Nutrition

Nutrition is extremely important in bodybuilding, but fortunately it is also very simple. Basically a good bodybuilding diet equals a normal healthy diet plus three big protein shakes per day. Can it be any simpler? For those of you who didn't learn at school how a normal healthy diet looks like, I recommend you to do some research on the internet. I also advise you to take a look at my section on losing body fat.

Calories

The total number or calories that you daily eat and drink is very important. If you take in more calories than your body burns, you will gain weight. If you take in fewer calories than your body burns, you will lose weight. The number of calories that you burn during a typical day (= daily caloric need) depends on your gender, age, body weight, lean body mass, length and physical activity, and can easily be calculated (search the formula on the internet). If you want to build muscle mass, your calorie intake should be equal to or a few hundred calories higher than your daily caloric need. If you want to lose body fat your calorie intake should be equal to or a few hundred calories lower than your daily caloric need.

I personally eat between 3,000 and 3,500 calories per day when I train 5 days per week. Bodybuilders who are using anabolic steroids consume much more calories; they burn usually about twice as many calories. The really big bodybuilders that use steroids often eat between 6,000 and 9,000 calories per day without gaining any body fat.

Note: one gram of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, and alcohol contain 4, 4, 9, and 7 calories, respectively. One kilogram (2.2 lbs) of body fat contains 7,000 cals.

Healthy Diet

If you want to learn some general things about a healthy diet, please search the internet. Below I provide some of my personal opinions on the most important nutrients, and I say something about their relevance in a bodybuilding diet.

Water

Water is the most important nutrient for almost any living organism. Drinking a lot is healthy, especially for the kidneys. Drink about 3 liters of water per day (milk and juice contain about 90% water). Don't drink too much alcohol, caffeine and sugar containing drinks. Unless your workouts take longer than 1 hour, there is no real need to drink or eat during your workouts.

Protein

Protein is without any doubt the most important nutrient for any bodybuilder. Eat at least 1 gram of animal protein for each pound of your body weight (1 kg = 2.2 lbs). I personally eat about 300 grams of protein per day. A high daily intake of protein is an absolute requirement to make muscle growth possible, and protein is excellent in reducing the hunger feeling during a low calorie diet. Good sources of protein are milk, eggs, poultry, meat and fish.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the best source of energy for bodybuilders as they are easily converted into glycogen, the main form of stored energy in the muscles. Avoid sugars and other carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (blood glucose levels increase fast after ingestion, causing an insulin peak). Good sources of carbohydrates are vegetables, fruit, milk, pasta, rice, bread, potatoes and cereal.

Fat

Keep your fat intake limited. Avoid saturated fats, which are usually from animal origin. Good sources of fat are fish oil, and vegetable oils such as olive oil.

Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients for a good health. However, if you follow a normal healthy diet, especially if you regularly include some fresh fruit and vegetables, you will have plenty of all vitamins and minerals. Extra vitamins or minerals will certainly not stimulate muscle growth or body fat reduction.

Nicotine, alcohol, caffeine and other addictive drugs

I don't believe it is possible to be a successful true natural bodybuilder if you are addicted to any of these drugs, especially nicotine (tobacco).

Protein Shakes

Protein shakes are the simplest, least expensive, and most effective way to turn your normal healthy diet into an effective bodybuilding diet. I recommend you to drink three big protein shakes per day in between your other meals. Blend about 90 grams of milk protein powder (= about 70 grams of pure protein) with 0.66 liter of non-fat milk. Each protein shake will then contain about 90 grams of high quality protein, 30 grams of lactose (which is a very good carbohydrate with a low glycemic index), maximum a few grams of fat, and a total of about 500 calories. Adjust the size of your shakes to your personal needs.

For those who are lactose intolerant I recommend to use egg protein powder and soy milk, juice or plain water to prepare your protein shakes. There also exists protein powder that is very low in lactose, very interesting for lactose intolerant people (usually produced from whey protein by ion exchange or filtration). For those of you who have problems digesting proteins, I recommend you to use low molecular weight whey protein powder, which is partially predigested by enzymes into small protein peptides.

When I was still studying at the university and didn't have access to protein powder, I used to drink a gallon (3.8 liters) of non-fat milk per day, eat three eggs per day, and lots of turkey, chicken breasts and tuna instead of protein shakes. In the mean time I have tried many brands and kinds of protein powder, and I find all of them equally effective.