Universal Nutrition Forum

READ THE BOTTOM ENTRY INSTEAD. THE FIRST ONE WAS SHIT AND NOT PROOF READ.

a stunning prose- written like the shamed bastard off spring from poliquin / di pasquale "civil partnership"

daring yet truthful

vertues once lost in modern day pseudo intellectuals

Heres the 1000 word improved version i put on muscular development

It clears up the fact that there is no clear cut line between fatty acid oxidation and glucose oxidation during different types of exercise like the books say.

A note on sustainable dieting.

When making the transition from a bulk phase to a diet a dramatic decrease in carb intake is completely unnecessary and of detriment to the goals you are trying to achieve.
The thyroid has a higher work load when in a calorie surplus, thus more calories are consumed and metabolised.
A dramatic decrease in calorie/carb intake, is used for a week every so often by my female and male cohorts. Of course a week is about as long as they ever last before passing out or desperately diving for the cheesecake in the fridge, and continuing to do so.
I should note here the danger of going hypoglycemic due to the dramatic shift in calorie income and the thyroid work rate at that time. Should training accompany crash diets for longer than this, these people are at a risk of becoming depressed, and cranky due to hormonal changes which accompany such shocks to the system.

I have on occasion been given an insight into the illogical ways in which girls in particular, try to slim down.
Whenever an event is coming up they say, in a pseudo-joking manner that "anorexia mode" is approaching!
They seem strangely backward in their thought process. I seem irrational recommending a balanced diet, yet they feel rational in putting themselves into bodily harm to shed the pounds.
Anyway, for those who want to get cut efficiently using the regular meal regimen, it is important to know why certain protein/carb/fat ratios are implemented.

The weight trained individual relies on glycogen stores within the muscle as a source of fuel for each contraction. This is because carbohydrate is the only food fuel that can be used to create energy anaerobicaly, also carbohydrate requires less oxygen in order to be metabolized than does fat.
The glycogen is broken down to glucose and the glucose in turn is essential for the production of ATP, the body?s source of chemical energy. ( the ATP will be phosphorylated to ADP and a phosphate ion releasing energy for working cells and giving off heat). The direct role of glycerol (from fatty acids) as a fuel in muscle cells during exercise is so minor that it need not be considered, but it can be converted to glucose by the liver post workout.

Weight training breaks down the muscle tissue and protein is needed to rebuild the tissue.

The body will try to repair muscle tissue, and replenish glycogen stores after training, thus using the body?s fat stores to keep blood glucose levels stable via gluconeogenesis.

So when the body is in a caloric deficit, the muscles will hold on dearly to the incoming carbohydrate to replenish glycogen stores and as a source of fuel for the next workout, while using the fat stores/BCAA?s to keep blood glucose stable.
Of course if the body is in ketosis, the built up ketone stores are employed into another biochemical pathway to keep the blood glucose stable, but that?s a subject for another day.

When incoming carbohydrate is available in abundance, (e.g. during a bulk) insulin?s antagonist glucagon is used to employ glycogen, the body's preferred energy store which will then be converted to glucose to keep blood sugar levels at a constant 90 mg/100ml.

Cardio decisions when restricting carbohydrate intake

This subject somewhat eluded me until recently. There are a lot of mixed ideas on how much cardio one should perform when dieting.

Textbooks draw a dramatic line between food fuel utilization at different cardio intensities, and although quite inaccurate, with more to be taken in to account, remember this:

At rest Muscle Glycogen turnover is negligible, liver glycogen and FFA turnover is moderate with AA turnover low.

High Intensity, short duration, (<40 mins) favours glycogen breakdown.

Very High Intensity, Very short duration sprint workoutsalso see a high turnover rate of muscle glycogen but a negligible liver glycogen turnover.

Higher intensities for longer durations and lower intensities for very long durations see the body turn to Fat stores and BCAA?s to release chemical energy, ATP.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the body can and will switch up muscle fiber types from fast twitch to slow twitch, as to facilitate endurance cardio. We do not want this, as it is the fast twitch fibers that are of use in bodybuilding.

Dieting Bodybuilder: high intensity cardio
Endurance cardio: Leave it to the marathon runners.

Without going into detail on the Neurohormonal Coordination reasons behind food fuel utilization during exercise, I feel the above is useful to consider when wanting to plan out a low carb fat loss plan, whilst holding on to muscle.

My diet at the moment keeps carbs moderate with fats moderate to low, with protein intake varying from 1.2-1.4 gr per lb of bodyweight.

I keep the fats moderate as they are the major storage form of energy in humans. Fat is a superior source of energy to carbohydrate for the body as it is stored dry unlike carbs. Carbohydrate in the form of glycogen is stored in the muscles with a large amount of water: 2.7 g of water per gram of dried glycogen. Triglyceride is stored dry. If humans had to store the comparable energy amount as carbs, we would be at least twice as big!
a person can deplete glycogen stores in as little as 2hr heavy exercise or one day of bed rest, but fat stores last for weeks even with moderate activity.

I increase my fats slightly as i lower my carb intake but the fats remain below 100 gr due to my body weight. Cheat meals are good for getting lots of saturated fats in, which in turn increases natural testosterone production.

I aim the above points at those who, are at odds at times with how to get cut. Of course training and food choices vary from dieter to dieter but I thought the above gives some solid advice on cutting and what goes on in the body throughout the diet phase.

keep up the good work son, that should win the contest.