Bodybuilding / Bulking / Nutrition question

Question

Hi guys,

I would like to bulk and gain more weight and have a toned body but i am having difficulties understanding what do i need to look out for

Some articles says i need to get more calories while avoiding carbs and to also get protein, while some article says i need carbs etc.

Can someone explain to me what is the purpose of these? EG: What is carbs? How is it different from calories, what is calories for and what is protein etc. I can’t seem to find a layman article anywhere explaining all these. Any other additional info would be very helpful!

In: 4

Answer 1

To gain muscle mass, you need a couple of things. First, enough food to build tissue, and of the right kind. This means a moderately high protein diet (not as much as fitness websites make you think, but try to get a little extra), and enough fat and carbs to provide energy needed to build tissue and increase weight. You don’t really NEED to make this ultra healthy whatever, you can gain muscle eating Big Macs, though healthy is nice.

Eating excess calories is step one, but step two is directing your body to build muscle mass and not just store it as bad. You need to repeatedly and increasingly challenge your muscle mass so your body builds more in anticipation of future effort. This means fairly heavy exertion, done regularly, and at the mind of intensity that can’t be done for long – think lifting something less than 20 times before you’d no longer be able to. This tells your body to invest resources into growing muscle tissue. Exactly how to do this is a bit tricky – there are lots of different approaches and goals. You can do mostly body weight stuff, you can use barbells, you can do strongman stuff, whatever.

Then losing weight is keeping protein somewhat elevated and then not eating much of the rest, which causes your body to consume tissue for energy.

Then you get to have your body choose to burn fat tissue and keep muscle mass by continuing to stress your muscles regularly.

This is called a ‘bulk and cut’ method of body building. There is a lot of nuance to it but that is the basics. Athletes in other areas may follow different approaches.