Your metabolic rate (the rate at which your body processes food) is one of the inherited factors which determines your ability to gain weight and build muscle. Ectomorph’s in particular must pay attention to their diet in order to make progress, as they naturally have fast metabolisms.

Muscle tissue, unlike fat, requires calories to sustain muscles. Therefore if you are training to build muscle you need to increase your calorie consumption, due to the fact you will have more muscles which demand more calories.

Some professional bodybuilders eat a minimum of 4000 calories a day just to maintain their body weight. Obviously you don’t need to be making the same comparisons as you haven’t got the same muscle development, but the point is you need to be eating more when lifting big to give the muscles the required calories they need for growth. When undertaking a weight training program, adding an additional 500 calories would be a good starting point. You can always track progress and see if you need additional calories.

Although the idea is to increase your calorie consumption, you want to make sure you are eating a well balanced diet which is packed full of nutrition. The last thing you want to do is shovel in chocolate bars, donuts, cakes, cookies, and other low nutritious foods while not consuming enough good foods. Instead, try and eat more healthy, calorie dense foods. Focus on high calorie foods such as nuts and peanut butter. A small handful of nuts contains about 200 calories! The fat contained in nuts is a “healthy” fat. Instead of feeling full on low calorie drinks such as diet soda, coffee, tea or water, drink only beverages that contain more calories. For example, 100% squeezed fruit juice or milk. Add sauces or gravies when eating meat. These can add a few extra calories to every meal and make the food taste better. Also, what’s stopping you from eating your favorite foods anytime of the day.

If you like breakfast foods such as bacon and eggs on toast, eat them as a snack or for lunch or any time of the day. Pancakes at 3 in the afternoon are fine if that’s what you want! The important thing is that you adopt a diet consuming more calories in order to gain weight and to fuel your muscles. Here is an example of what to eat to gain weight. Even if you are eating a little “dirty” so be it especially if you are beginning a weight gain diet and training program. Just make sure your diet consist of sufficient healthy foods. Any additional calories you can get is a good thing when undertaking a weight training program - as you have enough trouble as it is gaining weight. Once you start making some progress, then you can look into altering your high calorie diet to eat a little healthier.

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