Heya T-folk. I was interested to see if any of you have attempted the “Protein Cycling” program written by Dr. Marcus Jones. Did it work for you? any drawbacks? thanks. Lata.
"MB Eric: Riding the choo-choo train of insanity over the cliff since 1565."
-Eric
MB,
All questions answered in Reader Mail Issue #168. Link to a Cy Wilson column that elaborates is included.
BigRob-Doing all the leg work for that lazy Monkeyboy since 001 B.C.
I tried it last year, I modified it though as I was dieting at the time. I also couldn’t get my protein to the guidelines; the lowest I went was about 75 g. Nothing special happened when I raised my protein again. I made some mistakes while dieting and definitely lost some muscle, but I don’t think it was due to less protein. Give it a try, just be patient and do it right, someday I’ll give it another try.
MB, I tried Protein Cycling, going to down to less than 40g/day over the space of a month, and didn’t notice any particular benefit. Two points must be made, however: (1) I got fantastic pumps during the mostly-carb phase, (2) while I didn’t gain anything, I didn’t LOSE anything during that time either. This last makes me wonder just how important protein is for MAINTAINING one’s bod… (I think that if you’re trying to GAIN muscle it’s indispensible, but maybe not for staying at a certain level.) Anyone else out there have any thoughts on this point?
Your body doesn’t want to “give up” protein stores. Once you reach a certain level of starvation and/or protein depletion, your body switches primarily to fat stores for fuel. Initially, there is a substantial amount of energy derived from glycogen in the muscles and liver. After this is depleted, and this doesn’t take long to occur at all, protein and fat stores begin rapid depletion. Shortly after, which is the stage you are talking about, MOST energy is derived from stored fat. The only way to continually deplete protein stores after this point would be to go into complete starvation. Once this occurs, you may eventually die. The key to remember is that your body doesn’t “want” to lose protein stores.
Well fuckit then! In all seriousness I’d like to thank you guys for your prompt responses. Cy, dude, you’ve not been posting much as of late and in case yu haven’t noticed the forum has been slightly better than dismal as of late. I think It’s time for an old school house cleaning. By the way, if anyone’s interested in a smooth-as-hell beer try Sierra Nevada’s Summerfest. Takes the edge off a week of classes. Lata.
“MB Eric: Old’s Cool in da Old School”
-Eric