How to Build Muscle Quickly – Food Stacking

When it comes to building muscle one of the most critical components to your success is the food that you eat.

It’s easy to think that just eating a lot of protein will help you get there but the truth is that there is a much more efficient way of putting on muscle.

In this article we’re going to look at a new approach of eating which is based on the strategy the most successful fitness athletes incorporate into their daily routines to pack on powerful lean muscle. Remember, the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism as muscle burns food and fat for fuel!

How to Build Muscle Quickly – Food Stacking

So as you may have guessed by the title of this article the strategy here to build muscle quickly is using the food stacking principle. The good news is that it is actually a fairly simple method as it doesn't go overboard on anything or try and make a complicated eating plan.

With food stacking to build muscle we’re going to make sure to have a 6 meal a day plan. The three major meals will be breakfast, lunch, & dinner plus two protein smoothies and finally another smaller meal which you can implement at any time of the day.

How to Build Muscle Quickly – Food Stacking Meal Plan

The best diets for building muscle involve high protein but also a good amount of carbs since carbohydrates are the rapidly available energy source which allows us to be active and not feel sluggish throughout the day.

Here is your meal plan with food stacking:

Breakfast – Protein & Carbs
Mid Morning Small Meal – Protein and Carbs
Lunch – Protein & Carbs
Snack – Protein Smoothie (Try: Cellucor IsoPro Ultra Lean or Optimum 100% Natural Whey)
Dinner – Protein and Carbs
Snack – Protein Smoothie (Try: Muscle Pharm Combat Powder or BSN Syntha-6)

Sounds pretty simple enough right? But you may be asking about the right foods to include in this kind of meal plan. Let’s take a look at some ideas of what the elite athletes eat when going through this muscle building phase.

How to Build Muscle Quickly – Food Stacking Meal Ideas

Breakfast Stack
Protein Source: 4-6 egg whites and 1-2 full eggs
Carbohydrate Source: 1 cup of Oats

Ok, so the eggs sounds like a hell of a lot right? It is and you should definitely adjust this based on your goals but this is an example for an average 150lb person. The great thing with egg whites is that they are cheap (definitely buy in bulk or carton form), and pack a heck of a lot of protein which is easily digestible and feeds your muscle a power shot in the morning.

Oats are the complex carbohydrates which are low on the glycemic scale so they will feed your body slowly over time rather than being collected and stored as fat. The energy boost you will get from oats will last you the entire day.

Mid Morning Small Meal
Protein Source: 1 cup of non-fat cottage cheese
Carbohydrate Source: 1 cup of pineapples (can do canned but with no sugar added)

Cottage cheese and pineapples are basically a power meal which has slow digesting protein and enzymes to help you break down food throughout the day. You can also switch pineapple with papaya or mango to get similar benefits.

Lunch Stack
Protein Source: 1 cup of tuna in water
Carbohydrate Source: 1 cup of brown rice & veggies

Simplicity at its best, tuna has high quality protein plus heart healthy Omega 3′s and the brown rice once again is a complex carb which will prevent you from having the dreaded 3′oclock crash. This is a great recovery meal if you worked out in the morning otherwise it is fantastic for giving your workout adequate fuel to push you to new levels.

Dinner Stack
Protein Source: 1 cup of roasted or grilled chicken
Carbohydrate Source: 1 cup of black beans & veggies

I love chicken because you can apply any spice to it to give it a completely flavour from curry to cilantro to cajun or even garlic. Adding black beans to this is awesome because you get a great source of fiber, and a ton of other vitamins and minerals including magnesium.