Bodybuildings 12 Biggest Nutritional Mistakes

By: MuscleSports.net

Stop making nutritional mistakes that are slowing or even stoping your progress!

A list of the twelve biggest mistakes made by countless bodybuilders.

There is an old saying in bodybuilding that nutrition is 90% of the battle, well folks that saying is right on the button more than most realize. Champions have touted this phrase many times in the past but most trainers are always looking for that quick fix stardom on the posing dais. Well there are none so get a clue and shape up your diet with these twelve hints for the blunders you've been making.

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Eating Too Many Calories:
Excessive calories are always stored as body fat. To talk about this first is not by mistake, because we see this problem all the time. In talking to trainers all the time and having them describe their diets to us, you would believe how many calories their packing away at each meal and the shakes their cramming in between meals in the hope of adding muscle to their frames. We got news for most of you that ten pounds you put on last month is probably mostly fat. Why are you killing yourself everyday at the gym to add layers of fat over the muscle your desiring to show off. A little restraint in this area works. Building quality muscle without adding allot of fat requires that you eat proportion in the right amount and not stuff yourself. Don't try that I am eating clean routine in excess even clean nutrients end up as excess. Stop trying to stuff yourself ever 3hr's, this crap started in the early 90's and should have died then also because its bad advice (discussed later). A easy reference checker is to look in the mirror each week before weighing yourself, if your abs have blurred considerably then adjust accordingly or increase your cardio to elevate the excess. Be smart when eating and you will gain solid mass not a lot of fat.
Eating Too Few Calories:
Under eating is as bad as overeating. Physiologically, it's impossible to build muscle if your diet lacks proper nutrients. Ample amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and yes, even fat are necessary to build muscle. The trick is balance; you need enough high quality food to grow muscle. Yet even the finest muscle fuel will be stored as fat if taken in excess. One key strategy is to confine your eating to 'clean fuel', nutritionally dense foods with little or no fat and sugar. And you need to eat plenty of them. A serious weight trainer who additionally performs regular cardiovascular work will need to the extra nutrients to cope with the additional metabolic demands.
Not getting enough Protein:
The fact remains that protein is the single most important nutrient to help you grow muscle that exist. With that said, there are many different sources of protein such as: beef, fish, pork, poultry, soybeans, and supplements. We have had people email us their diets and done analysis on them for nutrient content and you would be amazed how low protein content is. Most think they are getting allot more then the actually are getting. Our rule of thumb is 2.5 grams for the average trainer per-pound of body weight. For hardcore lifter we recommend 3.5 grams because of the extra demands of heavy training. Try to keep your protein choices lean and void of excess fat. This doesn't mean avoiding beef or even pork but hold them to lean cuts. Now we will say something most may not agree with, but 75-80% of your daily protein should come from your diet and not supplements. Supplements are great and discussed later, but dietary protein feeds any nourishes the body in more way and give a sense of fullness to the body.
Learn to COOK!:
This should be a no-brainer but you would be surprised how many people (bodybuilders) don't know the first thing about cooking. If you won't to be a complete bodybuilder you need to know something about how your food is prepared and cooked even if you're eating in restaurants. There is a big difference in the use of corn oil vs. canola oil or even canola oil vs. olive oil. Learning to cook also lets you and more flavor to those same old tired meals you've been scarfing down for the pas couple of years. So get off you ass break out the Betty Crocker Cookbook, alert the fire department and start cooking!
Keep Track of what you eat:
This is a easy one with all that's been discussed before. Write down what you eat at the beginning of each new diet twist for at least seven days so to get a good idea of what your consuming so adjustments can be made to clear up any problems. It's much easier to adjust things when you know what to adjust, so start tracking your eating to correct those mistakes.
Get rid of the junk:
Fat is calorie wise is the densest of all nutrients, with nine calories per gram. Fat is hard to digest and is the body's preferred storage material. Though a certain amount of fat is needed for brain and other bodily functions, the little that's required is easily acquired through regular low fat eating.
Excess sugar is easily converted to fat once in the body. Buyers beware: A food may be advertised as low fat and still be loaded with sugar. Taken in excess, this sugar can be quickly converted to fat. Quite a few a few of the sports drinks and nutritional sports bars are loaded with sugar. Limit fat intake to roughly 15% of your total caloric consumption.
Keep hydrated:
Water flows throughout your body's plumbing all day, drinking good amounts throughout the day keeps the pipes clean as chrome. So flush the system continually and regularly, regenerating muscle cells through water replenishment. Drink 10 eight-ounce glasses of water a day.
Keep your nitrogen balance high:
Now here is where the stuff about eating every 3hrs comes into play. Because nitrogen balance is crucial to muscle growth and amino acid pools need to be restored every 2.5 to 3.5 hrs so these physiological events can take place. We have noticed that these gaps are nicely bridged with a small nutritious meal like a protein bar. These seem to work as a good alternative overeating.
Eat balanced meals:
How you metabolize food is an individual thing and needs to be tailored to your specific needs. Some people need to have more fiber to help digestion; other may have to limit starches to avoid excess weight gain. Food balance is a tricky thing and you need to determine how foods affect you. Rule of thumb for proportional balance: 50% calories from carbs, 35% from protein and 15% from fat. This is a good starting point, and careful monitoring once on this 50-35-15 regimen will dictate any necessary adjustments.
Eat every 3.5 - 4 hours not every 2.5 - 3 hours:
Here is the problem of eating every 3hrs, your food is never being fully digested. Digestion begins in the mouth, then passes to the Esophagus where it stay for a couple of minutes, next is the stomach where it sits for at least 3.5 hrs, small intestine next for a few minutes, finally the large intestine for a few hours. No you add that up and tell me how the hell you can eat every 2.5 - 3.0 hrs (when food is still in your stomach) and expect to receive all the nutrient benefits from your diet. This is one of the biggest reasons for all the distended bellies you see now on stages at bodybuilding contest. Wake up, getting four complete meals a day is a shit load better than 5-6 incomplete meals any day and having digestive issues. Oh-Yea, pro bodybuilders have major intestinal and kidney problems from such eating. Beside you can always have a protein shake when you wake up in the middle of the night?
Learn to use supplements correctly:
We all have little holes and shortcomings in our diets, and supplements help us round them out. All elite athletes use supplements. The expense, hassle and confusion of diet supplementing scares off some trainers. Big mistake. Start with lets say a pre-packaged multi-pack. In addition, a quality protein powder, a high grade carbohydrate powder, and a big supply of high quality beef liver tabs will do wonders for your recuperation, training, and physique.
Stop chasing the magic bullet(supplement):
Last stop chasing all the new cramp flooding the magazines each month saying its the next best thing since sliced bread. There are NO magic bullets in life , it's just hard work and more hard work. Let us sort the supplement crap from the good, and we'll tell you the straight scoop.