Skinny Bodybuilding - The Importance of Diet & Nutrition

To make the most of your skinny bodybuilding goals you need to have determination, resolve, good planning and an understanding of how the naturally skinny body types work. The body type you have if you find it very difficult to gain weight is an ectomorph which is known to have a very fast metabolism that burns through calories so quickly there is nothing left for fat or muscle. It also means you can easily have your own body cannibalizing its own muscles to gain energy when you run out from food! To combat this situation you need to have good nutrition and a diet that might be a bit different than other guys at the gym. Here are a few tips to help out: 1. Calculate Calories Needed Your body needs a certain amount of energy to function in all your day to day activities. This is often known as your RMR or Resting Metabolism Rate and is the absolute baseline of energy your body needs before turning on its own muscle and fat for energy. You then burn calories working, exercising and even digesting food you have eaten. All this must be taken into account so you can get a basic idea of how many calories you need to consume every day just to stay at the same weight. After this you need to add another 200-300 calories or more depending on the phase of bodybuilding you are in. Basic RMR calculator - You might need to add a bit to this if you are extremely skinny and eat a lot already. 2. Plan for Six Meals a Day To make the most of this increased calorie consumption you should also aim to be eating 6 meals a day rather than our usual 3. This spreads the calorie intake across the whole day so you will not go into caloric deficit and it also slows your metabolism down as eating many calories at once speed it up somewhat. Make sure these meals are real meals not just snacks and you will stay fuelled all day for muscle growth. 3. Eat More Protein Rich Foods In these meals you should be including a lot of protein rich foods. This is because protein is a primary component that is broken down into amino acids that are used by the body to build structure like muscles. Calories without protein will end up being wasted or going to fat so make sure you eat high protein foods such as: Chicken breast, very lean meat, nuts and seeds, eggs and so forth. 4. Eat More Testosterone Increasing Foods Another factor that determines how much muscle you can get when skinny bodybuilding is your testosterone level. The more testosterone you produce the more muscle you can build and if you are low on T levels your muscle growth can be stunted. Through proper exercise such as lifting heavy weights and doing compound exercises you can increase T levels but what you eat also has an effect. Some good testosterone foods are asparagus, broccoli, oysters, lean meat, beans and cabbage.