What to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to gain muscle or lose fat, according to a professional bodybuilding coach
- Building muscle (bulking) and losing fat (cutting) can be hard to do.
- But some simple tweaks to your meals can make the process easier.
A bodybuilder and professional bodybuilding coach has shared how he advises people to change their diets when they're trying to lose fat or gain muscle.
Building muscle and losing fat at the same time (known as body recomposition), is notoriously difficult.
While you need to be in a calorie deficit — burning more energy than you're consuming — to lose fat, building muscle requires a calorie surplus, as well as plenty of protein and resistance training. Finding the sweet spot to avoid putting on too much fat can take some trial and error.
That's why some bodybuilders, and anyone else looking to transform their physique, opt for separate muscle gain and fat loss phases, known as "bulking" or "gaining" and "cutting" or "shredding," respectively. This can involve spending a few months putting on muscle in a calorie surplus, before revealing it by shedding fat in a calorie deficit.
Cliff Wilson, who works with lots of stage competitors, said that while portion size is the main factor for achieving body recomposition, how calorific and filling food is also comes into play.
For example, if you want to get enough calories in without feeling too full, you can add high-calorie condiments to your food. On the flip-side, high-volume, low-calorie foods can help you feel full while cutting.
"It really does come down to calories at the end of the day, but once again, different foods are better at achieving certain caloric intakes for a variety of reasons," Wilson told Insider.
Personal requirements vary wildly and eating preferences are individual too — some people prefer to eat a big breakfast and small dinner, for example — but Wilson shared a day of eating and how meals could be tweaked depending on whether someone is cutting or bulking.
Breakfast for bulking:
Large bowl of oatmeal with banana and peanut butter, with two whole eggs plus egg whites on the side.
Breakfast for cutting:
Small bowl of oatmeal with berries, and egg whites on the side.
"I know sometimes people are scared of sugar, but fruit sugar is nothing to be scared of," Wilson said. Berries are simply a lower-calorie option than bananas, but both are full of nutrients and fiber.
Wilson said it's OK to have an even lighter breakfast and eat more later in the day. "The eating pattern you can stick to is going to be the one that is the way to go, and the timing of it will not impact your fat loss journey at all," Wilson said.
Lunch for bulking:
Thick slices of wheat bread with chicken, turkey, or beef, and whatever salad or vegetables you like, and full-fat mayonnaise or your sauce of choice. Being generous with condiments can help you hit your calorie goals without feeling too full, Wilson said.
Serve with a handful of nuts on the side. "You get healthy fats in that, so it's calorically dense, but it is healthy," Wilson said.
Lunch for cutting:
Make the sandwich with lower-calorie choices, such as using thinner slices of bread, leaner cuts of meat, and lighter condiments.
Another option is to have something sweet for lunch, like a large portion of Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts, Wilson said.
The classic lunch of a sandwich can be a great when you're bulking, but can also fit your goals when cutting if you keep an eye on portion sizes, Wilson said, adding they can be a great way to get vegetables into your diet.
Dinner for bulking:
Protein sources don't need to be so low-fat in this phase, Wilson said. He recommended steak or salmon ("high in protein and calorically dense"), a starchy carb such as jasmine rice with olive oil and some seasoning, and a salad with croutons, cheese, and a dressing such as ranch, French, or Italian.
Dinner for cutting:
Opt for leaner meat such as a chicken breast or white fish.
Low-calorie sauces such as Buffalo stop meats from tasting bland. "I use quite a bit of Buffalo sauce when I'm doing my bodybuilding shows," Wilson said.
Swapping rice for baked potato with a little olive oil or butter and salt provides more volume for the calories, and help you feel satisfied, he said.
Serve with a salad, but skip the croutons and cheese and opt for a lighter dressing such as balsamic vinegar, which is low-calorie but has a lot of flavor.
Pre-bed snack for bulking:
Protein shake made with chocolate milk, protein powder, and banana.
Pre-bed snack for cutting:
Make a lighter version with protein powder, water or almond milk, and berries, possibly with some nuts if you have a few more calories to play with.
"Not a huge portion size, but just enough to make sure that you aren't waking up hungry in the middle of the night and raiding the fridge," Wilson said.