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Counting Calories for Weight Gain

It's almost impossible to go online without seeing someone trying to help you achieve your weight loss goals. This makes a lot of sense, for most people it's pretty easy to lead a lifestyle with a lot of weight gain, and getting rid of it afterwards is a good sight more difficult.

Yet for a lot of people gaining weight is a sincere and serious goal. Depending on your body type it can be just as difficult as losing weight, if not more so. Whether you're looking to expand your muscle mass or simply put on padding, you can read on to discover the best way to achieve weight gain.

As a fast and simple rule, weight gain rules are the same as those for losing it, but in reverse. One pound (or 0.45 kilos) of body weight requires 3,500 calories to sustain it. That evens out to 500 calories a day, so the answer is simple enough.

Eat 500 calories a day more than your resting metabolic rate requires. For instance a 70 kilo individual will use just over 2,000 calories a day just by existing, assuming they spend the entire time resting. Eating 2,500 a day will give the body enough energy to gain half a kilo per week.

Of course, if you're seeking to gain weight for health reasons, chances are the calorie intake will be combined with healthy exercise. That's strength training for the muscle heads, and likely some endurance work for the fitness freak.

Both of these will eventually result in a high calorie burn, so be sure to adjust accordingly. If you're burning 500 calories a day at the gym that needs to be countered with a higher intake, and any increase in weight must be accompanied by reassessing your resting metabolic rate.

Muscle is three times denser than fat, so you don't want to build it in a hurry only to discover it's unsustainable on your current diet.

Here's an important point to remember. The calorie rule is straightforward and reliable. If your calorie intake during the week is 3,500 higher than your usage then 0.45 kilos of weight will be gained. But this doesn't specify what kind of weight you'll be gaining.

With a sedentary lifestyle it would likely turn out to be just fat, which is rarely the goal.

So keep a track of your nutrition, and be sure to eat a healthy amount of protein to build and retain muscle.

0.8g per kilo of body weight is enough to maintain it, and about 1.5g per kilo is enough to comfortably build muscle. If you have anything below the minimum you enter a catabolic state, and your body will burn muscle instead of fat for energy.

With correct calorie intake you'll still gain weight, but lose all your muscle to boot.

It's easy to gain weight if you make the effort in terms of calories, but remember to stay healthy as well. It might increase calorie usage, but regular training is a must to keep your body fit.

Mira has been writing about fitness, strength and weight gain products for years. Now a featured contributor to Musclefinesse.com, she hopes to expand her audience further than ever.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mira_Burton

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