Q: mike, after randomly putting on a kilogram for the last 4 weeks, each week, I have ballooned from 78 kg to 82 kgs. I have been told that my body has become intolerant to dairy products (including eggs). I admit, I have always been chubby, but I'm actually getting very fat now. I have been weight training, and a small amount of this gain in mass is muscle, but my waistline has exploded. could you recommend the types of food that I should NOT eat, as I am unfamiliar with nutrition, and would whole heartedly appreciate the guidance of a fitness guru like you. Kim UK (male 22)

A: The problem is probably not so much what you ate but how much you ate. You put on weight way too fast -- 4 kgs in 4 weeks is about four times as fast as you should be trying for! In order to minimize fat gains I recommend gaining about 1 kg per month. Otherwise you get what happened to you: way too much new fat, even if you do weight training. It's very common to gain a quick 1 kg in the first week when you start on a muscle-building diet as your body adjusts to the change. But after that first week you need to find the right diet for yourself to keep weight gains very slow and gradual. It's by no means easy to find and stick to this optimal slow-weight-gain diet, but certainly gaining 1 kg with every passing week is way too much.

As far as your lactose intolerance it need not be an obstacle in gaining muscle -- you don't need dairy or eggs or whey protein (which is derived from milk) in order to gain muscles. You can just replace those foods with other protein-rich foods such as poultry, fish, meats, beans, and lentils.

So you need to find the right diet for yourself, both in the kinds of foods you eat and the amounts. If you need some sort of starting for the diet, point, fill out my fitness guide (1 kg = 2.2 pounds) specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal. It will give you a suggested diet that you can use as the starting point. You will then need to customize it for yourself by replacing foods you can't eat with equivalents (equivalent food groups are described on that same page) and probably combining some meals together since you likely don't have time to eat as many meals as it suggests. Alternatively, if your existing diet is already healthy, you can simply keep eating the same foods, but in smaller portions -- probably cutting your portion sizes by about 25% is about right.

Once you have your new diet figured out, whether by cutting down existing portion sizes or by following my Fitness Guide recommendations, do your best to stick to it and monitor your weight. Remember, your goal in building muscle is to gain about half a kilo every two weeks (1 kg in 1 month). So if after two weeks you find that you've gained more than a full kilo you know that you're eating too much and need to reduce your portion size slightly again. On the other hand, if you find that in two weeks your weight hasn't changed (or actually decreased), then you need to eat a little more.

By keeping track of your weight and making portion size adjustments every few weeks to keep on track for 1 kg per month you'll be able to gain new muscle with minimum new fat. Hope that helps and good luck!