Weight gain diet plan

Gaining mass cannot be improvised, it is a long-term job combining muscle training and diet adapted accordingly.

Zoom in on our dietary advice to gain muscle and our 4 gourmet snack recipes to make you happy while eating while following your sporting goal.

Don’t think that a muscle-building diet program means chomping on fast food and eating anyhow. On the contrary, your muscles need a lot of calories from your metabolism when you spend in the weight room or at home, with our personalized sports coaching program, to work the muscle groups of your choice. A diet based on animal proteins (red meat) or vegetable proteins (legumes) is particularly essential to gain muscle mass during your sports training.

Weight gain diet program: what to avoid

Before we get into the details of nutritional advice for building muscle mass, let's now take a look at what to avoid eating while on a muscle-building diet program.

Ban sweet and ultra-processed products from your diet

Sodas, pastries, candies, ready meals or other ultra-processed foods should be banned from your diet to ensure your muscle growth. Indeed, these hyper-concentrated carbohydrate products will rather bring you fat gain. The overconsumption of carbohydrates leads to weight gain, you risk developing cardiovascular diseases. Without going overboard, these industrial products do not promote optimal mass gain. No more Netflix parties and pizza delivery if you want to succeed in your weight gain program!

Lipid intake: bad fats to avoid

Trans fats and saturated fats should be avoided if you want to burn fat and gain muscle size. Indeed, they promote fat gain and increase the risk of cardiovascular accidents. Instead, turn to unsaturated fats: unsaturated omega 3, omega 6, omega 9 fatty acids by diversifying your diet:

Omega 9: avocados, nuts and olive oil
Omega 6: sunflower seeds, corn oil, sesame oil
Omega 3: raw spinach, nuts, flax seeds. Fish lover, you can indulge yourself by consuming fatty fish such as salmon, herring, tuna or sardines.

Omega 3s are a source of energy for protein synthesis and for rebuilding your muscle fibers, and increases the ability to use fat for energy for your muscles. Clearly, they allow you to use your fat as a source of energy, and thus limit its development, for the benefit of muscle development. By consuming oils rich in omega 3, you facilitate protein synthesis, that is to say the assimilation of amino acids by your body allowing you to rebuild your muscle tissue more quickly after an intensive weight training session. A complex metabolic process then comes into play and helps you gain muscle mass day after day: omega 3s then participate in the reconstruction and development of your muscle tissue.

Food supplements VS food program and homemade dishes

We are not particularly opposed to the consumption of dietary supplements like fish oil that help you increase your consumption of unsaturated fats. You can also use protein powder to whip up gourmet snacks (as you'll appreciate in our recipes in the last part of this article). Of course, everyone does what they want with their body and their diet to build muscle mass in their biceps or abs, but it's always good to prepare your protein meals at home to support your mass gain. Why always think of the easy way by bringing in your sports bag an easily consumable food supplement and not concocting yourself gourmet snacks? Indulge yourself with your homemade snacks, whether you're training outside or lifting weights in the weight room!

Just like those who follow a weight loss diet program, we recommend that you follow our diet program which adapts to your body mass gain needs. The Featness app accompanies you in your daily diet.

Eating all your protein at the same meal: a beginners mistake

It is strongly recommended to split the diet with snacks and snacks rich in protein consumed around sports training. Indeed, it is more efficient to proportionally disperse the protein intake of the day in order to maximize muscle synthesis. For example, if you weigh 70 kg and consume 30 g of protein per meal (with a base of 3 meals per day), plus a few snacks of 5 to 10 g, this diet is more effective than if you consume 10 g for breakfast and dinner and the rest for lunch. In short, it is advisable to eat throughout the day, hence the major role of protein snacks in your bodybuilding program.

What is a protein snack ?

The anabolic window, the perfect time to consume your snacks

A protein snack is a little help to gain energy but above all to optimize your mass gain. The best time to take it is after your workout. This is the “anabolic window,” a period that gets shorter with repetitions of strength training exercises, during which the body absorbs up to 50% more protein. In short, it is a protein and amino acid intake between 30 and 90 minutes after your weight session that helps you rebuild the micro tears caused by playing sports and allows you to build muscle mass. quickly.

The pre-workout snack: a mix of carbohydrates and proteins

The best type of special weight gain menu is to combine a source of carbohydrate with a source of protein in the pre-workout snack. Carbohydrates will ensure a good level of energy during physical activity while protein will help to prolong the level of energy if the exercise lasts and provide the amino acids necessary for the reconstruction of the muscles immediately after working out with our many videos of exercises and sports training.

4 gourmet protein snack recipes to make you happy and effectively support your mass gain

What could be better than going to the kitchen to manage your nutrition, and making your own snacks yourself? In the kitchen!

Homemade protein bars: what's better than this snack that you can put in your gym bag?

Quick and easy to make, it's a must-have in any weight gain diet plan. For the ingredients, we suggest you mix the three sources of nutrients in terms of calorie intake:

Oatmeal, a favorite with bodybuilders for carbohydrate intake

The main source of protein is your protein powder, a source of protein that is slower to be assimilated by the body: whey protein or casein. You choose what you want but a 50/50 ratio is relevant

Finally, the lipids are also of good quality if you include peanut puree (unsaturated fatty acids - mainly omega-6) in your recipe.

The recipe for homemade protein bars (20 bars): the ingredients

• 500 grams of oatmeal
• 100 grams of acacia honey (2 to 3 tablespoons). You can also take agave syrup, the important thing being to use a sweetener with a limited glycemic index.
• 80 grams of peanut puree (about 2 tablespoons)
• 160 grams of protein powder
• About 20 cl of water

The recipe for homemade protein bars (20 bars): the procedure to follow

The recipe itself is really simple. Combine the oatmeal and protein powder in a large bowl. Add the peanut puree in several hazelnuts and honey. And finally add the water. For the making of the bars, you can use your imagination. In any case, as soon as the dough is dry, you can put your bars in the refrigerator to keep them.

The super shake: a high protein drink to optimize your sports training

The shake, a protein drink suitable for a weight gain-oriented diet plan is very easy to make since it contains powdered protein that is mixed with water or a vegetable drink as well as other foods that you can add as you wish: fruits and vegetables in general.

Our favorite recipe, the chocolate caramel protein shake: the ingredients

For one person :

• 30 grams of cottage cheese
• A tablespoon of cocoa (unsweetened to avoid too high a GI)
• 200 ml of unsweetened almond milk
• A date
• 5 ice cubes
• Crumbled hazelnuts
• Pinch of sea salt

The chocolate caramel protein shake: the procedure to follow

Pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend until you get a smooth and uniform shake.

Pour your mixture into a glass and decorate it with your garnishes: peanuts, a pinch or be more whimsical by adding a chocolate sauce with a tablespoon of coconut oil

We now wish you good appétit!

The homemade gainer: a balanced supply of proteins, fats (cashews, almonds) but also (good) carbohydrates

A gainer provides you with extra calories as a snack that you can have before, during or after your workout. It must therefore be balanced! This means that we will find proteins, but also carbohydrates (with moderate GI) and (good) fats. Since industrial gainers are far too rich in high GI carbohydrates (such as dextrose or maltodextrin), we advise you to prepare a homemade gainer because it is much healthier for your body.

The special homemade gainer for muscle mass gain: the recipe

For a sheath of just under half a liter, you will need:

• 50 grams of oatmeal
• 30g of protein powder
• A tablespoon of peanut puree (20 g)
• A tablespoon of low glycemic index honey: acacia, lime or chestnut (20 g)
• A banana
• A water background

The preparation is not complicated: first mix the oatmeal and the protein powder with a blender. Mix everything with the rest of the ingredients and now you have a top house gainer!

A protein porridge or how to start the day in a balanced way, the English way

Start the day with a high protein porridge, it doesn't get better. Especially in winter, this hot and energetic breakfast will warm up your difficult winter awakenings. Protein porridge is simply an improved version of this classic of Anglo-Saxon cuisine.

Protein porridge: the house recipe

For a portion, you will need:

• 50 grams of oatmeal.
• 120 ml of water or skimmed milk or even soy milk
• 2 small bananas
• 2 squares of dark chocolate (or 1 level teaspoon of cocoa powder)
• 1 teaspoon of peanut puree.

To prepare, heat the milk in the saucepan, gradually add the oatmeal, mixing them well before boiling, allowing the flakes to absorb the water and cook for 5/10 minutes. The longer the cooking time, the more tender your porridge will be. Then add your ingredients and it's ready to taste! If you are in a hurry in the morning, in the microwave it works very well too;)

To conclude, we hope these recipes will make your taste buds salivate and help you gain mass. In addition to advising you on dietary recipes, Featness supports you in your sporting goal of mass gain, whether at home or in the gym through your personalized diet plan for your mass gain. What are you waiting for to download our app? Go to Google Play and the App Store

Publié le 28/10/2022