Bulking is as popular as weight loss. This is a term used by bodybuilders a lot, it is the process of hypertrophy of your muscle.
That is the size of the muscle fibers increases. You might have seen bodybuilders measure the Calories for Bulking they do to know they require how many calories to build muscle.
There is a lot of misinformation about bulking online, some even go as far as claiming it is not safe to bulk. You have landed in the right place this article is Bulking 101.
Whatever your questions are about Calories for Bulking you will find your answers further in this article.
Importance of Calorie Surplus
Do I need calories to build muscle you ask? yes, you need more than usual amounts of calories to build muscle.
But, why do you need calories to build muscle? Calories are important because once you start training your muscle it starts to tear up.
The breakdown caused by the extreme workouts will be repaired by energy. Calories are directly translated to energy for your muscles in the body.
Surplus calories are the extra amount of calories you consume other than maintenance calories. Maintenance calories are the number of calories required by your body and surplus is the extra quantity.
Moving further let’s have a look at how to calculate these calories.
How to Measure Calories and Gains?
A Calories for Bulking is not any number of calories higher than your maintenance calorie. Generally speaking somewhere between 250 to 500 more than your maintenance calorie will be your surplus.
If you consume more calorie surplus than your body needs it will change into fat.
And if you consume less calorie surplus than the requirement then it will have no effects on the muscle.
Mentioned below are some steps for exact measurements of these calories.
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How to Calculate Maintenance and Surplus Calorie?
Do not just eyeball the calorie count be mindful of how much is your intake. Always try to use a calorie calculator to check the number of calories in your meal.
If you do not know your maintenance calorie requirement you can calculate it by following these steps:
- Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 11 if you are male and by 10 if you are female.
- Following that multiply what you get with-
- -if you do not exercise
- – if you exercise 2 to 3 days a week
- – if you exercise 3 to 5 days a week
- – if you exercise 4 to 6 days a week
- – if you do intense workouts daily
Suppose you are a male whose weight is 154 lbs and you do not exercise at all then your maintenance calorie will be 154*11*1=1694 calories.
Consuming this maintenance calorie will keep you from losing your current weight.
Now let us see how many Calories for Bulking do you need?
According to experts, you can consume 10% more of your maintenance calorie to have a lean muscle mass.
From the above calculations let us say your maintenance calorie is 1694. Therefore, your total calorie consumption should be 1864 calories. As your calorie surplus is 170 calories.
Do not confuse your weight gain with muscle gain. It can also be the case that the increase in weight is due to fat and not muscle.
To be sure that you have muscle gains keep a consistent record of body fat percentage and body girth measurements of arms, chest, and, waist.
Next, you will learn where should you source these calories.
Focus on The Intake of Calories for Bulking
Eating junk food to fulfill the Caloric Surplus is not a good decision. Although your caloric requirements will be reached you have not provided your body with any essential nutrients.
Micros for bulking such as protein, carbohydrates, and fat in a set ratio will give you the required results. If you just take them in roughly any proportion it will do you no good.
Let us have a look at an estimate of how much of these micronutrients should be consumed.
#1. How much Should be Your Protein Intake?
According to the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and prevention), 10 to 20% of your total calorie intake should come from protein.
If you are a beginner then you should be on the lower end of the consumption. But if you are someone that already has some muscle gain then you should consume protein on the higher end.
Suppose your total calorie requirement is 1864 and you are a beginner then you should consume 1864*0.1 = 186.4 calories from protein only.
#2. How much Should be Your Fat Intake?
After calculating the number of calories that should come from fat rest of the calories in your daily requirement should come from carbohydrates.
It is suggested that 20 to 30% of your total calorie requirement should be sourced from fat.
Suppose your total calorie requirement is 1864 and you are a beginner then you should consume 1864*0.2= 372.8 calories from fat only.
#3. How much Should be Your Carbohydrate Intake?
Now that we already know that your protein and fat consumption sums up to 559 calories.
So, the rest of the calories from your daily requirement must come from carbohydrates only. That is 1864-559= 1305 calories.
Some people are unable to meet their daily calorie requirements there is a solution for that too. You can start consuming liquid calories.
Yes, you are right Mass Gainers as it also has these essential micronutrients and minerals in a balanced ratio.
Further ahead we will discuss some tips and tricks that are vital for bulking.
Important Tips for Bulking
There are some hacks that the gym freaks do not tell you, don’t worry they are listed below:
- Studies show that the monohydrate form of creatine helps fuel bodybuilding. Start supplementing creatine.
- Sleep is the recovery phase of your muscle, this is when new muscle fibers form. So do not skip those 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
- Stop the consumption of alcohol as it interferes with the bodybuilding mechanism.
- Consume only high-quality protein, it is really important as the amino acids in low-quality protein will not be effective for muscle building.
- Choose strength training over cardio. Adding weights to your workouts as your strength increases will maximize your gains.
- Say no to added sugars, these nasty culprits are hidden in all kinds of processed food. So next time carefully choose what to snack on.
- Post-workout and pre-workout meals must be well-planned. It is important to feed your body with the right nutrients at the right time.
This brings us to the end of the discussion about how many Calories for Bulking.
Apart from this we also have reviewed the most popular bodybuilding supplement for men i.e. D-Bal Max. Let’s have a short brief on D-Bal Max before and after Reviews to know more about its features.
Dbal Max– Does it Work for Bodybuilding?
This bodybuilding supplement has crazily got all the benefits of steroids but without any side effects.
It’s the mega muscle-building supplement that can boost energy and offer more power for your workout. Besides enhancing your physical capabilities this supplement also helps in enhancing the mental fitness of its users.
Further, this supplement also has CGMP approval which ensures quality checks. Also, the Dbal before and after reviews of its users is proof that it has a tremendous result.
With this, we almost have reached the end of this blog.
Takeaway
All in all, bulking is a phase of bodybuilding where you need to increase your calorie intake.
Start your bodybuilding journey today. Always try to include compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc. in your workout.
Contact a good trainer and devise a workout and diet plan that is best suited for you. Also, you can take support of the above-mentioned supplement for faster D-Bal Max Results.
This way you can reach your bodybuilding goals even faster. Hope you found this article helpful.
