Weight Gain Diet Plan For Beginners

Posted by Rob D. on February 19, 2012 in Training and Nutrition | 504 comments

Some time ago I have written an article about what to eat to gain weight. Today I would like to expand a little bit on my previously shared ideas and share with you weight gain diet plan that I have used successfully to gain high quality lean muscle mass.

What is a good weight gain diet plan?

A good weight gain diet plan first of all has to provide your body with a surplus of energy. You see, it does not matter whether you want to gain weight or lose weight it is all about energy in and energy out. When someone is trying to lose weight he needs to make sure that his daily energy output is greater than daily energy input.

The same basic principles apply when you are trying to gain weight. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel and focus on some complicated weight gain diets, because the only way to make your body grow is to first of all make sure that you give it enough energy which is needed to make it grow.

How to you figure out how much energy do you need?

Well that is is pretty simple. Online you can find hundreds or maybe even thousands of different kinds of caloric calculators which will tell you how many calories does your body actually needs per day (you can use this one). Simply go there, type in all of the required information and you will be given an exact number of calories that your body needs to maintain its body weight.

At this point what do you need to do is to try to analyse your usual eating habits and figure how many calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fats do you usually get per day. This is really important, because this simple exercise will give you a clear picture of where you are at the moment. Simply grab a piece of paper and a pen write down everything that you ate and planning to eat to day.

At this point you will have two different number of calories. One will be with your usual eating habits and the other will be with the number of calories that your body actually needs to maintain its body weight. At this point I am guessing that the amount of energy that you get from your usual diet will be lower or maybe very close to the actual number that your body actually needs per day.

That is not good.

What you need to do at this point is to simply increase your daily energy intake. I know that this probably does not sound sexy, but the only way to make your body grow is to create a surplus of energy.

You need to be careful tho.

A lot of people who set up their own weight gain diet plans end up gaining body fat instead of lean muscle mass. You see creating a caloric surplus alone will not help you to gain high quality body mass. If you will gather those calories from the wrong foods you will gain fat instead of lean muscle mass and trust me, no matter how much you want to gain weight, YOU DON’T WANT TO GAIN BODY FAT.

To avoid gaining body fat you need to apply the 40/40/20 principle to your diet. This means that 40% of your daily calories should from proteins, 40% should come from complex carbohydrates and 20% should come from healthy fats.

With this nutrient ratio you will give your body all of the required nutrients to make it grow.

First of all you will provide enough proteins. Proteins are building blocks of everything within your body. Your hair, your skin, your nails and most importantly – your muscle tissue. If you want to gain high quality lean muscle mass you need to make sure that you give your body enough building materials.

Secondly you will also give your body enough complex carbohydrates. There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex ones. Simple carbohydrates are basically simple molecules that can be broken down very easily for quick release of energy whereas complex carbohydrates provide you with a stable source of energy.

You need to make sure that you consume more than enough complex carbohydrates! Why?

Because complex carbohydrates contain glucose. Glucose within your body is transformed into glycogen and glycogen is what is used to give you quick energy. It is stored within your liver and your muscles. If your glycogen stores will be constantly in a depleted state your body will start to look for other, alternative, sources of energy – proteins and as a result of this you risk of losing lean muscle mass.

Finally your diet has to contain a lot of healthy fats, because fats make sure that your cell and hormonal production runs smoothly and efficiently.

Remember that you want to gain lean muscle mass, not body fat. Gaining body fat is simple. All you need to do is to eat a lot of junk foods and you will be on track becoming an obese person. Learning how to gain lean muscle mass requires practice. Apply the ideas that you have learned today and you will be on your way to gain high quality lean muscle mass. If you liked this article and want more information about how to eat and how to train to gain lean muscle mass then check out No Nonsense Muscle Building.