re: Best mass building program

No it's not. The best bulking program IMO is DC training, he always recommended 2g per lbs of bodyweight.

But I understand your shock. Lower it to 250, make the rest of the calories up with extra carbs.

What percentage of protein do you recommend from powder vs whole food?

That's alot of chicken breasts

3.75 lbs chicken breasts by my calculations

I hear you. I'm going to try to load up on eggs and milk for breakfast. chicken for lunch. Hopefully that gets me halfway there before dinner and a shake

So in your case at 330g I would recommend 200 from real food the rest from whey protein isolate, casein, or peptopro.

The reason why I recommend more whole foods is because of the calories that come along with them. Protein powder is usually a better source but fails to deliver all of the micronutrients real whole food does.

And why chicken breasts? Eat some damn beef and eggs. I suggest something like this

Breakfast- 6-8 whole eggs, 3 oz beef, oatmeal

Snack- 6-8oz extra lean sliced turkey sandwich

Lunch- 12oz lean ground beef(93%) and some kind of carb.

Preworkout- 20g protein(isolate or peptopro) shake plus some carbs

Intra-workout- 20g protein shake(isolate or peptopro)

Postworkout- 60g protein shake

Dinner- 12-16 oz meat- plus carbs

Prebed-40g protein shake.


Now granted I can hit the same macros as you posted easily while following Leangains 16:8. You have to learn to eat more.

Beef has a lot of other micros and has a bit of fat to help gain weight. Beef Is king for putting on muscle along with eggs imo.

quote:

---

The app suggested 2,600 calories per day. Does that sound right for someone who is 170.

---

That’s a lot of surplus. I would think 1800-1900 is where you would start, and gradually increase as you add muscle mass.

Just remember gains in strength=gains in mass only if you are in a caloric surplus and positive nitrogen state(consuming enough protein to cause enough muscle protein synthesis to cause muscle growth).

quote:

---

I estimate that I was probably eating 2,200 and was just maintaining weight. Now my waist went from 33 to 29-30 and I was crazy ripped. So Greyskull was definitely working it just wasn't as much of a mass builder as I thought. But I think that is strictly because of my nutrition.

---

What is your reason for wanting to gain weight, and how much weight would you like to gain? There are a lot of reasons people want to gain weight...pure aesthetics, athletic performance, to get stronger, just to be more swole, etc. If you are getting stronger obviously diet and nutrition should be the focus. There is also another thread on this board about eating for performance that you may find helpful.

Personal opinion here, unless you are a bodybuilder I wouldn't do bulk/get fat, then cut. Long-term, its better to dial in your diet and workouts while reasonably progressing on strength, and slowly gaining size/mass. Might be slower progress, but likely more sustainable.