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Bodybuilding Meals

Bodybuilding Meals

We’ve gathered Australia’s best bodybuilding meals and compared providers to provide insights into your next meal service! We’ve sourced the information needed to compare muscle building meals and help you find the right meal provider for you and your muscle building goals.

By
Alex Hamlin

Written by

Alex Hamlin
Certified Nutritionist

Alex Joy Nutrition supports busy individuals with health goals, offering holistic nutrition guidance to reduce stress and foster balanced, healthy habits. Specialising in empowering high achievers, Alex emphasises a preventative and management-focused approach to health. As a clinical nutritionist, Alex provides individuals with tools and education for taking control of their health. She advocates for optimal nutrition as the cornerstone of wellness, employing a food-first approach complemented by holistic treatments. With evidence-based practices, Alex offers personalised guidance to help individuals reach their health goals, prioritising health at the forefront. In health content creation, Alex delivers concise, informative, and engaging material rooted in evidence-based practices, educating, inspiring and guiding others on their wellness journey.

Updated October 1, 2024
Fact checked Fully qualified and expert nutritionists have reviewed and checked this content to ensure it is as accurate as possible at the time of writing.

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How important is your diet when trying to gain muscle?

Gaining muscle mass has remained a popular topic in gym culture with growing interest in natural bodybuilding. Nutrition is just as important when gaining muscle as the training aspect, eating the right foods and enough food ensures muscles are provided with nutrients to grow and recover adequately. A bodybuilder’s diet is typically subdivided into bulking and cutting stages which represent different dietary requirements in terms of caloric intakes, as well as differing macronutrient requirements. 

Bodybuilding is judged on leanness and muscularity and isn’t representative of one’s overall health status or athletic performance. It’s important to always consult with a trusted health professional before making any dietary changes.

Bodybuilding

What do I need to eat when building muscle?

A lot of attention is often placed with nutrition surrounding protein intakes and its associated nutrient timing and frequency – however, research has shown that timing and frequency appear to have little effect on lean muscle mass retention and fat loss.

According to Helms et al. (2014), Most bodybuilders will meet their protein requirements when consuming 2.3-3.1g/kg of lean body mass per day of protein. They highlight that 15-30% of calories come from fat with the remaining calories coming from carbohydrates. Eating meals with 0.4-0.5g/kg of body weight throughout 3-6 meals per day prior and post resistance training would appease the theoretical benefits of protein timing and frequency.

Everyone’s needs and goals differ from person to person and this should be considered before changing your diet and training. To correctly identify what ingredients and amounts of protein are in your meals use our “How to read a food label in Australia” guide to assist you. 

How do muscle-building meal delivery services work?

Each provider may differ slightly, however typically consumers can browse from plan offerings or individual meals. Most providers offering meals to meet training and nutrition goals will offer a nutritional breakdown including macronutrient counts making your tracking easier.

Keep a lookout for deals that offer cheaper individual meals per larger order quantities, this is especially convenient for those needing to eat larger quantities than they are used to.

Once you’ve ordered you can sit back and relax, tracking your delivery straight to your door! Orders are temperature safe and adhere to strict protocols with lots of delivery and time notice so you can time it perfectly to get your orders into the fridge and ready for dinner!

What is the cheapest bodybuilding meal delivery service?

My Muscle Chef is the most competitive meal provider with meal packs of:

–  5-day plans of 20 meals for $9.07 each
– 6-day plans of 24 meals from $8.60 each
– 7-day plans of 28 meals from $8.12 each

My Muscle Chef meals
My Muscle Chef Meals

Most popular vegan delivery in NSW

  • Fitness Muscle Meals currently delivering to Metro Sydney and the Wollongong area.
  • My Muscle Chef catering throughout NSW
Bodybuilding food service

Most popular vegan delivery in Victoria

  • Foober
  • Macros
Keto Meals-min

Most popular vegan delivery in Queensland

  • Foober
  • Macros
Bodybuilding meal services

Most popular vegan delivery in other states

  • My Muscle Chef caters Australia wide. 
  • Macros
  • Workout meals
My Muscle Chef meals
My Muscle Chef Meals

Bodybuilding Meal Service Pros and Cons

low carb meals pros and cons

Bodybuilding Meals Pros

  • Buying meals through a meal service can be more cost-effective than preparing meals independently - Especially when meal quantities are needing to increase including the frequency of meal distributions.
  • Cooking the quantity of food to reach your individual muscle building goals can be overwhelming - This can be a hard task for anyone coming up with new flavours and cuisines to keep meals interesting, especially those who don’t enjoy cooking. Using a meal service can help keep mealtimes easy and interesting.
  • It is convenient for those that are time poor - Cooking large quantities of meals frequently may not be a luxury many people have, this can be a convenient and necessary step to take for those trying to reach their goals.
  • For those unsure how to cook or prepare for their dietary requirements a meal service can be a great introduction - Meal services can be a great introductory step to those wanting to learn or increase their cooking knowledge. It can introduce customers to new flavours and food pairings, as well as show you how big a portion of something looks i.e. how much 25g of protein of a chicken breast looks like versus 25g of sliced beef etc.

Bodybuilding Meals Cons

  • Relying on meals can become boring, especially if eating the same meals on rotation multiple times a day throughout the week - As bodybuilding requirements aren't a mainstream requirement, finding providers that offer a lot of rotating menu options can be difficult.
  • Relying on meal services can become expensive - Feeding yourself an increased quantity of anything can be costly, especially when eating up to 6 meals a day. Try to look for providers that offer cheaper meals per increased orders to make the buying journey more cost-effective.
  • Meal providers may not cater to snacks or add-on additives to meal services - if you're wanting to take the thought out of snacks and drinks try to find a meal provider that offers extras or snack options.
  • There aren't a lot of providers catering to dietary requirements or allergies within bodybuilding categories - If you have any dietary restrictions you may find it challenging to find a service that caters to this on top of the bodybuilding requirements.

How to Choose the Best Bodybuilding Meal Delivery Service

When choosing the right option for you, consider the following factors:

Protein

Building muscle mass requires adequate protein intakes, ensure you read product outlines to make sure they meet your needs per meal.

As a general rule aiming between 20-30g protein per meal can be enough to meet your muscle-building goals.

Calorie/ Energy Density

Ensure you check calories per meal to calculate your daily needs and intakes. Each meal will be different and you must assess each meal per your dietary plan and training schedule.

Value for Volume

Assess if the meals you’re buying or looking into match your expectations of cost for the volume and quality you’re receiving.

Do they appear to be satiating and does the value match the cost you’re paying?

Vegetables

Even though vegetables are typically quite low in calories it doesn’t mean you should skip out on including these in your meals. Check to see if you’re meeting your daily requirements for vegetable intakes and if the meals you order include a range of different vegetables throughout their meals.

Bodybuilding Meal FAQS

There are a few high protein meal prep and snack options you can consider in your meal prep from 

  • Hard-boiled eggs 
  • Trail mixes with nuts and seeds 
  • Greek yoghurt, berries and nuts 
  • Can of Tuna with brown rice or veggies
  • Mexican bowls w/ protein source, brown rice, veges etc.
  • Omelette or scrambled eggs with mixed veges etc.
  • Protein shakes

There are a few providers that cater to dietary requirements such as

  • Workout meals: no gluten, no peanuts, no eggs, no dairy, no sesame, no soy.
  • My Muscle Chef: no added dairy, no added eggs, no added gluten, no added nuts, no added seafood.

It depends on what the meal is, the size of an individual meal may appear a similar size as to what you have been ordering previously, however, the ingredients may be far more calorie-dense in comparison to what you’re used to eating. These high-calorie meals you may find cause you to feel fuller quicker and for longer which may take a little while to adjust to.

Relying on meal services for every mealtime, every day can stack up! However, many meal providers offer competitive prices with incentivised packs with cheaper individual meal costs with larger quantities being ordered. Check out the providers listed above to discover their pack offers.

There are many concerns with long term bodybuilding nutritionally and physically on the body, it’s important to work with qualified health professionals to ensure the utmost care is taken when preparing dietary changes and training adaptations. 

Those competing in bodybuilding competitions or those looking to begin this journey need to be aware of the risks associated with developing eating and body image disorders. This is due to the aesthetic nature of the sport and its restrictiveness, it’s important to consider your mental health before and during entering competitions.

Bodybuilding is considered an expensive sport. There are many outgoing expenses that bodybuilders need to keep up with from meals, snacks, supplements, physical therapy treatments, competition-related expenses and travel associated costs.

This is different from person to person; bodybuilders can typically eat up to 5-8 meals a day to support muscle building. While most will stick to typical breakfast, lunch and dinners – some people may find themselves adding meals in-between typical meal times and lean towards high-protein snacks as well.

Helms et al. (2014). “Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 11(1): 1-20.

Mithal et al. (2012). “Impact of nutrition on muscle mass, strength, and performance in older adults.” Osteoporosis International 24(5): 1555-1566.

Search and compare wellness and health delivery services in Australia including meal kits, ready to eat meal delivery, vitamin subscriptions and much more at Wellhub. All content and information on this site is provided by qualified Australian nutritionists to ensure accurate representation of all products reviewed. Learn more about our expert team here.