There is popular saying that 'great bodies are made in kitchen', and this is correct for a reason.
Workouts, running, sprinting, weight training and all kind of resistance exercise would not do any good unless you follow an appropriate diet aimed at building muscles at the right places and keep your weight under control.
The following guidelines are specifically for males in persuit of staying fit and developing some great abs.
Given that an average Pakistani man is between the age of mid twenties to late thirties, without any medical condition, dont drink alcohol or smoke. He engages in 60-75 minutes of workout including weight training and resistance exercise at least 6 days a week. These guidelines would help them achieve their goals and discipline their health regime resulting in a healthy muscular body.
The ultimate
body building and fitness goals require a consistent workout regime with
correct nutrition intake.
Great bodies are made in kitchen not soley in gyms.
Daily Dietry Need Summary:
Calories 18-20gmsx165 (your
total body weight)
Total Calorific needs average: 3000-3300
since you are not a professional body builder, or wrestler keep calorie intake
at lower end
20%-30% of
these calories should come from protein, 40%-60% from carbs and
20%-30% from
fat, out of which 5% from saturated fats only
To keep a
balance, your training regime should not burn more calories then you consume,
so calories are utilized to build muscle mass.
The calories
should come every day from;
165gms of
protein
330-500 gms of
carbohydrate
150-170gms of fats
1- Number of Meals/day:
Aim for 6
perfectly balanced meals a day each 450-500 calories.
To build quality
muscle mass at right places, your body needs a constant and even supply of
nutrition dense calories throughout the day for growing muscles.
Balanced meal is key, if you load on one meal
comprising 1000-1200 Cal, your wont be hungry in the next 2-3 hours for your
next meal. Your body wont be able to process that extra calories which will be ultimately
stored as fats and you will gain weight not muscles.
What Makes a Balanced Meal
Your 450-500 Cal
meal plate should be ½ lean protein, ¼ carbohydrate and ¼ fruits and vegetable,
and 30gms of fibre minimum.
2- Proteins:
Protein is the most
important macronutrient for building muscles. The average daily protein intake should be 1.2-2 gms per
pound of body weight. Select protein sources that are lean, complete protein
that is containing all 9 amino acids.
Sources of Complete Animal
Protein:
Try
consuming following in grilled, baked, BBQ or stir fried form:
-Fish
like Salmon, Tuna, King Fish, Becti, Red Snapper (everyday)
-Eggs
very frequently, 6-8 a day whites with no more then 1-2 with yolk (everyday) its a total nutrition powerhouse.
-Chicken
in moderate quantity (5-6 times a week breast only)
-
Red meat beef or Mutton- occasionally (1-2 times a week)
-
Milk (drink everyday, if you want to drink several glasses use reduced fat or
skimmed milk or better soya or almond milk)
Eating meat
curries, shorba, and salaans can be tasty but they generally are fat laden and
spices can create digestion issues.
If you have to have them make sure, they
are cooked in olive oil, flavoured with fresh herbs, whole spices (sabat garam
masala) tomatoes and no ground red chillies and sparingly using other ground
spices.
Plant Sources Of
proteins;
-Soya
Products- make burger patty of soya beans, eat roasted soya nuts, tofu, drink
soya milk
-
Beans and lentils: choose whole
mung and masoor beans, Chana/gram/chickpeas, red kidney beans, fava beans,
broad beans etc. eat them in soups, salads, low fat low spice herbed curries,
in chats, and salads.
3- Carbohydrates:
Unlike weight
watchers, the muscle builders need to load up on good carbs. You body uses glycogen for weight training, and complex carbohydrates replenish that.
Ensure an intake of 330-500gms of good carbs everyday, which means at least
55-70gms in every meal. Unprocessed and complex carbohydrates are best choices for building muscles. Rice, pasta, potatoes and bread are complex carbs, but they become unhealthy choices if you eat white and refined ones.
Rule
of thumb choose whole grain fibrous carbs for all your staple part of meals.
Food
choices can include, multigrain whole wheat bread/chappatis, unpolished
wholegrain Basmati rice, Quinoa grain (it is 50% protein and Number-1 staple
choice), Steel cut oats, Oat meal, Rye Bread, Sweet potatoes.
Avoid puris and parathas at
all cost. Omit all simple sugars such as chocolate, soft drinks, cakes, mithai, sweet biscuits.
Besides
milk, fruit and vegetable also provides good carbs as well.
Carbs play an
important part both in even flow of energy to help build muscles and get you
through the workout. The timing of loading on carb is important for sportsmen
or individual following rigorous workouts.
Loading on a slow digesting carbohydrate
before workout and a fast digesting after workout is great practice.
Before Workout:
Load on slow digesting carbs, like fruits apple, pear, bananas, steel cut whole
grain oats, or multigrain bread. You will be less tired during workouts, and
burn more fat.
After Workout:
Eat a fast digesting carbohydrate like fresh orange juice, ORS solution, a
baked sweet potato. This will raise the insulin level driving the cardbohydrate to
muscles where it aids in protein synthesis to build grow muscle fibres.
Totally avoid
sports drink, they are expensive and quick fix, you can get same results with a
glass of ORS or lemonade made with brown sugar, salt and lemon juice. This
is enough to keep the balance of sodium and electrolytes post workout.
To keep growing
and maintaining the muscle fibres, a selection of good fats in every meal is
what you need to care for. The 15%-20% of daily calories intake should come
from carefully chosen fat sources that contain monounsaturated and
polyunsaturated fats, out of which at least 5% can be saturated fats.
Include
the following in your diet:
-
Olive
oil, coconut and canola oil
-
Olive
butter, Peanut butter
-
Avacado
-
Peanuts
-
Pumpkin
seeds, almonds (for snacks, cereals and salads)
-
Flax
seeds, add 1-2 tsp of flax seed meal in cereals every day
For
Saturated Fats:
-
red
meat
-
dairy
butter, full cream milk,
-
yougurt
-
Maintaining
optimum level of testrones is very important for muscle building, and avoiding
weight gain. So eating some saturated fats are good for it.
5- Hydration:
Extremely vital
to keep your muscles hydrated all the time, or else your muscles will have hard
time recovering. Drink 3 litres of water minimum sipping throughout the day.
6- Micronutrients (Minerals and Vitamins):
As you consume good sources
of macronutrient, including Minerals and Vitamins are equally important for
maintenance of healthy disease free body. Eat plenty of green vegetable, like
spinach, mustard greens, broccoli, lettuce, and other salad green, add plenty
of fresh green herbs to flavour your meals like mint, cilantro/coriander,
basil, Oregano, dill etc.
7- Sample Meals Plans
The key to developing beautiful muscles under
that shirt is to eat what you like and enjoy but following the guidelines
given. If you're not eating what you like, it'll be harder to consistently
follow through with your diet.
Sample
diet to give you a better idea of what you might eat
in a day:
Sample-1
▪
Breakfast: egg-white omelet with
smoked salmon or chicken breast; multigrain toast; banana.
▪
Pre-lunch snack: mixed
nuts; apple, lassi.
▪
Lunch: tuna/grilled
fish salad with olive oil, onions and olives; multigrain bread.
▪
Pre-workout snack: cottage
cheese with strawberries/peaches/pears.
▪
Post-workout snack: low fat
lassi; sauted spinach/Homemade Protein Shake.
▪
Dinner: Grilled Snapper fillet/pan
seared snapper/ chicken breast with quinoa; stir-fry with carrots, onions,
peas, and peppers.
|
Sample-2
7:30 a.m. Breakfast:
Boiled 2 large whole eggs, 2 large egg whites
1 cup plain cooked steel cut oats/oatmeal cereal
Large sliced banana
10 a.m. Midmorning Snack
sandwich with 2 slices whole-wheat bread, roast chicken breast
, rocket leaves, low-fat cheese
and mustard, Any seasonal fruit
1 p.m. Lunch
6 oz. lean Beef shami kebab/Chicken
Qeema sauted in light
spices and herbs
2 cup bran rice
1 cup steamed broccoli
/spinach
3 p.m. Midday snack
I chicken tikka/200
2 slices whole-wheat
bread
sandwich
1/2 avocado
5 p.m. Pre-workout
1 glass homemade protein shake with
2 slices
whole-wheat bread/multigrain muffin
7:30 p.m. Dinner
8 oz.
Salmon/King Fish panseared or grilled/chicken or lean beef steaks
roasted sweet potato or quinoa grain
1 cup suated
spinach/green salad plate
10:30 p.m. Bedtime
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
2-3 Tbsp.
peanut butter/handful of almonds with a glass of whole milk
|
8- Quick Tips: Change starts from your grocery shopping that reflects on the food that turns up on your table and finally your bodies show it.
Mark the following:
- Buy all lean meat, i.e without fat, and cook with minimum oil. Buying expensive cuts of lean meat then cooking it in lots of oil/butter/ghee is a waste.
- Flax Seeds meal (powder it at home enough for 2-3 days supply, the flax seed meal/powder gets rancid if stored for more then few days)
- Balanced meals Keep reminding yourself to balance every single meal you take during the day
- Count Calories and Nutrition; To keep track of your nutrition and calories intake download and use any one of the Calorie and nutrition counting apps
- Avoid processed food; try to limit all packaged, bottled, tinned foo
-Cottage Cheese; learn to make your own cottage cheese at home and use that in your meals
- Sodas and sugary drinks: all boxed bottled carbonated drinks, juices and such should be avoided, added sugars are empty calories
- Learn to Cook: Most Pakistani men rely on others to cook for them, remember it is your Abs and body, so work for it yourself, or join cooking with mom, sister, wife or whoever is the executive chef of your family.
- Share your Success: send me some images once you begin getting those abs and the images and details of your meals
- Tweet for qs: For questions and concerns twitter @FSKamal
Note:
Feature yourself in this blog. I have not put any images on this block, people who follow some of these and get good result can send their images of themselves showing the abs, biceps or their meals. I will feature them here.
