The Truth About Mass Building Diets
One of the most important factors of mass building diets is knowing your body type. You see, there are 3 primary body types when it comes to muscle mass nutrition, and if you don’t follow the rules for the specific body type category that you fall under, you will not see the best results (and you might even be extremely hurting yourself).
The 3 Body Types
These body type categories were developed under the theory of constitutional psychology, developed in the 1940′s by American psychologist William Herbert Sheldon.
Sheldon conjectured that our physiques can be classified according to the relative contribution of three fundamental elements called somatotypes. These somatotypes are named after three layers of embryonic development: the endoderm (which develops into the digestive tract), the mesoderm (which becomes muscle, heart and blood vessels), and the ectoderm (which forms into the skin and nervous system).
Sheldon’s “somatotypes” and their supposed associated physical traits can be categorized like this:
1. Ectomorphic Body Type: this body type is characterized by long and thin muscles/limbs and low fat storage; receding chin, usually referred to as slim.
2. Mesomorphic Body Type: this body type is characterized by medium bones, solid torso, low fat levels, wide shoulders with a narrow waist; usually referred to as muscular.
3. Endomorphic Body Type: this body type is characterized by increased fat storage, a wide waist and a large bone structure, usually referred to as fat.
Now, you should understand that Sheldon’s theory involves a lot psychological background as well. But these more simple classifications still provide us with a decent outline to categorize our body types for mass building diets.
How Can You Apply Nutrition To These Body Types?
Once you have classified your body type, you can follow this basic outline for developing mass building diets:
1. Ectomorphic Body Types: you should try to eat about 20 calories per pound of body weight for your target body weight (i.e. 190 lbs. x 20 = 3,800 calories). Those calories should come from about 25% protein, 55% carbs and 20% fat.
2. Mesomorphic Body Types: you should try to eat about 18 calories per pound of body weight for your target body weight (i.e. 190 lbs. x 18 = 3,420 calories). Those calories should come from about 30% protein, 40% carbs and 30% fat.
3. Endomorphic Body Types: you should try to eat about 16 calories per pound of body weight for your target body weight (i.e. 190 lbs. x 20 = 3,040 calories). Those calories should come from about 40% protein, 25% carbs and 35% fat.
READ THIS: it is important to understand what types of food you should be getting your protein, carbs, and fat from because if you don’t get this part right, you can really screw things up. In terms of protein, try to get the most you can from solid foods like chicken, fish, and turkey (it is ok to supplement with whey and casein protein, but try to get the majority of your protein from solid foods). Your carbs should be coming from things like sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread (don’t be fooled by “whole grain,” make sure your bread does NOT have enriched or bleached flour or high fructose corn syrup), brown rice, etc. Now, your fats should come from good sources of fat such as almonds, natural peanut butter, etc.
