoes fries, it has the same effect on the body as if you put Haribo candy on a bag.

The explanation for this phenomenon is simple: the faster sugar is digested, the faster its blood level rises, the more the body secretes insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. Until now, it has always been assumed that glucose (from which table sugar is made) is fast sugar, but starch (from which potatoes are made) is not. Starch comes in two forms: amylopectin and amylose. The first is digested very quickly, the second much less often.

As we mentioned, insulin is a vital hormone, but with harmful effects: it promotes lipogenesis (that is, you will store fat more readily), and ultimately promotes insulin resistance, which is responsible for the development of pathologies. such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, etc.

It was the concept that Michel Montignac founded his famous diet.

This allows us to answer the question: which carbohydrates to choose? And the answer is simple: carbohydrates that do not increase insulin (too much) … you will find them in the table of glycemic indexes, which classifies carbohydrates according to the increase in insulin they cause: Glycemic index and glycemic load of staple foods.

Please note: The concept of the glycemic index has been the subject of much controversy, primarily because it remains very theoretical.

Indeed, it is rare to cook food exclusively from carbohydrates, but fats and proteins are all elements that slow down the absorption of carbohydrates. Therefore, it is a priori impossible to estimate the glycemic index of a complete meal, since it depends on many parameters, including the preparation of carbohydrates.

Generally, the more carbohydrates you cook, the more it increases your insulin content, and al dente pasta, for example, will be much healthier than digested pasta.

Another controversy stems from the fact that in considering carbohydrate sources that do not raise blood sugar levels, some industrialists, nutritionists, or other nutritionists have begun recommending even worse carbohydrate sources.

This is especially true of fructose, a fruit sugar that has two properties that make it extremely interesting: on the one hand, it has a very strong sweetening power (higher than table sugar) and, on the other hand, a relatively low glycemic index. In short, “perfect” sugar, as we once thought: the pleasure of taste without the unwanted effects of insulin. Montignac came to recommend it with all sauces, even writing a recipe for dessert books based on fructose. The problem, however, is that fructose is a sugar that has recently been the subject of widespread media coverage of its potential harmful effects, and has been particularly accused of increasing insulin resistance, promoting fat accumulation that causes various pathologies in the liver, and others. The high fructose foods that enrich a large number of industrial foods in the United States have been identified as the leading cause of the obesity epidemic.

Unless fructose is necessarily the only demon responsible for all diseases, it must nevertheless stick to a sensible intake: stick to fructose from fruits and not risk substituting table sugar with powdered fructose, which can be found in most dietary departments (look for error …).

How many carbohydrates?

It is very difficult to answer this question as it is very personal.

Indeed, if you followed correctly, you will notice two points:

• The total metabolism of each person varies widely from person to person;
• The amount of proteins and lipids is relatively fixed.

This means that what will affect the overall metabolism will be achieved through carbohydrates! Or, in other words, in a very simplified way:

Protein intake (fixed) + Lipid intake (fixed) + Carbohydrate intake (variable) = Total metabolism.

On a diet, it will be enough to gradually reduce the amount of carbohydrates, starting with those that are farthest from your workouts. Conversely, if you are unable to gain weight, it will be advisable to gradually increase the amount of carbohydrates (along with lipids, if necessary, the lipid quota indicated above is the “minimum”).

Carbohydrate Equivalents Serving

How to distribute carbohydrates throughout the day?

It all depends on the amount of carbohydrates you need to consume. If you are not on a diet, you can balance your intake throughout the day. In any case, be sure to include carbohydrate-rich foods after your session, even if done in the evening (unless otherwise indicated or contraindicated, such as causing you to gain weight while trying to dry out).

When you are on a diet, you can start to reduce or even eliminate the most distant carbohydrate sources from your session; but at least that’s why the preceding and following meal should include it.

3 Vitamins

Until now, we have only talked about macronutrients, but micronutrients are just as important for the functioning of the human body. These are vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Here we look at a key and often delicate issue: how to optimize your micronutrient intake according to your diet, physical effort, etc.

Note: this is also the very problem of “nutritional therapy”, which is a branch of medicine that is interested in studying the optimized intake of macro- and micronutrients for each individual according to his own characteristics.

In general, we recommend eating as many vegetables as possible (preferably organic, and seasonal, of course!). In addition, if almost all carbohydrates could be obtained from vegetables, that would be ideal, but they are too low in calories and you must consume kilograms (which is still possible, especially on a diet, since in such a situation the Conversion of small carbohydrates into which we we have the right to eat vegetables can be good advice for filling the stomach with less calories.

Don’t neglect any fruits, sources of powerful antioxidants (in particular, red fruits, which, due to their absorbent pulp, absolutely prefer organic if you can).

In addition to this diet, we recommend cooking as much as possible with garlic and spices that provide excellent antioxidants.

Aside from this common sense, it seems very important to supplement with vitamin D3 during the dark months (September-October to March-April in general).

Vitamin D experts recommend approximately 1000 IU of D3 per 15 kg body weight, or 5000 IU / day for a 75 kg person.

In all cases, we advise you to monitor your blood levels of vitamin D3 (knowing that experts recommend a level between 50 and 80 ng / ml).

For the rest (vitamins C, E, zinc, magnesium, etc.), although we ourselves are firmly convinced of its usefulness, we allow you to judge the need for daily supplements or indirectly, without intending to replace us with a doctor or prescribe recipe online.

However, all the best value for money supplements are listed in the following topic: Best Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.

4 Addons

Powdered nutritional supplements are highly recommended.

They are practical, easy to use and inexpensive. Also, there is no compelling reason to “sulk” at them or imagine that there is something “unnatural” behind it.

Historically, people have sought to extract and concentrate macronutrients from food:

• Carbohydrates extracted from cane or sugar beet gave icing sugar. But powdered sugar is consumed excessively, and this does not shock anyone, and if there was a real food poison for ordinary people, it would be good …

• The lipids that are extracted and concentrated can take different forms: oil when they are extracted from milk, or butter when they are extracted from plants. Again, butter on a slice of bread in the morning or used in cooking does not shock anyone, although it must be admitted that it can hardly be worse nutritionally as lipid intake …

At the height of the roof, the combination of butter and sugar is very often appreciated, the centerpiece of almost all desserts, when it is really arsenic in a velvet coat …

In short, you will understand that there is nothing natural in extracting sugar from sugar beets, especially since only 135 kg of sugar is required per ton!

Why is the protein from milk or whey suddenly shocking?

Why do you pretend the athlete is “cheating” or “gaining benefits” on the pretext that they are taking protein powder when the chocolate flash seems perfectly normal and rewarding? Not to mention, from a nutritional point of view, the former is 1000 times more recommended than the latter!

The fruit of misinformation and ignorance, no doubt …

In the end, there is no argument for every reasonable man not to use protein powder. Since refractories cannot have scientific reasons, there are only emotional references explaining the mistrust of recalcitrant substances (and when the latter basically refuse to use protein powder when eating desserts, you know from the very beginning that their case is hopeless).

Besides this tie, we recommend supplements to your workouts:

For a more detailed explanation of each of them, we recommend that you refer to the following articles by Julien: