Mass Gain & Nutrition

You might not know it, but the most important part of the mass gaining process isn't a piece of exercise equipment or a secret, highly effective lift--it's food. The proper nutrition plan will allow you to make great gains in mass while staying lean. But neglecting your diet will make all the hours you spend in the gym wasted time.

Eating Big, Eating Often

To gain mass, you need to eat more than you're eating right now. Unfortunately, you've become used to eating roughly the same amount of food every day out of habit. To squeeze more calories into your daily routine, try eating more frequently.
Fitness and nutrition expert Dr. John Berardi, author of books, such as "The Metabolism Advantage" and "Scrawny to Brawny", recommends eating at least five, and up to eight, meals per day. By following this plan, you'll be eating every two to three hours.
Eating this often will allow your body to digest food over time, so you don't have to eat one huge meal and feel bloated and stuffed. In addition, eating frequently can make you hungry more often and increase your appetite. A recent study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that grehlin, the hunger hormone, is secreted according to your habitual meal times. In other words, if you begin eating eight times a day on a regular basis, you'll be hungry eight times a day.

Calorie Needs

To figure out how much to eat during all those meals, calculate your BMR by converting your body weight into kilograms, which is done by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.2. Next, insert that number into the appropriate equation below.
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
You burn additional calories through activity. To factor in that increase, multiply your BMR by the appropriate number:
1 - No activity
1.3 - Light activity
1.5 - Medium activity (exercising 3 hours/week)
1.8 - High activity (exercising 6 to 7 hours/week)
2 - Extreme activity (exercising more than 8 hours/week)
The result is your maintenance level of calories. To gain muscle, Dr. Berardi recommends consuming 500 calories above that level each day. This amount should keep fat gain to a minimum and optimize muscle gain.

Protein

Protein intake is key in gaining mass. Protein is made up of amino acids, which are muscle tissue's building blocks. In addition to building muscle, protein intake leads to higher levels of glucagon, which is a hormone that encourages fat loss. In effect, protein can help you build muscle and lose fat.
According to Berardi's research, optimal levels of muscle development can be obtained by eating2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, if not more
Good sources of protein include chicken, protein powder, eggs and low-fat dairy products, such as cottage cheese.

Carbohydrates

On weight loss plans, carbohydrates are seen as the enemy. For mass gaining, the opposite is true.
Carbohydrates are your body's preferred source of fuel and offer energy for all of your daily activities, inside the gym and out. Eating plenty of carbohydrates will help you reach your daily 500-calorie surplus as well. You don't want to cut out carbohydrates when trying to gain muscle, because if your body doesn't have enough carbohydrates to provide energy, it will use protein for fuel. If this happens, your body won't be able to use that protein to build muscle.
Berardi recommends getting about 40 percent of your daily calories from carbohydrates. Good sources include whole grain pasta and bread, vegetables and fruits.

Fat

Dietary fat should make up about 35 percent of your daily caloric intake. Fat helps your body absorb minerals and assists in hormone regulation. Fat is also high in calories, which assists mass gaining.
Not all fat is good, though. Limit saturated fats and trans fats and focus on unsaturated fat sources. According to recent research from the journal "Gut", fat from fish can actually help protein build more muscle.
Fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are good sources of unsaturated fat. Others include olive oil and nuts.