Q: I have just 3 more questions about going on a muscle-building diet?

1. Can I go ahead replace garbanzo beans by eating soybeans?
2. I am very afraid that this will just add alot body weight and i will gain too much?
3. When will I know to switch from this to burning fat mode?

A:
1) Pretty much any other legumes (beans or lentils) should be OK. Actually I don't like soybeans that much, mainly because there're some health concerns about eating unfermented soy products (and you already drink soy milk). If you're not worried about that though, then you can go ahead with soybeans.

2) This is going to be the hardest thing to overcome if you are already unhappy with the amount of body fat you have. You will gain some fat along with muscle when you put on weight. The amount of fat gained depends on a bunch of variables -- how well you stick to the diet, how hard you push yourself in the gym, and how lucky/unlucky you are with your genetics. The main thing to prevent fat gain is to put on weight veeeeeery slowly. As slow as 1 pound per month even. It's very hard to structure your diet with that precision -- it's more likely that you'll gain 1 pound every 1-2 weeks. You'll gain even more in the beginning, but that's just extra water being retained by your body as you start to eat more, so don't worry about the weight gain in the first week. But the speed with which you gain weight is what you'll need to watch and adjust for... If you gain 2 pounds in the 2nd week, cut your calories by 200-300 cal per day. If you don't gain anything in weeks 2-4, then bump up the calories by 200-300 per day. If you keep an accurate track of your weight and check in with me with progress, I can tell you whether to eat more/less/same.

So, yes, you will put on a little fat when you gain muscle. That's unavoidable (unless you start steroids and I don't recommend that at all). You have to know yourself and decide whether you can mentally overcome the fact that you are temporarily adding some fat. I promise that if you stick to this system for 4-6 months and add good 10-12 pounds of mostly muscle, then after that you will be able to lose the unwanted fat much easier then you tried to lose it now.

Again, just to emphasize, the first week you start eating for muscle-building you are very likely to add 2-3 or even more pounds. Don't worry about it -- it's just extra water retained by your body, it's not fat or muscle. Only start tracking weight after you've been on this diet for a week or so. But once you start track it carefully so you can adjust the diet in the most optimal way. Weigh yourself on an empty stomach in the morning, before you eat or drink anything.

3) This will be up to you really. A few people I trained had so much success with building muscle (aka bulking) and liked it so much they never actually went to fat-burning (aka cutting) mode. They were also lucky/good in that they put on hardly any fat along with muscle. Typically though I recommend spending at least 4-6 months gradually putting on muscle. After those 4-6 months your metabolism will be revving very high and by going on a fat-burning diet you'll be able to lose fat (while retaining maximum muscle) quickly. At the very least, spend 2 months building muscle before switching to losing fat.

But pick one program and stick to it. If you think it's going to be a problem psychologically for you are to see yourself putting on a little fat along with muscle, then you may not want to start with muscle building. If you're mentally OK with some temporary fat, then go with muscle building first and cutting fat later.