In order to build lean muscle mass you need to combine an adequate calorie intake with a solid muscle strengthening program. A large number of calories are needed to fuel both workouts and tissue building. While getting enough calories is important, it is also important to get the right kind of calories.
CARBS
Carbohydrate is the predominant energy source for strength training. Stored as glycogen in the muscles, it is the fuel used to supply energy for short, intense bursts of power. The harder and longer you work out, the more glycogen your muscles require. Once these stores of glycogen are gone your energy level will drop and you will run out of fuel to power muscle contractions. For this reason, athletes doing strength training exercise in the hopes of building lean muscle need to have an adequate carbohydrates intake.
Experts recommend at least 500 to 600 grams of carbohydrate per day to keep your muscle glycogen stores high. You can base your personal requirement on the following formula:
3.6gr carb x body wt(lbs)= grams carb/day
For a 140 pound person this is about 504 grams per day or about 2,000 carbohydrate calories and 720 grams or 2,900 carbohydrate calories for a 200-pound person.
PROTEIN
Protein is the basic building material for muscle tissue, and strength trainers need to consume more than the non-exercisers. However, most strength athletes still overestimate their protein needs. Daily protein recommendations for serious strength athletes are about 0.6 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight. That's about 90 to 115 grams of protein/day for the 140-pound athlete and 128 to 164 grams for those weighing 200 pounds.
FAT
After you've met your carbohydrate and protein needs there is room for fat. Fat is an essential nutrient, however, you require a small amount of it to remain healthy. Less than 30% of your total daily calories should come from unsaturated fat.
WATER
In addition to the regular eight glasses of water every day, you need to drink to replace fluids that are lost during exercise. To be confident that you are well hydrated before workouts, drink 2 cups of fluid 2 hours before exercise. During your workout, drink 4 to 8 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes. After exercise, replace any further fluid losses with 16 ounces of water. If you want to be precise, you can weigh yourself before and after workouts. For each pound lost during exercise, you should be drink 16 ounces of fluid.
SPORTS DRINKS
Energy bars and sports drinks may be helpful if exercise lasts longer than 1 hour. Carbohydrate supplements can be useful to help fit adequate carbohydrates into a busy day if you don't have time to eat a meal. Consuming a meal-replacement beverage just after muscle-building exercise is convenient but you can do the same thing with a tuna sandwich, a banana, a bagel or other real food snack. You should try to consume some protein and carbohydrate after your workout in order to fuel muscle growth and replenish glycogen stores for your next workout.
SUPPLEMENTS
Most supplements that are supposed to help build muscle don't work. But some, such as creatine, fluid and electrolyte replacers, carbohydrate supplements, and liquid meal replacers may offer some benefits to strength training athletes.
CREATINE
When combined with a good diet and strength training program, creatine has the potential to produce slightly more power during workouts. Research has also found that loading creatine into the muscles may help speed up muscle gain. While many creatine supplements are available at a price, meat is the best dietary source of creatine. Typical dose for creatine loading is 5 grams of creatine monohydrate four times per day for 5 days. A maintenance dose of 2 grams per day can follow. Taking more than the usual dosage of creatine offers no added benefit. Also, users should be aware that creatine and other popular supplements are subject to little government regulation, so there is no guarantee that they are pur

Carbohydrates are our optimum food source for energy. The brain is totally reliant on carbohydrate energy, requiring 100gms glucose per day to function. Grains and cereals, their by-products, potatoes, starchy vegetables and fruit are the most carbohydrate rich foods. Carbs yield 4kCals/gm.
Carbohydrates can be classified into simple and complex. The simplest unit is glucose and it is glucose that our body converts to energy. Simple Carbs or mono/disaccharides are glucose, sucrose (table sugar) fructose (fruit), maltose (barley), lactose (milk) etc. Complex Carbs are polysaccharides (meaning ‘many’) and contain starch, glycogen and fibre. They are basically the whole grain form of the food.
Carbohydrates should make up about a third of all of the food we eat. Try and go wholegrain where possible and limit the amount of processed foods such as confectionary, white bread, cakes etc. By eating wholegrain, you will have a slower, steadier release of energy as opposed to a ‘sugar rush’ from highly processed foods. It is these highly processed foods that are getting the blame for the increase in obesity and diabetes. Nearly 20% of children under the age of 19 in the United States are overweight and the cases of, what was once known as, ‘adult onset diabetes’ is now a prevalent and growing illness in this age group.
GREAT SOURCES OF CARBS ARE:
1.Wholegrain breakfast cereal
2.Wholegrain breads and pastas
3.Brown rice
4.Potatoes
5.Sweet Potatoes
6.Oats
7.Barley
8.Couscous
9.Maize/Corn
10.Bran
11.Wheat Germ
12.Quinoa
13.Bulgur wheat
14.Lentils
15.Chickpeas
16.Beans
17.Fibre
There are 2 types of fibre, soluble and insoluble and both are extremely beneficial to our health. Most of us don’t eat enough fibre so we should all try and make an effort to choose high fibre foods when possible.
Insoluble Fibre can’t be digested by our bodies. It absorbs water and helps move food along our digestive tract. It creates bulk and so keeps our intestines working hard, which is what they want! A diet rich in insoluble fibre is the key to a healthy bowel. Also, for those wanting to lose a few pounds, fibrous food fill you up with very little calories, so you won’t feel hungry. Examples of insoluble fibre rich foods are wholegrain breads and cereals, pastas and vegetables.
Soluble fibre can be partially digested by our bodies and acts like an internal sponge, mopping up bits of cholesterol, debris and toxins from our digestive tract. It is important in preventing diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke. Fruit, oats and lentils are good sources of soluble fibre.

PROTEIN
Protein is made up of Amino Acids, which in turn are primarily nitrogen based, giving us our principle source of dietary nitrogen. The main sources of protein in our diets are meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, pulses, nuts and seeds and grains. There are only 22 or so amino acids and just like the letters in the alphabet make up different words, amino acids can make up many different types of protein. About 8 Amino Acids are essential (EAA’s), meaning that we need to get them from food as we cannot synthesise them ourselves, the rest are non-essential (nEAA’s), as we can synthesise them ourselves. We class the quality of protein either High or Low. Animal protein contains all 8 of the EAA’s and is considered High Value Protein. Vegetable sources of protein are considered Low Value Protein, as there is usually one or two of the EAA’s missing. If you are a vegetarian, you need to make sure you are getting your protein from a variety of sources, e.g. mix a grain with a pulse, (beans on toast!) to compensate for missing EAA’s. This is called protein complementation.
THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF PROTEIN IS:
Structure: hair, nails, skin, organs, tissue, muscles
Immune system function
Hormone function
Nerve and muscle function
Blood clotting
Enzymes
HOW MUCH DO WE NEED?
We need protein on a daily basis. Men and women have slightly different requirements, primarily due to the extra muscle mass men naturally have. According to the Dietary Intake Reference, an adult female of average build and activity level, aged 19-70 needs 46gms per day and an adult male, 56gms. This requirement will increase if there is increased activity levels and muscle mass due to training. Protein requirements are also increased during pregnancy and breastfeeding and for growing children as their bodies are developing rapidly.
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Roughly 15% your diet should be protein. Too much protein consumption can:
1.Affect and tax the liver and kidney’s
2.Increase Calcium excretion
3.Lead to dehydration
4.Be stored as fat
5.Increase risk of gout
6.Will not increase muscle strength or endurance