You’re training harder on a mission to get bigger, now you need the calories to match.
While your main meals provide the majority of nutrients and calories, snacks and increased portions will help you hit your target – providing extra energy to train and support muscle growth.
Eating enough food to meet your muscle-building needs can be tough. When Chris is in training, he’ll regularly have 2 meals plus a protein smoothie to get more calories in.
In combination with the Nutrition Handbook, this guide will help you snack smart and find the approach that works for you in order to maximize your muscle growth with Power.
How to add to your meal plan to reach your target calories
Once you have estimated your total daily target calories using the calculator in the Nutrition Handbook (Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced), you will have an idea of how much extra you need on top of your Build Muscle meal plan base. You can achieve this extra intake through extra meal portions, or with snacks and smoothies.
Centr recipes contain nutritional information including calories and macros to help you track your intake.
Let’s use Bobby as an example.
Bobby’s daily target is 3000 calories.
His meal plan base is 2400 calories.
So he needs to add 600 calories per day.
Bobby chooses to achieve this by adding:
Chocolate & Peanut Granola Protein Bar = 223 calories
Protein Snack Tray = 224 calories
Cheesy Zucchini Muffins = 145 calories
TOTAL = 592 calories
Note: It’s okay for this total to be slightly under or over your target number. Remember you will need to monitor your progress and adapt if you’re not seeing gains or you’re adding too much fat rather than muscle.
1/2
Meet your calorie needs with delicious, real food snacks like our Chocolate & Peanut Granola Protein Bar.
Snacking options
You can meet your extra calorie needs through snacks or having an extra serving of your main meal.
While your main meals appear in Your Plan in the Home section of the app, snack selection is completely up to you. To find them simply head into the Explore section and select Snacks. You can then filter for dietary requirements and the type of snack.
The types of snack available on Centr are:
Everyday: Lower energy than other options, perfect for when you just need something small.
Pre-workout: Designed to fuel your body for training, they contain nutritious carbohydrates and are low in fat to boost energy levels and not sit too heavy in your stomach before exercise.
Post-workout: Designed to help you recover from your training session, they are rich in protein for muscle repair.
Treat: If you’ve got a craving, these snacks are higher in calories to help you quell it.
You’ve probably already mentally noted Pre and Post-workout options as priority snacking to achieve gains. However, as your meal plan already provides plenty of protein, so long as you’re getting that post-workout snack in after training, it’s okay to select other options to meet your calorie needs.
And because you’ll be working hard to meet your calorie needs and gain weight during Power, there’s no need to avoid Treat snacks.
2/2
Our Banana Peanut Butter Super Smoothie packs 34g of protein and goes down a treat after training.
Super smoothies
Our Super Smoothies make it easier for people on the Build Strength and Gain Muscle goals to meet their daily energy needs. After strenuous training to build muscle, you should aim to have 20-40g of protein in your snack or meal. That makes these smoothies ideal as a post-training snack, as they contain at least 20g (3⁄4 oz) of protein and plenty of carbohydrates for repair and recovery.
You will find a Super Smoothie in Your Plan every day, listed as a ‘Post-workout meal’ – use the swap function to select a different flavor. You can also find them in the Meals section by searching for ‘super smoothie’.
An additional high-calorie Super Smoothie is a simple option to get closer to meeting your total daily target – especially if you’re struggling with the amount of eating you have to do. (See below for more on this.)
Timing your snacks for performance & recovery
We’ve talked about timing meals and snacks in the Nutrition Handbook for Power. In addition to this, you may find that adding a snack before bed (after you’ve had dinner) can give your muscle-building goals an assist.
Your before-bed snack should be rich in protein, with some carbs if you’re training in the morning – this will also help meet your calorie needs. Filter for ‘Post Workout’ snacks or search for 'super smoothies' in Meals to find options to suit.
To help you sleep, it’s also a good idea to choose snacks that include the amino acid tryptophan – e.g. turkey, chicken, eggs, cheese, fish, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, milk, tofu, soy.
What if all this snacking feels like too much?
Fact: maximizing your muscle mass requires a LOT of eating. With smart snacking, reduce the feeling of food overload, add variety to your diet, and adjust your intake in small increments to fine-tune your Power results.
Try these tips to get it all in:
- Prioritise smoothies: Our Super Smoothies have been designed to make it easier for you to meet your daily energy quota.
- Choose high-calorie foods: If you have a low appetite, add foods like nuts, cheese, seeds, avocado, olive oil and nut butter to your meals and snacks to increase calories.
- Snack in the evening: If you find it hard to eat in the morning, opt for evening and pre-bed snacks.
Power snacking while vegan
If your meal plan is set to Vegan, include protein-rich snacks in your daily intake and throughout the week to ensure you’re getting plenty of high-quality protein.
Leave a comment
This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.