If you are working your butt off in the gym it is important to eat well in order to get maximum results. There are many bodybuilders that suggest if you force yourself to eat more you will build muscle faster. This idea is not entirely accurate. If you force yourself to eat you could end up looking like a sumo wrestler.

Eating more is a great idea but if you train hard your appetite will increase naturally. So I am not exactly sure why many bodybuilders give this advice. I am not sure why anyone would believe that you should also try to force feed yourself excess calories.

I believe this misconception occurred decades back when supplement companies needed to convince people to buy their protein shakes. Eat a high calorie protein shake twice a day and you will get big. Unfortunately people still believe this nonsense and end up having to lose the extra weight they gain by bulking up.

As a natural bodybuilder, gaining two pounds of muscle in one month is a big deal. However, gaining two pounds of muscle only requires 3,200 calories. This means that you would only need to consume around 100 excess calories per day during that month. That is the equivalent of eating an extra banana or glass of milk each day.

So instead of worrying about eating big, worry about eating quality food. Diet is very important but training is more important. If you don’t train hard on a regular basis it won’t matter how many grams of protein you eat.