The first rule of gaining weight to allow for your mass building program is to make sure that you consume more energy than you expend meaning that you need to intake more calories than your body requires for it’s day to day functions. However, it’s as simple as just stuffing yourself with whatever you’d like. The goal is to maximize those surplus calories to convert to muscle as much as possible as opposed to excessive body fat.
First, let’s take a look at our metabolic rate to help assess just how many calories we are going to need to consume. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and the very close related Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) are a measure of the amount of energy expended daily at rest. There are several factors that affect our RMR.
- Body Composition: RMR is related to the amount of fat free mass one has. The higher the fat free mass, the higher the RMR.
- Gender: Men on average will have a higher RMR than women due to the fact that men have more fat free mass.
- Age: Typically as you get older, your RMR begins to decrease.
- Stress: This will typically increase RMR.
Approximately 70% of a person’s total energy expenditure is due to the basal life processes within the organs of the body. An additional 20% gets expended due to physical activity and then the last 10% is from digestion of food.
You can use the following calorie calculator to get an idea of how many calories you would need to consume to maintain your body weight. You will then want to increase your energy intake by a suitable amount (typically an additional 500 calories a day is a good place to start).
Okay so now that we understand a bit more about what our goal calorie intake is, let’s take a look at what our mass gain diet should be. As I stated earlier, eating large amounts of junk food will allow you to gain weight, however not in the way you would like. You’ll just end up expanding your waist line and creating an unhealthy situation for your body and overall health.
Treat your body like a temple and don’t desecrate it. You will want to increase your calories but by eating more protein, unrefined carbohydrates such as those found in whole grains, vegetables and fruits, and healthy fats.
The first step to increasing your caloric intake and maximizing it for muscle building is to eat smaller meals more frequently. Typically people will have three large meals, however your body isn’t a bank meaning that even if you were to eat 3 very large meals, those additional calories will not stay stored until you need them later in the day. Instead they’ll be converted to fat, which is what we want to avoid. Try instead to eat about 5 – 6 meals a day, trying to eat something every 2 – 4 hours. You should monitor your hunger level between each meal and on a scale of 1 – 10 where 1 is feeling famished and 10 is stuffed, you should eat your next meal when you’re at a 4 – 6. You should never reach lower than a 4 and after your meal, you should be at an 8 or a 9.
When trying to gain mass, you need to make sure that your body has enough protein which is essential for muscle growth and repair. Ideally, you want to get your protein from healthy dietary sources and you will want to eat anywhere from 1.5 – 2.5 times your body weight in protein, meaning that if you weight 200 lbs, you’ll want to eat 300 – 500 grams of protein. Before taking on a high protein diet, you should consult with a physician if you have any sort of kidney dysfunction, even a mild one. While there is no hard evidence to show that you can damage your kidney’s by increasing your intake of protein for those with healthy kidney’s, there is some evidence that suggests increasing your protein intake can accelerate kidney failure if you have existing kidney problems.
Some good sources of protein include the following:
- Eggs – Many bodybuilders will eat only the egg whites, as that’s the main source of protein, however I would suggest having 1 full egg per every 3 – 4 egg whites, as the yolk contains a lot of nutrients, not to mention healthy fat which you will need in addition to protein if you want to build mass.
- Fish and seafood – Mackerel, sardines, salmon and trout are fantastic for getting in your protein as well as Omega 3, an essential fatty acid.
- Chicken, Turkey and other birds – These are great in protein and low in fat
- Lean beef
- Tofu/Soy – Great option for anyone, but especially vegetarians
You may also want to take a look at protein shakes as this will make getting in the proper amount of protein easier. You may want to have both Whey protein and Casein protein on hand. Whey protein is a fast acting protein meaning that it gets metabolized and absorbed into the blood stream in a quick manner, typically 20 minutes or so. Whey protein is therefore ideal for a pre and post workout snack, ensuring that your muscles have the proper nutrition necessary for growth. On the other hand, Casein is considered a slow acting protein, taking about 3 – 4 hours to be fully metabolized. This makes it ideal to have prior to going to sleep, ensuring that your body is still getting adequate protein even while you’re sleeping.
You should also look into ensuring that you have carbohydrates in your pre-workout meal as well. It’s been shown that carbohydrates are important for quickly replenishing the body’s glycogen which is essential to fuel your exercise activity.
Don’t forget about getting enough water as part of your mass building plan. It’s recommended that you get anywhere from 8 – 12 cups a day. Some studies have shown that being well hydrates allows one to be more efficient at burning fat and that drinking cold water can possibly increase your metabolic rate. Whatever the case may be, there’s no doubt that the body does need water, so drink up.
Included below are a few mass gain diet meal samples:
Meal 1:
1 cup of cooked oatmeal using water for preparation
1 scoop of protein powder
1 tbsp of almonds or walnuts
1/2 chopped banana
Meal 2:
1 whole grain tortilla
4 egg whites, 1 full egg
vegetables (perhaps 1 cup spinach, handful mushrooms, etc.) for omelette
Meal 3:
4 – 6 oz tuna steak
Fresh spinach
1/3 cup brown rice
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
Marinate tuna steak in 2 tbsp of teriyaki sauce for 15 – 30 minutes prior to cooking. Then put it on a pan and cook until desired degree of doneness though rare to medium rare is suggested. Serve with spinach and brown rice.
Meal 4:
Meal 5:
Meal 6:
