10 Stupid Simple Muscle Meals (50g protein, 50g carbs)

As you all know I'm all about simplicity. This is especially true about diet planning.

I think this is an area where people over-complicate and it brings out the OCD in almost everyone. People OBSESS about the minutia on diet even more so than training and I hate to see that. It's stress in your life, where you don't need it.

So stop counting out your blueberries!!!

One thing I like to do for my clients is give out a menu of "pre-assembled" meals that they can choose from at any time that fit their rough protein and carb needs.

The 50/50 framework

One of my "menus" consists of what I call "50/50" meals. 50/50 meals are great for your "average guy". They're approximately 50 grams of protein and 50 grams of carbs each. 4 of these meals per day is 200g of protein and 200g of carbs. So for you average 200 lb guy looking to build some fat free muscle this is a decent starting point.

If he needs more or less carbs for more growth or more fat loss it's quite easy to scale the carbohydrate sources up or down. Simply doubling up on the carb source on one meal will now put you at 200g protein / 250g carbs. If you need to trim down a bit, then cut all your carb sources in half. Now we're at 200g protein / 100g carbs.

This is a very very simple way to program diet and adjust as needed. Going in 25-50 gram increments is fine for most of us. If your diet says you need exactly 234 g of protein and 337 grams of carbs you are gonna drive yourself nuts trying to be overly precise with your counting, weighing and measuring.

It's all estimates anyway

I got news for you. It's all estimates anyways.

So don't worry about being so exact with everything that you make yourself (and everyone around you) insane. Relax and know that all your numbers are ambiguous anyways. Get as close as you can, eat high quality foods, and be consistent.

The 10 meals

So without further delay....here are 10 Stupid Simple 50/50 Muscle Building Meals you can plug into your nutrition plan today.

(All meals are +/- about 5g of carbs/protein either way. Depending on your source it varies.)

Obviously that is just 10, and there are dozens of combos you can create with just this menu or you can create your own meals. But as with life, keep things simple and easy and you'll have greater chances of success.