The Bodybuilding Lifestyle and Diet
Bodybuilding is a sport that involves the rigorous training and development of the body's muscles through a combination of weightlifting, cardio, and nutrition, according to a research review. The goal of bodybuilding is to maximize your body’s muscle mass and lose as much body fat as possible. The terms “back day” and “leg day” originated in bodybuilding circles, since bodybuilders would spend an entire session working just a few muscle groups to exhaustion.
Typical workouts involve doing fewer reps with higher weights and maintaining a steady heartbeat, with the aim of slowly breaking down and rebuilding your muscle fibers so that they can grow, according to the National Association of Sports Medicine. This process is known as muscular hypertrophy.
People tend to think of bodybuilding as an activity confined to the gym, but it’s more of a lifestyle. A major part of this lifestyle involves making sure you're getting the right nutrition to help power your workouts and build muscle mass. The nutrition aspect of this lifestyle is something that you have to work on day in and day out, multiple times a day, since you eat multiple meals a day.
You also need to get plenty of rest, avoid smoking, cut down on alcohol consumption, and be totally dedicated and committed to your goals. This lifestyle certainly isn’t for the fainthearted!
Factors Affecting Female Bodybuilders’ Diets
Female bodybuilders’ diets differ from those of male bodybuilders because women’s bodies are built differently. Certain genetic and hormonal factors can affect how effectively women are able to build muscle, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
Testosterone, for instance, is a key hormone when it comes to muscle building. Since men tend to have more of it than women, building muscle can be easier for them. But the commonly held belief that women can’t build muscle because they don’t have as much testosterone as men is only partially true, according to ACE. In reality, the way you respond to exercise depends on your DNA.
Your genetic makeup influences what types of muscle fibers you have and how they are distributed throughout your body. Your genes also determine your body type, where and how fat is deposited in your body, and the ratio of estrogen and testosterone that your body produces. So, good workout plans for women, or trainers who specialize in weight lifting for women, will take this into consideration.
While you may already have a fitness trainer, you should visit a registered dietitian as well for a meal plan tailored to your body type and training needs. Your dietitian will be able to help you set realistic goals, track your progress, and adjust your meal plan as needed.
You may also need access to other healthcare professionals. That’s because conditions like eating disorders, muscle dysmorphia, and exercise dependence — and the use of performance- and appearance-enhancing drugs — are common among bodybuilders, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).
On-Season Versus Off-Season
Bodybuilding, especially competitive bodybuilding, has two phases, or seasons. Known as the off-season and the on-season, they are characterized by different diet and exercise routines.
The off-season phase in bodybuilding (also known as the bulking phase or sometimes as the recovery phase) is characterized by a high-calorie, high-protein diet that provides enough energy and nutrition for you to build muscle mass, according to a study.
The on-season phase (also known as the cutting phase) is the stretch leading up to bodybuilding competitions. Powerlifters and athletes are judged on their physical performance rather than their appearance, but bodybuilders are evaluated based on aesthetic factors. These include the size and proportion of their muscles, and the appearance of minimal body fat.
The authors of the study note that the on-season phase is characterized by high-protein, calorie-restricted diets combined with cardio exercise and resistance training. Bodybuilders cut calories and increase their physical activity during this period in order to help them eliminate body fat without losing any muscle mass, so that they can present chiseled physiques.
The number of calories you require per day depends on whether you’re in the bulking phase or the cutting phase. While both phases require high-protein diets, the bulking phase requires a significantly higher total calorie intake than the cutting phase.
Estimating Your Calorie Requirements
In order to build a meal plan, the starting point is to determine how many calories you require per day. You can then adjust this amount depending on whether you’re in the bulking phase or the cutting phase.
So, how do you estimate the number of calories you need? Your dietitian or nutritionist will be able to help you with this, or you can use a calorie calculator to estimate your needs. If you want to take a shot at calculating it yourself, you can use the following steps from ACE to go about it.
The first step is to calculate your resting metabolic rate (RMR). This is the number of calories your body requires per day just to perform its basic metabolic processes. There are various formulas that can help you determine your RMR. But ACE recommends using the Cunningham equation for athletes and people with more muscle mass than the average person.
This is the Cunningham equation:
500 + (22 x Lean Body Mass)
You can calculate your lean body mass using this formula:
Total Body Weight [kilograms (kg)] – [Total Body Weight (kg) x Body Fat Percentage]
For example, if you weigh 80 kg and have 10 percent body fat, your lean body mass is 72 kg and your RMR is 2,084 calories per day.
The second step is to multiply your RMR with a certain number, according to ACE. This number varies depending on how physically active you are, because your body needs additional calories (energy) to fuel your activity.
Given that the bodybuilding lifestyle is more active than most, you would need to multiply your RMR with 1.725 if you exercise hard six or seven times a week, and by 1.9 if you exercise hard every day, more than once a day. So, if you weigh 80 kg, have 10 percent body fat, and exercise vigorously more than once a day, you would need around 3,960 calories per day.
Once you have your daily calorie requirement, you need to adjust it for whether you’re bulking or cutting. If you’re in a cutting phase and you need to lose fat, you need to cut out 500 to 1,000 calories per day to lose 1 to 2 pounds of body fat per week, according to Mayo Clinic.
If you’re in the bulking phase, try increasing your calorie intake slowly, by 250 or 500 calories per day for a week at a time. See how it affects your body composition. You want to make sure that the extra calories you’re eating are going toward increasing your lean body mass and not getting stored as body fat because you are unable to burn them.
Bodybuilding Diet for Women
Once you’ve determined your calorie requirements, you also need to make sure that you’re getting all your macronutrients, or macros, like carbs, protein, and fat.
One study recommends the following proportion of macronutrients for bodybuilders: anywhere between 1.8 to 2.7 grams (g) of protein per day per kg of lean body mass, 10 to 25 percent of your total daily calories from fat, and the rest of your calories from carbs.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), healthy sources of protein include poultry, eggs, seafood, lean meats, beans, peas, nuts, seeds, and soy products. Whole grains, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables provide healthy carbs; nuts, seeds, avocados, lean meat, and oils like olive oil and canola oil are sources of healthy fats.
Based on these recommendations, here are some suggestions for your meals. You can pick the ones that work for you and adjust the amounts to suit your calorie needs. For breakfast, you can do a veggie omelet with whole-grain toast and nuts, or boiled eggs with oatmeal and avocado. Your mid-morning snack can be fruit or yogurt with nuts or peanut butter.
Lunch can be skinless chicken breasts with veggies and brown rice, or turkey sandwiches and a salad. You can make sweet potatoes, bananas, or a smoothie for your evening snack, along with some dates and dried fruit. For dinner, try some fish with baked potatoes and a salad, or a lean steak with rice and grilled vegetables.
While some bodybuilders turn to multivitamin and mineral supplements to meet their nutritional needs, they are not actually necessary, according to the NCCIH. A healthy, balanced diet should give you all the vitamins and minerals you need.
According to the NCCIH, there is no evidence that chromium, choline, zinc, magnesium aspartate, methoxyisoflavone, and nitric oxide supplements are effective. Bodybuilding supplements have also been found to contain other ingredients that are harmful to your health, so exercise caution and discuss them with your healthcare provider before you take any.
According to the NCCIH, creatine is the only supplement that has been shown to improve muscle mass, strength, and endurance. But it can also cause side effects like nausea, cramping, diarrhea, and fluid weight gain.
