Gaining body mass requires you to consume more calories than you burn. Every time your calorie consumption exceeds your calorie expenditure by 3,500 calories, you gain a pound. The type of mass you gain depends on your activity level and the timing of your feedings. While most people recognize that they can gain fat mass easily, it is more of a challenge to gain muscle mass.
Gaining Mass with Alcohol
Hitting the clubs on Friday night often goes hand-in-hand with throwing back a drink or two...or five. Alcohol consumption comes at a cost. According to the Mayo Clinic, every gram of alcohol has seven calories, and unless you're drinking 100 percent alcohol, you'll also be consuming additional calories from carbohydrates. Even the most innocent glass of wine or beer delivers a corresponding 100 to 150 calories. If you prefer flavored or fruity drinks, add another 100-plus calories to each drink. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a single six ounce amaretto sour delivers a whopping 421 calories.
The real problem with drinking calories, especially empty calories that deliver no nutritional value, is that your body doesn't recognize them and it will still crave calories from food to "fill it up." Drinking just three glasses of wine a week will result in a four pound gain over the course of a year. If you regularly drink seven or eight glasses of wine or cans of beer each week, in a year you could gain 10 pounds.
Gaining Mass by Eating Out
A calorie is a calorie, no matter where it comes from. If you ate only ice cream for a solid year, as long as you limited your total calorie intake to equal your calorie expenditure, you wouldn't gain an ounce. The problem comes with portion control.
Restaurants and fast food make life easier. You don't have to think about shopping, cooking or cleaning up, but you also don't control portion size or the method of cooking. According to the website Dietfacts.com, a single order of Chili's Bar & Grill grilled baby back ribs packs on 1,370 calories. And, according to the American Dietetic Association, restaurants often underestimate calorie counts by as much as 18-percent. The same meal at Chili's could actually add more than 1,600 calories to your daily consumption. Eating out two or three times could add a pound of mass to your body each week.
Gaining Muscle Mass
Muscle mass is more difficult to gain than fat mass. Increasing muscle mass takes work. You must actively engage in regular physical activity in order to activate your muscles and stimulate hypertrophy, or muscle growth. The American Dietetic Association suggests consuming between 1.4 to 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram body mass each day in order to stimulate muscle growth. If you weigh 160 lbs., or 72.5 kilograms, you would need to consume between 101 to 131 grams of protein each day, which basically converts to three eggs at breakfast, six ounces of chicken at lunch and six ounces of beef at dinner.
To maximize muscle growth, time your protein intake so that you consume protein during the two-hour window following a strength workout. According to the book "Exercise Physiology," this two-hour time period is the only time you can achieve a positive nitrogen balance, an effect that assists your body in stimulating muscle growth.
References
- American Dietetic Association: Restaurant and Packaged Foods Can Have More Calories Than Nutrition Labeling Indicates
- DietFacts.com: Chili's Grill & Bar® Nutrition Facts Grilled Baby Back Ribs
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans
- MayoClinic.com: Counting Calories: Get Back to Weight-Loss Basics
- American Dietetic Association: Strength Building and Muscle Mass
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