Sports Nutrition 101 - Gaining Lean Muscle Mass
9/11/2008 12:00:00 AM
Sept. 11, 2008
Alcohol
Alcohol is a diuretic that can cause severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance which can greatly inhibit athletic performance. In addition - alcohol processes in the body like fat because it yields seven calories/gram (fat yields nine calories/gram; carbohydrate and protein each yield four calories).
Thus, excess alcohol consumption can lead to an increase in body fat storage which can alter optimal body composition for athletes. The social environment surrounding alcohol also contributes to excess calories because there is typically a late-night fast food meal followed be a lack of sleep and decreased amount of time to properly recover. A good, yet do-able recommendation is to limit alcohol to little or none during season and drink moderately, if at all, in the off season. Alcohol can have detrimental effects on your performance as an athlete.
Weight Gain
Gaining weight alone is not the only goal; the goal should be to gain lean muscle mass. In order to gain a pound a week - an athlete has to consume 3,500 extra calories that is not burned off in exercise. Increasing daily caloric intake by 500 calories/day for seven days should result in one pound of weight gain in a week.
The additional food should come from quality calories which are nutrient dense whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fat. If you add lots of unhealthy fat to your diet in order to get calories (cram sauce, dressing, fried food, etc), you will likely add unwanted fat to your body too. So, the goal is to consume healthy calories often!
Examples:
Tips:
