Macronutrients play a very important role in building muscle and gaining weight. The main three are protein, carbs, and fats, but the most important for weight training purposes are protein and carbs.
Carbs – These are simple sugars that are in most types of foods. As we eat these carbohydrates our body is turning them into sugars and in turn using these sugars to generate energy. That is why you hear that a main sportsmens meal before any event is pastas and rice and things of that nature. Therefore we ourselves use carbohydrates to provide us with energy for our daily activities, and for our own exercises and workouts.
Protein – Protein is a major player when it involves building muscle, but in actual fact it helps in a number of other various activities around the body. But most importantly is helps towards generating new muscle tissue and repairing damaged muscles. If a loss of carbohydrates occurs the protein which is in our bodies will be used to generate energy. This will therefore make it abundant when needed to repair or grow new muscle tissue.
In evaluating this info you should have become to realize that our body cannot build muscle effectively without the use of both carbs and proteins. It is essential that our bodies has an adequate supply of both these macronutrients as we need energy to build muscle and we need the protein to rebuild our tissues after weight resistance and therefore build muscle, so any loss of either of these macronutrients would lead to an unsuccessful muscle gain program.
The general consensus of dietitians is in fact consistent with this view. In order to build muscle and gain weight, it is generally recommended to eat carbohydrate containing meals two hours before a workout (to provide energy), but immediately after a workout, to eat foods containing both carbohydrate and protein (so as to both provide energy and regenerate muscle).
