This free bodybuilding meal plan shows you what to eat on workout days as well as rest days so you can maximise your results with lots of tasty food!

Knowing what to eat is something a lot of people struggle with so this article provides sample meal plans to illustrate the types of foods I eat when gaining muscle.

In The Food For Building Muscle is Key if You Want To Grow I explained how to set up your muscle building diet so it provides enough calories and protein to make you grow.

We then looked at the types of foods you should be eating in The Foods That Build Muscle: Choosing The Right Foods.

The sample bodybuilding meal plan on this page will now help you get an idea of what to eat so you can ensure you’re eating enough and that you’re eating the right type of foods.

Your Bodybuilding Meal Plan Targets

For the purposes of this article we’re using the dietary targets we created in The Food For Building Muscle is Key if You Want To Grow which were based on a 170 pound dieter:

Daily Calorie Intake: 3050
Daily Protein Intake: 255g
Daily Carb Intake: 340g
Daily Fat Intake: 74g

If you don’t eat enough calories you simply won’t grow so focus on meeting these targets daily and guarantees you’ll succeed.

If you want your own targets check out that article and it’ll walk you through the steps needed to calculate your personal muscle building diet targets.

Once you’ve got your numbers you may be struggling to see how you can eat this many calories, especially if you have a small appetite.

How Many Meals Do You Need?

My recommendation for people with small appetites is to eat more meals, try eating 5-7 meals during a day and you won’t have to eat so much in one sitting.

For people with big appetites like me, you can eat fewer meals if you wish.

Despite what every other bodybuilding meal plan may have made you believe, you don’t gain any advantage by eating small and often. It doesn’t speed up your metabolism so there is no benefit to choosing more meals for this reason.

My advice is to eat however many meals your schedule can allow and how ever many you prefer.

Try not to eat more than 7 meals as there is some research to suggest this can have a detrimental effect on your progress. Also try to eat at least 3 meals otherwise you may struggle to get all the food in.

Bottom Line: Meal frequency is largely irrelevant; the most important thing about your bodybuilding meal plan is to get all the food in and meet your targets every day.

Rest Day Meal Plan

If you read The Foods That Build Muscle: Choosing The Right Foods you’ll recall that there are particular times when one type of food is superior to another.

This is why our bodybuilding meal plan starts with a fast digesting whey protein shake and end the day with the slower casein based cottage cheese.

Food Name	Amount	Calories	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)

Breakfast
Bread, whole wheat	2 slices (medium thickness)	138	7	23	2
Egg Whites	5	85	30	3	0
Whole Egg	1	63	6	0	4
Pepper	half a medium pepper	12	1	3	0
Cheese	15g	52	3	1	4
Whey Protein Shake	2 scoops (40g)	198	38	2	3

Meal Total		548	85	32	13

Snack
Almonds	25	145	5	5	13
Bagel, Whole Wheat	1	187	11	42	2
Turkey	100g	187	29	0	7
Cranberry Sauce	1 TBSP	39	0	10	0

Meal Total		558	45	57	22

Lunch
Chicken Breast	225g	180	38	0	1
Brown Rice Boiled	150g (raw)	555	12	116	4
Olive Oil	Half TBSP	60	0	0	7
Stir Fry Veg Prepack	1	128	5	7	9

Meal Total		923	55	123	21

Dinner
Whole wheat Pasta	125g	395	16	78	3
Tuna in Spingwater	165g	140	33	0	1
Low Fat Pasta Sauce	half jar (175g)	60	3	10	1
Cheese	15g	52	3	1	4

Meal Total		647	55	89	9

Before Bed
Cottage Cheese	120g	119	13	4	6
Raspberries	75g	39	1	9	0
Splenda	10g	39	0	10	0
Blueberries	75g	43	1	11	0
Whole Milk	125ml	75	4	6	4

Meal Total		315	19	40	10

Daily Total		2991	259	341	75

Did We Hit Our Targets?

Let’s take a look at the amount of food we’ve eaten using this meal plan and compare it to our targets to see how successful we’ve been:

	Consumed	Target	% of target met
Calories	2991	3050	98%
Protein	259	255	102%
Carbs	341	340	100%
Fat	75	74	101%

You can see that whilst I didn’t hit 100% on everything (you never will) I can damn close! I always allow myself a 5% tolerance on everything except protein intake which should always be at least 100%.

This summary table clearly illustrates that on the whole we’ve done well and we’ve met our target for the day. Nail this every day and the rest will take care of itself.

Workout Day Meal Plan

You know there are times when one type of food is superior to another and on workout days this is even more important.

Around workouts is one of those times and that’s why you want a fast digesting protein source such as whey protein.

Before your workout it’s digested quickly so it doesn’t sit in your stomach and distract you and post workout it gets to your muscles quickly to aid recovery (which is where the muscles grow!).

You also need simple carbs post workout; this is this bodybuilding meal plan allows Jelly Babies at this time (not a mistake I assure you!) which are perfect after a workout as they’re pure sugar.

Food Name	Amount	Calories	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)

Breakfast
Whey Protein (Strawberry)	2 scoops (40g)	198	38	2	3
Quark	150g	104	20	5	1
Raspberries	75g	39	1	9	0
Splenda	10g	39	0	10	0
Blueberries	75g	43	1	11	0
Skimmed Milk	half pint	100	10	15	1
Ice Cubes	5	0	0	0	0

Meal Total		523	70	52	5

Snack

Bread, whole wheat	2 slices (medium thickness)	138	7	23	2
Ham	125g	138	28	0	3
Mayonaise	1 TBSP	99	0	1	11
Lettuce	2 medium leafs	1	0	0	0

Meal Total		376	35	24	16

Lunch
Chicken Breast	240g	192	41	0	1
Sweet Potato	250g	286	5	50	8
Olive Oil	1 TBSP	120	0	0	14
Brocolli	100g	34	3	7	0

Meal Total		632	49	57	23

Pre Workout

Bagel, Whole Wheat	1	187	11	42	2
Strawberry Jam	1TBSP	56	0	14	0
Whey Protein (Strawberry)	1 scoop (20g)	99	19	1	1.5

Meal Total		342	30	57	3.5

Post Workout

Whey Protein (Strawberry)	2 scoops (40g)	198	38	2	3
Jelly Babies	10	200	0	50	0

Meal Total		398	38	52	3

Dinner

Venison Burgers	2 burgers (110g)	154	21	7	4
Wholemeal Burger Bap	2	235	7	40	5
Tomato Ketchup	2 TBSP	30	0	8	0
Homemade Oven Fries	200g	241	0	45	5
Olive Oil	Half TBSP	60	0	0	7

Meal Total		720	28	100	21

Daily Total		2991	250	342	71.5

Did We Hit Our Targets?

Now, moving on from the types of foods, let’s take a look at how much we’ve eaten using this bodybuilding meal plan and compare it to our targets to see how successful we’ve been:

	Consumed	Target	% of target met
Calories	2991	3050	98%
Protein	259	255	102%
Carbs	341	340	100%
Fat	75	74	101%

Overall we adhered to the bodybuilding meal plan so a good result despite protein intake being a tad on the low side.

Next Steps

If you’re serious about wanting to gain muscle fast there’s no escaping the fact that you have to eat enough and you have to do so consistently.

The bodybuilding meal plan you see on this page are merely examples, you can switch out the foods for others and eat however often you like.

Just make sure that no matter what you always track your diet every single day to ensure you meet your targets.

Without hitting these targets everyday for weeks on end you’re likely to stay the same size as you are now or even get smaller.

Stop looking for magic supplements or a new workout routine, in the grand scheme of things none of these things matter.

Eat enough every single day, follow one of my non-retarded free workout routines and let the rest take care of itself!