Dieting for size.

 Eating right for Bulking

Dieting is where most people go wrong when it comes to bulking. Everyone thinks they can go to the gym, lift and the results will just come. However think of it like this, if your body is not being fed the proper nutrients that it needs to recover, how will it grow? This is why a good diet is considered by many to be more valuable than a good routine. 

In the foods we eat there are 3 Macronutrients, Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein. These are what all of our foods are made from. 

Carbohydrates are our main energy source, with fast and slowdigesting carbohydrates for immediate or long lasting energy. They top up our glycogen levels and are responsible for the control of the most anabolic hormone, Insulin. Carbohydrates are thus very valuable when it comes to gaining size. Carbohydrates are found in foods like oats, pasta and rice, however it can also be purchased in powder form. The most popular powder for it being Atlas Carbo Charge.

Fats play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair. They help improve function of the brain, protect our organs against shock and help keep the body insulated. Fats are also a source of energy that is relatively fast burning. Fats could be easily removed from anybodies diet, however it would be extremely unhealthy to do so and bad for your weight training. As well as containing essential fatty acids, fats are also needed for the production of testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone most responsible for strength gains. An easy way of getting in your essential omega oils is through Fish Oil tablets.

Protein is the most famous of macro-nutrients. Available in sports supplements all over the world, it is essential for muscle recovery, healing from injuries and mass gain. It can be purchased in powders, tablets or liquid form. Protein though when bulking needs to be consumed with carbohydrates and fats. Every meal you have should contain both a portion of protein and fats/carbohydrates. Our best selling protein powder is by far the PHD Pharma Whey. 

To gain weight we need to eat in excess calories, and each of these macronutrients contains calories. 1g of protein contains 4 calories, 1g of carbohydrates contains 4 calories, 1g of fats contains 9 calories.

In order to bulk you need to know how many calories you eat in the first place in and work from there. A simple formula for doing this is first weigh yourself first thing in the morning before breakfast. Then record how many calories you eat for 3 days straight, write everything down and add up the total at the end of each day (find this out by checking the nutritional information on the back of food packaging).

So at the end of your days, it could look like this;  Day 1 - 2000 calories, day 2 - 1800 calories, day 3 - 2200 calories.

You then add up the calories over the 3 days and divide them by 3. This gives you your average calorie consumption. In this case it would average 2000 calories per day (2000+1800+2200 / 3 = 2000). After doing this, weigh yourself again.

• If you have maintained weight, this is how many calories you need to eat each day in order to maintain your weight.
• If you lose weight, add 500 calories to your daily intake and perform the experiment again.
• If you have gained weight, this is currently enough calories for you to bulk (within reason, the gain should be no more than 1-2lbs).

Your aim is to gain 1-2lbs per week. You could gain more for your ego, but muscle can only be gained so quickly. Gorging calories and gaining anymore weight will result in fat gain. 

So this is all good to know, but it doesn't tell me how many carbs, fats or proteins I should eat.

Hang on, we're getting there.

The typical bulking programme will have a 50/30/20 CPF ratio. That's 50% of your total calories coming from Carbohydrates, 30 percent from protein and 20 percent from fats. So what would that look like? Something like this;

I.E if someone needs 2500 calories in order to bulk.

1250 Calories from Carbohydrates

750 Calories from Protein

500 Calories from Fats

Remember how many calories is in each gram of each nutrient? Well we'll do it for you this time, but you'll need to learn sooner or later.

1250 / 4 = 312g of Carbohydrates

750 / 4 = 190g of Proteins

500 / 9 = 55g of Fats

So now you go out, you buy your food and check the back of packets to see all the nutritional information.

From these nutritional outputs, we can judge that this particular bulking diet will be heavily influenced by oats, rice, pasta, wholemeal bread, potatoes, various fruits and vegatables for carbohydrates. In general only complex carbohydrates should be consumed with meals. Post workout, simple carbohydrates such as Dextrose should be consumed, we sell various supplements containing mixtures of good sugars and protein such as CNP Pro Recover.

Since the fat requirement is relatively low but the protein requirement is high, we want to make sure that only lean meats are purchased, so get in plenty of chicken and fish, red meats tend to be high in fats so only treat yourself to that steak if you have trimmed off the fat you do not need. However remember to keep up your essential fatty acids. If you find you've reached your fat allowance for the day is another reason protein shakes come in so useful. As well as averaging £0.30 (per 25g serving) also makes protein powders much cheaper sources of protein than almost any meat*.

Okay, I know what to eat now, how long should I bulk for? I don't want to get fat!

Calm down, nobody wants to get fat. You don't need to, make sure that you eat clean foods throughout your bulk and you will minimalise your fat gain. Don't just gorge yourself on sweet foods and desserts just to get in easy calories, keep your head level. A good way of getting over sugar cravings to keep you on track is to supplement your diet with Chromium.

Typically people will bulk for 6-12 weeks trying to gain 1-2lbs per week. This should mean an average of 12-24lbs should be gained by the end of a bulking cycle. After this when you're coming to cut, give our cutting article a read.

How many calories everyone should eat are different, it's up to you work yours out. The methods we have provided are not the only ones out there, but are however simple, easy to follow and will work. The macronutrient ratios we advised are also not the only ones used, but is however the most common. It's worth having little experiments throughout your weightlifting career by upping one nutrient and decreasing another over time to see what changes happen to your physique.

*Strict protein powders do not usually contain the vitamins and minerals found from whole foods. Protein powders should merely be used to supplement a diet and are not intended as a replacement for a well balanced diet.

Written by Nathan Smith; Sports Supplements advisor for Factory Supplements