Out of all the sections in this manual, this one is probably the most important for gaining weight. Dieting for muscle gain is simply a matter of eating. You must eat more calories than your body burns off. Now, when I say eat, I do not mean just anything. All calories are not created equal. In other words, some types of calories are not equal to others for gaining muscle. For example, if I said that you need to eat 2,000 calories per day to gain weight, and you eat 4 bags of potato chips each day, do you think you would gain muscle? Not likely. The majority of your weight would be fat.
Why? Because potato chips, like most processed junk food, contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods do not provide you with the correct nutrient breakdown essential for gaining muscle. To gain muscle, your caloric intake should be equal to about 15-18 times your
body weight. Your meals must also consist of the correct amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat. The current ratio that I recommend is 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates and 30% fat. Some advocate more protein or more fats, but this is a good starting point for most hardgainers.
Years ago, a higher carbohydrate and lower fat diet was the rage, pushed by professional bodybuilders and trainers. They claimed that this was the only way to eat for muscle gain. Unfortunately, the only people gaining muscle on that type of diet were a genetically gifted few. The rest just got fat. Carbs serve mainly as energy for the body, while protein provides the necessary amino acids to build and repair muscle. For muscle growth, carbohydrates are not as essential as protein and fats. High quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids, should be the center point of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids which support muscle repairand growth.2
Proteins
When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So, for example, if you weight 100 lbs., you should be eating at least 100 grams of protein per day. You also must have protein at every meal. You don’t have to have carbs or fat at every meal, but you must have protein. When I say protein, I am referring to high quality protein derived from animal sources. Soy protein, tofu and bean curd have their place, as you will find out later, but for getting bigger and stronger, the only protein you
need to be concerned with are those found in whey, eggs, beef, poultry, and
fish.
Stick with these basic foods and avoid unusual concoctions like deli meats. Never use these as a source of protein! Sure it tastes great, but you cannot count on a reliable measure of how much decent protein you are actually eating. Most of this meat consists of fat and fillers. As a rule, I stay away from all processed meats, like hot dogs, sausages, bologna, etc.
On the other hand, beef is great. I love to eat red meat, but it is not necessary to gain muscle. If you do not want to eat red meat, poultry or fish, your only alternative is to use whey protein as your primary source. Whey is one of the most biologically active (easily used by your body) proteins available. If you do like red meat and poultry, then eat as much as you like. But be aware of what you are eating. In this day and age, the major danger of eating meats does not come from the meat itself, but rather from what people put into the
animal. Unless you eat pure organic meats, you are ingesting products that contain more steroids, hormones and antibiotics that you could imagine. I cannot say concretely that these things are harmful (there has not yet been a study of the long-term effects on humans), but how can it not be?
Fiber
The other danger of eating meats deals with how long they stay in your large intestine. Normally, all food you eat should take about 24 hours to travel through your digestive system. If it takes longer, you may not be getting enough fiber in your diet. Fiber is responsible for keeping things moving “smoothly,” so to speak. The
longer foods stay in the body, the more chance it has to putrefy. When meat begins to putrefy, it produces toxins that are not immediately harmful, but which, over many years, can cause chronic illnesses, psoriasis, eczema, dandruff, body odor, acne, and colon cancer. Just be aware, consume these things in moderation, and be sure to get plenty of fiber. You should aim to get 20-35g of fiber per day. The best sources are vegetables, whole grains, and whole oats.
Milk
One favorite high calorie item that bodybuilders like to use is milk. Unfortunately, I have not included it in my program because I did not use it much during my original program. I have used is quite a bit after my program, though. If you are having problems gaining weight on this program, you should consider adding milk to your diet. Please see page 236 for more on this.
Fat!
Fat is another diet element that is usually forgotten or purposefully left out. If you want to gain muscle mass, this is a mistake. Dietary fats play an essential role in hormone production, which in turn is responsible for growth and strength increases. I have never gained muscle on a low fat diet, though many people still believe that eating fat makes you fat. This is absolutely false. In fact, there is a very popular muscle gain diet that bee around for years, called the "Anabolic Diet" that requires you to eat only fat! Butter, bacon, and heavy
cream are all on the menu. Though quite extreme, this diet does work. Most people are overweight because of a diet high in simple carbohydrates, not from eating fats. If your diet is too low in fat, your body will actually make a point to store any fat it gets, because it doesn't know when it will get more. A low-fat diet will also lower testosterone levels, something we do not want when trying to gain weight.
Essential Fats
Studies have shown that dietary fat has a direct relationship with testosterone production. An increase in dietary fat intake seems to bring on an increase in testosterone levels.3 The inverse is also true. A decrease in dietary fat intake is usually accompanied by a decrease in free testosterone levels.4 Whereas saturated fats are the cause of many illnesses, like heart disease and cancer, Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) are unsaturated fats that are necessary for thousands of biological functions throughout the body. And since they cannot be manufactured by the body, the must be provided by your diet. Essentially, these are the only fats you will ever need. There are two types of EFA's: linoleic acid (omega-6) and linolenic acid (omega-3). Linoleic acid is
primarily found in oils like canola, sunflower and safflower. Linolenic acid is found in cold water fish and linseed oil. Oils that contain both fats include evening primrose, borage and, my favorite, high lignen flaxseed oil. These fatty acids not only help increase testosterone production, but they also aid in the prevention of muscle breakdown, help to increase your HDL level (good cholesterol) and assist in hormone production.5 As stated earlier, if your diet is too low in fat, your testosterone levels will decrease. That's exactly what we don't want.
Meal Frequency
To gain weight, you will be eating a large amount of calories. Unfortunately, your body can only assimilate a certain number of calories at each meal. For our purposes, eating three meals per day is not beneficial. If you had to eat 3,000 calories per day, then you would end up eating 1,000 calories at each meal. The average person can only use a portion of those calories. The excess will be stored as fat or removed from the body.
To enable your body to actually assimilate and use the 3,000 calories you will ingest, you have to reduce your meal size and increase your meal frequency. Splitting your calories into smaller, more frequent portions will enable food absorption and utilization of nutrients6. I always eat six meals each day, evenly spaced out at three hour intervals. My goal is to provide my body with constant nourishment throughout the day. So if it typically takes about 2.5 hours to digest most meals, want to be eating another meal just as my last meal is leaving my stomach. I do this because my body is constantly in need of nutrients to repair itself. I do a lot of damage during my workouts and completely stress my system. My body is trying to “adapt to the stress,” but in order to do this, it needs consistent fuel. [Note: I know that six meals per day seems like a lot of trouble, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. Eating six meals per day is no more of a hassle for me than eating three. Please do not be overwhelmed by this at first. This is where most people lose the battle. Get your diet under control, and you are more than half way there.] If I ate only three meals per day, then my body would be without nutrients for about six hours between each of those meals! This is unacceptable for skinnyguys. Without food, your body will quickly begin to breakdown muscle tissue for energy. You must never go longer than three hours between meals. This is where planning comes in. Make sure that you know where your next meal is coming from in advance. Don’t wait until the last minute. The only time you will ever go longer than three hours without eating is when you are asleep. This is unavoidable, unless you wake up in the middle of the night just to eat, which, for some, may not be a bad idea. However, it is not, obviously, very
convenient.
Important Meal Times
In order to help ease some of the inevitable muscle catabolism during your sleeping hours, you must eat a protein rich meal just before you go to bed, and another immediately after you wake up. Also, in order to get the most from your workouts, you must eat a protein meal one hour before you workout and then another within one hour afterwards. These meals are very important. The meal eaten prior to your workout ensures that your body will be able to put forth maximum effort during your intense workout session. Your post-workout meal (probably the most important meal of the day) replenishes all the nutrients lost during your workout. It also helps to jump start your recovery.
The Importance of Water
While on this program, it is essential for you to make an effort to drink more water. Unfortunately, in America, the first thing people reach for when they are thirsty is a sugary beverage. This is the last thing a thirsty person needs. It may seem to quench your thirst, but it actually makes the problem worse. Most people walk around dehydrated without even knowing it. When your body finally signals that you are thirsty, you are way past dehydrated. To make sure that your muscles stay hydrated, you should aim to drink an
amount equal to .66 times your body weight (in ounces) per day. Not soda or juice, but water! So if you weight 145 lbs, you should be drinking at least 96 oz per day. You must drink it throughout the day and not try to chug it all at once. Drinking a sufficient amount of water will not only increase your vascularity (more visible veins), but it will also help to quickly remove toxins from the body. Protein generates metabolic waste products that must be dissolved in water. Without enough water, the kidneys cannot efficiently
remove these wastes.
Mass Dieting Foods (where to get the calorie)
Acceptable Unacceptable
beef nuts deli meat soy protein
fish unsaturated fats potato chips tofu
poultry MRPs alcohol bean curd
whole eggs whey protein cakes mass gainer powder
pasta potatoes cookies processed meats
bread rice candy ham
cheese canned tuna/salmon sweets spam!
Calculating Your Daily Food Intake:
First, we need to determine how many calories you will be eating each day. This is done by multiplying your weight by 18. If you weigh 135 pounds, for example, that gives you 2,430 calories. Now divide that number by the number of meals you will be eating each day (6) and you get 405 calories. So, you should be eating about 405 calories at each meal.
Total daily calories
1. (weight x 18) = total daily calories
2. (total calories / number of meals per day) = calorie amount for each meal
Next, we need to calculate your nutrient breakdown. Remember that this mass diet will consist of 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat.
First, we will calculate your total amount of protein in calories. Simply multiply 2,430 (total caloric intake) by .40 (40%). This gives us 972 total daily calories of protein. Next, we need to determine how many grams of protein these 972 calories should contain. Since protein is 4 calories per gram, we just divide 972 by 4. This gives us 243g. Now we know we will need to eat about 240 grams of protein each day. To find out how much we eat at each meal, just divide that by 6 (number of meals). This gives us 40.5 grams. So, to get 40% of my total calories from protein, I have to eat about 41g at each meal.
Here it is again:
1. Total daily protein intake in calories
(2,430 x .40) = 972 calories
2. Total daily protein intake in grams
(972 / 4) = 243 grams
3. Amount of protein needed at each meal
(243 / 6) = 40.5 grams
Now let’s do the calculations for carbohydrates and fats.
(Remember carbs are 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram)
Carbs:
1. Total daily carb intake in calories
(2,430 x .30) = 729 calories
2. Total daily carb intake in grams
(729 / 4) = 182.25 grams
3. Amount of carbs needed at each meal
(182.25 / 6) = 30.4grams
Fat:
1. Total daily fat intake in calories
(2,430x .30) = 729 calories
2. Total daily fat intake in grams
(729 / 9) = 81 grams
3. Amount of fat needed at each meal
(81 / 6) = 13.5 grams
So, at each meal, we should try to eat 41g of protein, 30g of carbs and 13.5g of fat. Wasn’t that easy? These numbers are your guidelines. You will never get exactly this amount, but you should get as close as possible at each meal. When you are ready, you can use the calculation worksheet I have created on page 68.
What if you are not gaining weight?
Gaining weight is simply a matter of eating more calories than your body burns for energy. If you are not gaining weight, you just need to eat more and rest more. It's that simple.
Remember, most of you have extremely fast metabolisms. Gaining weight will be extremely difficult. The only way you will get bigger is to shock your body. You must shock your body by
1) training with heavy weights, and
2) by eating a lot of calories.
The first shock is with weight training. You must focus on compound freeweight exercises, and lift heavy weights which will stimulate the largest amount of muscle fibers. Your body responds to this stimulus by increasing your muscle mass.
The second way we must shock our body is by eating more calories than your body is accustomed to. This is the most important factor in gaining mass.
When you consistently overload your system with plenty of protein and fats, your body has no other choice but to gain weight
From the Desk of A n t h o n y E l l i s
Why? Because potato chips, like most processed junk food, contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods do not provide you with the correct nutrient breakdown essential for gaining muscle. To gain muscle, your caloric intake should be equal to about 15-18 times your
body weight. Your meals must also consist of the correct amount of carbohydrates, protein and fat. The current ratio that I recommend is 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates and 30% fat. Some advocate more protein or more fats, but this is a good starting point for most hardgainers.
Years ago, a higher carbohydrate and lower fat diet was the rage, pushed by professional bodybuilders and trainers. They claimed that this was the only way to eat for muscle gain. Unfortunately, the only people gaining muscle on that type of diet were a genetically gifted few. The rest just got fat. Carbs serve mainly as energy for the body, while protein provides the necessary amino acids to build and repair muscle. For muscle growth, carbohydrates are not as essential as protein and fats. High quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids, should be the center point of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids which support muscle repairand growth.2
Proteins
When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So, for example, if you weight 100 lbs., you should be eating at least 100 grams of protein per day. You also must have protein at every meal. You don’t have to have carbs or fat at every meal, but you must have protein. When I say protein, I am referring to high quality protein derived from animal sources. Soy protein, tofu and bean curd have their place, as you will find out later, but for getting bigger and stronger, the only protein you
need to be concerned with are those found in whey, eggs, beef, poultry, and
fish.
Stick with these basic foods and avoid unusual concoctions like deli meats. Never use these as a source of protein! Sure it tastes great, but you cannot count on a reliable measure of how much decent protein you are actually eating. Most of this meat consists of fat and fillers. As a rule, I stay away from all processed meats, like hot dogs, sausages, bologna, etc.
On the other hand, beef is great. I love to eat red meat, but it is not necessary to gain muscle. If you do not want to eat red meat, poultry or fish, your only alternative is to use whey protein as your primary source. Whey is one of the most biologically active (easily used by your body) proteins available. If you do like red meat and poultry, then eat as much as you like. But be aware of what you are eating. In this day and age, the major danger of eating meats does not come from the meat itself, but rather from what people put into the
animal. Unless you eat pure organic meats, you are ingesting products that contain more steroids, hormones and antibiotics that you could imagine. I cannot say concretely that these things are harmful (there has not yet been a study of the long-term effects on humans), but how can it not be?
Fiber
The other danger of eating meats deals with how long they stay in your large intestine. Normally, all food you eat should take about 24 hours to travel through your digestive system. If it takes longer, you may not be getting enough fiber in your diet. Fiber is responsible for keeping things moving “smoothly,” so to speak. The
longer foods stay in the body, the more chance it has to putrefy. When meat begins to putrefy, it produces toxins that are not immediately harmful, but which, over many years, can cause chronic illnesses, psoriasis, eczema, dandruff, body odor, acne, and colon cancer. Just be aware, consume these things in moderation, and be sure to get plenty of fiber. You should aim to get 20-35g of fiber per day. The best sources are vegetables, whole grains, and whole oats.
Milk
One favorite high calorie item that bodybuilders like to use is milk. Unfortunately, I have not included it in my program because I did not use it much during my original program. I have used is quite a bit after my program, though. If you are having problems gaining weight on this program, you should consider adding milk to your diet. Please see page 236 for more on this.
Fat!
Fat is another diet element that is usually forgotten or purposefully left out. If you want to gain muscle mass, this is a mistake. Dietary fats play an essential role in hormone production, which in turn is responsible for growth and strength increases. I have never gained muscle on a low fat diet, though many people still believe that eating fat makes you fat. This is absolutely false. In fact, there is a very popular muscle gain diet that bee around for years, called the "Anabolic Diet" that requires you to eat only fat! Butter, bacon, and heavy
cream are all on the menu. Though quite extreme, this diet does work. Most people are overweight because of a diet high in simple carbohydrates, not from eating fats. If your diet is too low in fat, your body will actually make a point to store any fat it gets, because it doesn't know when it will get more. A low-fat diet will also lower testosterone levels, something we do not want when trying to gain weight.
Essential Fats
Studies have shown that dietary fat has a direct relationship with testosterone production. An increase in dietary fat intake seems to bring on an increase in testosterone levels.3 The inverse is also true. A decrease in dietary fat intake is usually accompanied by a decrease in free testosterone levels.4 Whereas saturated fats are the cause of many illnesses, like heart disease and cancer, Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) are unsaturated fats that are necessary for thousands of biological functions throughout the body. And since they cannot be manufactured by the body, the must be provided by your diet. Essentially, these are the only fats you will ever need. There are two types of EFA's: linoleic acid (omega-6) and linolenic acid (omega-3). Linoleic acid is
primarily found in oils like canola, sunflower and safflower. Linolenic acid is found in cold water fish and linseed oil. Oils that contain both fats include evening primrose, borage and, my favorite, high lignen flaxseed oil. These fatty acids not only help increase testosterone production, but they also aid in the prevention of muscle breakdown, help to increase your HDL level (good cholesterol) and assist in hormone production.5 As stated earlier, if your diet is too low in fat, your testosterone levels will decrease. That's exactly what we don't want.
Meal Frequency
To gain weight, you will be eating a large amount of calories. Unfortunately, your body can only assimilate a certain number of calories at each meal. For our purposes, eating three meals per day is not beneficial. If you had to eat 3,000 calories per day, then you would end up eating 1,000 calories at each meal. The average person can only use a portion of those calories. The excess will be stored as fat or removed from the body.
To enable your body to actually assimilate and use the 3,000 calories you will ingest, you have to reduce your meal size and increase your meal frequency. Splitting your calories into smaller, more frequent portions will enable food absorption and utilization of nutrients6. I always eat six meals each day, evenly spaced out at three hour intervals. My goal is to provide my body with constant nourishment throughout the day. So if it typically takes about 2.5 hours to digest most meals, want to be eating another meal just as my last meal is leaving my stomach. I do this because my body is constantly in need of nutrients to repair itself. I do a lot of damage during my workouts and completely stress my system. My body is trying to “adapt to the stress,” but in order to do this, it needs consistent fuel. [Note: I know that six meals per day seems like a lot of trouble, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. Eating six meals per day is no more of a hassle for me than eating three. Please do not be overwhelmed by this at first. This is where most people lose the battle. Get your diet under control, and you are more than half way there.] If I ate only three meals per day, then my body would be without nutrients for about six hours between each of those meals! This is unacceptable for skinnyguys. Without food, your body will quickly begin to breakdown muscle tissue for energy. You must never go longer than three hours between meals. This is where planning comes in. Make sure that you know where your next meal is coming from in advance. Don’t wait until the last minute. The only time you will ever go longer than three hours without eating is when you are asleep. This is unavoidable, unless you wake up in the middle of the night just to eat, which, for some, may not be a bad idea. However, it is not, obviously, very
convenient.
Important Meal Times
In order to help ease some of the inevitable muscle catabolism during your sleeping hours, you must eat a protein rich meal just before you go to bed, and another immediately after you wake up. Also, in order to get the most from your workouts, you must eat a protein meal one hour before you workout and then another within one hour afterwards. These meals are very important. The meal eaten prior to your workout ensures that your body will be able to put forth maximum effort during your intense workout session. Your post-workout meal (probably the most important meal of the day) replenishes all the nutrients lost during your workout. It also helps to jump start your recovery.
The Importance of Water
While on this program, it is essential for you to make an effort to drink more water. Unfortunately, in America, the first thing people reach for when they are thirsty is a sugary beverage. This is the last thing a thirsty person needs. It may seem to quench your thirst, but it actually makes the problem worse. Most people walk around dehydrated without even knowing it. When your body finally signals that you are thirsty, you are way past dehydrated. To make sure that your muscles stay hydrated, you should aim to drink an
amount equal to .66 times your body weight (in ounces) per day. Not soda or juice, but water! So if you weight 145 lbs, you should be drinking at least 96 oz per day. You must drink it throughout the day and not try to chug it all at once. Drinking a sufficient amount of water will not only increase your vascularity (more visible veins), but it will also help to quickly remove toxins from the body. Protein generates metabolic waste products that must be dissolved in water. Without enough water, the kidneys cannot efficiently
remove these wastes.
Mass Dieting Foods (where to get the calorie)
Acceptable Unacceptable
beef nuts deli meat soy protein
fish unsaturated fats potato chips tofu
poultry MRPs alcohol bean curd
whole eggs whey protein cakes mass gainer powder
pasta potatoes cookies processed meats
bread rice candy ham
cheese canned tuna/salmon sweets spam!
Calculating Your Daily Food Intake:
First, we need to determine how many calories you will be eating each day. This is done by multiplying your weight by 18. If you weigh 135 pounds, for example, that gives you 2,430 calories. Now divide that number by the number of meals you will be eating each day (6) and you get 405 calories. So, you should be eating about 405 calories at each meal.
Total daily calories
1. (weight x 18) = total daily calories
2. (total calories / number of meals per day) = calorie amount for each meal
Next, we need to calculate your nutrient breakdown. Remember that this mass diet will consist of 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat.
First, we will calculate your total amount of protein in calories. Simply multiply 2,430 (total caloric intake) by .40 (40%). This gives us 972 total daily calories of protein. Next, we need to determine how many grams of protein these 972 calories should contain. Since protein is 4 calories per gram, we just divide 972 by 4. This gives us 243g. Now we know we will need to eat about 240 grams of protein each day. To find out how much we eat at each meal, just divide that by 6 (number of meals). This gives us 40.5 grams. So, to get 40% of my total calories from protein, I have to eat about 41g at each meal.
Here it is again:
1. Total daily protein intake in calories
(2,430 x .40) = 972 calories
2. Total daily protein intake in grams
(972 / 4) = 243 grams
3. Amount of protein needed at each meal
(243 / 6) = 40.5 grams
Now let’s do the calculations for carbohydrates and fats.
(Remember carbs are 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram)
Carbs:
1. Total daily carb intake in calories
(2,430 x .30) = 729 calories
2. Total daily carb intake in grams
(729 / 4) = 182.25 grams
3. Amount of carbs needed at each meal
(182.25 / 6) = 30.4grams
Fat:
1. Total daily fat intake in calories
(2,430x .30) = 729 calories
2. Total daily fat intake in grams
(729 / 9) = 81 grams
3. Amount of fat needed at each meal
(81 / 6) = 13.5 grams
So, at each meal, we should try to eat 41g of protein, 30g of carbs and 13.5g of fat. Wasn’t that easy? These numbers are your guidelines. You will never get exactly this amount, but you should get as close as possible at each meal. When you are ready, you can use the calculation worksheet I have created on page 68.
What if you are not gaining weight?
Gaining weight is simply a matter of eating more calories than your body burns for energy. If you are not gaining weight, you just need to eat more and rest more. It's that simple.
Remember, most of you have extremely fast metabolisms. Gaining weight will be extremely difficult. The only way you will get bigger is to shock your body. You must shock your body by
1) training with heavy weights, and
2) by eating a lot of calories.
The first shock is with weight training. You must focus on compound freeweight exercises, and lift heavy weights which will stimulate the largest amount of muscle fibers. Your body responds to this stimulus by increasing your muscle mass.
The second way we must shock our body is by eating more calories than your body is accustomed to. This is the most important factor in gaining mass.
When you consistently overload your system with plenty of protein and fats, your body has no other choice but to gain weight
From the Desk of A n t h o n y E l l i s
0 komentar:
Post a Comment