Muscle Loss While Fasting

I had a sudden urge to clean out my desk today, and while going through some of my old notebooks I found a page that had all my measurements from February of 2005.

The awesome things about measurements is that they don't lie.

With pictures, the right light, the right angles and BAM! you are a supermodel or shredded bodybuilder.

With the wrong lights it's a whole different story.

With measurements there is a lot less variability. They are a lot harder to fake, and they typically aren't as affected by happenstance.

The interesting thing is that 2005 is almost 2 full years before I started fasting.

So I can compare my measurements today with my measurements from 2005 and get an idea of what almost 2 years of fasting has done to my body.

in 2005 my right thigh measurements were:

4 inches above the top of the knee = 18 inches


6 inches above the top of the knee = 20.25 inches


10 inches above the top of the knee = 22.5 inches


My right arm (flexed) = 16 inches


My chest = 42.5 inches


My waist = 35 inches


My shoulder circumference = 47.5 inches


These are my current measurements as of September 25th 2008

4 inches above the top of the knee = 18 inches


6 inches above the top of the knee = 22.5 inches


10 inches above the top of the knee = 23.75 inches


My right arm (flexed) = 16 inches


My chest = 42 inches


My waist = 32.5


My shoulder circumference = 49 inches


(****I don't have my weight from back in 2005, however I know my wedding was in 2005 and that I had started to diet for my wedding by February...so I'm guessing I was under 200 pounds...probably about 15-20 pounds heavier than I am now.)

So what has fasting done to me?

My legs are bigger, but my waist is smaller. This is a good sign.

My arms are the same size which makes sense since I don't train them too often and I'm happy with a 16 inch arm.

My chest is a half inch smaller which also makes sense since I don't train my chest as often or with as much weight as I did back in '05.

I was really happy to see that my shoulder circumference has increased, since over the last two years the majority of my upper body work has been centered around increasing the size of my shoulders.

So, after almost two years of fasting once or twice a week, my waist is smaller, but everything else has either stayed the same or even increased in circumference.

Combine these results with my pictures (you can see them HERE) and I am confident in saying that after two years of following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle I have lost fat, and gained muscle.

BP

How do I gain weight?

Looking back through my old journals, I came across another crazy experiment that I once did.

Do you remember back in the early 2ooo's when 'bulking cycles' were all the rage? Bodybuilders would purposely put on weight in the hopes that while most of it was fat, a little bit might be muscle.

Well, I once took this to the extreme, trying to figure out how much weight I could put on in only 14 days.

I was on a normal 'bulking diet' consisting of roughly 5,000 calories. This consisted of breakfast, second breakfast, weight gain shake, lunch, pre-workout shake, post-workout shake, dinner, and bedtime weight gain shake.

However, this routine just wasn't cutting it, so I added one small extra touch.

Each morning I poured 2 cups of almonds and 1.5 cups of Ocean Spray craisins into a tupperware container and took it to work with me. My goal was to continue to eat my normal way, and to finish this container everyday before I left work.

Now, this may not sound like much, but 2 cups of almonds and 1.5 cups of crasins contains roughly 2,300 calories!

I didn't make it through the entire 14 day experiment (I ended on day 11, I just couldn't take it anymore). I had put on 12 pounds in 11 days! Four days after the experiment, after letting my GI and bowels settle down, I stepped on the scale to find I was till 9 pounds heavier.

Unfortunetley, according to my measurements, this was all fat (despite super heavy twice per day workouts).

Yet another experiment I did in the name of "getting big". If I could give one piece of advice to someone who is just starting to dive into the bodybuilding scene, I would tell them to never ever "bulk". To me, it is a waste of time, and some of the guys I used to train with never really recovered (some of them still joke about being on a a ten year bulking cycle!)

BP

PS - Believe it or not, only a couple months after this experiment, I repeated a slightly less harsh version that pushed my weight from 185 to 216 pounds in four months, only to have to go on a super strict 'cutting' diet to get right back down to...you guessed it...185 pounds...I wish I knew about Eat Stop Eat back then!


lose weight easily with intermittent fasting

How much protein do you need to build muscle?

The idea that you need massive amounts of protein in your diet in order to build muscle is one that will probably never go away. While I agree that many of us need to eat a little more protein than we typically do, I don't think we need super-mega amounts in order to pack on muscle.

In a really interesting study published back in 1996, 43 men who were experienced weight lifters took part in a study that involved exercise and weekly injections of testosterone enanthate for 10 weeks.

Yep, these boys were on steroids for the benefit of science!

They were divided into 4 groups.

• The first group performed no exercise and didn't get any steroids.
• The second group performed exercise but didn't get steroids,
• The third group didn't exercise but received the weekly injections and
• The fourth group exercised and received the injections.

As you can imagine after 10 weeks of lifting weights 3 times per week, the group that was receiving the steroid injections gained over 13 pounds of muscle.

The group who were just working out didn't do too bad either, packing on almost 4.5 pounds of muscle in only ten weeks.

The guys who sat around doing nothing for 10 weeks but received the steroid injections still had an increase in lean mass (almost 6 pounds), while the group who received no steroids and didn't workout did not see any change in their lean mass.

So what does a study on steroids have to do with nutrition? well, all four groups were on the same diet. They were all consuming about 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight and about 16 Calories per pound of body weight.

What this shows is that for a group taking steroids while exercising, 120 grams of protein per day was enough to supply the amount of protein needed to allow for a 13.5 pound gain in lean mass!

It was also the same amount of protein the the exercise only group ate to gain 4.5 pounds, and the other groups ate to see their gains, (or lack thereof).

What this shows is that for the groups who saw less gains in lean mass then the steroid group, the amount of protein that they ate was not what determined how much muscle they gained. The workouts and the steroids did that.

In the end, protein is important, but as this study shows, 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight is enough daily protein to allow for a 13.5 pound increase in lean mass in 10 weeks. It's also enough to allow for a 4.5 pound increase in people not taking steroids, which is still very impressive muscle growth for a ten week period!

BP

For those of us who are not 'pharmaceutically enhanced' this study helps support the idea that your workout is the most important part of your muscle building journey.

Get a great workout, put in a great effort, see great results, it might just be that simple.

PS - If you are looking for my recommendation on a great quality workout, then Turbulence Training is where it is at. You can check out Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training programs by clicking HERE.

(Bhasin S, et al. The New England Journal of Medicine. 335(1), 1-7)

Interested in learning more about fasting for weight loss? Then click HERE

How Much Protein Do We Really Need To Eat?

Protein could be one of the most popular and controversial topics in all of nutrition. It's become the golden child of muscle building and fat loss. Wanna build big muscles? Eat your protein. Wanna lose fat and look like a fitness model? Eat your protein. After all, everyone knows you need to eat a minimum of 30 grams of protein every two to three hours.

Back in my earlier years, I drank my protein shakes and ate my protein bars. I would constantly keep my protein intake up around 250 grams per day. Why? Because I thought it scientifically PROVEN that more protein equaled more muscle.


But now I'm not so sure.


Let's take a look at one of the research studies that the super-high protein advocates always use to 'prove' that eating protein after a workout makes you build muscle.

If you were in this study, this is how your day would have gone...


You would show up at a research lab around 10 PM, and you would go to sleep (no eating). The researchers would wake you up around 6 AM and start poking and probing you (again no eating). After a bunch of weighing and measurements, you would start working out around 9 AM...you still haven't eaten yet.


This would be one of the toughest workouts you have ever done. Most likely you would do 10 sets of 8 reps on the leg press machine, followed by 8 sets of 8 reps on the leg extension machine. All of your reps would be done at 80% of your one rep max. Like I said, one brutal workout. It's about 10am now, still haven't eaten.

After your workout you would be given a drink that contains 3 to 6 grams of essential amino acids (the same amount of amino acids found in a glass of milk).

After that, the researchers would take measurements for the next 4 hours and measure your rate of 'protein synthesis'.


This is pretty much the standard protocol for these types of studies.


And guess what they found? An increase in protein synthesis over those four hours.
So what does this prove? It proves that if you haven't eaten since 10 PM the night before, do a brutal workout at 9 AM the next morning, and drink a glass of milk, you will increase your protein synthesis for four hours!

So much for needing 30 grams of protein, and so much for needing protein every couple hours.
You know what else? The only reason I say protein synthesis increases for 4 hours is because after 4 hours the researchers stopped measuring. Who knows how long you would have stayed in a muscle building state. Some researchers have estimated that a single workout can put you into 'muscle building mode' for as long as 48 hours after your workout!

Even more interesting is that researchers have found similar results when they made people drink the amino acids before their workout, and even when they made them wait and drink the amino acids a couple hours after their workout!

Here's another example, for you to consider.


In a research trial conducted on people who were over 50 years old and had chronic renal insufficiency (real bad kidneys) researchers explored the idea that resistance training could counteract the low protein diets that these people had to be on because of their medical condition.


On average these subject were eating under 0.3 grams of protein per pound of body weight. To put that into perspective, a 180 pound man would be eating about 50 grams of protein per day! For 12 weeks!


So what the researchers were thinking was 'since these people were on such low protein diets, for extended periods of time, muscle loss is definitely a risk. However, maybe if we made them weight train, we could prevent this from happening'.


Sounds like a good idea to me.


At the end of the study, the subject working out 3 times per week maintained there body weight, while the group that was not lifting weights lost about 7 pounds.


The group lifting weights also saw increases in muscle strength and muscle size. While the group not weight training lost some muscle and a little bit of strength.


This study is a great example of people actually gaining muscle size on a low protein diet as a result of resistance training.


Now, I realize the study was done on people who were over 50, and had a medical condition, but regardless, they gained muscle size.

This research shows that you can build a significant amount of muscle with relatively low protein intakes (the amount you get from your food in the average north american diet) as long as you are lifting weights.

Protein has a role in every one's nutrition plan, and it is an essential nutrient that is important for building and repairing muscles. From my understanding of the research I think it makes sense to try and consume a small amount of protein somewhere around the time you workout. I just don't think we need to be paying good money for tubs and tubs of the stuff, if the amount we get in our diets will serve our purposes just fine.

Scientists have not yet been able to determine if large amounts of protein have any extra effect on muscle gain. The massive amounts of protein that bodybuilders eat might work, but no scientists have been able to prove it so far.

Bottom line: if your goal is muscle building you most likely do not necessarily need to eat any extra protein. You can if you like, however I cannot find a good scientific reason to so far.

BP

One last note - Very little research is done on people who are on anabolic steroids. I cannot discount the idea that, in these individuals, extreme amounts of protein may help the muscle building process due to the fact that this process is enhanced by the use of steroids.

How to Lose Muscle Mass

As you can imagine, questions about Eat Stop Eat have been pouring in to my In-box, with the most common question being about fasting and losing muscle. Most people are still very concerned that they will lose muscle if they don't eat every 3 hours. My answer has always been, don't worry, if you are Resistance training then you won't lose muscle.

Then I received a very interesting question that went something like this - "If calorie restriction doesn't cause muscle loss, then what does?"

Great question. We all know that people who are bedridden and on a low calorie diet lose muscle. When I first starting writing Eat Stop Eat, and was running the idea past several dietitians for input, they all brought up stories of muscle loss in their patients who were bedridden and on a low calorie diet.

And since I am constantly saying that caloric restriction doesn't cause you to lose muscle if you are working out, then that leaves being 'bedridden' (or 'disuse' as they say in research) as the cause of muscle loss.

Ever break your arm and have to wear a cast, or know someone who did? Do you remember how skinny that arm was when the cast finally came off? Put a cast on your arm and your muscles shrink faster then an expensive new shirt in the dryer.

There was no change in nutrition, only a change in the amount the muscles were used, and the muscle wasted away.

In fact, 'casting' is so effective at causing muscle loss that it has been used in research to study something called 'disuse atrophy' or muscle loss from lack of use.

In a study conducted at the University of Nottingham, 22 male and female studies had casts put on their right leg for two weeks. Their diets didn't change, yet after only two weeks the cross sectional area of their quadriceps (the big muscles in your thigh) decreased by 10%.

NO change in diet..but the muscle still decreases in size by 10%.

Bottom line - as long as you are working out, and meeting some sort of caloric minimum (studies have gone as low as 80 grams of protein and 800 Kcals a day), you won't lose muscle. However, if you don't use the muscle, then it really doesn't matter what you are eating, the muscle is going to shrink.

BP

PS- If, by some fluke accident you do break your arm, the research from Nottingham found that Creatine Monohydrate can speed the rehab process, helping you build back your muscle and strength quicker than normal.

Toronto Personal Trainer

3 "Magic" Fat Loss Ingredients

Every morning I go through the exact same routine.

I get up. I make some oatmeal. Clean the kitchen. Go up stairs. Brush my teeth. Turn on my computer. Check my email. Then I laugh (or sometimes cry) while reading all of the new stories about the latest and greatest "fat loss" ingredients.

It is an absolute mystery to me why, after over 20 years of failed promises, we still turn to magic ingredients and magic foods for fat loss.

What shocks me even more is that we are still hoping to find something we can eat that will cause us to lose fat. It is almost becoming an oxymoron.

We are looking for something to consume that will make us consume less!

Here are just some examples of magic foods and ingredients in the new today:

Recent research (performed in a test tube) suggests that extract from Chilli peppers may stop fat growth. According to this research Chilli extract may hold the key to preventing immature fat cells from developing into mature fat cells.

In a different study, it was suggested that spearmint tea can not only lower a man's sex drive but can also decrease the amount of hair on a women's body. (Admittedly, this isn't fat loss research but if you think the body builders in your gym smell bad now, wait till they read this research and stop brushing their teeth for fear that they may be lowering their T levels!)

Finally, more research shows that dairy calcium (but not calcium supplements) can cause a decrease in the amount of fat in your blood after a meal.

I can't really tell you too much about this study because I stopped reading after the first page that mentioned that the study was funded by the Danish Dairy Research Foundation and the Dutch Dairy Association!

A Dairy Foundation and a Dairy Association funded the study, and the study found that dairy calcium, but not calcium supplements had weight loss benefits? Please.

Now honestly, there is some merit to this research. Eating more spices on your food is definitely a good idea. Eating foods that contain calcium is also a good idea.

However, thinking that taking chilli extract pills or consuming 3 bowls of ice-cream per day will make you lose weight IS NOT what you should be taking away from this research. (Nor is skipping your morning tooth brushing!)

If you want to lose weight there are only three things you need to do, and you don't need to read any research to do them.

Firstly, find a nutrition plan that works for you.

Secondly, get active. And I don't mean walk on the elliptical for half an hour every other day, I mean get a real work-out program and challenge yourself.

The third and last thing you need to do is to stop (or don't start) falling for the media's version of the latest and greatest fat loss research. It will only lead to disappointment and is usually a very poor and hyped up version of what the research was really telling us.

These are the real 3 "magic" fat loss ingredients!

BP

Eat Stop Eat

Crabs in a Bucket - Weight Training Over 50

After a busy couple of days of travel, I decided it was time to head back up north to get some more work done on some of my projects with grrlathlete.

When I'm up north, people often drop in for a visit, and last night was no exception. I had a couple of old friends drop in on me for dinner.

As usual, it only took a little bit of time before the conversation turned to nutrition and working out. One of my friends was in his late 50's. He has always been in great shape. He maintains a great workout program and always pays attention to what he eats. Yet, on this particular visit, he seemed a little discouraged with his progress.

After a little bit of prying I found out why.

He had been out having dinner with several of his friends who were all medical doctors and they were "on him" about working out. Turns out these three highly educated individuals were trying to convince my friend that it was physically impossible to put on muscle once you pass fifty years of age.

They told him that it had something to do with his hormone levels and lack of testosterone.

No wonder he was discouraged!

Thankfully, in no way is any of this true. There is lots of research that has been conducted on subjects over 50 years of age showing the benefit of weight training.

A group of researchers at the University of Saschetchewan in Canada has been studying the effects of creatine supplementation and weight lifting in the elderly with great results.

Dr. Ira Jacobs, one of my early mentors, has been quoted as saying that at least 80% the muscle loss associated with aging can be attributed to lack of activity.

When it comes to muscle - Use it or lose it. That’s the bottom line.

There is no truth to the saying that you can’t build muscle over a certain age. People in their 70's can build muscle with weight training. So why would a group of medical doctors try to convince my friend that he was wasting his time working out, when research clearly shows there is benefit?

The answer is "crabs in a bucket".

If you aren't familiar with the "crabs in a bucket" analogy, it’s pretty simple. Crabbers never have to worry about crabs escaping when they are caught and thrown into a bucket. This is because if one crab starts climbing the walls of the bucket, the other crabs will pull the escaping crab back down.

The crabs see it like this - if we are going to be dinner, then you are going to be dinner too.

After a little more prying my friend informed me that his three medical doctor friends did not workout, were overweight (one of them was very overweight) and mostly ate fast food.

Like I said, crabs in a bucket. When you are trying to live a healthy lifestyle, you are always going to go up against crabs. They do not like it when you say "no" to dessert, pass on "just one more drink", or go work out. The reason they don't like it is because it makes them painfully aware that you are in control of an area in your life that they have no control over in there own.

Ignore the crabs and remember- no matter your age, if you want to look and feel better than the average person, then you can’t eat and work-out like an average person. You have to go one-step farther.

BP

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training