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The Size Diet (good size)
By Robert Thoburn
Stunted Growth
It’s the same old story every morning: You look in the mirror and do your little set of poses. Check the abs, now the biceps. Pull out the measuring tape. Step on the scale. Has anything changed? Any sign of progress? No. Just like the morning before, and the one before that.
Isn’t it frustrating how slow your muscles grow? Isn’t it time you made growth -visual improvement-a part of your daily routine?
This article is about doing precisely that. It’s a quick and easy guide to eating for people like you and I -male or female-who want to build bigger muscles -without getting fat at the same time. You can begin to apply the ‘anti-conventional’ concepts discussed herein as soon as your next meal and see changes in the mirror as soon as tomorrow.
If you’re sick and tired of seeing the same old measurements, if you want to start turning heads instead of blending in with the crowd, then store this article in long-term memory.
Muscle Growth in Adults is Efficient, but not Generous
It’s funny, in an annoying sort of way. You can actually build muscle while eating fewer Calories than you burn each day; that is, while losing weight. So, you’d think that by eating lots and working out really hard, your muscles would grow to the point of bursting.
Yet they hardly seem to budge. How un-cool is that? In other words, when it comes to building muscle, your body is very efficient, but not very generous.
Indeed, as an adult, your ability to add muscle to your frame is very limited and restricted. To really pack on size, consequently, you’ve got to increase your body’s generosity in this regard. Not including the use of drugs, this requires taking two measures:
You’ve got to perform the right type of exercise in the right way (a future article, perhaps). That means lifting a heavy enough (but not too heavy) weight for a sufficient (but not more than sufficient) number of sets. Then rest as little is required to do this again…and so on.
Eat a diet which ensures you get the most bang for the buck as you carry out (1) without getting you fat at the same time.
The purpose of this article is to explore (2), which we’ll do by first addressing Calories.
(1) CALORIES: Eat 15 Calories per pound of body weight
Energy is measured in Calories (a.k.a. Kilocalories, or Joules in the Metric system of measurement). To create your ‘Size Diet’, start by figuring out roughly how many Calories you’re going to consume each day.
Begin with 15 Calories per pound of body weight. I’m 230 pounds, which translates into 3,450 Calories per day. In actuality, that turns out to be just about right for me to stay lean while building muscle. As a scientific and marketing consultant, I’m pretty much glued to my phone and my computer. I pump iron almost every day, for about an hour at a time. Occasionally, I train twice a day (no cardio, just weights).
Depending on your activity level and a host of additional factors, you may have to raise or lower the number you derive from the 15 Calories/lb body weight starting point. Give yourself time. Let the mirror be your judge. By tweaking your food intake appropriately from this initial amount, you’ll very soon arrive at that ‘magic’ quantity of food that’s just right for you and your particular circumstances and idiosyncrasies.
(2) PROTEIN: Eat more than you ‘need’ (1.2 grams per pound of body weight)
Some evidence suggests that those of us who lift weights can benefit by eating around 0.73 grams of protein per pound (or 1.6-1.7 g/kg) of body weight per day. More than this, it’s suggested, is a ‘waste’.
Harnessing Your Fat-Burning ‘Drive Train’
Well, ‘waste’ can be good. Good for building muscle and burning fat, that is (and possibly slowing down aging).
In fact, your goal should be to eat a lot more protein than you need for muscle-building (i.e., protein synthetic) purposes. This will encourage your body to use some of the excess amino acids provided by this protein as an ‘expensive’ source of glucose. ‘Expensive’, because it costs energy (ATP) to convert these amino acids into glucose. This process is termed gluconeogenesis, and the energy required to perform it is supplied by the burning of fat! That’s why I dub gluconeogenesis your fat-burning ‘drive train’. You probably have yours running at a snail’s pace!
To promote maximum muscle gain while harnessing your fat-burning drive train, shoot for about 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. In my own experience, this works well, and allows you room to eat enough carbohydrate (without consuming too many Calories) to keep your muscles bursting with size, shape and energy.
Long Live ‘Waste’!!
My anecdotal evidence agrees well with some clinical research. Forslund et al. (1999), as well as other researchers, have found that healthy subjects eating diets providing more protein than is considered adequate for building muscle burn more fat both at rest and while exercising!
The higher-protein dieters in Forslund’s study consumed approximately 1.2 grams of protein/lb body weight/day. Not only did their fat-burning metabolism get accelerated, but these subjects also showed signs of greater tissue protein gain - an essential requirement for building bigger muscles!
The group eating an ‘adequate’ protein diet, by contrast, burned much less fat and failed to gain protein (Forslund et al., 1999).
In fact, you may be able to stimulate your fat-burning metabolism even further by consuming still more protein than 1.2 g/lb body weight/day. However, this would require a greater reduction in your carbohydrate intake, which can have negative consequences for building muscle (‘size’)…
(3) CARBOHYDRATE: Once you’ve figured out how much protein to eat…
Carbohydrate -sugars and starches-is the most direct source of glucose (blood sugar) in the diet. Glucose, in turn, is the most important fuel source in your body -preferred over both fat (fatty acids), and protein (amino acids). Your body’s total supply of glucose ---what I’ve coined the Glucose Economy™-- ultimately determines whether you’re getting leaner or fatter with each passing moment.
If you’re eating oodles of carbohydrate, your body will burn it (glucose) in preference to other fuels, and, consequently, it will have less of a need to convert protein-derived amino acids into glucose via gluconeogenesis. Thus, there will be less of need to burn fat to supply the energy required to drive gluconeogenesis.
You will lose size if you ‘threaten’ your Glucose Economy too much!!
Conversely, as you eat less carbohydrate, gluconeogenesis runs faster as does your fat-burning metabolism. Cut your carbohydrate intake too much, however, and watch how your precious muscles ‘deflate’ like an ever so slightly punctured balloon: You lose size, shape and energy. Your muscles appear flat and faint. Equally bad, muscle growth can come to a grinding halt (or possibly go into ‘reverse’)!
The solution? It’s simple. First, use the 15 Calories per pound rule. Weighing 230 pounds, that gives me 3,450 Calories a day. Next, figure out protein. I eat 1.2 g protein/pound * 230 pounds = 276 grams of protein a day. Protein gives about 4 Calories per gram, which translates into 1,104 Calories from protein.
Now, subtract 1,104 from 3,450. That’s how many Calories I eat as Carbohydrate. Carbohydrate, too, provides about 4 Calories per gram, so that means I eat roughly 587 grams of carbohydrate each day. This allows me to keep burning fat, while keeping my muscles full, shapely, powerful and growing.
(4) FAT: Don’t go looking for it (it’ll be there anyway)
I have a different view of dietary fat, one that relates to my different (anti-conventional) view of food selection. Rather than searching for a specific amount of fat to eat, I consider your ‘recommended’ intake to be that which you encounter as you choose the most healthy types of protein and carbohydrate available (‘incidental fat’).
Let’s start with carbohydrate selections. I prefer to eat my calories in a form that’s as whole, and unprocessed (unrefined) as possible. This mimics the way humans got food over most of their evolutionary history as a species. Consequently, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the format best suited for building a lean, muscular physique. When it comes to selecting carbohydrate, this means I get practically all of my 587 grams of this nutrient from fresh vegetables, fruit, and some brown rice and potatoes.
Because I eat so much of these healthy foods each day, they actually provide me with a substantial amount of fat. What kind of fat is it? A lot of it is polyunsaturated fat, including the so-called “essential fatty acids (EFAs)”. In other words, ‘Good Fat’.
In fact, I believe that I get more than enough EFAs, particularly when you consider the rest of my diet (i.e., low saturated fat, and not too much in the way of omega-6 fatty acids).
Concerning protein, I eat fresh, unprocessed, lean protein sources: fresh skinned chicken breasts and egg whites. Sometimes lean cuts of pork or red meat. I truly feel that the matrix in which fat is bound in whole, unprocessed meat drastically reduces its risk of being stored as fat on your body. Compare that with, say, vegetable oil, cheese (very risky) or butter.
In short, follow these “Evolutionary Eating” guidelines for choosing your protein and carbohydrate, and you don’t need to search for fat. In so doing, you’ll likely end up consuming 5-10% of your calories as fat, which is just fine. Just adjust your total food intake up or down from the 15 Calories/lb/day starting point until you enjoy what you see in the mirror.
Timesaving, Life-simplifying tools?
Okay, so Evolutionary Eating isn’t always feasible. Still, you can make adhering to the above ‘Size Diet’ guidelines much simpler (even more enjoyable) with a supplement or two.
A protein supplement that contains a blend of different high-quality proteins (e.g., casein, some whey) and that is low in fat and sugar can make your life much simpler. A great example is SciTec’s Protein Delite. With real fruit chunks, the taste of this stuff makes ‘priming’ your muscles with protein throughout the day much more entertaining and simple.
For a quick after-workout meal replacement, consider investing in a quality meal-replacement powder. ProLab’s Lean Mass Matrix and SciTec’s MyoMax Gain are good choices.
Whatever tools you choose, just be sure you adhere to the principles discussed above for the ‘Size Diet’. Start on your diet today, and start seeing changes in the mirror starting tomorrow!
The Glucose Economy is a registered trademark of Robert Thoburn. All rights reserved.
Bio of Robert Thoburn
Robert Thoburn is a scientific and marketing consultant to the dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries. His specialty lies in combining his experiences as a bodybuilder with scientific insight to create ‘bleeding edge’ products that allow you to build muscle and burn fat faster. For more info, e-mail: [email protected]
By Robert Thoburn
Stunted Growth
It’s the same old story every morning: You look in the mirror and do your little set of poses. Check the abs, now the biceps. Pull out the measuring tape. Step on the scale. Has anything changed? Any sign of progress? No. Just like the morning before, and the one before that.
Isn’t it frustrating how slow your muscles grow? Isn’t it time you made growth -visual improvement-a part of your daily routine?
This article is about doing precisely that. It’s a quick and easy guide to eating for people like you and I -male or female-who want to build bigger muscles -without getting fat at the same time. You can begin to apply the ‘anti-conventional’ concepts discussed herein as soon as your next meal and see changes in the mirror as soon as tomorrow.
If you’re sick and tired of seeing the same old measurements, if you want to start turning heads instead of blending in with the crowd, then store this article in long-term memory.
Muscle Growth in Adults is Efficient, but not Generous
It’s funny, in an annoying sort of way. You can actually build muscle while eating fewer Calories than you burn each day; that is, while losing weight. So, you’d think that by eating lots and working out really hard, your muscles would grow to the point of bursting.
Yet they hardly seem to budge. How un-cool is that? In other words, when it comes to building muscle, your body is very efficient, but not very generous.
Indeed, as an adult, your ability to add muscle to your frame is very limited and restricted. To really pack on size, consequently, you’ve got to increase your body’s generosity in this regard. Not including the use of drugs, this requires taking two measures:
You’ve got to perform the right type of exercise in the right way (a future article, perhaps). That means lifting a heavy enough (but not too heavy) weight for a sufficient (but not more than sufficient) number of sets. Then rest as little is required to do this again…and so on.
Eat a diet which ensures you get the most bang for the buck as you carry out (1) without getting you fat at the same time.
The purpose of this article is to explore (2), which we’ll do by first addressing Calories.
(1) CALORIES: Eat 15 Calories per pound of body weight
Energy is measured in Calories (a.k.a. Kilocalories, or Joules in the Metric system of measurement). To create your ‘Size Diet’, start by figuring out roughly how many Calories you’re going to consume each day.
Begin with 15 Calories per pound of body weight. I’m 230 pounds, which translates into 3,450 Calories per day. In actuality, that turns out to be just about right for me to stay lean while building muscle. As a scientific and marketing consultant, I’m pretty much glued to my phone and my computer. I pump iron almost every day, for about an hour at a time. Occasionally, I train twice a day (no cardio, just weights).
Depending on your activity level and a host of additional factors, you may have to raise or lower the number you derive from the 15 Calories/lb body weight starting point. Give yourself time. Let the mirror be your judge. By tweaking your food intake appropriately from this initial amount, you’ll very soon arrive at that ‘magic’ quantity of food that’s just right for you and your particular circumstances and idiosyncrasies.
(2) PROTEIN: Eat more than you ‘need’ (1.2 grams per pound of body weight)
Some evidence suggests that those of us who lift weights can benefit by eating around 0.73 grams of protein per pound (or 1.6-1.7 g/kg) of body weight per day. More than this, it’s suggested, is a ‘waste’.
Harnessing Your Fat-Burning ‘Drive Train’
Well, ‘waste’ can be good. Good for building muscle and burning fat, that is (and possibly slowing down aging).
In fact, your goal should be to eat a lot more protein than you need for muscle-building (i.e., protein synthetic) purposes. This will encourage your body to use some of the excess amino acids provided by this protein as an ‘expensive’ source of glucose. ‘Expensive’, because it costs energy (ATP) to convert these amino acids into glucose. This process is termed gluconeogenesis, and the energy required to perform it is supplied by the burning of fat! That’s why I dub gluconeogenesis your fat-burning ‘drive train’. You probably have yours running at a snail’s pace!
To promote maximum muscle gain while harnessing your fat-burning drive train, shoot for about 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. In my own experience, this works well, and allows you room to eat enough carbohydrate (without consuming too many Calories) to keep your muscles bursting with size, shape and energy.
Long Live ‘Waste’!!
My anecdotal evidence agrees well with some clinical research. Forslund et al. (1999), as well as other researchers, have found that healthy subjects eating diets providing more protein than is considered adequate for building muscle burn more fat both at rest and while exercising!
The higher-protein dieters in Forslund’s study consumed approximately 1.2 grams of protein/lb body weight/day. Not only did their fat-burning metabolism get accelerated, but these subjects also showed signs of greater tissue protein gain - an essential requirement for building bigger muscles!
The group eating an ‘adequate’ protein diet, by contrast, burned much less fat and failed to gain protein (Forslund et al., 1999).
In fact, you may be able to stimulate your fat-burning metabolism even further by consuming still more protein than 1.2 g/lb body weight/day. However, this would require a greater reduction in your carbohydrate intake, which can have negative consequences for building muscle (‘size’)…
(3) CARBOHYDRATE: Once you’ve figured out how much protein to eat…
Carbohydrate -sugars and starches-is the most direct source of glucose (blood sugar) in the diet. Glucose, in turn, is the most important fuel source in your body -preferred over both fat (fatty acids), and protein (amino acids). Your body’s total supply of glucose ---what I’ve coined the Glucose Economy™-- ultimately determines whether you’re getting leaner or fatter with each passing moment.
If you’re eating oodles of carbohydrate, your body will burn it (glucose) in preference to other fuels, and, consequently, it will have less of a need to convert protein-derived amino acids into glucose via gluconeogenesis. Thus, there will be less of need to burn fat to supply the energy required to drive gluconeogenesis.
You will lose size if you ‘threaten’ your Glucose Economy too much!!
Conversely, as you eat less carbohydrate, gluconeogenesis runs faster as does your fat-burning metabolism. Cut your carbohydrate intake too much, however, and watch how your precious muscles ‘deflate’ like an ever so slightly punctured balloon: You lose size, shape and energy. Your muscles appear flat and faint. Equally bad, muscle growth can come to a grinding halt (or possibly go into ‘reverse’)!
The solution? It’s simple. First, use the 15 Calories per pound rule. Weighing 230 pounds, that gives me 3,450 Calories a day. Next, figure out protein. I eat 1.2 g protein/pound * 230 pounds = 276 grams of protein a day. Protein gives about 4 Calories per gram, which translates into 1,104 Calories from protein.
Now, subtract 1,104 from 3,450. That’s how many Calories I eat as Carbohydrate. Carbohydrate, too, provides about 4 Calories per gram, so that means I eat roughly 587 grams of carbohydrate each day. This allows me to keep burning fat, while keeping my muscles full, shapely, powerful and growing.
(4) FAT: Don’t go looking for it (it’ll be there anyway)
I have a different view of dietary fat, one that relates to my different (anti-conventional) view of food selection. Rather than searching for a specific amount of fat to eat, I consider your ‘recommended’ intake to be that which you encounter as you choose the most healthy types of protein and carbohydrate available (‘incidental fat’).
Let’s start with carbohydrate selections. I prefer to eat my calories in a form that’s as whole, and unprocessed (unrefined) as possible. This mimics the way humans got food over most of their evolutionary history as a species. Consequently, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the format best suited for building a lean, muscular physique. When it comes to selecting carbohydrate, this means I get practically all of my 587 grams of this nutrient from fresh vegetables, fruit, and some brown rice and potatoes.
Because I eat so much of these healthy foods each day, they actually provide me with a substantial amount of fat. What kind of fat is it? A lot of it is polyunsaturated fat, including the so-called “essential fatty acids (EFAs)”. In other words, ‘Good Fat’.
In fact, I believe that I get more than enough EFAs, particularly when you consider the rest of my diet (i.e., low saturated fat, and not too much in the way of omega-6 fatty acids).
Concerning protein, I eat fresh, unprocessed, lean protein sources: fresh skinned chicken breasts and egg whites. Sometimes lean cuts of pork or red meat. I truly feel that the matrix in which fat is bound in whole, unprocessed meat drastically reduces its risk of being stored as fat on your body. Compare that with, say, vegetable oil, cheese (very risky) or butter.
In short, follow these “Evolutionary Eating” guidelines for choosing your protein and carbohydrate, and you don’t need to search for fat. In so doing, you’ll likely end up consuming 5-10% of your calories as fat, which is just fine. Just adjust your total food intake up or down from the 15 Calories/lb/day starting point until you enjoy what you see in the mirror.
Timesaving, Life-simplifying tools?
Okay, so Evolutionary Eating isn’t always feasible. Still, you can make adhering to the above ‘Size Diet’ guidelines much simpler (even more enjoyable) with a supplement or two.
A protein supplement that contains a blend of different high-quality proteins (e.g., casein, some whey) and that is low in fat and sugar can make your life much simpler. A great example is SciTec’s Protein Delite. With real fruit chunks, the taste of this stuff makes ‘priming’ your muscles with protein throughout the day much more entertaining and simple.
For a quick after-workout meal replacement, consider investing in a quality meal-replacement powder. ProLab’s Lean Mass Matrix and SciTec’s MyoMax Gain are good choices.
Whatever tools you choose, just be sure you adhere to the principles discussed above for the ‘Size Diet’. Start on your diet today, and start seeing changes in the mirror starting tomorrow!
The Glucose Economy is a registered trademark of Robert Thoburn. All rights reserved.
Bio of Robert Thoburn
Robert Thoburn is a scientific and marketing consultant to the dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries. His specialty lies in combining his experiences as a bodybuilder with scientific insight to create ‘bleeding edge’ products that allow you to build muscle and burn fat faster. For more info, e-mail: [email protected]
