[quote]IRoNStaLLion wrote:
i guess i could eat more and see what happens… but still my gains were low even for someone only eating 2500 cals/day…[/quote]
Not true. If it hasn’t been working in the past, it’s too low, no matter what a white lab coated technician tells you. Failing to adapt is the mark of a stupid person, so don’t be that guy. Individual #'s can vary by upwards of 20% in calorie requirement. I’m an ectomorph like yourself, I eat about 3500 cal/day to maintain weight and/or diet, depending on my nutrient breakdowns and timing. Eat about 4000/day and see where you’re at.
As a side note, right down everything you eat and drink. I mean everything, every slice of bread, every candy bar (I hope not though). Write down the time you ate it. If you’re not chewing you’re not gaining. Most people chronically misestimate the amount of food that they eat.
It is good that you’ve been looking at science lit, but you have to understand that getting at athletic goals is at least as much an art as a science. Athletes and coaches are generally far ahead of the slow moving research field, because they have to innovate faster than studies come out, because it’s their job and their passion.
[quote]
Sure eating more might make it easier to gain str, but my gains over the past year should have still been better given the fact that i was following decent training protocols… I worried that my lack of STR could be due to something else, and by eating a shitload and gaining weight, my strenth would still go up in pitiful amounts… thus iwould decrease in relative strength [/quote]
Screw relative strength. Would you rather be a 150lb guy deadlifting 225 or a 200lb guy lifting 300? Relative strength is second to absolute strength. You need to get stronger however you can. You’ll run just fine as long as you don’t ditch it completely. You might even improve.
I won’t touch this and call you out…now. Have you switch exercises in the last 2months? Think about that, as well as thinking about switching rep ranges.
NO!! The research suggesting hepatotoxicity on high protein intakes was done on already SEVERELY ILL PEOPLE. Think about it. Something acceptable to healthy people can easily exacerbate sick people’s conditions. Diabetics anyone? I’ll leave you to come up with 30 or so more examples. As a side note, I’m going after my masters in biochem. This is my job. I feel better, healthier, and stronger when I eat more protein. In any case, absolute need vs. optimal intake are two completely different animals.
And btw, ROS (reactive oxygen species), is a byproduct of numerous cell reactions. ROS occurs no matter how much you eat, and it’s a tad bit of pseudoscience to stretch the minimal reduction of ROS with caloric restrictions to healthier, longer life.
Besides that, radicals are more due to the crappy western diet anyway. Of course if you eat 4000cal a day of metabolic acidosis generating, nasty junk food, you’d be better off injesting only 2500cal. BUT, if you were to eat 4000cal/day of antioxidant rich fruits, veggies, and the odd small cow, you’d be more healthy than either of the other people.
There are more variables than just calorie/protein amount. Eating a giant healthy diet is fine. Eating like Dave Tate (please don’t kill me Dave), is asking for trouble.
