DIET needed for EXPLOSIVE MUSCLE WEIGHT GAIN!

Diet is seen by many bodybuilders as the holy grail of bodybuilding or the most important part of the jigsaw. It is actually very simple yet many bodybuilders fail at the diet stage. Simply to gain weight you must increase calories so that you consume more than you burn off. I would say that consistency is more important than diet but for sure the diet is number 2 in the order of important bodybuilding pieces of the jigsaw. The actual exercise regime is number 3 because without diet your exercise gains will reach a plateau very quickly. When muscles break down from exercise they need nutrients so they can grow back bigger and stronger than before. Therefore here I will give you my simple rules for a good bodybuilding diet. The principles that I lay down here will be with the aim of gaining weight (bulking). Weight loss diets are completly different and will be dealt with in another post.


First of all record what you eat in a day. Find the amount of grams you receive in protein, carbohydrates and fats and the amount of calories. This is your basic calorie needs for maintaining your current weight. In order to gain weight you need to be 3,500 calories over in 1 week to gain 1 pound or 7,000 calories over to gain 2 pounds. This over a week not a day!

Therefore we must add 1,000 calories a day if we are aiming for 2 pounds increase a week. In fact though the actual amount is 1,500 calories because weight lifting burns calories at a high rate and so we need an extra 500 in fact!

So for example you take in 2,000 calories a day normally. Now you need 3,500 in order to gain 2lb. As you gain weight however you will need more and more calories to maintain that weight so for example this is my plan for a 10 week bulk.

week 1: 3,500 calories
week 2: 3,800 calories
week 3: 4,100 calories
week 4: 4,400 calories
week 5: 4,700 calories
week 6: 5,000 calories
week 7: 5,300 calories
week 8: 5,600 calories
week 9: 5,900 calories
week 10: 6,200 calories

Through this diet you will gain 20 pounds in just 10 weeks. Coupled with a very good training regime you can expect a lot of that weight to be muscle. The idea though is to keep adding 300 calories each week to continue the weight gain or eventually it will plateau.

Meal Frequency: If you are skinny you will have a very quick metabolism and so you need to be constantly eating in order to keep fueling the muscle and to keep in an anabolic state (muscle building). I recommend you eat small meals EVERY 3 HOURS minimum.

Diet Ratio:

50% of calories must come from Protein then divide the remaining 50% between Carbs and Fats equally. If you weigh 140lb then you should ALWAYS be getting 140g of protein daily as a bare minimum.

Protein Sources:
Whey protein, eggs, beef, poultry, fish, skim milk, cottage cheese

Carbohydrate Sources:
Pasta, rice, vegetables, cereal, whole wheat bread, dextrose, potatoes

Fat Sources: (fat doesn't actually make you fat contrary to popular belief! Simple carbohydrates such as sugars are the enemy)
Canola, sunflower, safflower, cold water fish, linseed oil, evening primrose, borage and flaxseed oil.

Other Requirements:

Fiber: Fiber is repsonsible for a healthy digetsive system and allows things to move along in a 'smooth' way. The best sources are vegetables, whole grain and whole oats.

Milk: If you are having difficulty gaining weight then I recommend adding milk to your diet! Milk is high in protein and dietary fat and can be an instant 100 calories in each glass!

Water: Drink at least a gallon a day. Protein produces a lot of waste and the only way the kidneys can cope is through adequate water consumption.

That is all for now folks! If you have any questions feel free to ask. These are the basics of dieting for weight gain. I will post specific meal plans later.

Until next time,
Steve