The 500-calorie surplus is of great benefit to people who struggle with muscle gain. Adding extra calories of about 500 does not add extra muscles but it allows you to increase your level of training, faster recovery, and reduction of levels of cortisol.
You can gain the same amount of muscle mass when you are on a calorie surplus or calorie deficit. Therefore, the only reason it is recommended for someone to go overboard with extra 500 calories, is that it can make a great difference to your workout intensity which will lead to a greater increase and growth of muscle cells.
A calorie deficit is very good when it comes to lowering body fats. The calories surplus helps you go for like 120% overboard with your workouts. This makes sure that your performance is rising leading you to gain more muscle mass.
The 500-calorie surplus is a great way to begin promoting massive muscle gain. Majorly, this diet is made up of nutrient and calorie-dense foods like nuts, salmon, red meats, fruits like avocados, nuts, rice, whole eggs, and cereals that are healthy and full-fatty dairy products.
Ensure that as much as you are on a calorie surplus you must closely monitor your calorie intake as excess calorie surplus will results in fats being stored in the body, leading to an imbalance between the fats gained and the muscles built.
Before you start the 500-calorie surplus journey, consider your stress levels, sleep patterns, your genetic limits and how close you are to them, the average amount of muscles gained over time, your training frequency and volume, your age, the period you will be on this plan, and the general quality of your diet.
When on a 500-calorie surplus, it is very important to check your progress to know if it is appreciating and at what speed or declining and at what speed. Check if you are adding some inches on your body parts that need muscle gain like the waistline, hands, legs, butt, and shoulders.
check if your body weight is rising, and monitor your energy levels throughout the week if you are feeling energized or fatigued, the time your soreness lasts from one training to another, and if the soreness is capable of limiting you to training.
IS A CALORIE SURPLUS NEEDED TO GAIN MUSCLES?
In general, a calorie surplus is not needed to gain muscles. The increase and growth in muscles, referred to as hypertrophy, is stimulated by enough consumed protein and optimal resistance training with progressive overload.
Thin people need more calories for muscle gain as compared to people who are thicker. If you need to add to your muscle mass, it is not a must you go overboard with the calories you consume daily.
You can still gain more muscles on a calorie deficit by consuming enough proteins. The problem is that it is very difficult for one to be consistent in taking the recommended number of proteins daily as it might bring irregularities in your diet.
This is because one is required to consume between 200 to 300 grams of proteins per day which is in the calorie deficit this might sound easy but in reality, when out in action it is not that easy.
HOW MUCH OF A CALORIE SURPLUS IS TOO MUCH?
When you have over 500 calories surplus added to your diet in a day, it can lead to you gaining fats of between 1 to 1.5 pounds per week. This is majorly dependent on the sex, age, physical activities you are involved in, and your lean body weight. Those people who are very active physically and have more lean muscle mass will add less weight as compared to those people who are sedentary.
You should ensure that you consume just engouh calories that you need to build muscles. The number of calories that your body needs to gain muscles should be guided by the speed at which you build your muscles.
HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD I EAT TO GAIN LEAN MUSCLES?
To gain lean body muscles and have muscular strength, you should be consuming 2 grams of proteins per 1 kilogram of body weight in a day. For a higher limit that should apply to people who are well adapted and highly trained should consume 3.5 grams of proteins per 1 kilogram of body weight. From these, you will be able to calculate the overall calories you need from proteins in a day for your own body weight.
Some studies show that the rate of recovery is influenced by the number of carbohydrates consumed. To improve the recovery rate, one should take at least a carbohydrate drink when working out as it helps shuttle glucose into muscles. Nevertheless, this does not have any impact on the synthesis of proteins. Therefore, this shows that it is all about proteins and not calories.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU EAT 500 EXTRA CALORIES?
In general, when you consume 500 extra calories, your body moves the calories that are in surplus to be stored in form of fats, and this results in weight gain. The rate at which you will gain weight will depend on several factors like lean body mass, physical activities you engage in, and the period of the calorie surplus.
Some people will consume the 500 surplus calories and still not gain weight instead they loseweight.
It is important to know that people who struggle to gain muscles overestimate the amount of food they take in and those who struggle to lose weight underestimate the amount of food they consume.
CALORIE SURPLUS TO BUILD MUSCLE MYTH
This myth of building muscles when at a calorie surplus was brought to action by the bodybuilders in the 1980s and 1990s when they used to consume twice the food, they consume daily and this is during the phase of bulking. They then reduce the intake of calories during the phase of cutting. This approach had a problem since all the calories consumed ended up in the body to be stored as fats.
This way, the body burns only extra fats daily. It is important to know that to lose weight and even build muscles you need to be in a calorie neutral or deficit. As you gain muscles, you will lose some weight in small amounts.
It is very important to monitor the proteins you eat on a surplus as most people find it tempting to just eat what they want for that period and this will not give you the results you need.
Related Post: CAN YOU LIFT WEIGHTS ON A CALORIE DEFICIT?
SUMMARY
A 500-calorie surplus is only important when your final goal is to gain muscles and you don’t mind having extra fats in your body. Those people who have difficulty performing while on a calorie deficit and those with a hard time adding some muscles are the ones who can benefit from the 500-calorie surplus.
The number of calories you consume in surplus must be guided by the number of muscles you can build naturally.
Also, it is important to know that it is not a must for you to be in a calorie surplus to build muscles. This is because, if your body has enough energy stored for use and the right training plan, it will automatically be able to build muscles at calorie preservation and calorie deficit.
The myth about calorie surplus to build muscles had a problem since all the calories consumed ended up in the body to be stored as fats. This way, the body was able to burn only extra fats daily. t instead they gain more weight. It is important to know that people who struggle to gain muscles overestimate the amount of food they take in and those who struggle to lose weight underestimate the amount of food they consume.
Therefore, it is of great significance for you to monitor your weight by making sure that it does not shoot up quickly, monitor your protein intake to make sure you are consuming the recommended amounts, and finally monitor your lifts to ensure that you are putting in place the progressive overload.
In addition, before beginning the 500-calorie surplus plan to build muscles, regulate your stress levels, and sleep levels to be okay, consider your genetic limits, the average amount of muscles gained over time, your training frequency, your age and sex, the period you will be on a 500-surplus plan, and the general quality of your diet.
Related Post: IS 500 CALORIE SURPLUS TOO MUCH?
