How to gain weight or lose weight effectively

          When you hear of an individual attempting to gain weight you hear the phrases bulking, dirty bulking and cutting. These are simply body building terms that mean gaining weight. You see these transformations on social media that depict a skinny guy then flash forward they are on a bulk and gain weight. Bulking is gaining lean muscle mass by a caloric surplus. Dirty bulking is the same thing with a crappy diet. It is merely an excuse to have the green light to eat trash food. Cutting is simply going into a caloric deficit. What you may not hear is the details on how to alter body composition.

        To determine the number of calories, needed to gain weight one must first establish how many calories it takes to sustain themselves throughout the day. Several factors play into a baseline: your RMR, activity level and thermogenic. The entire breakdown can be found here. A much easier process is to find a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE for short) calculator online. Keep in mind that it is an inexact science and using multiple calculators will yield various results. They won't be off by much, maybe 500-600 calories. The true way is trial and error. Weigh yourself and consume the caloric number provided by one of the calculators and see if you have lost weight, gained weight or remained the same. A simple way to take your weight in pounds then multiply by a certain activity level such as light, moderate and heavy. Light activity would be light walking, garage work, trades, etc. Moderate activity would include cycling, skiing, tennis or dancing. Heavy activity would be walking uphill with a load, basketball, climbing, soccer or American football. For males 17 is light, 19 is moderate and 23 is heavy. Females on the other hand would be 16, 17, and 20 respectively.

    Males

17 light

19 moderate

23   Heavy  

Females:

16 Light

17 Moderate

20 Heavy

For example, a 190-pound male that has moderate activity level would need to consume 3600 calories.

    Gaining weight is a slow process (much like losing weight!) add 500 calories to your daily calories. In our above example 4100 calories would be needed to gain weight. 3500 calories equal a pound, so an extra 500 calories would produce a pound a week. To maximize protein synthesis, ensure you're eating at least 1.5-2g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Muscle is expensive in terms of calories to sustain and in order to build muscle more protein is required to build said muscle. Additionally, 5-6g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight is needed to provide the body enough energy to sustain itself throughout the day and for workouts. These recommendations are more targeted towards folks training hypertrophy (building muscle). Aerobic activity requires a different ratio of carbs and protein.

    On the flip side losing weight is the same process just in reverse. Find your baseline calories then subtract 500 and that is your target calorie goal. Following the same process is a net loss of a pound a week. The only caveat is to ensure you're eating enough protein to sustain muscle building during a caloric deficit. 1.8-2.7g of protein per kilogram of body weight is recommended. 

    Whether you are looking to gain weight or to lose weight keep the caloric goal in mind. Determining how you consume your calories is up to your lifestyle. It does not matter when you consume those calories. It could be all at once with the one meal a day or smaller meals scattered throughout the day. Lifestyle dictates when you eat. If you job is a desk job with the freedom to eat every few hours, then smaller meals may be for you. A busier schedule that restricts feeding then less meals with higher calories may be ideal.