We will start by identifying the connotations that diets for weight gain and preparation for weight loss should have.

Calorie targets of the diet

  The aim of this phase is to increase calorie intake as much as possible by ensuring, for those seeking weight gain, that body composition changes in the desired proportions (typically more muscle tissue than fat) or, for those not seeking it, that body weight changes (i.e. increases) as little as possible. Let us briefly review the ways in which calorie gain should be sought.

Metabolic recovery

  Starting from the intake previously identified as equal to one’s needs, it is necessary to increase the amount of calories consumed gradually and very slowly. The aim is to gradually accustom the body to the caloric surplus so that the body adapts the amount of its metabolic work to the calories introduced rather than accumulating fat. For this to be achieved, a very modest and, as far as possible, periodic and gradual increase in calories is required. The optimal amount of calories to add to one’s dietary requirements differs from individual to individual: some people can afford relatively sharp increases, while others have to make do with just a few. My suggestion is to start with increases of only 10kcal/day. At the end of the observation period (which is usually one week), it is necessary to detect the changes undergone by the body composition. Specifically, changes in weight, muscle mass and fat mass must be analysed. The instruments useful for this are the bioimpedance meter, the metric tape for measuring circumferences and, of course, the scales. If the instruments show a tendency to stabilise body composition, then a positive interpretation of the data will be legitimate: metabolic activity has adapted to the caloric surplus. One can then proceed with increasing the extra caloric quantity by another 5kcal/day (in addition to the 10 calories already added, another 15 are added), and then, after a period of observation identical to that previously used, proceed to a new survey. It is necessary to take new measurements periodically, increasing the extra calories by 5 units each time the body’s adaptation to the new calorie load is detected. When the body ceases its functional adaptation reaction, i.e. when it begins to accumulate fat in significant quantities, then you will have a good indication of the additional calorie load that the body can handle. This load will obviously coincide with that used in the last observation period in which the body composition did not change significantly. Once the optimal size of the caloric surplus has been identified, one must proceed with the periodic addition of a new quantity of daily calories equal to those previously identified. Now, it should be made clear that in the context of this phase it is completely normal and tolerable to gain a little weight. In order to legitimately interrupt the phase of searching for the optimal caloric surplus, as well as that of periodically adding the same amount of calories, a significant worsening of the body composition must be observed. This deterioration consists of one of the following conditions:

1. the amount of body mass is approaching the maximum body mass that was had in the last dietary cycle of metabolic restoration and subsequent caloric cutting;
2. weight gain significantly higher than the average weight gain previously observed in the context of the same diet cycle;
3. deterioration of athletic performance, actual or predicted, due to a decrease in relative strength;
4. no downward corrective movement of body mass in two or three consecutive measurements. In other words, there is an increase in the parameters each time the measurements are taken. The lack of corrections, in fact, indicates an inability on the part of homeostatic mechanisms to regulate body weight and composition in such a way as to leave them unchanged. When homeostatic mechanisms are effective, in fact, it is possible to find, for example, that after a week in which these values have increased, in the following seven days they decrease again, perhaps in spite of the increase in calories. However much, therefore, the tendency will be towards an increase, under conditions of metabolic efficiency it should not at all be surprising to see an undulatory trend in the weight and fat mass curve (they rise and fall repeatedly). Well, a sign that the time has come to interrupt the current phase is precisely the replacement of this wave trend with a constantly increasing one.

Anabolism

  As far as the search for anabolism is concerned, three phases can be distinguished:

1. search for optimal calorie surplus;
2. constant caloric increase;
3. high-calorie diet with constant calories.

During the first phase, the amount of calories to be added weekly for the body composition to change in the desired way is researched. Calories must be increased each week by an ever-increasing amount, starting, it is recommended, with a surplus of 10kcal/day per week, and then increasing this by 5kcal/day each week. For example, the first week 10kcal/day are added, the second 25kcal/day over the starting diet (10 + 15 = 25), the third 45kcal/day (10 + 15 + 20 = 45), etc. In the second phase you increase your daily calories by a constant amount each week (the one identified in the previous phase), while in the third phase you continue to overeat with a constant amount of calories. Each phase should be interrupted when the body composition changes in a way that is dysfunctional with respect to one’s goals (typically when one starts to put on more fat tissue than lean tissue), with the highest calorie intake being considered as the end without the calorie surplus being accompanied by a worsening of the situation.

Qualitative objectives of the diet

  As far as the quality of the diet is concerned, there can only be two objectives in this phase of the diet:

1. increased activity of hormones that promote long-term weight loss, first and foremost leptin and thyroid hormones (metabolic restoration);
2. weight gain (anabolism).

  In both cases, stimulation of the endocrine pancreas is required for insulinsecretion to increase (in a controlled manner). Since, as is well known and discussed in detail above, insulin secretion is all the greater the higher the carbohydrate intake in the diet, in very practical terms the aim of this stage of the diet is to increase the amount of carbohydrate intake as a percentage of the other macronutrients. Now, it should be made clear that since carbohydrates, given their influence on insulinemia, have a conspicuously anabolic function, the amount of protein needed to maintain or increase muscle mass will be all the less the more carbohydrates taken in with the diet. The ultimate goal, therefore, should be a Mediterranean-like diet, with as much carbohydrate as the body is able to tolerate without the increase in fat mass getting out of control, and with an average percentage of protein and fat. During the anabolic/metabolic recovery phase, therefore, a very gradual increase in the percentage of carbohydrates taken in with the diet is required. Eventually, in order to keep calories under control (which, however, are also to be increased), the amount of other nutrients is reduced. It is not possible to give a precise measure of how much protein and fat can be reduced in percentage terms, as this depends not only on the physical discipline being practised (e.g. a marathon runner will need less protein than a sprinter), but also on specific subjective and very personal characteristics of the athlete’s physique. One must therefore proceed by trial and error.

Metabolic recovery

  More specifically, as far as metabolic restoration is concerned, it is suggested to start with a minimum glucidic increase (about ten grams per day), correcting the caloric intake, where required, with interventions on proteins and/or fats. In fact, with regard to correction, it would be preferable to intervene on proteins rather than fats. This is because if, on the one hand, proteins, unlike fats, also have an influence on insulinemia, albeit much less than that of carbohydrates, on the other hand, as mentioned above, it is well known that the higher the carbohydrate intake in the diet, the lower the protein requirement. Following this initial increase in carbohydrate intake, one can proceed with a periodic increasing of the carbohydrate percentage in the diet. The criterion by which one should determine how many carbohydrates to add is the same as that seen in the section on setting calories in the metabolic restoration phase: first, one must identify how much more carbohydrate than is already in the diet can be added periodically without incurring dysfunctional changes in body composition (an initial experiment with 6g/day is suggested); then one must continue to add carbohydrates in a constant quantity until current or predicted performance begins to deteriorate or body mass accumulation becomes excessive.

Anabolism

  As far as the quest for weight gain is concerned, the procedure is the same, but the progressive increase of the weekly glucidic load must be prolonged for a longer time, that is, until the accumulation of mass begins to take a direction that is dysfunctional for one’s goals (usually when one begins to accumulate more fat mass than muscle mass). The gradual increase in the glucose load can then be followed by a period in which a constant weekly glucose intake (equal to the maximum amount detected without deleterious effects on body composition) is taken until one reaches one’s weight target. Let it be clear that in this phase the influence of training is particularly important: if, in fact, one intends to increase muscle mass while keeping fat mass to a minimum, and one takes in a lot of carbohydrates (as well as, perhaps, a lot of calories), but the training load is insufficient or inadequate for the purpose, then all efforts in terms of dietary disciplines will be useless.

Approaching diet goals

  As we have seen, the ultimate goal of the diet is twofold: on the one hand, a progressive increase in calories is required, and on the other, the caloric percentage from carbohydrates must be increased. Three different routes can be followed to reconcile the quantitative and qualitative approaches:

1. the calorie load is first increased, leaving the carbohydrate load relatively low;
2. you start by increasing the carbohydrate load, not varying the calorie load;
3. both increase simultaneously.

Each of these solutions, in turn, can be put into practice in different ways, alternating them variously along the way to the final goal. For example, one could start by increasing calories by means of a protein surplus and then replace that protein surplus with an equal amount of carbohydrates; one could increase the protein load and then progressively replace this with carbohydrates (e.g. first week: add 6g/day of protein; second week: replace 3g of the protein surplus introduced in the first week with an equal amount of carbohydrates; third week: replace the other 3g of the protein surplus with an equal amount of carbohydrates; fourth week: add another 6g of protein…); one could first increase calories by means of a protein surplus for a few weeks, then halve the caloric surplus reached and start adding carbohydrates, etc. It is not possible to know the optimal solution a priori, as this differs from person to person (as well as, of course, depending on the type of training one does). It is therefore necessary to proceed by trial and error, bearing in mind that if you are coming from a period of carbohydrate and/or calorie restriction, the more drastic the cut and the longer it lasts, the more difficulties you will encounter.

Transition diets

  Both the anabolic phase, the metabolic restoration phase and, as we shall soon see in more detail, the catabolic phase presuppose periodic modifications of the diet. With regard to anabolic and metabolic recovery diets, however, unlike weight loss diets, these modifications have the characteristic of being on the one hand very small (in the order of a few grams of carbohydrates or protein) and, on the other hand, very frequent (potentially on a weekly basis). Having a different diet for each of these small steps to be taken regularly from the initial diet to the target diet could be very laborious. In order to facilitate the work of the diet planner, the concept of a caloric food block is introduced.

The calorie block

  Whenever the diet requires minor adjustments in terms of caloric and/or carbohydrate increases, instead of producing a diet from scratch, foods can simply be added in the required quantity and quality to meet the new impending needs. From this perspective, calorie blocks can be conceived as ‘micro-diets’ to be added to an already pre-existing diet. They must be planned in advance so that when necessary they can be incorporated into the diet in good time. Since each unit is characterised by an extremely low amount of calories, it is suggested to use foods whose characteristics in terms of percentage distribution of macronutrients is such that one of them is clearly preferred. Ideally, they should contain only one macronutrient. As far as protein and carbohydrates are concerned, finding such foods is not difficult, given the abundance of foods and supplements in powder form with these characteristics on the market. It is sufficient to include in the basic diet, to which the blocks will then be added or removed, a suitable solvent for the protein or carbohydrate powders (e.g. milk or fruit juice), as well as a sufficient quantity of the food chosen for the block so that it can be progressively removed in favour of another with different nutritional characteristics (e.g. I remove the food that provides protein and add the one that provides carbohydrates). For fats, on the other hand, the question may be more difficult: sometimes foods consisting of 100 per cent fat do not lend themselves well to being progressively added to or removed from the diet without there being a negative influence on the palatability of meals. Take, for example, vegetable oil (pure fat): it cannot be added to or removed from a dish solely on the basis of nutritional requirements without having some impact on the palatability of the food. Even consuming it as a completed dish (i.e. putting it in a small glass and drinking it) rather than as a condiment can be very unpleasant. One can therefore include in the basic diet foods whose main macronutrient is lipid, although this is not the only one. An interesting example is the macadamia nut: rich in unsaturated fat, it contains a rather limited amount of the other two macronutrients. Should one wish to progressively reduce the percentage intake of fats, one can include enough of them in the basic diet so that one can progressively get rid of all the fats one needs to get rid of (in favour of mostly carbohydrates) with the addition of the calorie building blocks. Since, however, as mentioned, these are not pure fats, the reduction of these foods will also imply an albeit modest reduction in proteins and carbohydrates, which will then have to be replenished with the other foods in the same calorie block. Let’s look at an example: suppose that, following the stages of finding the optimal calorie and carbohydrate surplus, it turns out that we need to periodically increase calories by 50 units and carbohydrates by 20g. Since 1g of carbohydrates provides 4kcal, 20g of carbohydrates provides 80kcal. However, since we only have to add 50, the remaining 30 will have to be eliminated by manipulating the other nutrients in the context of the calorie block. Let us say that for every 20g of carbohydrates added in each block, 3g of protein and 2g of fat are removed. Thus, since protein provides 4kcal/g and fat provides 9kcal/g, removing 3g of protein leads to a reduction of 12kcal, while removing 2g of fat leads to a reduction of 18kcal. In conclusion, if each calorie block implies the addition of 20g of carbohydrates, the removal of 3g of protein and the removal of 2g of fat, there will be an addition of 80kcal from carbohydrates, and the removal of 30kcal from other foods (specifically: 12kcal from protein and 18kcal from fat). The algebraic sum will be an addition of 50kcal. At this point, having completed the first nutritional phase, we proceed to the more practically nutritional phase, i.e. the identification of the foods to be included and the quantity of these to be manipulated with the introduction of the calorie block. Let us focus our preference on three foods in particular:

1. fruit juice (source of carbohydrates)
   1. carbohydrates: 13g per 100g of food
   1. fats: 0g
   1. protein: 0g
2. protein powder (source of protein)
   1. carbohydrates: 2.5g per 100g of food
   1. fats: 0g
   1. protein: 90g per 100g of food
3. macadamia nuts (source of fat)
   1. carbohydrates: 14g per 100g of food
   1. fat: 76g per 100g of food
   1. protein: 8g per 100g of food

Let’s first start with the macadamia nuts as they have the highest amount of macronutrients other than those for which we decided to include them in the block (carbohydrates and proteins). Having to reduce fat by 2g, the amount of macadamia nuts that needs to be subtracted from the basic diet is 3g (tools will be presented later with which these calculations can be performed relatively easily). This will also lead to a reduction of 0.4g of carbohydrates and 0.3g of protein, which will have to be added in the form of chosen source-foods in addition to those required by the block in itself. It should be noted that although the amount of carbohydrate and protein reduction may seem negligible, in reality, as the number of blocks included in the diet increases, this will tend to increase, so although a certain level of approximation is unavoidable, it is good to take this into account when planning the individual block. It is clear that at least as much macadamia nuts should be included in the basic diet as the sum of those in all the calorie blocks you plan to include. If, for example, 4 caloric blocks are planned, 12g of macadamia nuts will have to be removed from the last block, and these will have to be included in the basic diet beforehand so that they can be removed later. Having established the amount of macadamia nuts to be removed, we can now deal with the second foodstuff with the highest amount of macronutrients different from the one we decided to include in the block. This is, of course, the protein powder. The purpose of manipulating this food is to reduce dietary protein by 3g, but since 0.3g has already been removed by manipulating macadamia nuts, only 2.7g remains to be removed. Well, to remove 2.7g of protein it is necessary to remove 3g of the food that is its source, which leads to a reduction of 0.1g of carbohydrates as well. Let us finally add these: it has been established from the beginning that 20g of carbohydrates must be added to the original diet. To these, however, must also be added those that have been removed by handling macadamia nuts and protein powder, i.e. a total of 0.5g. The carbohydrates to be added to the diet by manipulating the juice should therefore be 20.5g. Well, the amount of fruit juice required to achieve this is 158g. In conclusion a 50kcal calorie block will be made up as follows:

• fruit juice: + 158g
• protein powder: – 3g
• macadamia nuts: – 3g.

High-carb days

  Over time, as you continue to increase the carbohydrate content of your diet, the amount of this macronutrient may become considerable. At this point you will be able to pack the bulk of this amount into one day, bringing all the other days back to the original carbohydrate content. You will then have one day with a relatively higher carbohydrate content than the others. You can then start again by adding new calorie blocks to the new diet. The advantage of this solution lies in optimising the metabolic function in relation to one’s goals and, more specifically, in directing the cells towards fat consumption as the main energy source. In fact, although the state of ketosis is incompatible with a high-carbohydrate diet, if, coming from a low-carb diet, one restricts the intake of these in a relatively short period of time, it is conceivable that the organism remains more predisposed to the saving of this nutrient and to the β-oxidation of fats to satisfy metabolic needs. This is all the more true the lower the carbohydrate content of the original diet and the lower the average carbohydrate content of the days on which a low-carb diet will still be observed. Let’s look at an example: suppose you have an initial diet with the following characteristics:

• 2200kcal/day on average;
• 20% of calories of carbohydrate origin (440kcal or 110g);
• 40% of calories of protein origin;
• 40% of calories of lipid origin.

Let us also say that you want to enter a high-carbohydrate day with the following characteristics:

• 2300kcal/day on average
• 50% of calories from carbohydrates (1150kcal or 288g);
• 30% of calories of protein origin;
• 20% of calories of lipid origin.

We finally establish that for each calorie block we add 10g of carbohydrate. Well, when the 178g of extra carbohydrates (288g/day of the high carb diet – 110g/day of the original diet) required for the creation of a high carbohydrate day has been accumulated over the whole week, then we can proceed with the production of such a diet, and then bring the amount of carbohydrates on the other days back to the original amount. In this case, since every time you increase calories you add 70g of carbohydrates per week (one 10g block per day), after the introduction of at least 3 daily blocks (210g of extra carbohydrates) you can make a new diet with one day higher in carbohydrates than the others.