ravadongon

What Is The Best Weight Gain Diet Plan?

By Ravadongon

Gaining mass or bulking as it is termed by bodybuilders, can be a very satisfying phase for any lifter. Some find it easier to do then others, and some just can’t seem to do it at all. Hopefully I will be able to help some of you who struggle to gain muscle mass, or put on too much fat while trying to do so. Here are some common questions asked by people in this situation:

What type of protein/carbs/fat ratio should you try to have each day?

The majority of people will suggest to follow a 40-40-20 diet (protein/carbs/fat). However, for bulking, I would suggest you follow a 25-55-20 diet, don’t fear carbs, but stay away from simple sugars (excluding post workout). As for protein, get about 1.2-1.8g/lb of bodyweight per day.

However be sure to note these are only basic guidelines, some people will be more carb/fat sensitive and may need to adjust these ratios to suit themselves.

How many calories per day?

Your caloric needs for gaining mass are dependent on your metabolism and activity rate. A way in which you can determine how many calories you should get per day is by multiplying your bodyweight (in lbs) by 18-22. Obviously people with a faster metabolism will need to be in the upper range and maybe even above, while people with a slower metabolism will want to be in the lower bracket, to avoid large amounts of excess fat gains.

Another way in which you can calculate your caloric needs, is by using a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) Calculator. A very useful BMR calculator I have found is this one by Leah Wynne (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/leah1.htm). Once you have found your maintenance caloric needs, add 500 calories to this and this is how much calories you need to gain muscle mass at a safe rate (without excessive fat gains).

Make sure you distribute your calories (and macronutrients) evenly over your meals. To find out how many calories or grams of macronutrients you should have per meal divide your total daily calories or macronutirents (whichever one you are trying to find out) by the number of meals you have (you should be having 6-8 meals per day)

What types of food should you be eating?

Good Protein Sources
- Meat (steak, chicken, lean beef, ect.)
- Milk
- Whey Powder
- Peanuts
- Eggs
- Fish
- Cottage Cheese
- Canned Tuna

Good Carbohydrates Sources
- Oats
- Whole Wheat/Grain Bread
- Whole Wheat/Grain Pasta
- Sweet Potatoes
- Brown Rice
- Oat Bran Cereal
- Fresh Fruits
- Fresh Vegetables
- Beans
- Lentils

Good Fat Sources
- Olive Oil
- Fish Oil
- Flax Seed Oil
- Natural Peanut Butter
- Nuts
- Seeds

What types of food should you avoid?

As a general rule of thumb, any processed, modified food should be avoided if your goal is to make lean gains. These foods are loaded with high amounts of trans and saturated fats and simple sugars. Here are a list of foods that should be avoided if you are unsure. There are many others that can be listed but this is just to name a few common ones:
Bad Protein Sources

- Fatty meats
- Fatty dairy
- Most lunch meat
- Large amounts of soy

Bad Carbohydrate Sources

- Regular bread
- Anything with added sugar
- Most cereals (excluding Oat Bran)
- Soda
- Fruit juice
- Bagels
- Fruit bars
- Candy

Bad Fat Sources

- Margarine
- Vegetable oil
- Corn oil
- Heated/fried oil

What can you do to increase your appetite?

Often eating huge amounts of calories can be very hard to do. If you’re having trouble downing all your food, then there are three things I can suggest you should do.

Firstly, if you haven’t already spread your meals out evenly (in terms of calories) throughout the day. It has been shown that eating at regular intervals boosts your metabolism.

Secondly, allow for variation in your diet. This doesn’t mean you can eat junk food, it means try to vary meals each day, still keeping them healthy. If you feel you don’t know what kind of stuff you can have, then take a look at the recipe thread in the nutrition forum to provide you with meal ideas: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=26231.

Thirdly, if you still have trouble downing food, implent a HOMEMADE weight gainer shakes. These are a cheap and easy way to down a lot of calories, being in liquid form. All you need is a blender and the following ingredients:

Bodybuilding.com Forums Homemade Weight Gainer

1 scoop of protein powder
0.5-1 cup of oats
1-2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 banana or any other serving of fruit (e.g. berries)
1 cup of low fat milk

Blend and enjoy!

What supplements should you take?

Supplements I would recommend you take are:

Multivitamin (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/multi.html)
Protein powder (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/proteinfinder.htm)

One of the following:

Creatine Monohydrate (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/creatine.html)
Creatine Ethyl Ester (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/cee.html)
Kre-Alkalyn (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/kre.html)

As the name supplement suggests, these should only be used to supplement your diet and without a good diet these “supplements” will have very little influence.

How much weight should you be trying to gain each week?

Generally the acceptable amount without gaining excessive fat is between 0.5-2lbs/week, amounts will obviously vary due to genetics and lifting experience. Trying to gain much more weight than this will result in a largely increased amount of fat storage in the body. However if you stick to the strategy I’ve provided you with, you should not see any excessive fat gains.

How much fat is acceptable to gain during your weight gain period? How can you tell if you are gaining too much fat?

I can’t tell you what will be an acceptable amount of fat to gain while bulking, because it is difficult to determine a universally acceptable amount. All I can say is what I said before, if you follow the outline I’ve given you, you will avoid gaining huge amounts of unwanted fat. An easy way and probably the best way to assess how much fat you have gained, is to go by the mirror. Often it’s hard to remember exactly how your body looked a couple of weeks ago, so if you have this same problem, then I advise you to get a cheap digital camera and take pictures every few weeks to monitor this. This way you can adjust your diet accordingly and/or add more cardio to monitor your progress and/or introduce fat loss supplements (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/fatloss.htm).

What is the most calories that you have eaten in one day when trying to bulk? What did you eat? How did you feel the next day?

I stay very consistent when bulking, so I rarely go over the amount I set myself at the beginning of the bulk. If I ever cheat I never count my calories and I’m guessing, never go over 4000 calories, because I’ve never been a big eater before I got into lifting. Generally when I do over eat, I don’t feel to good during that day and the next day, so I try and avoid doing that. As I said I’m very consistent when I bulk so I very rarely cheat and if I do, it isn’t anything to write home about.

LoveThyPain

great articles bro!! i figured someone's got to show appreciation for ur hard work

__________________
Life's a bitch, be a dog and hump it.

ravadongon

LOL Cheers, mate. Anyway I got my appreciation from bb.com - $20 credit at their store

Master Of Puppets

About the lunch meat, are turkey slices ok? I know the sodium adds up, but it's probably the best choice, right?

On the subject about eating a lot, there was an article in the teen section, I believe, that Dante (Doggcrap) wrote that said doing cardio increases appetite. Just thought I'd point that out. Nice article! touches on everything bulking! Good job!