When it comes to building muscle, there are going to be some rules that always apply universally. Your body uses the amino acids in protein to build new muscle. Your body uses carbohydrates for energy. Your body uses fats for many body functions. Too many of any of these macronutrients leads to body fat gains, and too few of any leads to a lack of performance or muscle loss. However, when anabolic steroids are tossed into the mix, everything changes. Standard bodybuilding nutrition tenets still apply, but the potential for gains skyrockets. Let’s look at a few of the differences between what should be on your plate during, and after, a steroid cycle.

On-Cycle

Now is the time to embrace diet like never before. Steroids bump up your red blood cell count and increase your body’s ability to utilize amino acids. Instead of urinating away any protein grams above 300 per day, your body will now suddenly be able to make use of up to 400 or more grams per day. Take advantage, and pile on the protein servings! Keep your fat at about the same levels, but bump up your carbohydrate levels significantly. Enjoy the same types of carbs that you normally would – in greater portions. Remember that slow-burning complex carbohydrate sources such as pasta, beans, lentils and rice are ideal for most of your meals. The only time simple sugars should be consumed is with creatine supplements or in that post-workout anabolic window when you are most interested in shuttling amino acids to your muscle groups.

Off-Cycle

Your dieting practices are going to be much less forgiving. Many bodybuilders engage in some fast food dieting, enjoying at least one meal a day at McDonalds. Even nutritional guru Dave Palumbo, widely recognized as one of the top steroid and nutritional experts in the world, enjoys McDonalds once per day. Off-cycle, however, you are not going to be able to enjoy this luxury. You’ll need to curb back on the fats a bit. Your body will no longer be able to make use of up to 500 grams of protein per day, which is just as well because the furnace of a metabolism you enjoyed while on cycle isn’t going to be there for you anymore. Finally, you should manipulate the amount of carbohydrates you eat daily to keep your waistline in check. Any post-cycle weight gain is directly related to carb consumption. If you’re staying solid, keep them where they are at. As soon as you start losing some hardness and seeing some degradation in definition, cut back the total amount of calories.

As you can see, the foods remain the same. It is only the amounts that you consume which vary. And of course, some ratios of macronutrients will be affected. Don’t be one of those guys who finishes a cycle, keeps diet the same, and ends up adding 20 pounds of fat to his waistline in a month. Understand the limitations of running cycles, and plan your diet accordingly.

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