How Much Should I Eat Per Day To Gain Muscle Mass?

How Much Should I Eat Per Day To Gain Muscle Mass?

In order to gain muscle mass, you should take in about 15 calories per each pound of your body weight. If you have 180 pounds, you should eat about 2700 calories per day to gain muscle mass.

Of course, if you’re doing exercises daily and you’re burning about 500 calories through your fitness routine, you will add 500 calories to your daily calorie intake. So in this case, a 180-pound man should eat about 3200 calories per day to gain muscle mass.

But if you want to gain muscle mass, you can’t just eat any kind of foods until you get those 2700 calories and then stop eating. You need to know what kind of foods are good for your body and for your muscle gain goal. You need to know how many carbs, proteins and fats you should eat in a day to get those 2700 calories in and to gain muscle mass.

How To Gain Muscle Mass

Here is how you can calculate your carbs, protein and fats intake for a day, if you want to gain muscle mass:

  • 2 grams of carbs per pound of body weight. If you weigh 180 pounds, you should have about 360 grams of carbs in your daily food intake.
  • Between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 200 pounds, you should have about 180 – 270 grams of protein in your daily food intake.
  • 0.4 grams of fat per pound of body weight. If you weigh 180 pounds, you should have about 72 grams of fat in your daily food intake.

So if you note your body weight (in pounds) with W, here is the math behind gaining muscle mass (all number are for one day only):

  • CALORIES = W x 15
  • FAT = W x 0.4 grams
  • PROTEIN = W x 1.5 grams
  • CARBOHYDRATES = W x 2 grams

Here is a table you need to gain muscle mass, with all the math done for you.

Now that you know how many calories you should eat in a day to gain muscle mass, all you have to do is to find a perfect workout for you and add some physical activity in your daily schedule. This will increase your daily calorie intake with 100-500 calories (13 fun and weird ways to burn 200 calories), depending on the intensity of the workout you’re performing.

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Jose Angel Martinez
Jose Angel Martinez
7 years ago

I am 5′ 6″ weight 135, I am supposed to eat 2765 calories a day to gain 1 lb. a week, I eat 5000- 7600 a day and gain nothing. I go to the gym 4 day’s a week and work 5 day’s a week and gain nothing I use… Read more »