If you are already reading this article, it means you have your head on right. For most people, building muscle is a real struggle because they simple don't know how to eat properly. In this article, I'm going to outline the basics of a proper diet plan for those looking to build muscle mass. It's not rocket science, but if you don't have it right from the beginning, you are fighting an uphill battle.

The first thing you need to worry about is how much you eat. If you do not eat enough, you will not gain any weight and that is not what you're after, is it If you are the type of person who has always been skinny, you can get away with eating as much as you like. If you are one of these people and you do put on a little bit of weight, then you will lose the fat a lot quicker than you gained it.

On the other hand, if you are a person who gains weight easy, but finds it hard to make lean gains, you have to be a lot more careful with how you go about your diet. I fit into this category and when I first began weight training, I weighed around 77kg and was eating around 2200 calories a day. This allowed me to gain lean muscle, without putting on loads of lard too.

The second thing you need to worry about and this is just as important as how much you eat, is what you actually eat. Eating lots of hamburgers will make you put on weight, but not the kind of weight you want. So you need to be smart. Of course, if you are one of those people who finds it really hard to gain any sort of weight at all, then you don't have to worry quite so much. You can eat just about anything and not worry about getting really fat and bloated.

But if you're not one of those people, listen up. You want to restrict yourself to eating only quality foods. I've written an entire article on this topic, but I'm just going to list the main foods you should be eating down below.

As far as proteins go, you want to be eating lots of chicken breast, turkey breast, lean cuts of steak, tuna is also fantastic, just about any fish is also good and protein shakes can be helpful if you are low on time.

Carbohydrates. You obviously want to be eating lots of good, healthy vegetables. Stay clear of sugary, processed carbs like white bread and white rice. Instead, stick to wholesome foods like wholemeal bread, pita bread, oats, brown rice, etc etc.

And fats, well, I love eating peanut butter because it tastes great and is also good for you too. Other nuts are also great, like walnuts, almonds and good old peanuts. Just be careful about the amount of nuts you're actually eating. Fat is very calorie dense, so it's easy to over indulge.