What do you eat to bulk up?

[Katinka]

So, my husband and I are exact opposite body types (I'm 5'4, 153; he's 5'10, 130). He's really been getting in to weight lifting like I have over the past few months, but without the diet to match he hasn't seen too much change. While I've lost a lot of weight and put on a lot of muscle weight lifting, my diet obviously isn't going to help him gain any weight.

 

Right now, he pretty much eats 3 paleo meals plus a protein shake each day. I'm trying to get him away from the empty-carb snacks (mac and cheese and pasta with spaghetti sauce, specifically), but I don't know what to substitute in. I've suggested eggs and nuts, but he's paranoid about cholesterol, no matter how many articles I show him to the contrary. He will eat 1 egg a day, but that's about the best I can do. 

 

So, any guys out there go through something like this? What did you eat? What did you track? Any advice is welcome

[Waldo]

Empty carb snacks.....

Need the cals any way you can get them. Calorie efficiency is king. Empty carb snacks, ice cream, whole milk, peanut butter. Lots and lots of unfilling calories, especially carbs (for those of the Taubesosphere, insulin spikes = growth).

I track things exactly as if I'm cutting. I want to make sure I'm gaining at the right rate; eating enough to actually gain, not eating so much that I get fat. Even with a high calorie intake (I bulk @ 4K/day), gotta know if today is just a pint of ice cream day, or if we're talking a quart or more.

[stevembk]

I would suggest that he track his daily calories and protein intake. He should be eating at least 130g of protein per day. A calorie tracker like MyFitnessPal should tell him how much he should eat inorder to gain weight. Other than eating extra meat, starchy paleo foods would include sweet potatoes and squash.

 

Some of the warriors in the Nutrition/Strength Training sections should have other ideas.

[bigm141414]

I agree with Waldo. Make sure he hits his protein requirements and then just eat all the things.

When I was bulking I was known to take down a large pizza in one sitting. As long as it fits your dietary style eat everything in sight

[JakeJoh10]

When I'm trying to put on muscle, I don't change what I eat too much, I just eat more of it.

 

Eggs, ground beef, chicken turkey, almond butter; nutrient and caloric dense foods. Of course, I give myself a little bit more leeway with desserts and treats because I know I'm putting the carbs to use, but I try to keep those things in the post-workout window.

 

Just my approach, and it has been working well. I weigh myself once per week, and if my weight isn't going up, I slowly increase calories.

Jake

[Barbarossa]

I agree with Waldo. Make sure he hits his protein requirements and then just eat all the things.

When I was bulking I was known to take down a large pizza in one sitting. As long as it fits your dietary style eat everything in sight

 

All of this.  Once he hits a big enough surplus the muscle bulk will come.  I try to eat at least 2500 of my 4500 calories immediately after my workout, then just eat what I can to make it.  This has resulted in me getting a tub of cake frosting and eating a heaping spoonful for the carbolicious calories.

 

Also I eat Lara Bars like it's my job when I'm out of the house/not at work.

[Waldo]

Also I eat Lara Bars like it's my job when I'm out of the house/not at work.

I'm into the Target brand (Market Pantry) Zone Bar copies. Candy/granola bars with reasonable amounts of protein. Good price and they're damn yummy.

[I-Jo]

oh I like Zone- nom nom nom

[Guest Dirty Deads]

Protein is needed for sure, but he may not need the "1g per lbs." people like to use. It is a decent guide, sure, but he might be able to get away with as low as 50g (based on .82g per kg bw. Carbs are king for adding mass...period! My favorite thing when bodybuilding was my cup of cottage cheese, a can of tuna and a couple big ass baked potatoes which was the majority of my daily protein. Dinner was mostly carbs, typically pasta or more spuds.

I've read some pretty interesting stuff regarding protein needs ,like it might be more dependent on how slowly your body breaks down muscle tissue in the absence of aminos rather than how much protein you're actually taking in.

Supposedly, Nasser El Sonbaty (RIP) only consumed around 100 grams of protein while bulking and saved the high protein for cutting. He was a MASSIVE dude.

 

Basically, Moderate protein, lots of insulin spiking carbs and CALORIES CALORIES CALORIES>

[Brah]

I've never been too big into eating only (supposedly) "clean" foods, especially while bulking. When I want to put on weight and I'm struggling to get in all the calories I want, I just go with whatever lets me eat the most calories while contributing the least to satiety. Some of those foods have been suggested already.. Milk, peanut butter, etc. When I'm at school I develop an infatuation with these bad boys:

 

 

I wouldn't recommend eating a box of Nutty Bars a day, but I wouldn't discourage empty carb snacks entirely either.

[StuffofDreams]

Bulking is all about eating more calories than your current body burns. 

 

There's 2 kinds of bulking:

 

1) Clean bulking - Eat tons of clean food like chicken breasts, beans, nuts, etc. Supposedly, clean bulking results in more mass with less fat than dirty bulkings. 

 

2) Dirty bulking - Eat whatever you want. Burgers, fries, cake, ice cream, chips. Dirty bulk tends to be cheaper than clean bulking because you can just buy all that cheap food.

 

Using a calorie calculator, your husband needs to eat about 1900 calories a day to maintain his current weight. If he wants to get bigger then he should eat about 2100 calories a day. 

 

Fat people tend to underestimate how many calories they eat everyday. Thin people tend to overestimate. Your husband should start keeping track and making sure he eats all his calories. 

 

Maybe he can consider getting off the Paleo diet while he's bulking and getting back on when he's cutting.

[Katinka]

Thanks everyone! He ended up doing some research on his own over the weekend, and packed about twice his normal amount of food for lunch today. Also good to know that he needs to focus more on the calorie surplus than what he's eating - I'm guilty of assuming that everything that isn't a vegetable is going to ruin your body

[Waldo]

 

Bulking is all about eating more calories than your current body burns. 

 

There's 2 kinds of bulking:

 

1) Clean bulking - Eat tons of clean food like chicken breasts, beans, nuts, etc. Supposedly, clean bulking results in more mass with less fat than dirty bulkings. 

 

2) Dirty bulking - Eat whatever you want. Burgers, fries, cake, ice cream, chips. Dirty bulk tends to be cheaper than clean bulking because you can just buy all that cheap food.

 

Using a calorie calculator, your husband needs to eat about 1900 calories a day to maintain his current weight. If he wants to get bigger then he should eat about 2100 calories a day. 

 

Fat people tend to underestimate how many calories they eat everyday. Thin people tend to overestimate. Your husband should start keeping track and making sure he eats all his calories. 

 

Maybe he can consider getting off the Paleo diet while he's bulking and getting back on when he's cutting.

The difference between "clean" and "dirty" bulking is not the type of food, its the magnitude of the calorie surplus. The type of food will have almost no influence on fat gain, unless extreme macros are used (ultralow protein or ultrahigh fat).

All successful bulking will include some fat gain. It is inevidible and unavoidable.

500 cal or less (1 lb/wk) is generally considered clean bulking. Fat gain as a propotion of total weight gain will be relatively low. Beginners could actually see their BF% go down for a short bit due to gains of near pure muscle.

Anything greater, especially in the 1K+/day range, is considered dirty bulking. Muscle weight gain will be faster, but a much higher proportion of weight gained will be fat.

[I-Jo]

^^

 

I like the fact that I seriously don't feel guilty about the fact I ate almost an entire large pizza yesterday purely from this information right here.

[Cultlife]

The difference between "clean" and "dirty" bulking is not the type of food, its the magnitude of the calorie surplus. The type of food will have almost no influence on fat gain, unless extreme macros are used (ultralow protein or ultrahigh fat).All successful bulking will include some fat gain. It is inevidible and unavoidable.500 cal or less (1 lb/wk) is generally considered clean bulking. Fat gain as a propotion of total weight gain will be relatively low. Beginners could actually see their BF% go down for a short bit due to gains of near pure muscle.Anything greater, especially in the 1K+/day range, is considered dirty bulking. Muscle weight gain will be faster, but a much higher proportion of weight gained will be fat.

This makes me feel better about throwing down all the carboriffic nonsense and take-aways on holiday last week!

It feels a tad weird to hear someone say it though... I've always heard/read the type of food totally matters.

[KingZora]

This makes me feel better about throwing down all the carboriffic nonsense and take-aways on holiday last week!

It feels a tad weird to hear someone say it though... I've always heard/read the type of food totally matters.

The type of food matters to a point... if your macros are out of line then it will matter.  If you forsake all nutrient rich food for pizza and ice cream, then it will matter.

 

However, there is no correct type of food for all situations or body types.  If you keep your macros in line and get the proper amount of nutrients then it doesn't matter if you get your carbs from ice cream or sweet potatoes (unless you have an issue with dairy but that's a different story).  There are all kinds of optimizations you can make to your diet by eating different kinds of food, and you can spend hours perfecting your diet and testing it on your own body.  But in the long run, get your macros right for what you want to do, take in the right number of calories, and you will see improvement.