Writing about bulking up as we approach the summer months when everyone is starting to think about how they look in their t-shirts, dresses, and bathing suits may be a case of bad timing. But I’m sure there are those amongst you who aren’t bothered about looking like Leonidas from 300 at the beach this year, and would rather spend the 3 or so months building up your physiques. A lot of the points that I’ll cover are applicable to anyone who wants to understand their diet better, regardless of their goal, so strap in and let’s take a look at how some common gut issues arise during phases where we’re gaining size.
Growing, a surplus game
By now it’s no surprise to anyone reading that in order to grow muscle you need to eat in a calorie surplus: take more calories in than your body burns over a period of time. Sounds like heaven, right? Get to eat to your heart’s desire, never feel hungry, and enjoy some sickening pumps in the gym. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that surplus phases are more enjoyable than fat loss phases can sometimes become towards the end. But anyone who’s ever seriously tried massing will attest that the thrill of eating enough for a small village wears off pretty quickly and it becomes work in order to be able to stick to the calories on a daily basis. Don’t be surprised if you feel full all the time, sometimes uncomfortably so, experience days marked by virtually no appetite, and see your food prep time increase unless you’re one of those fortunate few to make use of a meal prep service. It’s during these often unforeseen difficulties of bulking that we look for solutions to make our lives easier. Namely, answering the question of how I get more calories in quickly when my appetite is low. This is where the dragons start to grow in the cave.
Enter fast sugars and processed foods
Do you know the thing about fast sugars and processed foods? They’re usually calorific and less filling in the same quantities as real foods. On the surface, they sound like the solution to the problem that you’ve been facing because now you can slam back plenty of calories even when your appetite is low, and make it easier to get all your calories in. Unfortunately, the solution is short-lived and easily creates more problems than it solves. As it’s typical to see carbs pushed higher in an attempt to push calories higher, the increase in refined sugars can lead to gut dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is an imbalance in bacterial and gut microbiota composition in the gut, which leads to altered metabolic activities by said bacteria. In this case, things like candida can feed off the increased sugar and proliferate very quickly, which can lead to the aforementioned imbalance in the gut microbiota. More on what this means later…
High protein, friend, or frenemy?
To readers, what they understand by a high protein intake will vary greatly. Taking from an exhaustive list of studies on protein intake recommendations, the usual 2g/kg of bodyweight is generally accepted to be the gold standard, plus or minus on a case-by-case basis. Suffice it to say that most people probably won’t need to pay attention to their gut health as a result of protein before they’re exceeding 2.5-3g/kg of bodyweight. That said, very high protein intakes are prevalent among very muscular individuals who are attempting to gain size, and this can also throw off the gut microbiota. Again, that pesky dysbiosis can rear its head, this time as a result of a major increase in protein-digesting microbes. We can end up with a disproportionately high ratio of protein-digesting microbes in the gut, that means when things like fibre are eaten there aren’t enough microbes to digest them properly and make the short-chain fatty acids that make you feel healthy. A high intake of fast sugars coupled with a very high protein intake and bam, you’ve got microbes running rampant and disrupted metabolism. Bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, poor sleep, increased inflammation, etc.
Don’t cut the corners
While it may be tempting to start sneaking in refined sugars in an effort to bump up calories and continue gaining, from personal experience, it can cause more problems than it solves. Instead of continuously increasing foods like Rice Krispies, coco pops, and rice cakes with jam and peanut butter, in other words, sources of foods high in sucrose, look to make use of different strategies.
Cream of rice with blueberries
Higher-calorie foods like rice and pasta
Prebiotics with high carbohydrate meals
10 min walk after eating to aid in digestion
A low appetite is something to have to manage on a gaining phase from time to time, but with better meal timings, and food choices, not only will you increase the quality of the tissue you build, but you also lower the chances of gut dysfunction.
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