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| Diet to Gain Weight | To design a successful and healthy diet to gain weight, we have to decide on how much of each of the calorie producing nutrients to include in our diet. A percentage range for protein, carbohydrates, and fat exist, and it should be present in the weight gain diet:
- Protein – 20-50% (1-2 grams per lb. of bodyweight)
- Carbohydrates – 30-60%
- Fat – 20-30%
 The first thing what you have to do in order to design a successful and healthy diet to gain weight and build muscle is to decide on your nutrient ratio. Different bodybuilding specialist prescribe different ratios, some affirming that a 40-40-20 diet is the best, others saying that 40-30-30 diets are the only successful way to big gains.
In fact, the best ratio will depend upon person. You can gain weight and build muscle with any ratio that works within these ranges.
Some general guidelines to take into consideration when picking a ratio exist:
- If you are very thin and have any kind of gaining problems, start with higher amounts of fat and protein, maybe a 40-30-30 diet.
- In case if you have significant body fat (for men more than 15%, for women more than 25%), begin with a higher percentage of protein, approximately 40-50%.
- And if you are highly active, begin with a diet to gain weight high on carbohydrates to address your energy needs, maybe a 25-55-20 diet or a 30-50-20 diet.
Don’t forget, wherever you start, this is only a starting point. Don't spent a lot of time here.
How Much to Eat?
It is accepted as correct that a daily caloric intake of about 15 times your bodyweight is your maintenance diet. Therefore, if you weigh 140 pounds, your maintenance diet would be about 2,100 calories per day (140 x 15=2,100). In order to gain weight you must increase your calories from your maintenance intake. For beginning, most people will want to increase their daily caloric intake to 18-20 times their bodyweight.
If you have significant body fat, you may want to start at 16 - 18 times your weight, or first you may do a training program aimed toward losing body fat.
Naturally, these numbers do not take into account the difference of metabolisms, activity levels and other factors and therefore will not represent a perfectly correct number for you. They will play a role of a good starting point though.
It is extremely important to know exactly how your diet is affecting your physique. In order to find this, you must be properly tracking your bodybuilding program. It means that you are weighing yourself, use body tape measurements and body fat percentages to find out the direction your body is moving. All this will allow you to quickly make the appropriate adjustments.
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