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This is going
to sound strange but when you're trying to build
muscle, I HIGHLY recommend doing a strategic
low-calorie diet on a regular basis.
Why
low-calorie dieting for MUSCLE?
There
are several reasons...
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1.
Appetite
First,
I've found that eating large amounts of food
for long stretches of time tends to diminish
your enthusiasm for eating large amounts of
food for long stretches of time :)
When
your appetite drops, you're not going to be
able to eat as much without forcing yourself
to, and therefore, your overall calorie intake
can potentially be diminished. I can tell you
from experience, if you eat a LOT all the time,
you do get tired of eating. This is a way to
fix it and hit the "reset" button
on your appetite, which is going to pay off
when you go back to eating more again.
2. Digestive System Overload
The
digestive system can be overworked if you demand
too much of it with no break. By constantly
hammering the digestive tract with piles of
food, you're basically grinding down it's capacity
to digest and absorb nutrients.
So
even if you're eating a lot of food, you may
not even be getting the nutrition you THOUGHT
you were out of it!
3. Rebound Weight Gain
Strategic
periods of low-calorie eating sets up a rebound
effect when you go back to higher-calorie eating.
Basically, by taking a few days easy and not
eating much, you're going to be creating momentum
for when you go back to eating more again.
Think
of the yo-yo diet thing, only with exercise.
A short diet will give you the benefits of rebound
weight gain without the detrimental effects
of long-term low-calories eating and muscle
loss.
4. Insulin Sensitivity
By
managing insulin levels (via low-glycemic or
low-carb dieting), you can help help improve
insulin sensitivity. Insulin is a powerful anabolic
hormone...in fact, it's CRITICAL for building
muscle because it signals the muscle cells to
take in nutrients and unlocks the cellular "doors"
to let nutrients in (like a bouncer at a bar).
Here's
the thing...if insulin levels are too high for
too long, your body develops resistance to insulin,
which is a potential problem with long-term
heavy eating of carbs, typical of a weight-gain
diet. By backing off on food and carbs for a
few days, you give your body a chance to restore
some insulin sensitivity.
5. Keeping Bodyfat in Check While Building
Muscle
One
of the biggest problems people encounter with
weight gain diets is gaining weight. I'll be
more specific...gaining FAT. Few people train
hard to get fatter (nobody I know!). This type
of staggered-calorie eating is an excellent
way to keep bodyfat from climbing too high on
a muscle-building, higher-calorie diet.
It
gives you the majority of your days in a surplus-calorie
state with just a few days in a negative-calorie
state. Those negative calorie days can have
a big impact on minimizing fat gain. I can't
say you won't gain ANY fat...that'll depend
on other factors. But it's going to give you
a much better shot at keeping bodyfat from climbing
too high.
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How
to Do It
I'll
give you an example from myself. I'm currently
doing my Mad Scientist Muscle program. In that
program, I include weekend dieting...2 days
of low-carb eating in this case. So basically,
it's 5 days of high-calorie eating then 2 days
of low-calorie eating.
I
don't do any training on the low-calorie days,
which minimizes any chance of muscle breakdown.
As I mentioned, it's low-carb so insulin levels
are basically zero.
This
sets up a nice rebound effect both from insulin
and from increase calorie load the following
week (if you don't want to do low-carb, you
don't have to...low-calorie eating in general
will give you great benefits as well).
I've
noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference in how well
this strategy works, as compared to straight-through
higher-calorie eating. I actually find I build
muscle and gain weight EASIER when I do two
days of low-calorie eating every week because
of this rebound effect.
Plus,
I keep bodyfat levels lower, which is great.
To give you an idea, in the past 5 months, I've
gone from 188 lbs in bodyweight to 217 lbs in
bodyweight. I'm not shredded by any stretch,
but I can still see a decent six-pack...which
is not bad for having gained almost 30 pounds
in 5 months!
It's
definitely something I would recommend you give
a try, especially if you're keen on increasing
muscle mass while keeping bodyfat in check.
Click
here to learn how Mad Scientist Muscle uses
powerful dietary and training techniques to
build MASSIVE muscle and strength
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