![]() I’d recommend staying under $4/lb for meat (and shooting for under $2.50/lb for chicken).Ĭarbs are where you’ll be consuming the bulk of your calories from – which is good news because they’re dirt-cheap. which drops the meat/dairy requirements even further, often saving money when bulking compared to cutting. Here’s the other kicker – you’ll be consuming much more protein as a byproduct of the increased quantities of pasta, nuts, legumes, etc. ![]() Definitely don’t fall too short of this range, but there isn’t much use in going above either when it comes to bulking. Stick to around 1 gram of protein per day per lb of bodyweight (200g for a 200 lb male). It’s a crucial macronutrient for building muscle, but consuming 400 grams of protein a day is doing nothing for you besides doubling your grocery bill and giving you egg farts. Protein is notoriously the most expensive macronutrient per calorie and is going to make up the bulk of your grocery bill year round. Here’s how to get the most out of it for fat loss or bulking: For value, you can’t beat Chipotle (or its inferior cousins, Q’doba and Moe’s). Also, consider meal prepping if time is an issue, as it will save you a ton over the course of the month. I’m not saying to never go out to eat, but to establish a budget if money is tight, and when you do go out, try to pick options that maximize the number of quality calories per dollar. If this is your idea of grilled cheese, we’ve got some work to do. Learning the basics of cooking is essential to be able to implement this step – you don’t need to be Martha Stewart to know how to whip up some rice, pasta, meat or frozen veggies, but there are a shocking number of guys in high school and even college who have never cooked a damn thing in their life, because the first thing that cooked looked like this: This is the most important recommendation for bulking on a budget and what our athletes in the intro were doing – even if you choose relatively cheap restaurants like Chipotle, this adds up to a massive grocery bill each month. Typically, this means shooting for an intake that leads to about 1 lb of weight gain per week. Getting in the right degree of calorie surplus will save money unnecessarily spent on excessive intakes. Shooting for extreme intakes will help an athlete build muscle by ensuring a consistent calorie surplus, but it just leads to an unnecessarily large amount of fat at the tail end that must then be shed (and this ratio of muscle-to-fat gain actually worsens the fatter you get, which is why I recommend getting relatively lean before bulking). (Not great for sustained progress!) Second, your body has a maximal rate of protein synthesis under normal training conditions, so even a novice isn’t going to build 10 pounds of muscle in a month. Two problems with this philosophy – first, it becomes unsustainable and actually reduces the chances the athlete will actually follow through on the plan by force-feeding and jumping into massive intakes all at once. While a proportion of fat mass is inevitable (and among advanced athletes, will actually make up a large percentage of weight gained during mini bulks), there is a tendency to get overzealous and think that if 4,000 calories is good, 6,000 calories will be better. It’s amazing how easy it becomes to manipulate your weight when you become aware of the calorie and macronutrient content of the food you’re putting into your body.Īdding on to the last point, the goal is adding muscle mass, not mass. This will allow you to better choose foods that fit your protocol and make informed adjustments as you go. Rather than just trying to double the number of meals eaten or follow a vague “see food” diet, take a calculated approach. While this ratio is dependent on more than just diet, the level of calorie surplus and the macronutrient breakdown are two of the most important nutritional components to be aware of. The goal of a weight gain diet is to keep you in a caloric surplus and maximize the proportion of muscle to fat gained. Think in terms of macros and calories, not meals For me, bulking has always been very comparable to maintenance or fat loss in terms of cost, so let’s dive into why your cost complaints are just an excuse! In light of this myth that won’t seem to die, I thought I’d put together a list of rules and guidelines for bulking on a budget. It’s more food, right? In what world would this not cost more? Several athletes, over the years, have complained they’re spending $25 or even $30 a day on food – twice as much as before they began working with us and we gave them much more robust calorie and macronutrient recommendations. One of the biggest misconceptions about weight gain is that it has to drain your wallet.
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