6 Common Dieting Mistakes of Beginner Bodybuilders - Part 1

Dieting is often one of the more daunting aspects of bodybuilding, and the mechanics behind it are frequently misunderstood, even by experienced lifters. In this post, I'll cover some of the most common, yet easily rectified mistakes that many beginner bodybuilders make.


1. Under-eating 

A bodybuilding diet is vastly different to that of a diet of a regular, everyday person. A bodybuilder must fuel the body with enough macro-nutrients (fat, protein, carbohydrates) in order to not only facilitate repair of the muscle and recovery, but also have a positive energy balance in order to promote and facilitate growth, as well as replenish energy reserves.

   What this essentially means is (generally speaking), is that if you want to increase muscle mass, you must be consuming more calories than you burn. In some cases, you can add muscle (and lose fat) while eating at or under your caloric maintenance, though this is a more advanced dieting concept known as body recomposition or recomping, for short, which I may cover in the coming weeks.

   The amount of energy you expend, as well as your calorie maintenance (the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight) are dependent upon genetics, body composition (fat/muscle) and activity levels, and other factors such as gender and hormonal levels/fluctuations. How fast is your metabolism? How does your body retain bodily fat? How much muscle, and how much fat do you carry? How physically active are you during the day? The factors of gender and hormonal levels/fluctuations are more general - women will naturally almost always carry more fat than men, due to lower levels of testosterone (and thus muscle mass), as well as the the monthly cyclic hormonal fluctuations (which can also lead to mild water bloating).

One protein shake a day on top of your normal diet, isn't going to do it.
(No, I am not sponsored by Muscle Milk)

    All these factors make it exceedingly hard to determine a magical calorie level that you can eat at, which will allow you to maintain your weight forever (I'd go as far as to say that it's impossible). Despite this, there are ways around this . Freedieting.com offers a calorie calculator, which can give you a good idea of a calorie starting point for your diet.  A "bulk" - a dieting phase where you eat over maintenance, with the goal of adding muscle, and staying relatively lean - generally requires around a 300-800 calorie surplus, on top of your maintenance calories. Assuming your training is up to scratch, if you are not gaining weight consistently, you may have to trial-and-error your calorie level, and slowly push your calorie level up, until you can find a level which you can gain at.


   If you are not recovering properly, adding muscle or gaining too much fat, you may have to look at the proportions in which you are eating each macro-nutrient, which leads me to the next mistake made by newbies...




2. Over-eating 

    Though bodybuilders want to consume a host of wholesome, nutrient-rich foods to add muscle, the amount of food that you eat, and the proportions of the macro-nutrients must be calculated with a purpose in mind. Simply gorging yourself with everything in sight containing the slightest bit of protein will not work. You may add plenty of muscle, but it is likely that you will add a TON of bodyfat if you do not execute a proper dieting protocol.

When bulking goes wrong. Don't be this guy.

    Bodybuilders do not want to simply add muscle as fast as possible. They also want to remain as lean as possible, while gaining as much muscle as possible. Why? Well, the flip side to the bulking phase, is the cutting phase. In this period of dieting, bodybuilders seek to cut down bodyfat, in order to reveal the muscle mass they built up during the bulk. Now, if you are carrying more bodyfat, this would take longer right? Correct. Not only that, but it is inevitable that bodybuilders will lose some muscle mass during their cuts. If they can reduce the time they are cutting, they can in turn then increase the amount of muscle they retain through out their cutting phases of dieting.

You don't look like this by gorging yourself
during bulking periods.

    The typical macro-nutrient split starting point of bodybuilders is 40/40/20. That is, 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates and 20% fat, as percentages of total calories. Though since everyone is different, as you get more experienced, you will want to tweak the macro-nutrient amounts. Some may prefer higher fat levels, and may deem the 40% protein as excessive. Others may prefer to maintain the carb level in order to keep their energy reserves replenished. As you become more experienced in dieting, these choices will come naturally to you.


3. Mis-eating

    To perform at your best in and out of the gym, you must assure that the foods you are eating are wholesome, and relatively un-processed. You will want your protein to come from whole animal meats/products such as beef steaks, kangaroo mince, tuna, milk, eggs and tuna. You will want your carbohydrates to come from cereal grains such as oats, brown rice, white rice, starchy fruit/vegetables such as sweet potato and bananas, and wholegrain products such as wholegrain pasta and bread. Lastly, your fat should be derived mainly from animal fats within meats, as well as high quality, unrefined and (relatively) unprocessed vegetable fats such as olive oil.

Oh so tempting, but a good steak and some brown rice
will give you more nutritional bang for your buck.

    What's the reasoning behind this? Why not just eat McDonalds, KFC and Pizza to fulfil your macro-nutrient targets? Well, while your body requires macro-nutrients such as protein, fat and carbohydrates to function to it's fullest, it also requires another type of nutrient - micro-nutrients. Micro-nutrients are not required in as large amounts as macro-nutrients, but still play a highly important role in muscle building and muscle retention, as well as leanness and overall well-being.

   Highly processed foods such as those provided at fast food outlets, are so highly processed that they have been stripped of almost all of their micro-nutrients, which can aid in supporting a whole array of functions within the body.

   Micro-nutrients include the natural vitamins and minerals found in food, such as Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Vitamin A, as well as lesser known ones such as creatine, which occurs naturally within some foods. Micro-nutrients such as zinc and iron aid in regulating certain bodily functions, whereas creatine aids in muscular maintenance and hypertrophy.

   However minor each micro-nutrient may seem, each has a role in maintaining normal bodily function, which is not only important for bodybuilding, but overall health. Other micro-nutrients will additionally aid muscle maintenance, and leanness, which have obvious benefits within bodybuilding.