How to successfully manage your diet to get a good bulk

When it comes to dieting, you can find many articles on the internet that explain how to lose weight and get slim in no time. However, if you feel too skinny and you decided to hit the gym to gain some muscle and build some mass, you may find it more difficult to find valuable information. As many hard gainers can attest, good volume is not an easy thing to achieve. That’s why I’m here today to give you some tips that will get you on the right track towards your fitness goals.

Controlling your body weight starts with a very simple statement. Your body needs a certain amount of calories to maintain your mass. If you go below that amount, you will lose weight and if you go over it, you will gain a little. It’s as simple as that. You have two ways to calculate your maintenance, the first is to follow the same diet for a week or two and keep track of all your calories every time you eat something. If your weight hasn’t changed at the end of this period, you get an approximation of your maintenance. All you have to do is increase the number of calories by 10-15% to start gaining weight.

If that seems too complicated, you can find a way to calculate that maintenance based on your age, weight, height, and activity. The formulas are readily available on the internet and many apps can now do it directly for you.

Now that you know your upkeep, you can easily create a surplus and start building some mass! However, it is not enough if you want to keep your bump clean.

You can actually gain some weight by eating ridiculous amounts of cookies and pizza every day, but I don’t think you’ve started bulking up to get fat and unhealthy. To bulk up, you need to keep your diet clean and get the right amount of each macronutrient.

As many people know, protein is essential for building muscle, so you might think increasing your intake as much as possible is a good idea for bulking up. It is not! Proteins, unlike fats or carbohydrates, cannot be stored by your body. Thus, your body will use the amount it needs and evacuate the rest naturally. That is why feeding yourself protein powder and chicken breasts ten times a day will not be efficient for you. It is generally recommended to get around 1g of protein per pound of body weight for optimal results.

Fats should also be a very important part of your diet and people should not be afraid of them, whether it is for bulking or cutting. Although some are to be avoided, such as trans fats, there are many healthy fats such as Omega 3, 6 and 9 that you can find in nuts, olive oil and fatty fish, for example, which are essential for your body. It is generally recommended to get around 20% of your total calorie intake from fat. However, since one gram of fat offers so much more calories than both protein and carbohydrate (9 kcal instead of the other two 4 kcal), you can increase that amount a bit to increase your caloric intake and reduce your

Last but not least, carbohydrates should not be forgotten as they are the first source of energy for your body. Carbohydrates fall into two categories, simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates (sugar, fruits, sweets…) will give you instant energy but won’t last long. We generally recommend taking them during or just after training to maintain energy or increase insulin levels and start building muscle after exertion. Complex carbohydrates (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes…) take longer to assimilate and therefore will give a sustained amount of energy over a longer period. Once you’ve calculated your protein and fat needs, all the other calories needed to get to your target amount should come from carbohydrates.

You already have all the basics to start a good bundle! With a calorie surplus diet packed with the right nutrients, there’s no reason not to reach your goal. You just have to be patient, consistent, and hardworking while training.