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How To Bulk Effectively: Bulking Diet Explained | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
Want to set up a bulking diet but not sure where to start? Our expert nutritionist is here to make things simple by sharing how to bulk effectively. There can be a lot of confusing information out there surrounding bulking and mass gain — especially when it comes to that burning question; can you really eat anything and everything you want? Nutrition researcher, Richie Kirwan, is here to clear things up and help you get that bulking diet right. Covering all the essentials like calorie count and what foods to go for, you’ll be one step closer to reaching your fitness goals in no time at all. Find Richie on Instagram: @be_more_nutrition ********************************* Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1 If you like this, you'll love this: https://youtu.be/co2HEUtLdRE Find more expert nutrition advice here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkb17OgnhB-E3HuYJuEacRqMjrokvPxpI Download the Myprotein App: https://bit.ly/3dhVVUE *********************************
View Video Transcript
0:00
so you want to get big and strong could
0:02
it really be as easy as eat everything
0:04
in sight
0:05
if only in this video i'm going to tell
0:07
you exactly what you need to know about
0:09
setting up your diet for a mass gaining
0:13
[Music]
0:14
phase
0:16
today we're going to talk about a phase
0:17
of bodybuilding that is
0:19
very easy to mess up bulking we'll talk
0:21
about some of the common mistakes people
0:23
make
0:23
the importance of calories and macros
0:25
and how you can work out
0:27
what you need to gain the most muscle
0:29
with the least amount of body fat
0:30
i want to point out that i won't be
0:32
recommending any particular supplements
0:33
in this video
0:34
but i may recommend some commonly
0:36
available supplement types that could be
0:37
useful
0:38
let's get started first off
0:41
let's talk terminology you've probably
0:43
heard about
0:44
bulking massing and mass gaining phases
0:47
so what's the difference
0:48
in reality there is none all of them
0:50
mean a phase of eating extra calories
0:52
while training hard to gain as much
0:53
muscle
0:54
as possible some people will say that
0:55
the difference is the amount of body fat
0:57
that you
0:58
gain with the extra muscle but to be
0:59
honest no one really wants to gain a
1:01
load of extra body fat anyway
1:03
so for this video i'll use the words
1:04
interchangeably it really
1:06
doesn't matter so the idea of having
1:08
specific mass gaining
1:09
and cutting or fat loss phases comes
1:11
from bodybuilding culture
1:13
where the idea is to put on as much
1:14
muscle as possible while keeping body
1:16
fat to a minimum if you do it in phases
1:18
you gain muscle for a while
1:19
then lose some fat then you go back to
1:21
building muscle and so on
1:23
it's probably a better idea to do phases
1:25
like this in bodybuilding
1:26
because it may be easier to focus on one
1:27
or the other and make decent progress
1:29
instead of trying to do both and not
1:31
making much progress very quickly at all
1:33
with a dedicated bulking phase you want
1:35
to tailor your nutrition so that you're
1:37
eating
1:37
more calories than you need to maintain
1:40
weight this is called a calorie surplus
1:42
and it's essential for building as much
1:44
muscle as possible the problem is
1:46
if you have a very large calorie surplus
1:48
if you eat way more calories than you
1:49
need
1:50
you run the risk of putting on a lot of
1:52
extra body fat
1:53
which will make any subsequent cutting
1:55
phases longer than you may like that's
1:57
why it's important to at least start
1:58
with the smallest
2:00
calorie surplus possible that still
2:01
allows you to progress with your weight
2:03
and strength gain don't get me wrong you
2:06
will gain some body fat while massing
2:08
and you need to accept that because if
2:10
you try to build muscle with absolutely
2:12
no fat gain your progress will be so
2:15
slow
2:15
you may lose all motivation on the other
2:18
side of the coin we have what's known as
2:19
a dreamer block this is where you just
2:21
eat as much as possible of anything
2:23
that's not nailed down with the
2:24
intention of putting on as much weight
2:26
as possible
2:27
don't get me wrong dreamer bulks work
2:29
and you will put on muscle
2:30
and strength but you will also put on a
2:32
load of extra body fat if you're okay
2:34
with that
2:34
great i just think that many of the
2:36
people watching this probably want to
2:38
take a slightly more
2:39
conservative approach now before we talk
2:42
about calories and macros
2:43
there is a very important elephant in
2:46
the room to discuss
2:47
none of the nutrition advice i'm about
2:48
to give you will help you build muscle
2:50
if you are not
2:51
training regularly and intensively
2:53
enough the real stimulus for muscle
2:54
growth comes from resistance exercise
2:56
so make sure you've got the right
2:58
training plan in place now
2:59
let's talk about eating so when it comes
3:03
to your nutrition
3:04
for muscle gain the two most important
3:05
factors by far
3:07
are calories and protein calories
3:09
provide the energy you need
3:11
to fuel your workouts and for all the
3:13
metabolic processes
3:14
needed to build muscle and protein
3:16
provides the raw materials amino acids
3:19
needed to construct your muscles protein
3:21
also stimulates muscle
3:23
protein synthesis mps which is the
3:25
process we use for building muscle
3:27
tissue let's start with calories there
3:28
are two methods we can use for this
3:30
firstly you could calculate your
3:32
maintenance calories that's how many
3:33
calories you need to maintain your body
3:35
weight using the national institute of
3:36
health's body weight planner
3:38
or any online calorie calculator will
3:40
help you calculate this if you want more
3:41
info on how to calculate this yourself
3:43
check out the article in the description
3:44
below once you know how many calories
3:46
you need to maintain weight
3:48
you need to start eating more if you
3:50
want to gain weight and for that
3:51
it really helps to know how much you're
3:53
eating right now you can use
3:54
a calorie or macro tracking app
3:56
literally any of them is fine
3:58
or you can just keep a rough food diary
4:00
of what you eat daily and based on what
4:01
you eat regularly
4:02
just increase your calories or portion
4:04
sizes the food diary is a lot less
4:06
accurate but can still work the
4:07
advantage of the calorie tracker is it
4:09
gives you details on macronutrients like
4:10
proteins carbs and fat which we'll talk
4:13
about a little bit later
4:14
what's really important at this stage is
4:16
monitoring your progress
4:17
and the easiest way to do that is by
4:19
weighing yourself daily without
4:20
monitoring your progress you have
4:22
no idea if you're gaining weight or not
4:24
i say measure it daily because your
4:26
scale weight can change a lot from day
4:27
to day so if you measure it daily you
4:29
get a weekly average
4:30
which is probably a much better measure
4:32
of your progress a good rate of weight
4:34
gain is probably between one to two
4:36
percent
4:36
of body weight per month that's pretty
4:38
modest but it's enough to keep you
4:40
motivated by seeing consistent progress
4:41
but not so much that you'd put on a lot
4:43
of body fat if your rate of weight gain
4:44
is too slow
4:45
add some more calories gradually until
4:47
it gets where you want it to be if
4:48
you're gaining too quickly
4:49
remove some calories to slow it down it
4:52
takes time
4:53
patience trial and error and that's why
4:55
many people hire a coach
4:57
to help them with all those little
4:58
decisions i'd also recommend tracking
5:00
your lifts because you should also be
5:02
getting
5:02
stronger during a mass gaining phase you
5:04
might also like to take measurements
5:05
around your arms
5:06
legs chest on a monthly basis but don't
5:09
expect
5:09
big changes to happen quickly here's the
5:11
thing you probably don't even need to
5:13
use a calorie calculator because they
5:15
are just
5:16
estimations of what you should eat
5:17
genuinely think the best way is to
5:19
monitor your body weight and track your
5:20
calories
5:21
and just increase your calories a little
5:23
until your weight starts to go up
5:24
a good starting point is conservative so
5:27
add about
5:28
300 calories daily on top of your
5:30
maintenance and increase from there
5:32
to start seeing your weight go up so
5:34
we've mentioned calories the next most
5:35
important nutrient to talk about is
5:37
protein i've already done a whole video
5:39
on the importance of protein for muscle
5:40
gain so if you haven't seen it
5:42
make sure you check it out here's the
5:43
condensed version protein can stimulate
5:45
muscle protein synthesis or mps
5:47
but you can only stimulate it a certain
5:49
amount before it reaches its maximum
5:51
and then it has to drop to baseline
5:53
levels before you can stimulate it again
5:55
which usually takes every three hours or
5:57
so that means you should aim for four to
5:59
six meals a day
6:00
each of 0.4 grams of protein per
6:03
kilogram of body weight
6:04
per meal every three hours or so that
6:07
works out at between 1.6 and 2.4 grams
6:10
per kilogram per day
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which seems to be a range that the
6:12
scientific evidence agrees with eating
6:14
protein relatively frequently
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in sufficient doses is another key
6:17
aspect of the muscle
6:18
game process it can take a little work
6:21
to fit that into your schedule which is
6:23
why i'd always recommend starting with
6:25
four daily protein meals to make it
6:27
easier for you to manage
6:29
great whole food protein sources include
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lean meat eggs
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fish dairy products like yogurts cheeses
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and quark and vegetarian sources like
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tofu textured vegetable protein
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micro protein products beans peas and
6:40
lentils protein powders may offer a
6:42
cheap and convenient option
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if you're having trouble getting enough
6:44
protein from your diet alone but
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remember
6:47
make sure your diet is well balanced
6:49
first before considering adding protein
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supplements so now you know how many
6:52
calories and how much protein you need
6:54
what about carbs and fat
6:56
[Music]
6:58
getting sufficient fat is essential for
7:00
maintaining a good hormonal environment
7:03
that would be conductive to muscle
7:04
growth so a low-fat diet below 20
7:07
calories in fat is probably not a great
7:09
idea for building muscle aiming for
7:11
around 40
7:12
fat may be beneficial for maintaining
7:14
adequate testosterone levels
7:16
great sources of fat include nuts nut
7:18
butters
7:19
seeds make sure you grind them up to
7:20
actually get the fat out of them olive
7:22
oil and oily fish at least twice a week
7:24
if you don't like oily fish then
7:25
consider a fish oil or algal oil
7:27
supplement
7:27
keep your saturated fat intake low again
7:30
for health purposes by reducing your
7:31
intake of fatty red
7:32
or processed meats coconut oil butter
7:35
cream
7:35
and as for carbs well they can make up
7:38
the rest of your daily calories
7:40
and they offer a lot of benefits in a
7:42
muscle game phase they help improve
7:43
training quality they reduce fatigue in
7:45
the gym and in general carbs are much
7:47
more filling than fats
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and they provide fiber which is very
7:50
beneficial for your long-term health on
7:51
top of that
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carbs stored as glycogen in your muscles
7:54
may even help with muscle growth
7:56
and they can help to reduce muscle
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breakdown too i really recommend getting
7:59
the majority of your carbs from whole
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food sources like whole grains
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like oats whole wheat products starchy
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vegetables like potatoes sweet potatoes
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fruit vegetables and even beans peas and
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lentils these will provide you with a
8:10
load of vitamins minerals and
8:12
phytonutrients to keep you healthy and
8:13
they'll also provide a lot of fiber
8:15
to keep you feeling fuller for longer
8:17
now the only time all these whole food
8:19
carbs
8:19
might be a problem is if you get full
8:21
very easily and that keeps you from
8:23
getting enough calories consistently to
8:24
build muscle
8:25
in fact many people who consider
8:27
themselves to be hard gainers
8:29
are probably suffering from one of two
8:31
problems one
8:32
they're not training hard enough or
8:34
regularly enough or
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they're not eating enough consistency
8:37
with your training and diet is essential
8:40
on either bulking or cutting so if
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you're having trouble with appetite
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that's when you might want to eat
8:44
slightly fewer whole food carb sources
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instead you might find it easier and
8:49
more convenient to eat some refined carb
8:51
sources instead of a whole meal
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filled with whole grains potatoes
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legumes and vegetables this is why mass
8:56
gainers have become very popular
8:58
they're basically a mix of protein
8:59
powder and some easy to digest calories
9:01
usually a mix of carbs and fats if
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you're having trouble eating enough for
9:04
consistent weight gain
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they may be a convenient way to increase
9:08
calories without
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making you feel overly full so that's a
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very brief overview of how to plan your
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mass gaining calories and micronutrients
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one final thing to mention about bulking
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is the importance of patients
9:21
building muscle takes far longer than
9:23
losing a similar amount of body fat
9:25
and because of that it's really easy to
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lose motivation this is why you hear of
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new trainees
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jumping from one program to another and
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changing their diet every week
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don't be one of them stick with a plan
9:36
monitor your progress properly
9:37
and make adjustments sensibly to make
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sure you keep gaining weight
9:41
and strength it's not an easy process
9:43
but if you stick to it in the long term
9:45
you will see results and you will be
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very proud so
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how was that do you think you know how
9:49
to set up a mass gaining diet now as
9:51
always if you have any questions let me
9:53
know in the comments below and remember
9:54
to like
9:55
and subscribe to my protein youtube
9:56
channel for more great
9:58
evidence-based nutrition information
10:04
[Music]
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you
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