mmm calories

     Well my legs have just about recovered from the backpacking mountain adventure from last weekend.  I guess that means its almost time to start my new routine Mass Made Simple by Dan John.  First however we need to make sure the diet is in order.  So lets go over what my diet will be like the next 6 weeks.  Since the nutritional aspect of Dan's book was nil, I am going to be bulking on 4,300 calories a day.  I seem to have made pretty good gains on my recent 4k bulk.  I *MAY* reduce it to 3800 as on the 4k bulk I did seem to get a bit of a belly, however thats usually expected while bulking and not something I'm too concerned about as my body can burn calories and lean out at an alarming rate. We'll see how it goes.

Continuing; for optimal gains you can't just consume 4k calories and expect to gain muscle mass.  You can and will gain weight of course, however you want this weight to be in the form of muscle mass and not fat stores. That being said of these 4k calories the right macro nutrient percentages are essential for optimal body composition. So let's delve a little deeper into the lovely world of macro nutrients:

Protein - Everyone's favorite macro.  A magic nutrient that muscles need and everyone thinks there are no ill effects from consuming too much. If a little is a good, a lot is better right??  Truth be told there is an upper limit of protein intake your body can handle. Your body will extract exactly what it needs and any excess will be converted and stored for fat for a later use.  So there is no need to go overboard.  We want enough protein to achieve positive nitrogen balance and protein synthesis and not a whole lot more.  A positive nitrogen balance means the body is retaining protein and using it to build new tissue. Recent research I've read on protein intake showed that increasing intake from the RDA of .8 gram per kilogram of body weight to 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight increased protein synthesis significantly.  At 2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight there was no significant increase.  So the group consuming 2.4g seemed to plateau; meaning they were taking in more protein than was necessary.  Based on this study I've decided to meet in the middle at 1.9, but to make life easier I'll just use 2.  So we divide 182 (my current body weight in lbs) by 2.2 to give us what I would weigh in kilograms, then multiply that number by 2 to get my daily protein allowance.  So I should be consuming around 165g of protein per day.  And since 1g of protein = 4 calories that means 660 of my 4300 calories will be coming from protein.  That was easy.

Next; Carbs! Fuel for the muscle. They supply you with energy to push harder and longer resulting in better work outs.  We love better workouts.  Therefore we love carbs!  We are active, we hit the gym 4-5 days a week; we play sports 3-4 days a weeks, our body needs energy to build muscle and to perform these activities and its preferred  source for this energy comes from carbs. However;  just like I mentioned in the protein explanation; excess carbs will be stored and converted to fat for later use. Sedentary people who don't work out, don't play sports or don't do anything but sit on the couch all day will suffer from excess carbohydrates.  They can become insulin resistant; which causes the body to release too much insulin to regulate blood glucose levels, this then theoretically leads to fat gain.  However an active individual who has a healthy insulin response needs not to worry about this. All the more reason to hit the gym.!  Anyways, Lyle McDonald one of the leading authors on exercise physiology and Susan Kleiner; author of one of my favorite books Power Eating both recommend around 3g per lb of body weight for carb intake. Using their recommendations I'll be eating 546 g of carbs.  And since 1g of carb = 4 calories that means 2184 of my calories will be from carbs.


That means I have 1456 calories left.  These will be for fats.  That seems like a lot. Divide that number by 9 and you get your daily allowance of fat in grams (1g of fat = 9 calories) 161g. It turns out to be 33% of my daily calories.  Which is just a bit more than the 30% recommended for bulking.  Close enough.  Understand that fats are essential for the release of certain hormones.  Especially everyone's favorite: testosterone; the biggest hormone responsible for manufacturing muscle.  More fat = more testosterone. Yes!!




Anyways, that's enough for tonight.  I will go into more detail on the types of foods I'll be eating during this bulk and the supplements, tools and resources I'll be using to help me over the next six weeks a bit later.