Best foods for bulking and cutting
So there you have it: if you want to bulk up, you have to eat a LOT of calories. Jim’s ideal meal plan might look something like this…Ħ whole eggs, scrambled – 36gp/3gc/30gf/426 KcalĢ00g cooked chicken – 45gp/0gc/2.5gf/202.5 KcalĢ50g sweet potato – 5gp/51gc/0.5gf/228 KcalĢ50g sweet potato –5gp/51gc/0.5gf/228 Kcalģ00g Low Fat Cottage cheese – 33gp/9gc/18gf/330 Kcalģ0g Natural peanut butter-9gp/4gc/14gf/178 Kcal You can buy weight gainers to fill the gaps. Filling up on cheap burgers and fizzy drinks isn’t going to cut it: you're going to have to stock up on good quality foods that are rich in proteins and good fats, such as steak, eggs, chicken, oats, nuts, seeds and avocados.
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Unless you want to end up feeling sick, bloated and lethargic, you will need to be extremely careful about the kinds of food you eat. In Jim's case, that would bring his recommended daily caloric intake up to a whopping 4047.8 Kcals. These numbers might come as a shock to those “hardgainers” who thought they were eating a lot, when in actual fact they may not have been eating enough to maintain their existing weight.Īnd remember that if you want to gain weight, you will need to consume at least an extra 500 calories a day on top of this figure. That’s the number of calories he would have to consume on a daily basis just to maintain his existing weight. So if the man in our example above (let’s call him Jim) were to exercise heavily on a daily basis, we would multiply his BMR (2056.7) by 1.725 and arrive at a figure of 3547.8. Use these rough ballparks to get a more complete picture of the number of calories you burn in a day: In other words, you would need to consume 2056.7 Kcals a day to maintain your existing weight – but that’s without taking physical activity into account. So if you were a 31 year old, 180cm tall man weighing in at 95kg, the calculation would be as follows: 66+(13.7x95)+(5x180)-(6.8 x31) Or approximately 10 calories per pound of body weight Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
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Or approximately 11 calories per pound of body weight Men: BMR= 66+(13.7xweight in kg)+ (5xheight in cm)-(6.8 x age in years) Use the Harris-Benedict equation to work out your basal metabolic rate (BMR - how many calories your body burns at rest): The best way to begin is by working out how many calories your body needs to maintain its existing weight and muscle mass.
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How many calories do you need to consume in a hardgainer diet? You'll probably find it helpful to cook meals in bulk (meal prep) to save yourself time over the course of the week. It’s important that you plan ahead so that you know exactly what you need to eat throughout the day in order to get the amount of calories you need. If you’re more of a southern fried chicken and oven chips kind of person, you might need to spend some time devising a simple meal plan that will provide you with the calories and nutrients you need. If you enjoy cooking and preparing your own food, you’re likely to be well accustomed to cooking meals that combine these vital food groups. Some people will find this easier than others. And last but not least, you need plenty of healthy, decent-quality, calorie-rich fats. You need a mixture of fast and slow releasing carbohydrates to provide valuable energy for the gym. You need to take in the right amounts of proteins and amino acids to help repair and rebuild your muscles. And assuming you want to put on muscle rather than fat, this will require a far subtler plan of attack than simply cramming in as much junk food as possible. If you want to get big, you need to eat big. In actual fact, it probably wouldn’t even equate to 2000 calories. To some people, this may seem like a lot of food. Evening meal: Pizza or some kind of junk food Breakfast: Two scoops of protein with milk We often hear people lamenting: “no matter what I eat, the weight just doesn’t go on.” But when we get down to the nitty gritty, their diet usually looks something like this… If you’re a hard gainer looking to bulk up, you need to be prepared to eat. A LOT.
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And we’re not talking protein shakes and snacks between meals – we’re talking 5+ meals a day, six eggs for breakfast, shakes containing 1200+ kcals apiece. If you want to get big and grow muscle, you really need to EAT.