For bodybuilding fans, gaining mass is both the best time and the most risky. If increasing the number of calories significantly is for many a source of pleasure, we must not confuse mass gain and abuse.To avoid this kind of mistake, here are some tips and an example of a food program.

THE GOAL OF MASS GAIN

Mass gain often follows a dry period. The goal is to completely change your eating habits by increasing your caloric intake by about 20%. During mass gain, it is also necessary to increase the volume of training, taking advantage of the excess food to have more strength and push harder. More intense weight training sessions will destroy more muscle fibers, and the consistent caloric intake and high protein intake will rebuild the muscles resulting in muscle growth.

Fats play an important role in the daily caloric intake since 1 gram of fat represents 9 calories while 1 gram of protein or carbohydrate represents only 4 calories. Carbohydrates also play an important role in mass gain since they represent more than half of the diet. They will be a source of energy, but especially of excess calories that can be used by the muscles because they will be stored in the form of glycogen.

4 DIETARY TIPS TO FOLLOW WHEN GAINING MASS

Do not confuse gaining mass and fat mass.  On social networks, many people post themselves gulping down pounds and pounds of fast food. Don't do it. For best results always choose healthy foods, and only allow yourself a few deviations. This will allow you to gain muscle mass and avoid gaining too much body fat.

Divide your meals. The difficulty in gaining mass is that youhave to ingest a lot of food on a daily basis. It is therefore necessary to change eating habits and divide the 3 common meals into 5 or 6.

Vary the carbohydrates. They represent a large part of the food in a mass gain. It will therefore be necessary to multiply the sources: fruits and vegetables, cereals, starches... or even breads based on oatmeal or wholemeal.

Do not forget the vegetable proteins. In popular belief, we imagine that only meat and fish contain abundant proteins. However, this is not true, there are many foods rich in protein such as legumes (about 25 grams per 100 grams raw), oilseeds that contain nearly 25% protein (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios ...) or seaweed such as spirulina, which beats all records and contains nearly 60 grams of protein for 100 grams.

The right proportions

Protein

For each meal, choose one of the following protein foods:

2 eggs plus 6 egg whites

Can of tuna

140 g of chicken breast

140 g of fish or lean beef

100 g of cottage cheese

50 g of protein powder

Figures to help you: a 75 kg person should aim for 30-35 g of protein per meal, or 165 g for the day.

Carbohydrate

For each meal, choose 2-3 of the following foods:

2 slices of bread

1 medium bowl of oatmeal

100 g of rice

1 medium potato or sweet potato

1 medium bread roll

100 g corn

36 cl orange juice

1/2 liter of milk

Figures to help you: the same 75 kg exerciser will aim for between 70 and 85 g of carbohydrates per meal. If you don't gain weight, increase your sugar intake.

Fruits And Vegetables

Eat one or two at each meal, but don't fill up on low-calorie vegetables.

Fruits in general and starchy foods (like peas and corn) provide more carbohydrates than vegetables like spinach and lettuce.

Dried fruits are a concentrate of sugars.

Fruit juices make it easy to increase carbohydrate intake, but be careful: too much of the wrong kind of sugar will lead to fat storage and not muscle gain.

Every day, eat fruits and several vegetables, like the ones listed below:

High in sugar: apple, orange, banana, grapes, carrots, small weights, corn.

Less high in sugar: broccoli, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, beans, cauliflower, asparagus.