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Healthy Bulk Protocol (Weight Gain)
🕑 Added 2022-01-21 07:02:13 +0000 UTCI wrote up a healthy weight loss protocol to address each potential underlying issue that can create hang-ups in your progress, now for some personal experience with healthy weight GAIN. As you all may know, nearly several years back, I was SEVERELY malnourished. Body fat percentage severely low. I felt horrible at all times, muscles grating against my bones, literally, every waking hour was pain. Now I hover around 150 lbs after resolving leptin resistance and optimizing my redox status, still working on gaining body fat but its become much easier as I've addressed the above issues. This will be a very simple summary of the underlying complex interactions that occur with difficulty to gain weight.
So leptin, the satiety hormone (it controls nearly all hormones, insulin, energy metabolism, fat-storage and burning, etc.) is a hormone that is stored in adipose tissue and the small intestines that should be in balance with ghrelin (the hunger hormone). It becomes dysregulated with artificial light at night, eating out of respective season, and lack of sunlight. Resistance to receptors binding and utilizing leptin creates resistance (similarly to insulin resistance), so excess leptin is circulating in excess in underweight individuals. Excess circulating leptin without utilization = little to no hunger or appetite. Instead of the liver and pancreas circadian peripheral CLOCK genes becoming dysfunctional with circadian dysregulation as with being overweight, being underweight implies the circadian peripheral CLOCK genes in the brain becoming dysfunctional. This is why brain fog and fatigue are so common in underweight individuals.
Depending on how underweight you are, or how much weight you'd like to gain, you must be in a caloric surplus, meaning you are consuming more calories than you burn. This largely depends on physical activity levels, but say you just lift and go for walks most days, the average person wants a minimum of 250-500 calorie surplus. In my own personal context, this was totally inefficient for me. I must maintain a 1000-3000 calorie surplus to continue gaining weight and healthy body fat. The macronutrient profile will largely vary during the winter month in most latitudes, preferably consuming SEASONAL carbohydrates with UV light present (eating under artificial blue light will dysregulate glucose metabolism and can result in unhealthy fat storage). I've been maxing tubers, raw honey, and goat dairy for winter for general context. During the spring and summer with bright UV light present, you have much more leniency in the carbohydrates you can consume without excessive deuterium accumulation that slows the electron chain transport and mitochondria. If you live near the Equator or 20th latitude, this applies to you nearly year-round. In Northern and Southern latitudes, you can shop at local farms/farmers' markets or research "seasonal fruits and vegetables (insert your living area here)" for more context. You want to aim for natural fruits and vegetables that grow in your individual latitude. A general guideline for macro intake would be 1-2g protein/lb of body weight. I personally aim for closer to the 2g range as I've noted it helps to prevent any muscle loss/wasting that I was struggling with for so long with leptin resistance, low redox status, and severe malnutrition. Typically, a good ratio of fats comes along with most proteins, then fill up with your seasonal carbohydrates. Just remember, DHA (omega-3 fatty acid) from seafood, shellfish, animal brains, and pasture-raised eggs makes up the eyes, brain, nervous system, gut, skin, so on and so forth, and allows the eyes to take in the full light spectrum from sunlight. Saturated fats are essential to proper steroidal hormone production. I desperately tried to gain weight on a ketogenic/carnivore diet, but it was not working for me whatsoever. If it does work for you, by all means, but most people will require some source of carbohydrates without refined sucrose to gain healthy weight and maintain gym performance, but best to utilize in line with natural circadian rhythm to maintain proper mitochondrial function.
In general, you will want to be eating a minimum of three meals a day to keep your circadian rhythm and appetite in order. No matter how good you feel fasting or intermittent fasting, it will be counterproductive to a healthy weight and muscle gain process. If you must, your dinner around sunset should be 3-4 hrs before sleep so you have that fasting window. This is optimal for deep, restorative sleep for autophagy to function properly, and of course, you know quality sleep is necessary for healthy muscle gain as well. This is optimal for everyone and in line with modern circadian rhythm and redox optimization, however, sometimes I eat within a 1-2 hr window before sleep because I may have been busy that day to eat sufficient calories for my goal intake.
Like excessive fasting, excessive exercise can also be counterproductive via cortisol which contributes to either weight loss or unhealthy fat gain. 3-4 times a week is a solid guideline for lifting. You must be even more mindful if you're doing heavy cardio or fighting for example. MAKE TIME FOR RECOVERY. It's just as important as exercise is, especially if you want to maintain your intensity and frequency level.
Your focus should be nutrient-dense whole food sources, but I've noted many people have mentioned finding it difficult to consume sufficient calories. An easy hack that is common in bodybuilder communities I've implemented is goat milk, goat kefir, goat/sheep yogurt, raw honey, and egg yolk shake. I personally don't respond well to most protein powders, so I make my own shake with these ingredients that actually include micronutrients. Do whatever you need to do to hit sufficient caloric and protein intake, but keep micronutrients in mind and a solid rule is 80/20% discipline. You'll want to try to stick to the zero-tolerance dietary guideline to avoid health and gut-related issues, but having a healthy redox provides some leniency. I've found having two of these shakes a day along with my three meals has allowed me to remain in a caloric surplus since I began my own bulking process. You can adjust the ingredients to your individual preference and latitude, but try to ensure it contains a full spectrum of macros and micros to nourish yourself and provide the building blocks for muscle growth/healthy weight gain.
The first step is:
- Watch the sunrise (specific time frame varies depending on the latitude at this time, so ensure you verify what time sunrise occurs for you) every single day preferably for 30-60 minutes minimum, however even 5-10 min. will make a difference if you remain consistent. This is best done GROUNDED on bare Earth, but if snowing where you are, get as close to the ground as you can. Even during winter, unless it is PITCH DARK, there is still red/IR and blue light present for sunrise to set peripheral circadian CLOCK genes in the brain/liver/pancreas, leptin/ghrelin, cortisol, melatonin, and the rest of your steroidal and thyroid hormones. Go outside regardless of cloud cover, bundle up if you need to for the winter. Exposing as much skin as possible, especially the gut, is important, however not always possible for some people. The eyes and face are most important.
- Have a high protein and high-fat breakfast as soon as possible after watching the sunrise and grounding, optimally within a 30 to 60-minute window, but some may have an adjustment period in their appetite as they begin. It will subside as you restore circadian rhythm and leptin sensitivity, A 50-75g protein guideline is common, but adjust to your necessary caloric intake and appetite windows, some may need less, some may need more. I typically have about 6-10 pasture-raised eggs, maybe some quality bacon, or 1 lb of ground game meats (usually venison or bison, beef has a higher fat content in general, but adjust to preference).
- I usually go for a walk around my neighborhood to get more sun and to aid digestion, but you'll want to make sure to get some midday sun for UVA/UVB light from the sun to utilize your carbohydrate sources properly. Again, even with clouds, some UV light will penetrate so don't think you're off the hook. I usually ground in the desert a bit more for those precious electrons. Spend as much time midday outside in the sun as you possibly can without burning. At the very least, take a 5-10 min. break every hour or as often as you possibly can depending on your schedule. The sunlight is necessary to set everything I mentioned above, remember this as it's very important for HEALTHY weight gain and not UNHEALTHY weight gain. In colder latitudes, utilize that cold thermogenesis as your ancestors did.
- This is around the time that I have my first bulking shake.
- Now that you've gotten some UV light to utilize those carbohydrates, this is the time that I usually load up on the seasonal carbohydrates that I mentioned above, perhaps some seasonal fruit as well. Another mid to high-protein meal to go with it. This is the time I usually consume my daily fish or shellfish for the day as it's easy on the digestion before my lifting session. This helps to fuel me for my evening workout, and I typically have a bit more raw honey right before lifting after I digest all this food. In general, 5-7 PM is most optimal in line with setting circadian peripheral CLOCK genes but do try to get a solid workout in wherever you can. Preferably outside, but simply take breaks outside before and after your session, optimally between sets as well to offset the impact of artificial blue light in most commercial gyms.
- Make sure you watch the sunset to prepare for that deep restorative sleep where muscle growth, detox, repair, etc. all occur. The primary window for this repair occurs in the 10 PM-2 AM window, so do try to ensure you are sleeping during this time if you are able to do so. If not, change your sleep schedule. See this recent article to address your home's light environment so it's not crashing your cortisol/melatonin and hormone balance.
- Dinner is best to consume at sunset so you have a window for digesting a heavy meal before sleep for quality restful sleep time. I usually load up on seasonal carbohydrates again to replenish glycogen, but again high protein is most optimal here. If I didn't have eggs or red meats respectively for breakfast, I have whichever I didn't have for dinner. This provides a full spectrum of amino acids, fats, and micronutrients necessary to maintain energy metabolism and overall biological function. I usually have my second shake of the day here.
Additional useful tips:
I continue to include magnesium chloride and sometimes sea salt in my drinking water throughout the day to maintain sufficient hydration and electrolyte intake.
Inositol can be a very useful tool in keeping blood sugar stable and leptin/insulin sensitivity optimal.
I've had many people note black seed oil helps to improve their appetite as a mitochondrial antioxidant and a tool that decreases blood glucose. It also helps to maintain leptin/insulin sensitivity and all-around low inflammation.
Carnitine, citrulline, creatine, glutamine, glycine, leucine, and lysine aids in the muscle protein synthesis and growth process. They also help to stop muscle wasting.
As I noted in the Testosterone Protocol, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B6, biotin, folate, and B12 (adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin) also play a role in healthy weight gain. Magnesium, potassium, sodium, inositol-phosphorus, then zinc/copper and iron as well.
Use a tracking tool like Cronometer to keep a general idea of your caloric and nutrient intake to ensure you're hitting your goals each day without slipping up. Make adjustments as necessary as the body is a constantly evolving being.
I will make sure to include more notes as they come to mind, but this should be a solid guideline. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them!
