Eat, Eat and Eat Some More

From: The Powerfood Nutritional Plan

By now, you know that the muscle-building process doesn't work without food to fuel it. For people trying to lose weight, the key is to eat a lot and exercise even more. For you hardgainers, the key is exercising a little less and eating even more. Your question here is, of course: How do I know I'm eating enough?

It takes about 2,500 calories to add 1 pound of muscle, with "about" being the operative word 2,500 is an approximation for something that in reality is highly individualized and variable.

To begin with, as soon as you start eating more, your energy expenditure increases due to the thermic effect of food. Also, you'll probably amp up your weight training when eating for mass, so that, too, will cost you more calories. It takes still more energy to rebuild the muscle you're tearing down in the gym, and once it's been rebuilt, that tissue needs to be maintained. Here's another approximation: Every 10 pounds of muscle you add will require an additional 200 to 300 calories and 10 grams of protein a day.

If you're an average-size active male who wants to gain muscle, eat an additional 300 to 500 calories per day. Spread these extra calories over five or six meals a day. If you're eating fewer than five or six meals a day, you need to add meals until you reach that range. If you're already eating that frequently, start adding calories incrementally to existing meals. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to tack an extra 100 calories onto a meal. Adding an apple to your lunch gives you an extra 60 calories; topping it with a slice of mozzarella cheese or a tablespoon of peanut butter gets you over the century mark. So does a single banana or a glass of milk.

Here's some advice for fitting in the extra calories.

Drink your meals. Ready-to-mix powders allow you to drink those extra calories, which can come in handy when your time gets stretched tight. Note that these are not the weight-gain shakes of yesteryear (the ones that go down like melted tar). Many of the products on the market today are far more palatable. Rather than relying on protein powders, which, as their name suggests, are largely devoid of carbs, choose meal-replacement shakes. These combine carbohydrates with protein and even small amounts of fat. They're just what the doctor ordered after you've completed your workout, which, if you're not eating or drinking something then already, is the best starting place for tacking on those extra calories. By giving yourself protein and carbs immediately after exercise, you'll slow down the process of protein breakdown and boost protein manufacturing. As a colleague of mine says, "Put down your last weight and pick up your recovery drink."

Eat before your workouts. Another good way to shoehorn calories into your diet is to eat a meal 30 to 90 minutes before you work out, when your stomach should be able to handle 200 to 300 calories pretty easily. As a bonus, your pre-workout meal might decrease the catabolic effects of exercise, particularly if those calories contain an equal amount of carbs and protein along with some essential fatty acids.

Don't go overboard on calories. You don't have to eat everything in sight to put on size. Realistically, a daily increase of 20 percent or so is about the biggest jump in daily calories an average person can make without risk of adding significant additional fat. (You'll almost always add some fat when gaining muscle. It's rarely one or the other entirely, just as you're never losing only fat on a weight-loss regimen.) Trying to make a fast, radical shift in your lifestyle will raise the odds that you throw in the towel.

Rely on energy-dense foods. Certain otherwise-healthy foods can impede your progress en route to a bigger body. If you eat a humongous bran muffin for breakfast, chances are you won't be hungry for another 3 or 4 hours, and you'll miss an opportunity to consume more calories later.

In The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan, authors Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., and Robert Barnett point out that over the course of a day, most people tend to eat the same weight of food. The thrust of their suggestion for losing weight, then, is making sure that this usual quantity of food has fewer calories. One example they use is 1-4 cup of raisins versus 123 cups of grapes, both of which equal 100 calories. Although the calories are the same, eating the latter is more likely to make you feel full, Dr. Rolls' studies show, even if you eat less of it, thus consuming fewer calories.

That's great when you're trying to lose weight, but when you're trying to pack on size, you want to do the opposite. Although you want to pass on the chips, cookies, chocolate candy, and other types of high-calorie junk food, gravitate toward healthful, energy-dense foods such as nuts.

Don't eliminate low-energy-density foods, such as celery and lettuce, because many of them are incredibly good for you. Just don't go overboard on them when you're shooting for size. They impart a feeling of fullness relatively quickly without adding a large number of calories to your daily total. Rather than jettisoning salads during this phase, soup them up by adding some feta cheese, olives, grilled chicken, or sliced ham.

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Reprinted from: The Powerfood Nutritional Plan © 2005 by Rodale, Inc. Permission granted by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098.

© 2006 Rodale Inc.
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