If you find yourself going to the gym frequently, yet seeing little results – chances are that’s because you need to improve your diet.

I do speak alot about how to restrict energy and choose the correct food to lose weight, so this is advice on how to GAIN WEIGHT. But, the tricky part is how to gain lean muscle mass and not ending up simply eating too much and looking like a chubby fatty boomba.

How to eat to gain muscle for true fitness:

You must eat high quality protein at every meal

Ideally this protein is derived from animal sources. So if you’re thinking about getting bigger choose protein from whey, casein (cottage cheese), eggs (especially egg whites), lean beef, chicken, turkey (breast meat is leanest), fish, soy protein isolate.

How much protein should you eat?

The USA recommended daily intake for non-active people is 0.8 grams per kg of body weight (or 0.4g/pounds). That’s means if you weight 80kg you need to consume 64g of protein (which is only 21.3g per meal).

However, if you are training hard at the gym it’s increased to 1.4g/kg or (1g/pound) So that means if that 80kg person is hitting the gym hard, they need to eat 112g of protein per day (37.3g per meal).

The experts recommend eating smaller portions more frequently.

I personally do not recommend this theory for weight loss – it encourages snacking. However, for growth of muscle mass there has been success in eating protein at 5 -6 meals throughout the day.

The experts recommend lowering carbohydrate intake (do not cut it out completely), lower salt intake and eat healthy fats.

Also remember, if you are training hard – you need to drink water, take vitamin supplements as you have reduced your vegetable and fruit intake from your diet and make sure you rest and don’t over-train.

If you are living in Singapore, you’d find it extremely hard to find protein dominant food options at local food centres. I’d opt for pre-packing lunch or get used to dropping into Fairprice / Cold storage for tins of tuna/salmon.

Here are some samples of an on-line diets that I found that could be used by someone wanting to gain muscle mass – of course you need to know what weight you are as to how much you should eat!

Example Diet #1. Provides 200g protein.

Breakfast. 3 whole eggs, veggies, orange, green tea.

Snack. 100g Plain fat free yogurt, 1 scoop whey, apple.

Lunch. 1 Can of tuna, roman lettuce, olive oil.

Snack. 100g Mixed nuts

Post Workout Shake. 1 Scoop whey, 300ml milk, oats, banana.

Dinner. 150g Chicken breast, spinach, baby carrots.

Pre bed. 200g Cottage cheese, berries, flax seeds, fish oil.

Example Diet #2: Provides 2,440 calories, 234g of protein, 182g carbs and 81g fat:

8am — Meal 1 Protein Shake + 1 tsp flaxseed oil 432 calories, 42g of protein, 25g of carbs, 14g of fat

11pm — Meal 2 4 Whole Eggs w/ 1 cup of sweet potato 440 calories, 28g of protein, 36g of carbs, 20g of fat

2pm — Meal 3 6 oz. chicken breast with 1/2 cup of rice 319 calories, 50g of protein, 23g of carbs, 7g of fat

5pm — Meal 4 4 whole eggs in a flour tortilla w/salsa 367 calories, 24g of protein, 17g of carbs, 20g of fat

8pm — Meal 5 Protein Shake + 1tsp flaxseed oil 432 calories, 42g of protein, 25g of carbs, 14g of fat

8pm — Meal 6 6 oz grilled tuna with large baked potato, 1 cup of veggies 450 calories, 48g of protein, 56g of carbs, 6g of fat