You have to eat right to lose the body fat and replace it with muscle. But here’s something else to consider, if you’re not eating right, then you have no reason to be in the gym; you’re actually harming your body if you do.

Here is what you need to do to build lean muscle – keep a daily food journal that counts the fat, protein and carbohydrate calories you are consuming each day.

When you’ve done this, start following a plan that will prevent you from accumulating fat while increasing your muscle mass. Next up, you will have to learn just how much protein you will need to consume everyday.

If you weigh 165 lbs, and you want to weigh 185 lbs, then you need to eat like someone who weighs 185 lbs, and the key to that is consuming 1.5 your body weight (or goal body weight) in grams of protein.

So the guy who weighs 165 lbs, but who wants to weigh 185 lbs needs to consume 225 g A DAY to reach that weight and build that lean muscle mass.

225 g of protein is a lot, but not if you’re used to eating that much food. If you increase your dietary intake to say, 5 meals a day, where you get 45 g of protein per meal, you’ll hit your goal. Body mass should be maintained by eating at constant levels. Once you’re eating right, you‘ll need to establish a weight-training routine that gradually builds as you graduate up the scales.

Of course, eating right also means eating smart and by this, we mean selecting menu items that are high in protein, vitamins & minerals, especially Omega-3s (good fat) and low in bad fat. Some good options are chicken and tuna, but to be sure that you get your daily protein dosage, you might want to try taking in quality protein shakes.

Carbs, you can take in all the carbs you want just as long as you’re getting the protein that you need, because you’ll be burning lots of carb calories during the workouts which requires an intense cardio routine.

There are lots of healthy carbs on the grocery store shelves, like fruit, vegetables, nuts, and grains, so don’t think that carbs are solely from fastfood. As a matter of fact, you should stay away from the junk food carbs, and get them only from natural fruit and vegetables, especially fibrous vegetables.

Since junk foods have no protein value, you’ll want to stay away from those, once you’ve consumed the necessary amount of protein every day, then you’re free to eat whatever you want.

Now you know the key factors involved in how to build lean muscle mass, don’t forget to take a multi-vitamin every day while you’re working out. It will help replace everything you use up while pushing your body as far as it can go.