Lean Bulk Meal Plan: How to Gain Perfect MusclesÂ
âLean bulkâ or âClean bulkâ is a common bodybuilding term popular among passionate bodybuilders. It involves a specialized diet that improves muscle building instead of fat. As other diets focus on adequate protein intake, the lean bulk meal plan targets specific foods to support muscle building.
Unlike traditional bulking, where the body gets fat accumulation, lean bulking favors the consumption of caloric surplus for muscle growth for more energy and nutrient absorption.
Go through the detailed guide to learn everything about lean bulking, including diet, effectiveness, and downsides.
What is Lean bulking?
In general, bulking is a calorie surplus in which you eat more calories than you burn, which helps you to gain weight. Eating calories alone does not help gain weight or build muscles, but lean bulking also involves high-resistance training to boost muscles and gain strength.
When following the lean bulk, you should strictly follow the lean bulking and robust exercise or training to prevent excessive fat gain.
About Lean Bulk Meal Diet
Even if youâre training hard, the quality of your diet still matters to maintain overall health. The lean bulk diet mainly comprises minimally processed whole foods. High-calorie and junk foods are restricted in a lean bulk meal diet.
A lean bulk diet does not aggressively add muscles to the body. Instead, the rate is a bit slower to avoid the accumulation of extra fat. It helps to provide essential nutrients like protein to the body for speed muscle growth and fast recovery. These balanced meal diets help individuals keep a check on body fat while maintaining healthy nutrients. So, it minimizes the efforts of fat burnings.Â
Who Can Follow?
Lean bulk or clean bulk diet is mainly followed by athletes who desire to have a robust body, such as mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, boxers, fighters, gymnasts, strength athletes, and physique athletes.
However, this approach is unsuitable for all, as weight gain is slower than other bulking methods.
Steps to Start a Lean Bulking Diet
The first step to follow the lean bulk meal plan is to figure out the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. This is calculated based on various factors, including height and weight, and several online calculators can help you estimate the number.
An average-sized (75 kg or 175-pound) man can intake approximately 250-500 calories, while a woman (61 kg or 135 pounds) should take around 200-400 calories daily. While adding this number to your lean bulk meal plan, make sure to add 0.7.1 pounds of protein of bodyweight 1.6-2.2 grams per kg to support muscle gain.
How Many Calories to Consume?
The calorie composition depends on the physical body factors like weight and height. As a rule of thumb, you should consume at least 15 to 18 calories per pound; however, to gain extra muscles, it is advisable to complete at least 20-25 calories per pound of body weight. You can connect with a dietician to track the right calorie surplus for your body.
Major Diet Changes For Effective Results
As you know, lean bulking mainly focuses on whole and unprocessed foods, though you are allowed to intake a small number of high calories and processed items. Here is the list of the foods that can be eaten and should be avoided while following a lean bulk meal plan.
Nutrient Food You Can Include in Diet
- Healthy fats- olive oil, nut butter, nuts, avocado, fatty fish, and seeds like chia, hemp, and flax seeds
- Lean protein– chicken, fish, turkey, beef, pork, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, protein powders, tofu and tempeh, eggs, and egg whites
- Fruits- Apples, oranges, bananas, pineapple, grapefruit, and all types of berries
- Dark leafy greens- spinach, kale
- Beverages- plain water, diet soda, tea, coffee
- Legumes- All types of beans
- Cruciferous veggies: Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage
Next is the list of the foods that should be avoided for lean bulking.
Food You Should Avoid
- Saturated fats- butter, certain oils, and margarine
- Proteins- processed pork or beef, fatty cuts of beef or pork
- Highly processed foods- chips, fast foods, full-fat ice cream, canned soups, fried foods, pastries, cookies, and processed meats, including ham, salami, pate, and sausage.
Pros & Cons of the Lean Bulking Diet
Pros of Meal Plan
Health-conscious people, including athletes and bodybuilders, follow a lean bulk meal plan. It has various benefits that are explained in the following section.
- Prevent Negative Health Effects
A lean bulk diet focuses on the significant number of calorie intake that may lower the risk of negative effects.
- Eat more nutrients
Since the lean bulk diet focuses on whole food, it is higher in nutrient factors.
- Limit excess fat gain
A bulk meal plan is a calorie-controlled approach; it tends to prevent excess fat gain.
Cons of Meal Plan
While lean bulking has several benefits, you should be aware of the following downsides.
- May affect flexibility
Lean bulk follows a rigid plan, which means youâre restricted to eating all types of foods and should maintain good health. The restriction of not eating pizzas, burgers, cold drinks, and other food items is difficult to maintain for a long time.
- Progress may slow down
Due to a strictly controlled calorie surplus, your progress may slow down or even stagnate. When you utilize conservative calories of surplus, it is easy to underestimate the number of calories you need to build muscles.
Gain Muscles With Lean Bulking!
Lean bulk or clean bulk meal plan involves eating patterns with high-density training programs. Remember to check with your healthcare provider before starting a lean bulk meal plan, especially when you have any specific health condition. Remember, developing muscles through a lean bulk meal plan takes time, so keep enjoying the process. You can follow HealthStrives for more such interesting updates!
