Hey bodybuilders warriors i have got a amazing question for u

The only thing I can say is when prisoners eat minimal protein, etc in jail, and the same as everyone else they still keep their muscle mass and gain more muscle mass than their mates they train with.



This goes for individuals in third world countries as well, they are HUGE but have no protein. I wonder why?

YA the same thing about prisoner. You almost read my mind. There is something that we dont understand about bodybuilding yet.

Well, you can't really get "complete protein". Your body can't even really use protein. You use amino acids. In theory, there are 8, sometimes more, amino acids you HAVE to have! If you don't get enough, you DIE. Of course, your body will just eat its OWN protein before THAT happens! As for amino acids, almost anything has amino acids. Potatoes, rice, beans, wheat, etc... ALL have amino acids. You need at least Leucine, Valine, and isoleucine to build muscle. In fact, they sell them separately as BCAA.

HECK, if you think about it even a minute, it is OBVIOUS you don't need meat or milk. One of the most common sources of both is cows, and they eat grasses and related herbs all day.

The ONLY reason why people use meat and milk is because they taste good and have a relatively large amount of "complete protein" meaning that they have all the needed amino acids. Soy beans are, likewise pretty good. Rice is not that great, and regular beans aren't that great, but together they are good.

And 2500 Calories isn't THAT low. Nobody can TRULY agree how little you need BUT, by some measures, 2500 is enough for about 30 minutes exercise on top of living for a 250 pound person. Many say it is enough for someone weighing 208. SOME say it is only enough for someone that weighs about 147.

So the question is NOT the calories, or type of food, but your WEIGHT and the actual food, as well as its makeup. Fat is good for things like hormones, and needed for some other things. Protein is good for almost anything else, and I think carbs are only good for energy. Again though, carbs are better for energy than protein is.

As for the normal muscle breakdown, most agree that to keep muscle you have to use it. Protein CAN be converted to fat, although not as easily as carbs or most fats. And apparently fat is about a 300-400% more efficient way to store energy. I don't think anyone really has THE key to TRUE homestasis, though many say the amino acide leucine is the key as far as muscle. If you check proteins at the store, you will find many advertise leucine content on the front. That USED to be the sole domain of glutamine, but glutamine is only one needed for general muscle tissue, energy, immunity. Supposedly, glutamine CAN be readily used for energy.

Waiting on your reply, I am curious. With 2500 calories, it seems you MUST be getting a fair amount of protein. And MOST say a 100 pound person needs about 100GMs of protein, but some say far less, and some say they should strive for 220Grams!(Some say 2GM per pound, and some say 1GM per KG) MOST say 100 and the next most common is 150 though. Like I said though, you can't really use protein, you use amino acids. If a protein has no valine, isoleucine, or leucine, it has less value in building muscle. So the TYPE of protein plays a part in how much you need and/or can use.

Steve

Just to add a question onto this, I been in the gym now for like 7 months, had a month or two break, chucked on a few pounds and now in the process of burning off that weight. What would you recommend as a good healthy snack, this seems to be the big problem which I need to fix.

You're eating (or drinking) proteins from someplace. muscle doesnt grow without protein..end of story.

But you can increase size without actually increasing muscle mass. Creatine will pack your muscles with water and increase their size, but you're not really making the muscle gain muscle fiber, and as soon as you stop taking creatine those 'gains' will go away.

Meat is practically poisonous any more because livestock is usually fed grain - and that is not the natural diet - then figure that much of the grain (at least in the US) is GM and you have a totally dysfunctional food going on there. Same with milk. If you can get raw milk from grassfed cattle not dosed with crap you are getting good food - otherwise forget it. The antibiotics will keep you fat, that's what they are given for even though most think it's for their health. Nadda. If you eat organic meat it will work as it is meant to. You don't need as much animal protein as people seem to think though - plant protein, beans, eggplant, avacado, bananas, with the vitamins and minerals needed for repair will buff you, so does calcium. People have been given the impression that calcium is just for bones -- not so, you need it for skin tone and muscle, too.

Just remember that in the US much of the diet info you get is nothing but marketing for the agricultural industry. They made a new food pyramid a few years back and it says 11 servings of grain per day - HOLY SH*T. You eat 11 servings of grains a day and you are going to look much like the antibiotic riddled cows that they send to market. Yet the grain industry really boomed after that food pyramid was released..people started getting the "corn fed" look, but dammit, grain is WAY up on the GNP percentage now. Get your food info from somewhere that isn't using it to Market certain industries. USDA isn't it.