Diet Guidelines for Building Mass
... with or without steroids
By Baby Hulk (w/ Good Looking Loser)
Baby Hulk is our fitness authority, he's also a competitive bodybuilder. Regardless if you are after the "bodybuilder" look, you can learn something from him. Probably a lot. I have. I don't defer to many people on the topics of fitness, nutrition or anabolic steroids- but I often defer to Baby Hulk on fitness related subjects. 10,000 guys could sign up for the GoodLookingLoser.com Forum and not one of them would have a better body than Baby Hulk. And Not one of them would have the 'Fitness IQ' (intelligence and experience) that Baby Hulk has.
My point-
Listen to what he has to say.
In fact- Listen and then start working. You don't have to search the Internet for any more advice.
Eating For REAL MASS
Most people, including myself, at one time did not know how to eat properly to build nice dense muscle mass. I thought that if I just lifted heavy ass weight that I would get big and strong, all that happened is that I got stronger with little to no size. As I started hanging out with all the massive bodybuilders at the gym I took their advice on what they were good at.
They told me to-
LIFT a lot
SLEEP a lot
and EAT EVEN MORE.
I started to eat and lift like they did and I swear within a few years- I blew up with dense muscle, completely naturally.
Your Diet is the MOST IMPORTANT Part
Diet is your number one priority when it comes to getting the results you want.
When it comes to building mass, you need to constantly feed yourself with more calories than your body needs to maintain weight. If your body does not have any extra calories to repair itself and get bigger then you with either stay the same size or you could lose fat and possibly muscle mass. Metabolism also plays a big part in how fast or long it takes to get your results. Another part that will determine your results is hormone levels like insulin, GH, testosterone and so on.
Diet is still number one out of everything so never forget that.
How Often You Need to Eat for Mass
First- lets talk about how often you need to eat.
And Before I get into this let me apologize to some of the intermittent fasting people out there who think you can gain SIGNIFICANT muscle mass while eating one [to three] times a day. I don’t care what genetics you claim to have, you will not build muscle without the proper amount of macro-nutrients spread throughout the day.
I've never seen a guy with SIGNIFICANT muscle mass relative to his frame that ate any less than 5 times a day. Chris hasn't either.
You NEED to eat a well-balanced meal every 1-3 hours if you want to build muscle mass at the fastest rate possible.
If you can’t eat frequently then you won’t gain frequently. You have to CONSTANTLY be growing. 5 small[er] meals a day, 6 or more is better.
How Much You Need to Eat for Mass
Second- lets get into how much you need to eat to get big ass muscle gains.
For starters, you need to eat more calories than you burn.
When you hear that a diet 'works' to build muscle it's because the person following it was CONSUMING MORE calories than he was burning.
The reverse is also true- When you hear that a diet 'works' to burn fat, it's because the person following it was BURNING MORE calories than he was consuming.
When a diet doesn't 'work' to gain muscle or burn fat, it's because the person wasn't actually eating a caloric surplus (build mass) or eating a caloric deficit (burn fat).
It's a numbers game- that number is CALORIES.
(you don't have to necessarily count them, if you are avoiding sugar and sticking to healthful complex carbohydrates)
The faster your metabolism, the more you exercise and the more total energy you use on a daily basis- then the more calories you need to exceed that demand.
You want to get the right amount of calories but you want to make them the right calories too. (see next section)
Some people might need 4,000 calories while others may need 8,000 calories but you need to eat whatever it takes. If you are a newbie under 200lbs, getting 3,250 calories should work great.
When you are trying to gain mass you do not need to be 100% exact on the calories you are consuming. If you count calories, that’s great- you can keep fat gains at their lowest. Calorie counting is more important when you are trying to Get Ripped. Remember- building mass and burning fat are two separate goals that require two DIFFERENT diets. While they can be done at the same time, your progress will be much slower- even if you take steroids.
General Rule: Eat 500 Calories More Than You Need
As a general rule, certainly applicable to most newbies, you should eat 500 more calories over your maintenance level. Your maintenance level is the amount of calories you need to stay EXACTLY the same weight. Calories consume = Calories burned. No fat loss, no fat gain, no muscle loss, no muscle gain.
Newbies, Untrained (N0t-Yet-Trained Athletes) that Want to Gain Mass
As mentioned- If you haven't been going to the gym (newbies) and under 200lbs, getting 3,250 calories should work great.
Your maintenance level is 2,750 calories.
Your mass gain level is 3,250+ calories.
If you are a newbie over 200lbs,* you might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000-3,250 calories for maintenance.
Therefore, hypothetically, your mass gain is 3,500+ calories.
*You might also be overweight, guys that are 200lbs+ that don't know about nutrition tend to be fat, unless they are really tall.
(again, these are VERY VERY general figures for newbies who mainly just need to fix their diet and get their ass to the gym to see AWESOME gains)
Already Active Guys that Want to Gain Mass
It's different if you are already hitting the gym or are active. Your caloric expenditure (how many calories you burn by being alive) is higher.
Therefore- you need more calories.
So, say you are 180lbs., have a fast metabolism, work out 4 days a week for 60 minutes and do 25 minutes of cardio at the end of workout. Guesstimating, you will need 3,500+ calories every day to just maintain weight, with no fat loss and no muscle gains. You want to consume 4000+ calories a day to gain muscle mass.
- Everyone is different, if you need help finding your maintenance level- ask one of us in the diet section of our fitness forum.
What You Need to Eat For Mass
We've covered how often you need to eat and how much you need to eat, now lets take a look at what you need to eat to gain mass.
Baby Hulk lays out these dietary percentages for building mass, your diet should have-
- 40-50% calories from Healthful CARBOHYDRATES
- 30-40% calories from Healthful PROTEIN
- 10-20% calories from Healthful FAT
For guys looking to lose weight, you know that I suggest AVOIDING carbohydrates. This is NOT the case if you are trying to build mass. In fact, the majority of your calories should come from carbohydrates. Remember, when you don't eat carbohydrates- nothing sticks to you. That's why I recommend it for weight loss. In this case, however, you want weight (mass) to stick to you.
Every gram of carbohydrate is 4 calories.
Every gram of protein contains 4 calories.
Every gram of fat contains 9 calories.
Here's an example.
Say you need 6000 calories.
Say you are going to eat 6 meals like we suggested.
Say you are going to follow the 40%carb-40%protein-20%fat protocol like we suggested.
6000 calories over 6 meals at 40%c/40%p/20%f comes out to be-
Carbohydrates at 600g a day/ 100g per meal = 2400 calories
Proteins at 600g a day/ 100g per meal= 2400 calories
Fats at 133g a day/ 22.2g per meal= 1200 calories
Calories per meal= 400c/ 400p/ 200f
Daily total calories= 6000
Specific Carbohydrates to Eat for Mass
Special Healthful Proteins to Eat for Mass
Specific Healthful Fats to Eat for Mass
Eating for Mass is a Lifestyle
By: Baby Hulk
I like to have a hydrolyzed protein drink with water right when I wake up. I have a cup of black coffee and make my first meal of the day which is usually oats, eggs, and maybe some steak to up my protein. While I'm eating my first meal I take all my vitamins and supplements. I also drink a liter of water with my first meal to fill me up. 60 minutes later I drink a pre workout protein shake and then I hit the gym for a few hours. Sometimes ill take some supplements or a shake at the gym but it depends. I get home and take a post workout shake as soon as I walk through the door. 30 minutes later I eat a well-balanced meal, I make sure to get in more carbs and fats( usually rice and steak) in this meal and a liter of water. Then I take a shower and take a 1 hour nap. I wake up and have another meal, Usually rice and chicken with a liter of water. From there I eat every 2 hours, I will usually have another steak and rice/potato meal then a rice and chicken meal, and then rice and fish a couple times. So I normally eat 6-8 meals a day + 2 protein shakes a day. I also have a 8-12 oz of lean protein and some water when I wake up in the early am.
After you have found out how many calories you need to build some muscle you need to start prepping your meals for the next week or the next day. You want to have at least 6 meals + a protein shake or 2 for the day. Even if you have to go to work or a friend’s house you need take your meals. Another thing you need to grab is a gallon water bottle that you’re going to take everywhere. I don’t care if you go to jail, you take your meals and water with you, that’s how important this is.
The best part about bodybuilding is bulking up and the worst part is dieting. When you are bulking up you can flavor your food with BBQ sauce, A1 steak sauce, salad dressings and pretty much anything else that makes food taste good but in moderation of course. Don’t be afraid to have a cheeseburger or whatever treat meal (that’s what I call it) you want every once in a while for all your hard ass work you have been doing every day.
So everyone might be afraid of bulking because they are afraid of gaining some fat. Well you need to get over yourself and deal with it. You want to see your abs year round no matter what phase you are in, cutting or bulking. If your abs starts to turn into a belly then you need to back off the calories(Cut out sauces) just a hair but before doing that you should up your cardio to 30 minutes after lifting and if that doesn’t work then another 30 minutes at night (take BCAA before cardio).
You will gain muscle and a little fat if you are doing this on a consistent basis, day in and day out for months and months. You guys need to remember that diet (60%) is number 1 followed by training (35%) and then supplements including steroids (5%). So stick to it and you will see that what I’m saying is true but it just takes determination, dedication, consistency, hard work, time, and love for the sport.
If you find that you are not gaining weight then you are not doing something right. If you are doing the diet (eating enough) and training (working out hard) parts right then maybe you live a poor lifestyle and you need to fix that. If you have everything down, and you are still not gaining weight then you might have some kind of serious medical condition and you should go see a damn doctor because I don’t see any other reason why this would not work for you.
After you have all this down to the T you may want to consider adding steroids to your lifestyle. You would be nothing short of amazed by the amount of muscle mass you build when adding steroids to your perfect fitness routine. Don’t look at steroids as an easy way out because it is definitely not easy. Most people think that guys on steroids are cheaters when in fact we work a lot harder that the natural guy.
And remember that it takes years and years of hard work to become huge, it will not happen over night.
~Baby Hulk
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