How Many Calories To Gain Weight?

When it comes to bodybuilding nutrition, the first question everyone asks is "how many calories to gain weight?"  Many bodybuilding experts agree that eating enough of the right foods is even more important than weight training when it comes to gaining muscle weight.  

So how many calories should you consume to gain weight?

 There is no simple answer since it depends on a number of factors such as your body type, activity levels, lean body mass, and other genetic factors.

A sound muscle building diet will not only increase the number of calories you consume, but will also include a variety of the best mass gaining foods to help nourish your body.  A nutritious diet consisting of the right foods is very important, the wrong types of food, too few calories, or the wrong macronutrient ratios can sabotage your muscle building efforts.    

One of the most important things that you must understand when designing your muscle building diet is this:   You must consume more calories than your body needs for maintenance – every day.   This is extremely important, and must always be taken into consideration.  These excess calories that you consume should come from a balanced ratio of carbohydrates, protein and fat.  

How Many Calories Do I Need To Gain Weight?

The first step is to estimate your daily maintenance caloric intake, which is outlined further in this article.  

In order to gain muscle weight, you need to increase your daily caloric intake by 20 – 30%.  That means that for every 100 calories your body currently requires, you have to consume an additional 20 calories on top of that.  

Example:  

If your maintenance calorie requirement is 2000 calories, you would need to multiply that number by between 1.2 – 1.3 Hungry Man Eatingto determine the number of calories you must consume to gain weight.  

2000 cal x 1.2 = 2400 calorie

2000 cal x 1.3 = 2600 calories

Therefore, this example shows that someone with a maintenance caloric intake of 2000 calories should aim to consume at least 2400 – 2600 calories per day-an additional 400-600 calories.  

Most people require at least an additional 500 calories per day, while some hardgainers need upwards of 1000 additional calories daily.  The actual number of additional calories you require will depend on many different factors, and you will have to experiment to find out just how many you need.  

Try to gradually increase your caloric intake to ease the “shock” on your digestive system.  Increase your caloric intake by 200 calories per day for a week or two, slowly working up to

If you don't want to do the calculations yourself, use this body weight calculator instead.

 

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Tip Of The Month

I assume that your main goal is to learn how to build muscle fast and not how to get skinny fast, but many of you are actually encouraging weight loss as opposed to weight gain.  Too much weight training and not enough food will literally make it impossible to gain weight, and it's safe to say that if you are losing weight or seeing no results at all, it's time to step back and make some major changes.  Start to eat more food and train less, and I can almost guarantee that you will start seeing some great results.