Question: Is it true that you need to eat a surplus of calories and carbs to gain weight and to support your workout efforts?

Answer: If your goal is to gain weight, it is true that you need to take in more calories than you expand. The carbs is a wild card here; you do not necessarily need extra carbs to gain weight or to provide fuel for muscles to do the work.

Ask yourself this question: “Does a gas tank have to be entirely full for a car to go as fast as it can?� The answer is no, right? The same is true with a surplus of calories and or carbohydrates.

You can go to the gym and give it all you have got without overloading on carbs and calories. Even if you train very hard, which is unnecessary and could be counterproductive, you do not need to have a maximum amount of glycogen – the collection of stored carbs located in muscle – to support your exercise sessions.

The bottom line: If you need to gain weight, it means that you need to increase your muscle mass. When you eat more calories and carbs than you need, you significantly increase your chances of gaining bodyfat. You want to gain weight, not fat, right?

The solution: Instead of overloading on calories and carbs, keep calories and carbs at a moderate level, increase your protein intake and spread your meals evenly throughout the day. If you are still not gaining weight, increase your calorie intake slightly, think no more than 200 calories in two weeks.

Side note: Yes, that picture is the real thing. You can buy a cheeseburger in a can these days. [via M&F]