If your goal is to build muscle tissue and gain weight, your muscle building diet may be the most important component to your success. Without the right diet, it will be nearly impossible to increase your body weight and encourage muscle growth. This is because your body needs ample amounts of food in order to build lean tissue.

To keep things simple, let’s break down the nutritional component of gaining weight in to the following three steps:

1). Eat more calories - In order to increase body mass, you must increase the number of calories in your diet. Simply put, you must eat more calories than your body burns each day to maintain your current body weight.

For example, if your current BMR (basal metabolic rate) is 2000 calories per day, then in order to increase your body weight you would have to eat 2300 – 2500 calories per day in order to increase your weight. The actual number of excess calories you require will depend on your activity levels, genetics, and other factors.

These excess calories that you consume will be used by the body to repair muscle tissue that is broken down during resistance training (another important component of a weight gain plan).

2). Eat often throughout the day - - In order to promote healthy weight gain, we must create an anabolic environment within our bodies by eating up to 7 meals per day. This will create an environment within the body that that promotes muscle growth.

In addition to creating an anabolic environment in our bodies, eating more often also following purposes:

•Encourages rapid uptake of nutrients

•Decrease the chance that your body will store fat

•Promotes hormone levels that will aid in muscle growth

Try to eat five to six meals each day. Spread each meal two and a half to three hours apart. Each meal should be balanced, consisting of a serving of high quality protein, a complex carbohydrate, and an unsaturated fat. Be sure to consume plenty of water 15 – 20 minutes after each meal to help your body digest the meals.

3). Eat the correct types of food - We must eat the correct types of foods to ensure our bodies receive the nutrients needed to build muscle weight. The goal is to eat foods that are high in calories, and rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. These kinds of foods are "nutrient dense."

Examples of some of the top choices include:

-Whole oats

-Starchy vegetables (yams and potatoes for example)

-Whole wheat Pasta

-Brown rice

-Whole grain breads and bagels

-Lean meats (chicken, steak, pork, fish)

-Eggs

-Peanut butter and other nuts (almonds, filberts, cashews)

-Cheese

By following the weight gain nutrition tips outlined in this article, you will ensure that your body receives the calories and nutrients it needs to help promote healthy muscle weight gain. Just be sure that in addition to your muscle building diet, you weight train consistently, and get plenty of rest and recovery.