For the past week, I've changed my diet dramtically.
My old food intake was fast food, junk food, very little fruit/vegies, not healthy at all. From all this too, I simply didn't put on any weight either, I kept thin.
This should have been important learning lesson about yourself.
While I know that tracking numerical data reference diet isn't for everyone, just think if you had this type of data at your personal disposal to tweak changes from?
Apparently the consumption of carbohydrates within the calorie ranges you had been eating (whatever this was), didn't bother you. Additionally, the types of food within those macro nutrients and calories had little effect on your weight gain. Therefore, I would suspect that your calorie consumption is less than optimal to bring forth weight gain--despite the type of foods you were consuming.
Tweak your calories up. Put some importance on carbohydrate gram amounts, and get a "ballpark" protein range between .08 to 1 gram per body weight, and then fill the rest with good fats. If weight gain isn't what you want, then you begin first with manipulating your calories, then secondly taking a look at your carbohydrate gram/type intake, and tweak one or both of these.
However, always attempt to keep you protein in the 08 to 1 gram range. With this in mind, its my opinion, protein is more important in a deficit diet to cut, than it is in a surplus diet to bulk. In either scenario, protein should not drop below (IMO) .08 to 1 gram.
To gain weight, it is primarily a relationship with your personal calorie consumption, AND macro nutrients.
For example: One wants to gain proper weight, and sets a calorie surplus of (say) 300 calories of their personal approximated MT-Line, and runs this for a week.
After this week, there is no weight gain. At this point, they have two options (keeping things equal in activity, etc, etc), adjust calories and/or macro nutrients.
For example: It is possible, if they kept the same surplus of 300 calories, and increased the carbohydrate gram amount (by adjusting the "types" of food eaten), that weight gain could develop.
Then again, it is possible they may not. Here we have a rather simple process of learning yourself, and writing your own book to weight gain, because, IMO it is not ONLY about the mighty calorie.
When one tweaks calories up (say from the aforementioned example), the macro nutrients naturally go up. How? Depends on what you are eating.
However, when leaving the calorie surplus alone (as in the example given), and tweaking carbohydrates only one macro nutrient increases, while another may lower a tad. Some can miss this rather vital aspect, when trying to gain weight while attempting to reduce fat accumulation along their goal path. Some will simply increase calories, when this isn't the only option in the equation, which is the point I am making.
So, in this hypothetical example, you ran a surplus of 300 calories, and your personal log would look like:
1. MT-Line + 300 calories
2. Macro nutrient levels, Protein X, Carbohydrate X, Fats X.
3. Dates: Inserted, 7 days.
Result: no weight gain.
Options: Increase calories and/or macro nutrients.
Option selected: Manipulation of macro nutrients: The Carbohydrate.
Next week looks like:
1. MT-Line +300 calories
2. Macro Nutrients: Protein -X (slightly), Carbohydrate X
+, Fats -X (slightly).
3. Dates: Inserted, 7 days.
4. Result (hypothetical): Weight gain +.05 pounds this week.
Manipulation of macro nutrients can solicit weight gain, without adjusting the calorie--using this example. Most can miss this rather important factor.
And, IMO, these sorts of tweaks are important, if one cares about how much fat gain is accumulated, since (with most of us) muscle growth is expensive and very slow to accumulate as to the body's ability to put on fat tissue. They simply have apposing growth rates, and you can (attempt) to control it with manipulation.
And, quite simply, this is how I control my weight gain in a bulk, though it is drastically over simplified.
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Constructing a diet, with one "wanting a goal" isn't really that difficult in the numbers game particular to the person.
1. Establish your BASELINE calorie needs.
This means look here to obtain this information:
Nutrition 101
Delaware Consumer Health Information Services (Originally Posted by Wrangell)
You probably already know this, and have calculated this.
If you haven't then get to work and approximate your personal calories.
Start with a mild surplus then adjust as needed.
2. Set a protein intake around the "ballpark premise" of 1g per pound of body weight. Simply a figure "around" this mark. The .08, gets floated around, as does the 1g per pound of body weight, and above. Simply middle ground it, to about 1g (approximately), and you will be okay.
Remember not to go below .08 to 1g, at least IMO. If you're eating more carbohydrates and total calories, protein doesn't have to be as high--such as in a bulk/gain weight situation. IMO.
The lower your calories and carbohydrates go, the more protein you'll need, such as in a cut/or lose the fat situation. IMO. You actually need more protein while "losing weight" than you do while gaining, so keep this in mind, at least in my opinion.
3. Set carbohydrate intake appropriately, either low, moderate, or high.
Where this ends up, can depend on how you respond.
This is a KEY AREA of weight gain....good and bad.
Here you could define very low as 20g to 50g, low as under 75-100g, and moderate 100-200g, and high would be anything over 200g per day.
For performance needs and weight gain, 200g or more per day is a good starting point, but could be extremely high for wanting to lose tissue. Additionally, this can be high for some wanting to gain weight.
For example: If surplus is 500 calories over the MT-Line, and this person is running Carbohydrates 200 grams or more, but fat accumulation is high, some will think calories are too high. While this is certainly a possibility. It is also certainly a possibility that carbohydrates are too high--FOR THEM. We still have two possible manipulation points to consider.
And, it is possible this gram range could be to high for you, in a bulk. But, you will have to see.
Tweak and find, I say.
Tweaking this almighty macro nutrient is powerful, and find a range that works with you.
4. Simply, fill in the rest with good Fats.
Once you've established your calorie baseline, MT-Line, and surplus, protein and carbohydrate consumption, you simply fill in the rest with fats, and tweak you calorie and macro nutrients in accordance with the type of bodily response you "personally receive".
If its not so good on the fat accumulation front (speaking in terms of just......dietary perimeters), you would then potentially look at two things:
Your calorie intake and carbohydrate intake (and potentially the type of carbohydrates consumed), and tweak one of these or both of these, and mediate the differences remaining in grams.
This is the
most basic and most simple way I can put it for you.
Best wishes,
Chillen
