weight training diet

Question
hello i was told that inorder to gain 20 pounds of muscle you need to have 3 gramms of corbhydrates for every pound you weigh ...is that entirely accurate? ....can u please advice ...val

Answer
Hi Val,

While I'm not familiar with an equation like this, I can tell you 3 grams of carbs per pound does not make sense. If you weigh 200 pounds, this would mean eating 600 grams of carbs which equals 2400 calories. This would make your diet probably 90% carbs!

It could be that 3 grams per kilo makes more sense (3 x 90 kg = 270 gm carbs = 1080 calories). About half your calorie intake from carbs is a good guideline.

More importantly, in order to gain muscle you'll need to take extra protein ... but not too much.
Since muscle is just about 20% protein, a pound of muscle (454 grams) contains about 90 grams of protein. Spread 90 grams out over a week, and you only need about 15 additional grams daily to build one pound of muscle a week.

Finally, I'm sure you know not to expect muscle to grow miraculously by eating more protein! Workouts to build muscle are absolutely necessary!

Laurie  

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