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Home » How To Gain Weight Fast
How To Gain Weight Fast: A Proven Method To Bulk Up Quickly
By Chance Woods, B.S. Dietetics; ACE, NHE CPT
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Want to know how to gain weight fast? The first step is utilizeing best practices for both your diet and your workout. A healthy eating plan with the right balanced nutrition gives you the fuel you need to get the most out of every lift you perform. Combining a smart menu with the right workout approach maximizes your results and gives you the edge you need to gain weight fast.
How To Gain Weight Fast: The Best Diet To Get You Started
For aspiring bodybuilders who want to know how to gain weight fast, often the first question is about protein. Protein is an important part of any diet, and it plays an especially vital in muscle building. However, it is important to eat a complete diet that includes adequate calories from carbohydrates and fat as well as protein.
Total Calories
The total number of calories you should eat depends on your metabolism, your workout schedule, and on the amount of weight you would like to gain. Although a quick rule of thumb to gain weight fast is 35 to 40 calories per kilogram of current body weight, calorie needs vary widely based on age, height, and activity level in addition to body weight. To estimate your caloric needs, start by estimating your basal metabolic rate.
Convert your body weight to kilograms by dividing pounds by 2.2. For example, a 180-pound man weighs about 81.8 kilograms because 180 divided by 2.2 equals 81.8.
Convert your height to centimeters by multiplying inches by 2.54. For example, a 6-foot tall (or 72-inch) man is about 183 centimeters tall because 72 inches multiplied by 2.54 equals 182.88 centimeters.
Insert your weight, height and age into the Mifflin-St. Joer predictive equation for healthy adults.
10(weight in kilograms) + 6.25(height in centimeters) – 5(age in years) + 5
For example, 10(81.8 kg) + 6.25(183 cm) – 5(30 years) + 5 = 1816.75, or about 1,800 calories.
Once you've estimated your basal metabolic rate, factor the demands of your workouts and other lifestyle demands. If you do a moderate workout or play sports three to five days per week, multiply your basal metabolic rate by 1.55 to estimate your total daily caloric usage. For a demanding workout or sports six to seven days per week, use 1.725. If you work a physically demanding job in addition to performing a challenging workout six or seven days per week, use 1.9. For example, 1,800 basal metabolic calories multiplied by 1.725 equals about 3,100 calories per day.
Once you've established the number of calories your body is using each day to maintain your weight, you can finally calculate the number of calories you'll need to consume each day to gain weight fast. Assuming that all of the extra calories you eat are utilized for muscle generation, each pound of muscle requires an additional 2,500 calories. To increase your weight by a sustainable two pounds of muscle per week, then, you'll need to add 700 calories to your diet each day. For the 180-pound man in the example, that means a total caloric intake of 3,800 calories per day.
Protein
The maximum utilization of protein for non-energy purposes has been established at around 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight. In other words, any protein that you consume above and beyond 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight will either be used as energy or stored as fat.
To build a diet designed to gain weight fast, multiply your body weight in kilograms by 1.5 to calculate the maximum amount of protein your body can use toward muscle building to gain weight fast. For example, 81.8 kilograms multiplied by 1.5 equals 122.7 grams of protein per day. Because each gram of protein contains four calories, 122 grams of protein comprise 488 of the daily calories for a 180-pound man who is trying to gain weight fast.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are your body's preferred source of fuel. As such, they are the most efficient and clean-burning source of energy you can put into your body. Although some diets call for excessively high protein intake and very low carbohydrate intake, this type of diet is not the ideal way to gain weight fast. When protein is used as a fuel source, it produces high amounts of metabolic waste that does not contribute to your weight gain goals and puts unnecessary pressure on your organs – especially the kidneys and liver.
To gain weight fast and use every calorie to its full potential, athletes should derive 45 to 75 percent of the calories in their diet from carbohydrates. Because each carbohydrate contains four calories, a 3,800-calorie diet should contain 428 to 712 grams of carbohydrates each day.
Rather than eating carbohydrates from white flours and simple sugars – like doughnuts, soda and white pasta – choose nutrient-dense foods like whole grains, fruit and vegetables.
Fat
Although fat – especially saturated fat and trans-fat – should not figure prominently in your diet, it does play an important role. For best health, 15 to 35 percent of calories should come from fat. Choose vegetable and seed oils, nuts, seeds and avocado for healthier fat sources and avoid butter, lard and other solid fats. Because each gram of fat contains nine calories, a 3,800-calorie diet should contain between 63 to 148 grams of fat.
Fiber
Although fiber doesn't contribute directly toward your goal to gain weight fast, it is a critical component of your diet. Fiber helps remove cholesterol from your body, which reduces your risk of developing heart disease. In addition, fiber helps prevent constipation and reduces your risk of colon cancer.
For each 1,000 calories in your diet, you should eat a minimum of 14 grams of fiber. That means there should be a minimum of 53 grams of fiber per day in a 3,800-calorie diet. By choosing whole grains, vegetables and fruits to fulfill your carbohydrate needs, you should have no trouble maintaining your fiber needs.
Periodized Lifting Plan
To gain weight fast, all you need is to eat more calories than you burn. But if you want to know how to gain weight fast and make sure it's gained as muscle, you need a smart lifting plan. The best lifting plans for maximizing your muscle and strength gains are periodized plans.
If you've come across periodized lifting plans in the past, you may have thought they looked complicated and confusing. However, they can be stripped down to a very basic progression of strength gains and strategic rest. Periodized lift plans can be thought of in mesocycles and microcycles. Each mesocycle contains two to four microcycles.
- In the first microcycle, you build a stable foundation with relatively low weights and high repetitions – think two to four sets of 10 to 15 reps.
- After a week or a month, depending on the length of your microcycles, you increase the weights and reduce the repetitions – think two to four sets of six to 10 reps.
- Finally, you move on to an intense strength-gaining microcycle where you lift very heavy weights. This cycle is pushing you to your maximum and should include three to six sets of one to six reps.
- In the fourth microcycle, you offload and take a short, active recovery. Depending on your program, the recovery can last for a few days or a week. During recovery, you'll do some cross-training or just indulge in a sport or activity you haven't been able to make time for during your training.
When you end your recovery period, you've completed one mesocycle. To begin the new mesocycle, you'll start once more with relatively light weights and high repetitions. Once again, you'll be lifting for about two to four sets of 10 to 15 reps. However, this time around, you'll be stronger and you'll be using heavier weights. As you repeat the process through mesocycle after mesocycle, you'll be able to gain and retain the greatest amount of muscle size and strength with the least risk of injury and burnout. And this, my friends, is how to gain weight fast.
If you have questions, please leave them in the comments below. And if you want a complete step-by-step plan that shows you how to gain weight fast, I'd recommend the Weight Gain Blueprint program by Jeff Masterson.
References
Benardot, D. (2006). Advanced Sports Nutrition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Bompa, T., & Haff, G. (2009). Periodization: Theory and Method of Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Brooks, D. (2004). The Complete Book of Personal Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Clark, N. (2008). Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, 4th Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Escott-Stump, S. (2008). Nutrition and Diagnosis-related Care, Sixth Edition. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
USDA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). Dietary Guidelines for Americans. USDA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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