Designing and Maintaining
Weight Gain Diets

Don't be scared by the "D" word. Diet does have four letters, but it really isn't that bad. To gain weight fast, you will need to pay attention to your diet, track it and tweak it. But this won't be a full-time job. It won't take away from your enjoyment of food. You won't need a monk's discipline, the help of a personal chef, or a dietician's degree to design and implement a successful weight gain diet.

The first step to designing the weight gain diet that is right for you is a basic understanding of the different effects of the three main calorie-producing nutrients as well as the one very important one that doesn't provide calories. To this end, check out the following pages on the "big four" nutrients...

• Protein has 4 calories per gram and should represent 30-50% of the weight gain diet.
• When working out, muscle protein breaks down.This makes it vital to weight and muscle gain goals that the body is provided with enough protein to repair and rebuild muscle.
• Animal protein is a complete protein and best for weight gain purposes.
• Protein should be a part of every meal especially the post-workout meal.
• Carbohydrates have 4 calories ber gram and should represent 20-50% of the weight gain diet.
• Carbohydrates provide the body with its preferred source of energy.
• In order to prevent a ketonic state (where the body converts protein into an energy source), enough carbs must be provided to the body to provide sufficient energy.
• Carbohydrate consumption should lean heavily towards complex carbs or those with low glycemic index ratings.
• Fat has 9 calories per gram and should represent 20-40% of the weight gain diet.
• Fat helps the body utilize protein as well as many vitamins and minerals.
• Fat consumption should be concentrated on polyunsaturated (EFAs)and monounsaturated fats.
• Water is an important part of the transport system to take nutrients to the muscles.
• A good goal to aim for is one 8 oz. glass of water per 10 lbs. of bodyweight per day.
• The body can dehydrate without noticeable symptoms so you should not wait for thirst to tell you to drink water.

…unfortunately, there just isn't one universal answer. Everyone has a unique body, a unique metabolism and unique reactions to food. Your successful weight gain diet will be the result of using solid information to find an appropriate starting point and then your dedication to tracking the results. As you go, there will be adjustments to be made to your diet based on your tracking program. It will be a combination of these factors, along with your weight training, that will propel you to gain weight fast.

The solid information comes from an understanding of the calorie producing nutrients and their relationship to producing gains in muscle and weight, which we now have, and the tracking and weight training will come from other pages in this site (Fitness Tracking Program, Weight Training).

To learn how to decide what to eat, how much to eat, and how to use this information to formulate a good starting point for the successful weight gain diet, head to this page:

From the information on the above page, your starting weight gain diet should be taking form. You know how many calories to consume and where these calories should come from to gain weight fast. To review, the three simple equations from the page are:

1. To find a starting point for the calories you will need to take in daily:
   (18-20)(Bodyweight in pounds) = Daily Caloric Intake
   
   
2. To find the daily amount of calories you will need to consume from each nutrient based on your selected percentage ratio:(Daily Caloric Intake Goal)(Nutrient ratio %)=Amount of caloric intake from nutrient.
   
3. To find the daily grams of each nutrient to consume:
   (Calories for each nutrient) / (Nutrient's calories per gram) = Grams from nutrient
   

When to Eat?

The reasons behind this are many. For one thing, the body is only capable of utilizing so many nutrients at a time. With small meals, there is greater opportunity for nutrient absorption. With the goal of building muscle fast, you need maximum retention of the nutrients necessary to accomplish this goal.

Additionally, studies have shown that the body is more likely to store fat when it is unsure when it will get its next feeding. Your body is incredibly smart and whether or not you plan for the future, it does. When it becomes used to being fed consistently, it tends not to worry so much about tomorrow's need for energy and is therefore less likely to store energy as unsightly fat.

If you are accustomed to the three-meal-a-day routine, six meals a day will undoubtedly seem a daunting task. Cook six times a day? Hey, if you can do it, go for it. Most can't. I can't. To help, here are some suggestions:

• Plan ahead. Make sure the nutrition necessary to follow your diet is within reach. Plan your meals at least a few days in advance.
• Cook ahead of time.Many foods that will help you reach your nutritional goals lend themselves to being cooked in large quantities then portioned out and refrigerated for quick and good eating. Chicken breast is a good example.
• Take advantage of canned foods high in protein. You may know that tuna comes in a can making a quick and simple meal, but did you know that salmon, chicken breast and other protein-rich foods come in cans? Check your grocery store.
• And the number one help to keeping to a six-meal-a-day plan (drum roll please)... SUPPLEMENTS. You can keep to your weight gain diet without using supplements but it will be exceedingly more difficult. There are meal replacement powders, whey protein powders, weight gainers and other supplements that have great nutritional content and will make your meal planning much simpler. For more information, head to the Bodybuilding Supplements Page.

With just a few smarts and a little creativity, you will find your meal planning isn't as difficult as it may first appear.

Take a look at my Sample Weight Gain Diet Plan.

Once you have determined your weight gain diet guidelines, make sure you get your plan on paper. Figure out the specific foods you will use to get to your prescribed calorie and nutrient goals. Work out your eating schedule. This will be dependant on your schedule. Quick prepared meals (constants) may be necessary for meals where you don't have a lot of time to eat (i.e. breaks at work). They key is having everything ready to go and not giving yourself an easy excuse to grab the empty nutrition of a soda and chips snack.

Always track what you are doing with your diet. This, when compared to your results, will give you guidance on what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

In order to plan your weight gain diet effectively, you will need to have a good idea of the nutrition contained in the food you eat. A couple of helpful online databases....

• USDA National Nutrient Database - Searchable database for most every food out there including brands.
• Fast Food Finder - Gives the nutritional content for many fast food restaurants. If you can't find a particular eatery here, search for their corporate website where you will often find the breakdowns (or ask at the restaurant).

An important skill to develop to help your weight gain diet stay on course will be that of reading food labels. Manufacturer's use food labels to make their products look as nutritious as possible. Some foods offer good nutritional value but others can confuse the issue with terms like "low fat", "low cholesterol", and the like when they are actually a heart attack waiting to happen.

Unfortunately, you are not likely to find a weight gain diet that just builds muscle - you'll likely add a little body fat along the way. This is natural and should be viewed as part of the process. Weight gain diets aren't a permanent nutrition plan (unless your goal is to sumo wrestle). They are short term plans used to bulk up. If your overall goal is the common one, to end up with a body big on muscle and low in body fat, your weight gain program is phase one.

Phase two will be your cutting phase. The good news is that the body fat you put on while following your weight gain diet will come off quickly when followed up with a diet and program designed for getting lean. Newly acquired body fat is the easiest to lose, it is that fat that we've had for years that is typically the sticking point.

Why not just eat moderately and avoid putting on body fat? This sounds like a super smart thing to do but it is actually a recipe for failure. You won't be providing the body with the necessary nutrition to stay in a anabolic mode (growth mode) and build muscle. You will end up not building muscle, not gaining weight and not getting six-pack abs. At least you won't be achieving any of these things very soon. If you truly want to achieve your overall goals in the shortest amount of time, do not multi-task your fitness goals (go here on the Weight Gain Programs Page for more on why you don't want to multi-task your fitness goals).

All this is not to suggest that you should not be concerned with your body fat while following a weight gain diet. In fact you should be regularly monitoring your body fat percentage within your Fitness Tracking Program. When you're gaining too much body fat it is time to modify your weight gain diet.

How much body fat is acceptable? This is difficult to quantify because of the relative inaccuracy of body fat estimations (learn to correctly take and calculate body fat percentages and lean body mass here). Generally, you wouldn't want to start a weight gain program with a body fat percentage over 15 to 17 percent for a man or 21 to 23 percent for a woman and you would want to switch to a cutting phase if your percentage increased to that amount during your program. However, due to the inaccuracy of body fat estimations, a look in the mirror is probably your best guide here.

While monitoring your program, noticing a larger gain in body fat than in lean body mass is a good reason to look at modifying your weight gain diet (lowering overall calories, upping protein ratio, etc.). Only through experience will you get a good idea of just how much body fat gain is acceptable for you relative to lean muscle gains. Some people can naturally build muscle without noticeable body fat gains while others (the majority) must tolerate some temporary gains in body fat. We are all unique.

Maintaining the Weight Gain Diet

Don't let a slip or two, a missed meal here or there, discourage you. No one is perfect. Actually, occasionally getting off a diet can have some benefits, refreshing your body and mind. Some plan a "cheat day" every week where they don't worry at all about their eating. This is a perfectly acceptable plan. In my own case, I don't plan a cheat day but if something comes up (maybe I go out for pizza and beer) I don't let it affect my overall plan. The next day, I simply rededicate myself to my weight gain diet.

How strict you plan and follow your diet is up to you. The more dedicated a dieter you are the better the results you can expect. But be realistic. A good weight gain diet plan will outperform a great one if you actually stick to the good one as opposed to getting frustrated and quitting the great one after a few days. Make sure you have enough food included within your diet that you enjoy eating. Make sure you have enough freedom to enjoy your life. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for failure.

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