My gym partner and I have gotten into heated discussions as of late in regard to his goals for acquisition of strength, muscle, and the loss of fat. I am not sure how large a variety of experience I have with this beyond my own personal experience, so I wanted to ask for you guys’ opinions.
As far as I am concerned (as many other say also) I will say that one will not gain muscle mass without eating more calories than the body consumes. The converse is required for fat loss also. Popular beliefs I’d guess.
Firstly, he holds that eating most of your calories from protien will avoid the addition of fat as the body cannot process more than a given amount and will simply pass it through one’s system. This I am not so sure of - I’d always believed that excess calories of any sort can add fat.
Second, he seeks to lose fat from his waist while adding muscle to his chest, shoulders, arms, and back. Another thing that to me is a contradiction in terms. I have always believed that one cannot build muscle while burning fat unless unconditioned and new to working out.
Last, his game plan is to eat around maintenance calories while eating and training in a manner by which one would build muscle. I do not believe that he will obtain his goals by this method, however, I am curious about you guys’ experiences with this.
Personally I have found that my strength on a suite of exercises has increased vastly with essentially no increase in body weight or muscle mass. Which leads one to wonder how much, or what, correlation exists between muscle mass and strength. With all of the above said I'll refine my questions.
-What has been your experience with eating in this manner?
-Did you find any increased strength without eating to mass up?
-What kind of change in body composition did you experience while eating like this?
-What requirements have you found for heterotrophy or fat loss?
I merely want to open some kind of discussion about this, so it’s not your guidance I seek as much as your perspective as a fellow lifter. :o)
later guys.
-patrick