Healthy Bulking Foods For Muscle Growth
If you’re looking for massive muscle growth, you should have a list of healthy bulking foods. There are many different reasons why. First of all, muscle growth occurs when you eat correctly (and train regularly). You need to give your body what it needs in order to grow muscle. Second, muscle growth doesn’t happen overnight, which means that if you want to get huge, you would need to eat the right bulking foods for a long time. Lastly, considering that you will eat particular foods (that will help you gain muscle) for a long time, you will need healthy bulking foods, otherwise, you will compromise your health, which surely won’t support your goals.
Not only that but eating every junk food you can find will not support your goals of gaining muscle and will ruin your health, your performance, as well as your body composition. It is important to opt for a healthy bulking diet to pack on muscle mass, look good, perform well, and feel good.
- In the end, I can understand you – a dirty bulk can be attractive. After all, you try to eat many calories, and eating large amounts of pizza and burgers doesn’t sound that bad. However, a dirty bulk can be detrimental to your health in the long run, and junk food can make you feel sluggish too.
What I’m trying to say is that healthy bulking foods are always a better idea. While you may allow yourself some dirty bulking foods every once in a while, I recommend you keep it to a minimum. Instead, fill your fridge with healthy bulking foods that will support your goals. If you’re unsure where to start – don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Create Your Best Bulking Diet
Guys, as said, I totally get it. A dirty bulk can be very tempting. You can eat pretty much whatever you love and in unlimited quantities. Sounds good since you want to pack on some size to your frame and add some weight. But it will not do any good to your body. It has the potential to cause a lot of excess fat gain, and ruin the way you feel, and perform, so you could end up with the complete opposite of what you’re aiming for.
How do you create the ultimate bulking meal plan? First, know the healthy bulking foods that are perfect for your muscle growth goals. Here are some examples of them (among many others):
- Nuts and seeds
- Beef
- Eggs
- Poultry
- Beans
- Milk
- Yogurt
- Oil
- Avocado
- Cheese
- Fruits
- Olives
- Pasta
- Granola
- Oats
- Whole grain bread/crackers
- Potatoes
- Rice (brown/white)
- Green leafs
- Lentils
- Peas
- Berries
In short, you must opt for high-quality foods, unprocessed, whole, and healthy foodstuffs. Avoid processed, high-fat, and high-sugar foods. Add these healthy bulking foods to your meal plan and they will help achieve your goal of muscle growth.
Personalizing Your Bulking Foods
When it comes to bulking cycles, it is extremely important to understand that there’s no one-size-fits-all plan. That’s true both about the bulking meal plan and the bulking training plan. We’re all different, with different bodies, goals, metabolisms, genetic make-ups, responses to foods, training plans, and so on. So, while we can assume that something will work or not, having an individual plan is important. Therefore, one set of bulking foods or meals may not necessarily work for another. So, you need to work it out yourself.
Find the right balance when choosing the best healthy bulking foods for your needs. That’s crucial for hitting your body goals, based on your response.
Besides, make sure you stay realistic with the amount of weight you aim to gain. Especially if you’re doing a clean, healthy bulk. While you can gain weight extremely fast with a dirty bulking diet, a lot of it will come in the form of fat, and there are also the potential health risks that simply make it unworthy. If you want to see real progress, it is usually done slowly. Taking drastic measures often does more harm than good!
Understanding Your Metabolism
Pretty sure you’ve heard about metabolism before now. The metabolism is converting calories from food into fuel your body (muscles, mind, and everything else) needs to perform. In short, it provides energy from food. You obviously need calories to perform certain tasks such as lifting heavy weights in the gym. But you burn calories even when you’re sleeping. The fact that you’re breathing requires calories. So, regardless of what you’re doing (even watching TV), you will burn calories, as your body will need the energy (calories) to support the body’s natural functions.
Having this said, if you want to gain lean muscle mass safely and efficiently, you need to understand how your bulking diet works. You must first take a closer look at your metabolism and your daily calorie burn.
Understanding Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
The resting metabolic rate is the amount of energy your body requires at rest. That’s the number of calories your body needs in order to survive every day. Those are essential functions that your body needs to stay alive such as cell function, breathing, food digestion, blood circulation, and so on.
There are also thermic effects from food and exercise. As said, your body needs energy to breathe and for numerous other bodily functions. Moreover, your body will use quite a bit of energy to break down food. When it comes to swallowing, digesting, absorbing, or storing food, the body will use energy for all these functions.
Lastly, there’s the thermic effect that everyone is aware of – exercise. The body will use quite a lot of energy to perform daily life activities and physical exercise. Any movement requires energy. Whether we’re talking about simple things such as raising your hand, standing up, or walking, or we are talking about more intense exercises such as heavy lifting, or performing a HIIT workout – it all requires energy. Having this said, you should be going for healthy bulking foods to gain weight and muscle in higher calories than your body burns, and to get the energy your body needs to perform the activity it requires.
Calories For Your Bulking Diet
A quick search online will reveal a lot of different ways to determine the necessary calories to maintain your current weight. Then, you’ll need to eat more calories (around 500 calories a day) if you want to bulk or consume fewer calories a day if you want to burn fat (in a cutting cycle).
You could use online calculators that will determine how many calories your body needs a day in order to maintain the current weight. It depends on your gender, age, height, weight, and weekly activity level. After you find your maintenance calories, you need to start eating a surplus of healthy bulking foods, adding around 500 to 1000 extra calories each day. Let’s assume that you’re a 180 pound guy who trains moderately per week (3 times a week) and requires about 3,200 calories a day for maintenance. So, you will need to eat about 500 calories more to gain muscle, that’s going to be about 3,700-4,000 calories a day for your bulking plan.
Keep in mind that when you want to gain weight during the bulking diet, a realistic gain would be about 0.5 to 1 pound a week.
Macronutrients During Your Bulking Diet
When you focus on your bulking plan, you shouldn’t only focus on the calories. Macronutrients are also playing a key factor when it comes to gaining muscle. The main macros are protein, fat, and carbohydrates. You will need the right balance of these macros to gain muscle and stay away from excess fat. Each is extremely important for your body, but you should keep them in the correct balance. The balance range varies from one person to another, but there’s an acceptable range. It depends on your goals, current stats, and various factors. Check the macronutrient recommendations below
- Fat: 20-35% of calories. It helps protect vital organs, providing insulation and energy reserve, as well as transporting fat-soluble vitamins. Usually, that’s 0.5-2g/kg/body weight/day.
- Protein: 10-40% of protein. Helps support muscle and tissue structure. Important for metabolism and hormonal systems, and also influences base/acid balance. Usually, that’s 2-2.5g/kg/body weight/day.
- Carbs: 40-60% carbohydrates. They provide fuel during exercise and spare protein, and it is the main energy source for your brain’s functions. Usually, that’s 4-7g/kg/body weight/day.
The Best Healthy Bulking Foods
You better stay away from pizza, cookies, and cakes. Instead, you need to focus on healthy unprocessed foodstuffs. I strongly recommend opting for healthy fats, quality proteins, and complex whole carbohydrates in your bulking meal plan. Check some examples of foods that will give what your body needs to grow muscle, plenty of fuel for your workouts, the ability to recover after workouts, and all the necessary micronutrients. Check examples based on their macronutrients.
Protein Bulking Foods
- Eggs – perfect for bulking with all essential amino acids.
- Nuts and seeds – plenty of protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
- Beef – eat in moderation, but it can be incredibly beneficial.
- Beans – perfect for your heart and muscle gains with lots of iron, folate, potassium, and zinc.
- Yogurt – opt for a low-fat, low-sugar alternative. Provides your gut with healthy bacteria.
- Milk – perfect in fat and protein, with enough minerals and vitamins.
- Cheese – lots of protein with fat, calcium, and calories.
Fat Bulking Foods
- Oil – go for heart-healthy unsaturated fats from plant-based oils such as avocados and olives.
- Avocado – an excellent source of heart-healthy fats and vitamins, including vitamin E.
- Olives – high in healthy fats, vitamin E, and oleic acid, helping decrease inflammation.
Carbohydrates Bulking Foods
- Dried fruit – they provide an excellent dose of calories from natural carbs with vitamins.
- Whole grain bread and crackers – perfect to pair with protein foods.
- Pasta – lots of vitamins and minerals, easy to add a lot of calories whenever you need.
- Potatoes – the perfect source of quick energy for extra muscle and weight.
- Oats – perfect source of soluble fiber, stabilizing your blood sugar and offering energy.
- Granola – avoid those full of sugar and opt for more natural versions.
- Fruits and vegetables – they are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Bulking Meal Plan
Here’s an example of a bulking meal plan that can help you get started on your diet. While this is just an example, it may help you offer a good idea of how and what to eat when you want to gain a lot of muscle. In the end, remember that everyone is different, with different weight goals. You can add or exclude various foods, based on your goals, your responses, and so on. I recommend splitting your daily calories into five to six meals a day, ensuring your body is constantly fed so it can grow muscle. This example of a one day bulking meal plan is for 3,500 calories. You may need more or less. So, here it is:
Breakfast – 725 calories
- One cup of instant oats – 300 calories
- Two tablespoons of peanut butter – 175 calories
- One banana – 100 calories
- One cup of milk – 150 calories
Snack – 475 calories
- One cup of low fat yogurt – 100 calories
- A quarter cup of raisins – 100 calories
- Two ounces of granola – 275 calories
Lunch – 600 calories
- Two slices of whole grain bread – 200 calories
- Three ounces of chicken breast – 150 calories
- Half of avocado – 150 calories
- Lettuce (negligible calories)
- One cup of applesauce – 100 calories
Snack – 500 calories
- Two hard boiled eggs – 150 calories
- Two ounces of cheese – 200 calories
- Twelve grain crackers – 150 calories
Dinner – 900 calories
- Four ounces of salmon – 225 calories
- Two cups of brown rice – 300 calories
- Two tablespoons of oil – 250 calories
- One cup of mixed vegetables (negligible calories)
- One cup of black beans – 120 calories
Pre-bed snack – 300 calories
- One ounce of chocolate – 150 calories
- One ounce of homemade popcorn – 150 calories
Conclusion
Please remember that whether you’re dieting to lose weight or gain muscle – it takes time. The healthy bulking foods will help you achieve your goals, but not overnight. There’s no overnight solution, I’m sorry. The problem is that without the right healthy bulking foods and a solid bulking meal plan and training plan, you will not achieve your goals at all.
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