Eat Quality Foods: Don't Skimp On Your Fruits And Veggies!
By consuming low glycemic index carbs, such as oatmeal and sweet potatoes as suggested above, one can limit the insulin output from their carb meals. For low carb meals I recommend consuming green vegetables and fruit.
Green vegetables and fruit are both low GI carbs and contain fiber and numerous nutrients. On top of that, they are very filling. An example of a low-carb meal would be 4-6 oz. of chicken with 1 cup green beans and 1/2 an apple.
In addition to carbs and protein, one should add fat to their meals to decrease insulin output, prolong digestion time, and to provide essential fatty acids (EFA). Examples of good fats include almonds and almond butter, peanuts and peanut butter, avocados, and flax and olive oil. One could simply add 20 almonds to the above meal to obtain their EFAs.
Don't Slack On Non-Workout Day Nutrition
You grow outside of the gym. Weight training provides the stimulus for growth, but your diet governs your growth. Your diet should be just as strict on non-workout days as on workout days. More than anything your total caloric intake will govern how much weight, muscle, and fat you gain
While the above guidelines will help limit your fat gains, your overall caloric intake is the number one factor that will decide if you gain fat. If you overeat you will probably gain some fat. So start by eating 250-500 calories over your maintenance caloric intake and increase calories when weight/muscle gains stall.
Endomorphs
I want to note that throughout this article, when I talk about endomorphs I am referring to a person's natural phenotype and genetic make-up, not someone who is overweight simply due to years of a sedentary lifestyle and overeating.
The primary factor that determines whether you gain or lose weight is your caloric intake (how many calories you eat). If you eat more calories than you burn (hypercaloric diet) you will gain weight and if you burn more calories than you eat (hypocaloric diet) you will lose weight.
When you eat exactly the same amount of calories as you burn it is called a maintenance caloric diet. Endomorphs trying to gain muscle need to eat a hypercaloric diet like anyone else who wants to gain weight, but they do not want to eat too many calories above maintenance.
A simple calculation to determine your maintenance caloric intake is to take your body weight and multiply it by 15; this gives you your total calories to be consumed eat day. For example, a 200 pound person would consume 3,000 calories a day. Now this is a very basic way to determine your maintenance caloric intake and should be used as a starting point. When weight gain stalls increase your calories by 200. Continuing with our example, this person would then eat 3,200 calories a day.
In addition to controlling your caloric intake, as an endomorph you want to control insulin secretion. This can be done by limiting carbohydrate consumption, especially high glycemic carbohydrates. Managing your insulin levels will allow you to keep your gains leaner.
Control Your Caloric Intake And Meal Size With Frequent Small Meals
One way to control your caloric intake is to eat frequent small meals. Going long periods of time with no food causes your body to send signals to the brain telling it the body needs food. If you eat sporadic meals you will most likely overeat on those meals.
It is better to eat smaller, more frequent meals to prevent overeating. Eating smaller meals allows causes insulin secretion to be more controlled. Eating a 400 calorie meal will result in less insulin secretion than eating a 1,000 calorie meal (macronutrient content aside).
Limit Total Carbohydrate Consumption
One of the physiological mechanisms that cause endomorphs to gain fat easily is poor insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity refers to the cells response to insulin or insulin's efficiency on cells. A cell that is very insulin sensitive needs less insulin to uptake glucose (carbs) than a cell that is insulin insensitive.
Insulin is anti-lipolytic (blunts fat oxidation) and increases fat storage. Therefore, when more insulin is secreted, fat oxidation will be blunted and fat storage will be increased to a greater degree than if their cells were more insulin sensitive. In order to maintain better health one must control insulin.
The consumption of carbohydrates leads to a large output of insulin since insulin is necessary for the uptake of glucose into cells. Eating large amounts of carbohydrates throughout the day will lead to elevated insulin levels, thereby decreases fat oxidation.
Dietary carbohydrates are necessary to gain muscle mass and normal body functioning, therefore they cannot be eliminated from the diet. Instead they should be consumed during specific meals when your body needs them.
Limit Carbohydrates To Specific Meals
Limiting carbohydrates to times when your body needs them will aid in muscle growth and limiting fat gains. I recommend endomorphs to limit their carbohydrates to breakfast and pre/post workout. For example, if someone workouts at 6 PM I would recommend they consume some carbohydrates at breakfast, such as 1/2 cup oatmeal, and post workout, such as 6 oz. sweet potato.
For all other meals they should consume green vegetables and small amounts of fruit. If you workout first thing in the morning, I would recommend following a similar setup, keeping your carbs in your pre- and post-workout meals. As you add calories to your diet you can increase your carb consumption.
If you are eating 6 oz. of sweet potato post workout you can add in an additional 2 oz. sweet potato and 1 TBSP honey (an additional 30 grams of carbs) when you increase your calories. The next step would be increasing your 1/2 cup of oatmeal in meal 1 to 1 cup of oatmeal. Gradually increasing calories is the key for endomorphs to gain lean muscle without gaining fat.
No matter what your schedule is I do not recommend consuming dextrose, maltodextrin, or other high glycemic carbs post workout. High glycemic carbs are a BIG NO-NO for endomorphs. Skeletal muscle has the ability to uptake glucose post workout without "spiking" your insulin levels.
Weight training increases GLUT-4 translocation in skeletal muscle, allowing the muscle to uptake glucose more efficiently. Studies do show that increasing insulin levels post workout does enhance protein synthesis, but I do not feel one needs to jack insulin levels through the roof with dextrose. Due to endomorphs' tendency to have poor insulin sensitivity spiking insulin levels is not ideal for lean mass gain.
Eat Quality Foods: Don't Skimp On Your Fruits And Veggies!
By consuming low glycemic index carbs, such as oatmeal and sweet potatoes as suggested above, one can limit the insulin output from their carb meals. For low carb meals I recommend consuming green vegetables and fruit for endomorphs' carb intake.
Green vegetables and fruit are both low GI carbs and contain fiber and numerous nutrients. On top of that, they are very filling. An example of a low-carb meal would be 4-6 oz. of chicken with 1 cup green beans and 1/2 an apple.
Eat Less On Days You Do Not Workout
On days you don't workout you do not need as many calories as you do on the days you do workout. I recommend isolating your carbs to breakfast only and eating vegetables and fruits for the remainder of your carbs. The amount of carbs you consume on your off days should be adjusted according to the rate you are gaining weight, specifically fat.
If you find you are gaining too much fat, then I recommend reducing your carb intake on your off days. This does not mean that non-workout day's nutrition is less important than a workout day's nutrition, but rather you should just control your carb intake more to decrease fat gains.
Conclusion
There is a lot of attention paid to pre- and post-workout meals and supplements, and rightfully so! But what we are here to tell you is that it is not only those meals that fuel your workout and progress, but the many meals leading up to and following a workout that dictate your performance and results.
Building your dream physique is a 24 hour, 7 day a week job. Your time in the gym is an investment in your physique. Don't ruin your return on investment!
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