How important is what you eat, for gaining muscle mass?

[LawnChairSkank]

^ i beg to differ. My body definitely cares what kind of food i eat. Its not just caloric quantity we're after...its caloric quality. Problem with fastfood is that it has shit for fiber/vitamins/minerals. Human bodies don't react very well to it (mine doesn't at least). They inflame and are generally irritated (gi disturbance) by it...my experience at least.

I still will house a couple quarter pounders from time to time though

but if you don't want to feel like shit, then you ought to steer clear of super fatty greasy shit food like fastfood or whatever (a little is fine especially if the alternative means no food!). I've found for instance i feel tremendously better if instead of eating a double whopper, i eat some lean beef, brocoli, and whole wheat pasta, maybe top it off with a protein shake for desert. World of difference.

But...

Fast food >>>>>>>>>>> fasting

qft

 

[dasani]

^ I beg to differ. My body definitely cares what kind of food I eat. Its not just caloric quantity we're after...its caloric QUALITY.

That's admirable. It does make you healthier. Your bulking will result in less fat gain. However, to just gain muscle or just lose fat, all that matters is caloric excess or caloric deficit. Refer to the link I posted above.

Problem with fastfood is that it has shit for fiber/vitamins/minerals. Human bodies don't react very well to it (mine doesn't at least). They inflame and are generally irritated (GI disturbance) by it...my experience at least.

So take a multivitamin and some fiber supplements.

but if you don't want to feel like shit, then you ought to steer clear of super fatty greasy shit food like fastfood or whatever (a little is fine especially if the alternative means no food!). I've found for instance I feel tremendously better if instead of eating a double whopper, I eat some lean beef, brocoli, and whole wheat pasta, maybe top it off with a protein shake for desert. World of difference.

It's true, you can feel certainly feel better. That doesn't mean that it doesn't come down to caloric excess or caloric deficit.

 

[Heuristic]

Ive been working out on and off for the past year (mainly on)

At first it was lifting, now its cardio / lifting. Ive definitally noticed improvement in my muscle tone, and ive gained a good amount of muscle mass. But i haven't been going up in my weights for the past 6 months, and my muscle tone has remained the same. I think its due to my eat whatever diet, or mabye im not pushing myself hard enough in the gym?

Will dieting with health foods (fruits, milk, meat) improve my muscle gain? And is it just as important as exercising?

thanks

First:

Keep in mind that everyone at the gym encounters plateaus, where it seems to take longer to improve. That's NORMAL.

At the beginning of an exercise program, it is quite normal to see very quick improvement. After that period of quick improvement, however, improvement comes at a much slower pace. So a slower pace of improvement doesn't necessarily mean you're doing anything wrong. It's to be expected.

What people have said here about calorie intake is true. If you're looking to gain muscle mass, then you need to eat more calories than you use.

Improving the quality of your food-intake can certainly be helpful. They contain key nutrients essential to getting the most out your workouts and speeding recovery times.

If you're low on protein per day, you can supplement it, though mega-doses have not been shown to have any effect in controlled studies, and do put a strain on your kidneys.

So, perhaps increasing the quantity AND quality of your foods is the solution.

Other solutions: vary the type of weightlifting you're doing (use different exercises for the various muscle groups, do different numbers of sets/reps, etc.), and have a cup of coffee or two before working out (caffeine has been shown to enhance performance, and the enhancement remains even if you're used to drinking caffeine). Both of these can shake you out of a plateau, and varying the workout can make it more fun and challenging, which may have the additional benefit of improving your motivation and effort.

Still, as I said, it's very normal to encounter a plateau, and it's very normal for improvement after an initial period to take longer and require harder workouts. That's okay. You're not doing anything wrong.

Re stopping cardio: there are those who believe that certain types of cardio will result in a temporary decrease in certain hormones, thereby resulting in slightly lower gains from lifting; and there are those who think the calories you burn with cardio are "wasted," in that they could have been directed towards muscle growth.

I don't agree with either argument. Obviously you need to eat at a level proportional to your workout; if that workout includes cardio, then you would need to eat more than if you did not include cardio. As far as the "decrease in hormones" argument... I've yet to see any controlled study demonstrating any (and it would be a very temporary) such decrease to have an effect on muscle gain. If there is any effect at all, it will be extraordinarily small. If you're really concerned about that, you'd be better off simply improving the amount of sleep you get (something cardio has been shown to aid, incidentally).

Cardio is an essential part of staying healthy and athletic. Removing it from your routine is a bad idea, imo.