The Indian Diet Plan for Gaining Muscle

Building strong muscles or gaining healthy weight is not so easy as burning fat. But you have to be disciplined and motivated while following a diet during your muscle gain. A healthy and nutritious meal is significant to gain muscles and weight. Every fitness enthusiast is interested in making a lot of muscles which is very hard to make. Dense and strong muscles are very significant for the body. The routine for the Indian diet for muscle gain is vital for those who are having fit and healthy goals. Besides enhancing the appearance, muscles also maintain and boost the metabolism for the right body position and body posture.

One of the vital steps in muscle building is to eat fresh, clean, and healthy. A well-balanced diet plan with enormous protein amounts, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates is the key to achieving fitness goals. Most health fitness enthusiasts in India 2023 are always looking for a diet that will give them essential nutrition and fit within the specific budget. In this write-up, we will share some of the best diets that will help you to become a muscle and mass gainer efficiently and safely.

Advantages of Different Nutrients Inclusion in the Diet

If you search for various foods meant for muscle-building purposes on the internet, you will come across various fancy items like exotic vegetables, fruits like blueberries, different meat varieties, different types of cheese, lettuce, and kale. These food items will not be just costly but are also not available in the market. Also, you can buy these items for a few times, but maintaining them for a long period will be a bit difficult for you. Thus it is impractical to follow a western-influenced meal plan for the Indians in their daily life. It will also not help to achieve the bodybuilding objectives in the extended period.

The staple Indian diet consists of seasonal vegetables, dal, rice, and rotis. It remains constant in almost every household with a difference in their cooking style. So we will guide you about the inclusion of various nutrients in the diet with no difficulty. We have divided the nutrient categories into two segments which are vegetarians and non-vegetarian. Below we have shared a basic guideline for planning an efficient diet for muscle gain.

Carbohydrates:

An average Indian person should include a high-calorie diet and consume 500 more calories than their average daily intake. Carbohydrates are the chief source of calories in the human body. One gram of carbs offers four calories. Thus based on your daily calorie consumption, you should decide on the carbs number that you should include in the diet. Nearly 45 to 55% of the daily calorie intake should be available from carbohydrates. Some of the primary sources of carbohydrates include fruits, potatoes, whole grains, sweet potato, bread, and many more. Most athletes or bodybuilders require almost 3000 calories of fat to get bigger. But remember that everyone comes with an intake of different calorie levels based on their fitness levels, metabolic levels, and goals.

Multivitamins:

Vitamin D is undoubtedly one of the most vital nutrition necessary for enhanced mental health, strong bones, protein synthesis, and hormones. Along with this, other multivitamins are significant for muscle and bodybuilding like Vitamin C, E, and B. Most bodybuilders neglect the intake of vitamins in their diet plan. They focus only on the intake of more and more protein leading to the ignorance of the micronutrients in the body, especially multiple vitamins. But you should always plan your intake of micro vitamins in the diet plan.

Protein:

If you are searching for building muscles, you should consume at least 1.5 to 2 grams of protein for every kg of body weight. Also, the protein that you will be consuming should be a high-quality lean protein that will include low carbohydrate, fat, and calorie content. These protein sources include cooked breast chicken pieces, eggs, nuts, fish, peas, cottage cheese, legumes, sprouted and cooked beans, greek yogurt, and many more.

We have a conception that a high protein diet might affect the overall health and kidney. And due to this myth, we completely ignore the significance of protein inclusion in our diet. According to a study, it is seen that a healthy individual with a protein intake displays no harmful signs of renal function. It is applicable even when they consume almost 2 grams of protein for each KG of weight. Another research shows the presence of no safety concern between the high protein meal plans and heart disease for bodybuilders and athletes.

Fats:

Fat also comes with a special value for muscle building. Like carbohydrates, fats also make you fuller after a meal. The body uses fat to create energy. This nutrition also assists in Vitamin A, D, K, and E and maintains the perfect testosterone levels in the human body to enhance muscle density. Always select monounsaturated, unprocessed, and polyunsaturated sources of fat in the diet. Stay away from the diet that contains saturated, trans, and processed fats. Olives, avocados, and nuts are some of the primary fat sources. You should acquire a minimum of 10 to 20% of the calories from the healthy and fatty foods in your diet.

Fiber:

Fiber also plays a significant role in muscle building and offers you benefits that will decrease the LDL levels, prevents any constipation, stabilizes the blood glucose levels, and fights against cancer too.

Diet Plan for Muscle Gain

For building strong and healthy muscles, you will require a meal that will provide 500 more calories than your daily requirements. It is because the body will need fuel for muscle repair, and you will get this fuel by offering and burning the required calories. You might also include some lean meat in your diet plan that will repair all the muscles and make them healthy and strong. Non-vegetarian food contains plenty of protein, making it simpler to create muscles. Chicken breast is a better selection among the lean protein as in it out of 100 grams, and it only offers 31 grams of protein, 3.6 grams of fat, zero carbohydrates, and 165 calories to the human body.

But in the vegetarian diet, the meal plan consists of more carbohydrates and more protein. It is only significant to understand that carbohydrates are the primary reason for fat accumulation in the body. Carbohydrate-enriched food adds more calories to the body and will also cause you to become a Weight Gainer. Vegetarians need to plan their meal chart in such a way that it will decrease the consumption of carbohydrates and enhance protein intake.

Plant-dependent protein powder is a high protein source for vegetarians. You might also consume cheese, oats, dal, yogurt, chana, different types of beans, seeds, and nuts to obtain protein in your diet. You have to lessen your carbohydrate intake by removing the consumption of chapattis, potatoes, and rice from your meal plan.

Meal	Non-Vegetarian	Vegetarian
Pre Breakfast or Wake up meal	Shake of Whey protein and one large to medium-sized seasonal fruit	Shake of Whey protein and one large to medium-sized seasonal fruit
Breakfast	Milk, oatmeal, nuts, and eggs	Three medium pieces paneer paratha or paneer bhurji, low fat or Greek yogurt, one medium bowl of sprout salad
Snack or mid-morning meal	Broccoli, chicken, and brown rice	One medium bowl roasted chicken, one medium-sized fruit and mixed vegetable salad
Lunch	Brown rice, mixed vegetables, and fish	One medium cup brown rice, mixed bean sabzi, one cup of cooked cauliflower or broccoli
Pre-workout or mid-afternoon plan	Protein powder and sweet potato	One small bowl of baked sweet potatoes and a whole grain toast with avocado or almond butter
Post-workout shake	Dextrose monohydrate and a whey protein shake	Dextrose monohydrate and a whey protein shake
Dinner	Flax oil dressing and broccoli chicken salad	White bean salad and avocado with cheese dressing
Bedtime Snack	Casein protein or whey protein with cottage cheese and half spoon of peanut butter	Casein protein or whey protein with cottage cheese and half spoon of peanut butter

Meal plan 1 (Pre-Breakfast or Wake-Up Meal)

Nutrient: High GI fruits and Fast protein

A wake-up or a pre-breakfast meal is very significant for the athletes and bodybuilders to put on some size and mass in them. After waking up from the sleep of 7 to 10 hours, your body will already be at the highest catabolic state level. It means that the body is burning up all the lean muscle tissues for functioning. So after waking up, your first preference should be to get out of this zone as quickly as possible. You should consume a wake-up meal that consists of high GI and fast protein to kick you out of the catabolic state.

Meal 2 (Breakfast)

Nutrient: Healthy fats, slow-digesting carbohydrates or low GI carbs, and protein

Out of the most important meals of the day, breakfast is one of the most vital meals to achieve your fitness goals. Breakfast sets up the tone and influences both physical and mental performance for the entire day. Apart from offering high rate energy, carbohydrate and protein-rich breakfast will help you to restore all the body glucose level to normal after the fast from the previous night.

During the initial sleep hours, our body implements liver glycogen and blood glucose in the form of fuel to fulfil the energy requirements. However, when we wake up, the blood glucose and glycogen levels are lower than the normal level. Now to prevent further decrease in the levels, the cortisol level enhances in the body. Cortisol is the stress hormone primarily responsible for the muscle protein and fat breakdown to create energy. If you do not refuel your body with a healthy and nutritious breakfast, then the cortisol levels will always remain high. Long exposure to the increased cortisol levels will affect the body’s performance over the period.

Meal 3 (Snack or Mid-morning meal)

Nutrient: vegetables and slower acting carbohydrates and protein

There is a massive difference between the 200 calories consumption in two large meals and dividing this calorie into smaller three meals. The main point of spreading the various calories and consuming smaller meals in 4 to 5 sections will help the body metabolize the calories effectively. Snacking can also break the longer fasting hours that might often lead to weight gain and overeating. You can get moderate protein amounts and slow carbohydrates like sweet potato with fiber-enriched vegetables like broccoli at this time.

Meal 4 (Lunch)

Nutrient: vegetables and slower acting carbohydrates and protein

After the mid-morning snack consumption with fewer calories, you can now intake the fourth meal for the day that will set the perfect tone for the pre-workout meal plan. It will also ensure better performance in the training sessions. A nutritious lunch will help you to cut off all the catabolism and offer you a constant energy source to the body while doing the afternoon chores.

Meal 5 (Pre-Workout or Mid-Afternoon meal)

Nutrient: Low GI carbohydrates and protein

Studies show that the consumption of any meal before half an hour to one hour of a workout session will enhance the performance during the training. A pre-workout meal is full of rich protein, and lower GI carbohydrates that will offer the muscles a sustainable energy source, enhance your performance, reverse the degradation of the protein and preserve the muscle mass. With no pre-workout nutrition, the port workout meal plan will be difficult to create those magical triceps and biceps.

Meal 6 (Post-workout shake)

Nutrient: Fast Carbohydrates or High GI carbs and Fast Protein

You cannot go wrong with the post-workout nutritional value with a shake meant for muscle gain. Consumption of any whey protein shake will enhance the strength of the muscles after the post-workout sessions. It will also assist in achieving the intake of the daily protein that you might find tough to complete with the solid meal plan.

Meal 7 (Dinner)

Nutrient: Few Low GI Carbs, fibers, and proteins

The era re two significant goals of the dinner which are:

To offer sufficient amino acids in the body to fuel the synthesis of protein

To enhance the insulin levels to stop the breakdown of the muscles

People who are mostly vegan or vegetarian can get their post-workout proteins from legumes, paneer, tofu, green beans, and many more. Non-vegetarians can consume eggs, fish, seafood, chicken, and more to accomplish their consumption of protein. For the carb intake, you might rely on sweet potato, brown rice, yam, and more.

Meal 8 (Bedtime Meal)

Nutrient: Healthy fats and slow acting protein

Most dieticians suggest you not eat anything after 8 PM, but this will be wrong for the muscle builders. Casein protein intake before your bedtime will enhance muscle strength and proves to be more beneficial before sleep.

Final Thoughts

So these are some of the most significant elements to include in your Indian diet for muscle gain. Now that you are aware of what non-vegetarian and vegetarian food items to consume while following the meal plan we shared above, it will be easier for you to gain strong and healthy muscles with ease.