The Best Way to Gain Muscle Without Getting Fat
Like many things in the world of fitness, there’s a lot of controversy over the best way to get big and lean.
Some people say bulking and cutting is the best way to get there, while others say bulking and cutting doesn’t work, and that you have to learn how to gain muscle, not fat.
Opinions among those that subscribe to either of these schools of thought vary, as well.
Many bodybuilders believe that a proper bulk involves eating 4,000+ calories per day, while others believe in a more moderate intake. Many claim that intermittent fasting is the key to gaining muscle while maintaining, or even decreasing, body fat percentage.
The result of all the noise is confusion, of course, and I come across it every day.
One of the most common questions I get asked is, “Should I bulk, cut, or just try to build lean muscle?”
Well, in this article I’m going to fully answer this question.
So, let’s begin with a couple fundamental points of physiology that explain how diet actually affects our ability to build muscle.
Do You Have to “Eat Big to Get Big”?
This cheesy cliche has been around the bodybuilding world for decades because there’s truth in it.
The amount of food you eat every day absolutely impacts your body’s ability to build muscle.
Note that I said the amount of FOOD that you eat every day…not the amount of PROTEIN, as is commonly believed. Eating massive amounts of protein every day is not necessary for maximizing muscle growth.
Now, do you know why the amount of food affects your body’s ability to build muscle? It’s actually quite simple:
Your body burns a certain amount of energy every day. This can be measured in calories (and a calorie is defined as “the amount of energy required to heat 1 kg of water 1 degree Celsius at one atmosphere of pressure”).
Your body gets this energy it needs primarily from the food you feed it, and from its fat stores.
Now, if you feed your body less energy than it burns, you’ve put it into what is known as a “calorie deficit.” This results in weight loss (the loss of water, glycogen, fat, and sometimes muscle).
When you do this, however, your body’s ability to create muscle proteins is impaired. That is, it can’t build muscle efficiently when it’s in a calorie deficit.
This is why it’s commonly accepted that you can’t build muscle and lose fat. (Although under the right circumstances, some people can.)
Now, when you’re trying to maximize muscle growth, regardless of the dietary protocol used, you have to ensure you’re not in a calorie deficit. This is why you have to, in a sense, “eat big to get big.”
I emphasized “regardless of the dietary protocol” because many people don’t realize that you simply can’t cheat this physiological rule.
No matter how you eat your food–intermittent fasting, carb cycling, IIFYM, etc.–if you’re in a calorie deficit several days per week, you will build little-to-no muscle if you’re a relatively lean, experienced weightlifter.
“What about recomps?” you might be thinking. “There are guys out there building muscle while losing fat…what’s up with that?”
Well, let’s talk about it.
Beware the “Body Recomp” Trap
The “body recomp” is the fitness pitfall du jour.
In case you’re not familiar with the term, it’s referring to building muscle and losing fat simultaneously (“recomp” is short for “recomposition,” which refers to changing the composition of your weight by adding muscle and shedding fat).
We have a lot to cover in this article, so I’ll be brief here:
The only drug-free people that can effectively build muscle and lose fat simultaneously are newbies that have a fair amount of fat to lose.
I explain why in my article on building muscle and losing fat at the same time, but know this:
If you’re an experienced natural weightlifter that has already made considerable muscle gains, you will not be able to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Period.
Unfortunately, many guys spin their wheels for years chasing the recomp, jumping from one fad workout and diet to next, with little to nothing to show for it.
Here’s the big secret of experienced, accomplished weightlifters that are able to build muscle while getting lean: drugs…lots and lots of drugs.
So please, do yourself a favor and unless you’re an overweight newbie, don’t even try to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously. Focus on one or the other, and you will actually make progress.
Now, let’s get back to the question of food intake and muscle building.
If building muscle efficiently requires eating enough food, how much is enough?
How Much Do You Have to Eat to Maximize Muscle Growth?
The traditional “bulk” is like a dietary sledgehammer: it has you slamming down thousands upon thousands of calories every day, getting fatter and fatter, without really knowing why.
While yes, that’s one way to ensure you’re not in a calorie deficit, does building muscle really require that much eating?
Fortunately for our wallets, stomachs, and sanity, it doesn’t.
In fact, this mainstream approach to “bulking” doesn’t work for many people for several reasons:
Many people don’t train properly, and thus can’t build much muscle regardless of how much food they eat.
The more fat you have to lose, the longer you have to “cut.”
This is not only tougher psychologically, but the longer you have to cut, the more prone you are to losing muscle even if you know what you’re doing.
Many people don’t know how to cut properly, and lose way too much muscle in the process.
Thus, a traditional “bulk and cut” often goes like this: Gain some muscle and a bunch of fat, strip away fat and muscle, look exactly the same as the starting point.
Incredibly common, and incredibly frustrating.
The way to escape this trap is threefold:
Don’t eat excessive amounts of food when you’re “bulking.”
Train to maximize strength and muscle growth, not pumps and muscle endurance.
When it comes time to cut, follow a proper weight loss routine that allows you to strip fat while maintaining muscle.
Now, in terms of how much food you should actually eat to maximize muscle growth, here’s a simple rule of thumb:
Eat 10% more calories than you burn every day to maximize muscle growth and minimize fat storage.
By maintaining a small “calorie surplus,” you ensure that your body’s ability to synthesize muscle proteins can work at full capacity, and you minimize fat storage. (I say minimize because there will be some due to the surplus–that’s just how the body works.)
And in case you’re not sure how to calculate this 10% surplus, it’s very simple:
An accurate way to measure how much energy you’re burning is to use the Katch McArdle formula to determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR), and multiply it as follows:
By 1.2 if you exercise 1-3 hours per week.
By 1.375 if you exercise 4-8 hours per week.
By 1.55 if you exercise 9+ hours per week.
This gives you a good approximation of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which is simply the total amount of calories you’re burning each day.
To put yourself in a 10% surplus, multiply your TDEE by 1.1 and voila, you’ve got your starting point.
For example, I currently weigh 193, I’m about 7.5% body fat, and I exercise 5 – 6 hours per week.
My BMR is about 2,200 calories per day. I then multiply that by 1.375 to get my total daily expenditure, which is about 3,000 calories per day. I then multiply that by 1.1 to get my bulking calories, which is 3,300 per day.
That’s theory, though. How does it actually work in practice?
Well, it turns out that the 3,300 – 3,500 range is my body’s “sweet spot” for building muscle without storing excessive amounts of fat. Sure, I gain fat slowly, but it’s minimal, and I’m strong in the gym and able to gain muscle.
That said, note that I said “starting point” a few lines up. That’s because no formulas are one-size-fits-all. Some people’s metabolisms are just faster and slower than the norm, and adjustments must be made.
For instance, I work with quite a few 160 – 170 pound guys that need to eat over 4,000 calories per day just to gain 1 lb per week, with very little fat storage. If I were to eat that much, I would gain fat fast despite the fact that I have a good 30 – 40 pounds of muscle on those guys.
This is why you need to actually watch your body and measurements (mirror, weight, body fat percentage, waist, etc.) when you’re bulking.
Here a good rule of thumb in terms of expectations:
If you still have a ways to go before reaching your genetic potential in terms of muscle growth, you want to tweak your diet until you are gaining between .5 - 1.5 pounds of weight per week.
If you’re gaining more than 2 pounds per week for any more than your first 2 – 3 weeks of weightlifting, then you’re eating too much (you’re gaining too much fat).
If you’re gaining less than 1 pound per week and you still haven’t gained your first 20 pounds of muscle, then you can benefit from eating a bit more.
So, that’s how you bulk properly–you eat a moderate amount of food that puts your body in a mild calorie surplus. This allows you to gain more muscle than fat.
But before I sign off, I want to address one other point: when should you bulk, and when should you cut, and why?
When and Why to Bulk and Cut
I like to keep this simple:
If you’re over 15% body fat (guys, 25% for gals), you should cut fat.
There’s the visual factor (once you get above 15%, you begin looking “fat”–abs completely disappear, muscles look like big blobs, etc.), but there’s more.
Being overweight not only comes with all kinds of health risks,it also accelerates the rate of fat storage (the fatter you are, the easier it is to get fatter and stay fat), and gets in the way of building muscle.
How?
Because as body fat levels rise…
Insulin sensitivity drops.
As the body becomes more insulin resistant, its ability to burn fat decreases, and the likelihood of storing carbohydrate as fat increases. Furthermore, insulin resistance suppresses intracellular signaling responsible for protein synthesis, which means less total muscle growth.
Free testosterone levels drop, and estrogen levels rise.
As testosterone plays a vital role in the process of muscle building, and high levels of estrogen promotes fat storage, the downsides here are clear.
The reality is excessive weight gain during a “dirty” or “dreamer bulk” impairs muscle growth and makes undoing the weight gain even harder.
This is why I always recommend that people don’t bulk if they’re over 15% body fat, and end their bulks once they reach 15 – 17% and begin cutting (this is where the above problems really start to kick in).
If you’re between 10 – 12% body fat and need to put on size, you should bulk.
The other side of this coin is the small, relatively lean guy that’s bit too obsessed with the idea of getting a six pack before putting on some body fat to build muscle.
The problem with this is simple:
Even if the guy is new to lifting and can build some muscle while losing fat, it won’t be enough to keep him from looking absolutely scrawny should he get to the 7-8% body fat range.
What many guys don’t realize is how much visual size you lose once you get below 10%. You drop quite a bit of water and glycogen, which flattens everything out.
This is why I recommend that guys juggle their cuts and bulks to remain in the 10 – 17% body fat range until they reach a point where they’re absolutely satisfied with their overall size, and then cut below 10%.
Ironically, you can be satisfied with your size at 10% and be quite disappointed with it at 7%. For many (including myself), they need to reach a point where they feel they’re TOO big at 10% to have the look they want at 7%.
But eventually you reach a point where you’re happy with your look in the 7-8% body fat range, and you simply maintain it.
What are your thoughts on proper bulking to build muscle? Have anything else to add? Lemme know in the comments below!
