First things first:
There are many reasons that bulking diets fail but here are a few of the most common reasons:
1) Calories are not high enough and putting on muscle mass fails
2) Calories are too high and macros percentages are not in check. This in turn leads to putting on sloppy weight (fat) as well as muscle.
3) You are BULKING, not CHEATING. Cheat days will be factored in, but your food choices should still be healthy. All diets, whether cutting or buking, need to be monitored. This means that watching your insulin spikes and TYPE of carb intake is still important.
4) You are what you eat. It’s just that simple. To simplify, you eat crap and you will look like crap.
That being said let’s talk calories and figuring out daily needs
Harris Benedict Formula for Calorie Calculations
“The Harris Benedict equation is a calorie formula using the variables of height, weight, age, and gender to calculate basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is more accurate than calculating calorie needs based on total body weight alone. The only factor it omits is lean body mass and thus the ratio of muscle-to-fat a body has. Remember, leaner bodies need more calories than less leaner ones. Therefore, this equation will be very accurate in all but the very muscular (Harris-Benedict will under-estimate calorie needs) and the very fat (Harris-Benedict will over-estimate calorie needs).”
Eating on the run. Unless you're Mr. or Ms. Perfect, it's become a necessary evil these days. Although were suppose to have all the conveniences of the modern world, enough to make our lives easier, it just seems like there's less and less time in the day! Yet we know real gains in mass and controlling body fat require round-the-clock eating. What's the solution? How can you eat 5 to 6 meals daily in such a fast pace world? Of course you can live on Lean Body Shakes. That'll help. But you can utilize fast food joints, eating around the bad stuff and carefully selecting meals and items that are either low in fat or lower in sugar and refined carbohydrates. It's becoming easier too. With the onslaught of negative press aimed at such fast food establishments, many are currently in the process of slimming down, providing more healthy alternatives to the big Burger and super size fries. With that in mind, here's my simple guide to staying in shape at some of the top fast food establishments.