Too many calories, even if it’s from the healthiest foods in the world, is still too many calories.
A very common desire for people is to build muscle with very little fat gain. It’s a valid desire. However, in that pursuit, I often see people trying to do what they consider “clean bulking”, or just eating a ton of healthy food.
They know that you need to be in a caloric surplus to build muscle, so they assume that if the surplus is all “good” food, then they’ll only add “good” weight. But it doesn’t work like that.
If your body needs 2500 daily calories, and you eat 5000 calories worth of nothing but chicken, rice, and salad every day, you’re still going to gain fat. While it’s great to prioritize healthier options, too many calories is still going to put you in too large of a caloric surplus, which is what is going to lead to fat gain.
Think about it this way- if you want to lose weight and you drastically cut your calories, you’re not going to see the results you want. Yes you’ll lose weight, but you’ll also lose hard-earned muscle and the results will not be sustainable.
Instead, you’d want to slowly decrease your calories over time to reach sustainable, realistic results. Building muscle works the same way.
You can drastically increase your calories suddenly, and you’ll build muscle (assuming you are working out, of course) but you’ll also add unwanted fat. If you want to minimize the fat gain, you need to slowly increase your calories over time.
By keeping your caloric surplus minimal, it will allow you to build muscle without adding a buttload of fat. And yes, you can even include a cookie or twelve in the process.
If building muscle is your ultimate goal, please understand that some fat gain is part of that process and inevitable. Embrace it, it means you’re growing! But using this approach, you can keep it to a minimum.
