The Formula for Weight Gain

There is a myth in the Bodybuilding Industry that if you want to get big you have to eat a ridiculous amount of calories (more often than not without any forethought into the micronutrient requirements other than protein) and once you put on a certain amount of weight you can just cut, drop all the body fat and be toned. You can, but unlike these pros you will most likely not be taking steroids, human growth hormones, ephedrine, et cetera. Furthermore your body does not like to binge and purge like this and there are several theories that the may be some long term side effects.

Very few people need to eat over 5000 calories. In fact very few people will need to hit 4000 calories. I’ll give my background, during my teenage years I dirty bulked (ate crap) and then cut (dropped the fat) – highest I got to was 180lbs and I felt like shit (energy would spike and crash, moods would be all over the place, et cetera). I ended up having to have 13 operations on my stomach and dropped to 120lbs – due to what is wrong with me I had to really look at my diet and if I wanted to continue to weight gain, within 12months I got to 170lbs and within 18months I got to 185lbs. I had none of the side effects.

To establish how many calories you should be eating you first need to decide your ideal bodyweight – body fat. (200lbs at 10% would be 180lbs). You then have a base calorie requirement of 10calories per-lbs of lean bodyweight (180lbs for this example). You then need to set your daily requirements based on activity level (between 1 and 5 calories) to get your rest day (non-workout and non-recovery days) calorie requirements. On workout days you will add 4 calories per-lbs and on recovery days you will add 2 calories.

So for the man who wants to be 200lbs at 10% body fat who works at a construction site 5 days a week it is as follows:

200lbs – 10% = 180lbs

Rest Days: 180lbs * (10+5) = X

Workout Days: 180lbs * (10+5+4) = Y

Recovery Days: 180lbs * (10+5+2) = Z

You then have to factor in your nutritional requirements.

·         Protein should be between 1.5g (less active) to 2g (more active) per-lbs of bodyweight. (in this case the full 200lbs)

·         20-25% should be fat

·         The remainder is carbohydrates.

Now remember:

·         1g of Protein is 4 Calories

·         1g of Carbohydrates is 4 Calories

·         1g of Fat is 9 Calories

The key to this diet is you aren’t limited to eating only what is included, this gives you the minimum daily requirement of calories. If you eat your daily requirement and still feeling hungry have some more than day.

We also have two key things:

1.       Cheat Days – once a fortnight eat what you want (don’t be a fool) but maintain your protein in take

2.       Cheat Meals – once a week add an additional meal that you don’t factor into your daily requirements, be it going out for dinner, et cetra.

If you follow this diet, eat smart, eat healthy and eat often you will slowly put on weight. Weight gain should never be a sprint but a marathon. Combine this with a solid routine where by you are also slowly increasing your weight training and stick with it and within 6 to 18months you will see life changing results.

N.B: In some cases people can take up to an additional 10 calories per-lbs of bodyweight due to their lifestyle, these people are the exception though and not the rule. An example of this is Michael Phels who burns around 1000 calories per-hour of training and thus has a much higher natural requirement. If you are a professional athlete or desire to, please e-mail me directly and I'll give you more bespoke advise.