the process of bodybuilding

I believe many of us make the process of bodybuilding far more complicated than it needs to be. This is especially true when it comes to nutrition.

I've come to this conclusion after answering literally thousands of questions from bodybuilders for more than a decade. Through seminars, appearances, letters, phone consultations, and contact through the Internet, the same questions we’re asked and the same challenges were encountered over and over again. It didn’t matter what level of experience, number of accomplishments, individual circumstances, or what part of the world a bodybuilder lived, when it comes to nutrition, our patterns of thinking and the obstacles they faced were basically the same.

As I strive to strengthen my skills as an effective bodybuilding coach, one of my goals is to simplify the bodybuilding process. The bottom line is that we are all after the same things; to build muscle, lose body fat, or a combination of building muscle and losing body fat. We also want to do so in the most efficient ways and in the shortest period of time.

If you embrace the nutritional strategies I've outlined in this publication, how you need to build muscle and lose body fat will be more simple. Notice the word I used was simple—not easy! Nothing is easy (Nothing worth having, anyway). Eating to create a lean and muscular physique is no exception.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this special presentation of nutrition:

·         The Importance Of Good Nutrition

·         Good Eating Habits Are Built Upon A Foundation Of Motivation

·         The Three Most Important Keys To Understanding Effective Bodybuilding Nutrition

·         Simplicity And Efficiency Is What’s Important In A Nutritional Program

·         The Macronutrients And What They Do For Us -- Protein, Carbohydrates And Fat Explained

·         The “Right” Ratio Of Macronutrtients

·         Determining How Many Calories You Should Eat

·         Skip La Cour’s Simple Way To Determine Your Maintenance Level

·         Body Composition

·         Determining How Many Meals To Eat Each Day

·         Skip La Cour’s Basic Meal Plan

·         Eating To Build Muscle Mass

·         How To Calculate The Percentages Of Macrocnutrients In Your Food – A Quick Nutrition Mathematics Review

·         The Importance Of Protein

·         How Much Protein You Should Eat To Build Muscle

·         Skip La Cour Explains His “Protein Consumption Window Of Opportunity” Theory

·         The Danger Of Eating Too Much Protein

·         The “Bulking Up” Strategy For Packing On Muscle Mass

·         Eating To Lose Body Fat

·         There’s No Substitute For Hard Work When It Comes To Losing Body Fat

·         Why Starchy Carbohydrates May Not Be As Good For You As You Think

·         Building Muscle And Losing Body Fat At The Same Time

·         Dealing With The Challenge Of A Slow Metabolism

·         Dealing With The Challenge Of A Fast Metabolism

·         Why You Should Keep Your Diet Simple

·         The Benefits Of Adding “Good” Fat To Your Diet And The Painful Lesson I Learned!

·         Skip La Cour’s First 5 To 6 Months Of Dieting The Year He Won The NPC Team Universe

·         Skip La Cour’s Last 10 To 12 Weeks Of Dieting The Year He Won The NPC Team Universe

·         Skip La Cour’s New And Improved “Good Fat” Diet

·         The Importance Of Drinking Plenty Of Water

·         Skip La Cour’s Tip For Drinking More Water

·         The Benefits Of Adding Salt To Your Meals

·         Getting Shredded And Maintaining Muscle Is A Matter Of Heart

·         How Do You Know That You’re Losing Muscle?

·         Incorporating “Cheat Days” Into Your Disciplined Diet Without Feeling Guilty

·         The Bodybuilding Triad:  A Visual Demonstration Of The Importance Of Nutrition

·         Skip La Cour’s Top Ten Nutrition Tips

·         Samples Of Skip La Cour’s Nutritional Programs

·         Skip La Cour’s Ten Tips For Eating Well Despite Your Busy Schedule

The Importance of Good Nutrition

If you want to produce high-quality muscle and maintain lower body fat levels from the time and effort you invest in training, you must feed yourself properly. Your nutritional habits—not how you train in the gym—has the greatest impact on the development of your physique. Many experts feel the way you eat accounts for as much as 80 percent of the way you look. If you want an impressive muscular body, you are going to have to pay close attention to what you are eating.

In fact, if I was faced with the dilemma of choosing between training or eating properly as my only vehicle to look and feel my very best, I would choose to eat properly. Sound nutrition is that important to your bodybuilding efforts. A heavy emphasis needs to be placed on studying winning nutritional strategies and executing those strategies on a consistent basis.

Good Eating Habits Are Built Upon A Foundation Of Motivation

“I’m so confused about nutrition!” many bodybuilders often complain. “My training is great but, when it comes to how I should eat, I don’t have a clue!”

Good eating habits are built upon a foundation of motivation. Let’s get honest with ourselves for a moment. Is the difficulty in this particular situation in understanding nutrition? Or, is the real challenge following through with eating the way we already know we should?

Let’s admit what’s really going on in some of our minds. Eating delicious foods is one of life’s simplest, easiest-to-attain, and greatest pleasures. Sometimes, it’s very difficult to stay away from food that doesn’t support our bodybuilding efforts. Great-tasting but unhealthy food becomes too much of a temptation for us. Even when we are committed to eating properly, it’s sometimes too difficult to break away from our busy schedules and eat our meals at all—whether they are good for us or not.

The key to eating to build muscle comes down to being properly motivated to do so. Because you are taking the time to read this nutritional advice, I assume you’re pretty motivated. This is a great time to determine exactly why today is the day you’ll make the commitment to earn the physique you really want by eating right. If you know why you want to do something, figuring out how to do it will become much easier. You must first take care of figuring out why and, hopefully, my advice will help you figure out how to meet your physique-enhancing goals.

Eating to build muscle and lose body fat is a way of thinking just as much as it is a series of actions. Many bodybuilders get easily confused, frustrated, and eventually overwhelmed with the subject of proper nutrition. Rock-solid bodybuilding nutrition doesn’t need to be complicated in order to be effective.

The Three Most Important Keys To Understanding Effective Bodybuilding Nutrition

Let’s break down and simplify this important aspect of bodybuilding. You basically need to understand three things about nutrition:

1.    The main purpose for each of the three macronutrients: Protein, carbohydrates, and fat

2.    The “right” ratio, or the “correct” percentages, of protein, carbohydrates, and fat that your food should be divided into in order to meet your bodybuilding goals

3.    The number of calories you should consume to meet your specific physique-enhancement goals

Good nutrition seems much easier when it is broken down and you look it at from that perspective, doesn’t it? But what do the three macronutrients do for our bodies? What ratio of our food should be allocated to protein, carbohydrates, and fat? How do I determine how many calories I should eat? I’ll answer those questions—and a whole lot more.

Those questions about nutrition provide a wide range of answers that are not necessarily easy to find. But, with experimentation, patience, and persistence, you’ll eventually figure out what’s best to help you reach your personal goals. Unfortunately, there are no easier ways around this fact. There are no magic numbers, solutions, or formulas that I, nor anyone else, can give you to make the process effortless—no matter what you are told. These answers not only vary from person to person, they also can vary within the very same person during different periods of time.

The Macronutrients and What They Do For Us

With simplicity and efficiency in mind, let’s discuss the macronutrients. In general terms, all food is broken down into three major groups of macronutrients; protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Here is a simple explanation of what they are and what each of them do for our bodies:

Protein

Protein, far and away, is the most important nutrient you’ll need to build muscle on your body. Muscle is protein. Protein is muscle. Without enough protein, you’ll have a very difficult time seeing results from your training. Plain and simple, you’re simply not going to grow muscle without a sufficient amount of protein.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates give you the energy to train hard in the gym and carry out your everyday activities. Your body needs carbohydrates on a consistent basis throughout the day to feed the brain which uses glucose, or blood sugar, as its primary energy source. Glucose is a carbohydrate used by every cell in the body as fuel.

When carbohydrates stored in the body are depleted too far, the body will convert precious muscle-building protein into glucose instead of regular carbohydrates to give the body the energy it needs. As a bodybuilder, you want to do everything you possibly can to avoid this from occurring. The very last thing you want is to have your hard-earned muscle mass sacrificed for energy. Consuming enough carbohydrates will prevent this from happening.

Excess carbohydrates, however, will be converted into fat. How can you avoid eating too many carbohydrates? I was once offered a suggestion I found to be very helpful. The strategy was to eat the majority of carbohydrates in the morning and immediately after working out. These are ideal times for the body to process carbohydrates more rapidly.

Some people believe you should limit your carbohydrate consumption after 6 or 7 p.m. They believe carbohydrates are converted to body fat much easier at that time because of your body’s ability to burn fat is reduced while sleeping. Others have a different opinion. They believe it doesn’t matter when you eat your carbohydrates. The body processes carbohydrates the same all the time.

Personally, I agree with the latter opinion. Carbohydrates in the morning, carbohydrates in the evening, or carbohydrates in the afternoon, in my opinion, it ultimately doesn't matter when you eat them. What is important is, at the end of the day, the calories that you’ve burned are greater than the calories you’ve consumed. In my experience, as I have prepared for a bodybuilding contest that I’ve appeared in very good condition, I’ve eaten many complex carbohydrate-dense meals right before I’ve gone to sleep and I would get harder and harder.

How do you determine the “right” amount of carbohydrates you should eat? I decide the amount of carbohydrates I’ll eat this way:

As a bodybuilder, I will always keep my protein intake high to build muscle (usually, this is about 400 grams a day). If I’m trying to get lean or stayi lean, I will closely monitor the fat in my diet (usually, this will be limited to the incidental fat that comes in my lean meat and carbohydrates). I also realize I must stay within a certain calorie range to meet my personal goals. What's left to consider? Only carbohydrates. I eat enough carbohydrates to give me just enough energy to train heavy and with intensity, have enough energy to do my regular life’s activities, and to manage my body fat level—and not many more carbohydrates than that. After I total the calories from my essential protein and incidental fat, the calories coming from carbohydrates can’t cause me to exceed the total calories I’ve allotted myself for the day. The calories derived from carbohydrates must “sandwich” in between.

Fats

Fat in your diet serves a vital purpose for the body. Fat acts as a structural component for all cell membranes and supplies necessary chemical substrates for hormonal production. Fat protects vital organs and carries fat-soluble vitamins.

Your body needs fat—so don’t try to avoid it completely. Many experts feel that 26-30 percent of your total dietary calories should come from fat.

There are two types of fat. Saturated fat, which is considered bad, and unsaturated, which is considered to be good fat. Some people add fat like olive oil and canola oil to their diets to make sure they meet their body’s requirements.

What Is The “Right” Ratio of Macronutrtients?

Let start off by saying there’s is no “right” answer. The recommended ratio, of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to effectively build muscle and lose body fat is often debated by the experts in the health and fitness community. The amount you need is based on your own body’s ability to metabolize nutrients and on your particular fitness goals. Again, experimentation is needed on your part here.

Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to nail down an exact percentage! In the big picture, in other words, over the course of time a 10 percent difference or swing in a couple of the three macronutrients is really not a big deal—especially if it causes you to procrastinate from jumping and starting your diet! If you are truly committed, you will have plenty of time to make adjustments if you pay close attention to your body.

This is how I keep it simple in my mind:  As a bodybuilder, I must eat more protein than an average person. My secondary focus is consuming enough carbohydrates to have enough energy to train hard, prevent the body from ever using muscle as an energy source, and fuel my regular lifestyle activities. I sometimes add fat to my diet for energy or eliminate it altogether (relying only on the incidental fat in my chicken breasts and other protein sources) depending on how lean I want to be at the time.

From that basic rationale, you can see that I don’t necessarily worry about an exact ratio of macronutrients to gain quality muscle mass and reduce body fat. The percentages, however, normally end up being around 55 percent protein, 30 percent carbohydrates, and 15 percent fat.

How Many Calories Should You Eat?

“How many calories should I eat? I’m a 23 year-old man, 5’ 9” 180 pounds and am 12.5 percent body fat……….” This is a question that I’ve been asked literally thousands of times by bodybuilders at different levels of experience from all over the world.

Many lifters get confused about how many calories they should eat—especially when they read in the muscle magazines how much food other bodybuilders eat. Some bodybuilders say they eat 10,000 calories a day, while others eat as little as 2,500. What is the right amount of food for you?

Determining Your Maintenance Level

For clarification purposes, your maintenance level is the amount of calories you need to stay at your current body weight. If you want to gain weight or lose weight, you’ll obviously need to make adjustments.

There’s really no way of determining exactly how many calories you should eat to maintain your current body weight, but here is a method that can get you close to your maintenance level. Again, your maintenance level is the amount of calories you would theoretically need to stay at your current weight. This method of calculation is called the Harris-Benedict Equation. This formula takes into account your sex, age, height, and weight. Other factors are considered as well.

Your heart, breathing, and mental activity all require energy (or calories). Even when you are resting, your body is burning calories to maintain its basic functions. This additional energy requirement is also taken into account by the Harris-Benedict Equation.

For men, the equation works as follows:  First, multiply your weight by 13.8. Secondly, multiply your height (in inches) by 5. Next, multiply your age by 6.8 then subtract that figure from 67. Add these three totals together.

Here is an example of a 180 pound, 5'9", 23 year-old man:

                  180 pounds x 13.8                  =   2,484.0                         

                  69 inches (5'9") x 5                 =      345.0

                  23 years-old x 6.8 = 156.40  

                  67 - 156.4                                 =    -  89.4

                -------------------------------------------------------------     

                  Total Calories Needed                2,739.6

For women, the equation works as follows:  First, multiply your weight by 9.6. Secondly, multiply your height (in inches) by 1.8. Next, multiply your age by 4.7 then subtract that figure from 655. Add these three totals together.

Here is an example of a 120 pound, 5'3", 26 year-old woman:

                  120 pounds x 9.6                       =  1,152.0                         

                  63 inches (5'3") x 1.8                =     113.4

                  26 years-old x 4.7 = 122.2  

                  655 - 122.2                                 =     532.8

                  --------------------------------------------------------     

                  Total Calories Needed                  1,798.2

Of course, this method can only estimate the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight. You may need to make some adjustments depending on the amount of exercise you do, the type of exercise, and your own individual metabolic factors.

Skip La Cour’s Simple Way To Determine Your Maintenance Level

As I stated earlier, there’s really no way of determining exactly how many calories you should eat to maintain your current body weight.

Here’s the challenge. Caloric requirements can change from person to person—even if they have similar qualifying factors. Caloric requirements can also change from time period to time period within the same person. You may need to make some adjustments depending on the amount of exercise you do, the type of exercise, and your own individual metabolic factors.

I have a method to make the process of determining the amount of calories you should eat much simpler—and probably just as effective.

1.    Get a book with a complete listing of foods, their calories, and macronutrient breakdown.

2.    Using the information I’ve provided in the previous section of this article, decide on an appropriate breakdown of macronutrients for your daily food intake. Don’t worry about being exact, you can make changes later if necessary.

3.    Decide on the number of meals you are committed to eating each day (I have listed some strategies to help you determine the right amount for you in the next section of this article). 

4.    This may sound too simple, but just pick a total number of calories you’ll eat each day and divide that number by the number of meals you are committed to eating. This will give you the total number of calories you should plan to eat during each meal. After determining the amount of calories you should eat each meal, get your complete book of foods and plan your meals from there.

1.500, 2,000, 3,000—whichever number you choose, you’ll soon be able to figure out what adjustments you need to make. I firmly believe the excuse of not knowing exactly how many calories you should eat is simply a diversion to the real challenge—committing to go through the necessary sacrifice to eat the way you should to support your bodybuilding efforts.  If this is not true—and you are acute to the way your body is processing the food you are eating—this simple method will get you started immediately.

What’s Most Important Is Your Body Composition

Now that you’ve figured out approximately how many calories will maintain your current body weight, all you need to do is eat less than that number to lose weight in body fat and eat more to gain muscle, right?

Well, it’s not that simple. What’s most important in building an awesome physique is your body composition—not how much you weigh on the scale. Body composition is the makeup of the body in terms of the relative percentage of lean body mass and body fat. Obviously, having a higher percentage of lean mass and a lower percentage of body fat is ideal. Your body composition can not be determined by how much you weigh on a scale. Changing your eating habits and exercising more can greatly improve your body composition.

When you begin healthier eating habits, be more concerned with the way you look and feel than the bathroom scale. One thing is certain: The scale is not a good indicator if you are adding high-quality muscle mass. The scale can’t evaluate how the quality of your training and nutritional habits are affecting your body composition.

You may mistakenly believe an increase in weight is due to more quality muscle—and it may be mostly body fat. On the other hand, I have seen quite a few bodybuilders who have obviously gained a fair amount of muscle and, at the same time, lost a considerable amount of body fat—but they were disappointed because they weren’t gaining weight.

The best way to monitor your progress is with a mirror. If you are a “quantitative-kind-of-person” who can only relate to numbers, you may want to have an underwater-immersion fat analysis done to accurately measure your progress.

Personally, I don’t care if an underwater-immersion fat analysis, electronic impedance device, or body fat calipers are used to calculate my body fat percentage, I think they all are inaccurate. Even if they are proven to be accurate, I think they’re insignificant.

Let me ask you a couple of questions. If you really didn’t feel good about the way you looked in the mirror, would a low body fat percentage reading all of a sudden make you happy? In other words, would a “good” number change the vision you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? And, if you we sincerely satisfied with the physique you saw in the mirror, and you were measured at a body fat level higher than you expected, would it change the way you saw yourself? If you answered no to these questions, why would you waste your time getting your body fat levels measured in the first place? You have nothing to gain—except for confusion if that reading is inaccurate.

Once again, let the mirror be your guide. Be sure to see what you look like from the rear! Most of your excess body fat will be carried in your buttocks and hamstrings. What you can’t see may hurt you!

How Many Meals To Eat Each Day

After you’ve estimated the total amount of calories that you need to eat each day, decided on the right ratio of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, you need to commit to an eating schedule which spreads that food evenly throughout the day.

How many meals should you eat? That will depend on your time constraints and the total daily calories you allow yourself to eat. A good rule of thumb would be to eat smaller, more frequent meals. A dedicated bodybuilder should eat at least five times a day and space those meals no further than three hours apart.

I eat eight meals a day that are spread out every two hours. I’ve been eating this way for years. It’s difficult at times because eating so frequently interrupts my train of thought and activities. But, because I am committed to becoming one of the best drug-free bodybuilders in the world, that’s a price I’m willing to pay.

The theory behind this way of eating is this: I have found eating smaller, more frequent meals, or in other words "grazing" throughout the day, is the most efficient way for my body to process food.

Even though I may eat eight meals a day, you can see the total amount of calories of those meals only adds up to around 2,700 - 3,200 calories. Eight meals, totaling 3,000 calories, is far more efficient for the body to handle than only three meals totaling 3,000 calories.

Generally, this is what's included in those meals and the times I eat them:

Meal #1 - 7AM

9 -18 egg whites, 1-2 servings of oatmeal, cream of rice, grits, or white rice, 1 - 2 scoops of whey protein powder.

Meal #2 - 9AM

Meal replacement, salad.

Meal #3 - 11AM

4 - 8 ounces of chicken breasts, 1 - 2 servings of white rice, salad, 1 - 2 scoops of whey protein powder.

Meal #4 - 1PM

Meal replacement, salad.

Meal #5 - 3PM

4 - 8 ounces of chicken breasts, 1 - 2 servings of white rice, salad, 1 - 2 scoops of whey protein powder.

Meal #6 - 5PM

Meal replacement, salad.

Meal #7 - 7PM

4 - 8 ounces of chicken breasts, 1 - 2 servings of white rice, salad, 1 - 2 scoops of whey protein powder.

Meal #8 - 9PM

Meal replacement, salad.

Eating To Build Muscle Mass

When eating to gain muscle, the best (and the simplest) advice I have ever received was, “Don’t eat to get fat. Don’t eat to stay lean. Eat to grow!”    

Many bodybuilders are confused when it comes to eating the right amount of food necessary to build quality muscle. I suggest starting with the number that you’ve calculated with the Harris-Benedict equation then make adjustments from there.

You often hear about bodybuilders who eat up to 10,000 calories a day. That’s a lot of food! At my bodyweight, my calories normally range from 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day.

You want to make determining the amount of calories you should eat to build muscle and maintain low body fat levels even easier? Just pick a number for your total daily calorie intake like 2,000, 2,500, or 3,000. Then, divide those calories into around 55 percent protein, 30 percent carbohydrates, and 15 percent fat. Use that as a starting point and make adjustments from there.

How To Calculate The Percentages Of Macronutrients In Your Food – A Quick Nutrition Mathematics Review

Before calculating the percentages of each of the macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) make up of your total food intake, you must know the calorie conversion of each of them. A calorie is a unit to state the heat content of food. In simple terms, what energy is needed to “burn up” that type of food.

Calorie Conversion

One calorie of protein is equal to 4 grams.

One calorie of carbohydrate is equal to 4 grams.

One calorie of fat is equal to 9 grams.

If you want 55 percent of the 2,500 calories you’ve allowed yourself for the day to come from protein, simply multiply 2,500 by .55. That means 1,375 of your 2,500 calories would come from protein. If you divide those 1,375 calories by 4 (the amount of grams one calorie of protein is equal to), you’ll determine that you need 343.75 grams of protein every day.

If you eat eight meals a day and feel you should distribute protein evenly throughout the day, each of those eight meals would consist of about 43 grams.

If you want 30 percent of the 2,500 calories you’ve allowed yourself for the day to come from carbohydrates, multiply 2,500 by .30. Which means 750 of your 2,500 calories would come from carbohydrates. If you divide those 750 calories by 4 (the amount of grams one calorie of carbohydrate is equal to), you’ll determine that you need 187.5 grams of carbohydrates every day.

If you eat eight meals a day and feel you should distribute your carbohydrates evenly throughout the day, each of those eight meals would consist of about 25 grams.

If you want 15 percent of the 2,500 calories you’ve allowed yourself for the day to come from fat, multiply 2,500 by .15. Which means 375 of your 2,500 calories would come from fat. If you divide those 375 calories by 9 (the amount of grams one calorie of fat is equal to), you’ll determine that you need about 42 grams of fat every day.

If you eat eight meals a day and feel you should distribute your fat evenly throughout the day, each of those eight meals would consist of about 5 grams.

Notice the totals of 42 grams of protein, 25 grams of carbohydrates, and 5 grams of fat that we determined each meal will consist of are very close to the nutritional breakdown of a typical meal replacement.

You can check your work by adding the amount of calories you have determined for each of the macronutrients are equal to the daily total of calories for the day in this manner:

Total protein (55%)            = 1,375

Total carbohydrates (30%) =   750

Total fat (15%)                    =   375

Total calories for the day    = 2,500

The Importance of Protein

As I stated before, protein is the most important nutrient for building muscle. Without enough high-quality protein, you are not going to grow at the rate you deserve to grow—and I don’t care how hard you train in the gym!

It is important for you to maintain a balance in the positive flow of nitrogen on a consistent basis. By this, I mean you absolutely must consume more nitrogen than you excrete. You need to keep your body in a positive protein accrual environment. If you happen to be excreting more nitrogen than you consume, it doesn’t matter. I have discovered, like many other bodybuilders, the more protein I consume the bigger and stronger I get.

How Much Protein Should I Eat To Build Muscle?

How much is the “right” amount of protein to eat each day, you ask? 100 grams? 250 grams? 500 grams? You will need to experiment to determine what the proper amount of protein is that will keep you in a positive protein accrual environment.

Bodybuilders should start with a gram to a gram-and-a-half per pound of bodyweight—and move upwards from there. Many experts estimate this is how much the average hard-training bodybuilder needs per day. My only suggestion would be, if your body can efficiently use more, then by all means, give it more and build more muscle!

There is also a very old, outdated, and conservative method of determining the “proper” amount of protein you should ingest. Unfortunately, too many bodybuilders hold on tightly to this theory. I don't believe there is any way possible this cookie cutter rule can apply to everyone—especially every single hard-training bodybuilder. This method suggests that you multiply your body weight in kilograms times 1.5 to figure the grams of protein to consume daily (divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to determine how much you weigh in kilograms).

The only reason I even include this guideline is because 9 out of 10 people in the bodybuilding world are going to tell you this the “right” amount of protein—not a single gram more! If you ingest any more protein than that, they warn, you are going to damage your kidneys.

I suggest you shouldn’t be so conservative about your protein consumption—especially if you want to make the most use of your hard training and pack on some serious, rock-solid muscle mass! But, If you do try this widely accepted formula, be sure to experiment upwards from there. If you are able to handle more than that amount efficiently, you will probably gain more muscle. One thing you don’t want to do is rob yourself of even one more ounce of precious muscle!

“How much protein should I eat then, Skip? I calculate my total should be 177 grams a day.” I recommend determining the amount of protein you should eat a little differently. Instead of figuring out the total grams of protein you can efficiently digest in the entire DAY—determine how much you can efficiently digest EVERY TWO HOURS.

Why? If you eat your daily total, let’s say, of 300 grams of protein in four meals as opposed to eight, the efficiency of how your body digests that protein would differ, wouldn’t it?

If you take those 300 grams of protein and divide that total by four meals, that would equal 75 grams per meal. Those 300 grams of protein divided by eight meals equals 37.5 grams per meal. Obviously, your body will have a much easier time digesting the 37.5 grams per meal than it would 75 grams. You are eating the very same amount of protein for the entire day—but are creating a big difference in the efficiency of its digestion and utilization. Your body would have a much easier time using  the protein to help build muscle if it was spaced out evenly throughout the day.

Let me ask you a question: Are you confused about the amount of protein some experts in the bodybuilding community are recommending? You really should be more concerned with consistently eating more frequent, high-protein meals and properly spacing them throughout your day. The average meal replacement contains about 40 grams of protein. Even those people who don’t think the human body can assimilate large amounts of protein will agree that it can digest 40 grams every two to three hours, right?

Every two to three hours creates what I call a “Protein Consumption Window of Opportunity.” The more of these opportunities you take advantage of, the more you will augment your efforts in the gym. The more you consume high-quality protein during these windows—regardless of the amount of protein in that “window” or daily total of protein you think your body needs—the more muscle you will build. The key to successfully building muscle is eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. Instead of worrying about that often-debated daily total of protein, break it down into two-hour to three-hour increments.

Do the math. The guy who eats eight meals as opposed to four meals a day has twice as many “Protein Consumption Windows of Opportunity” to take advantage of. Four a day, times seven days a week, equals 28 more “windows.”  Every month that’s 112 more and every year the total grows to an incredible 1,344 more “Protein Consumption Windows of Opportunity” that are used.

All other factors being the same (which they never are, but play along for the sake of this explanation), who do you think will build more muscle over the course of that year?

The Danger Of Eating Too Much Protein

Is eating too much protein dangerous? Many experts will tell you that eating too much protein will cause damage to your kidney. Obviously, by the large amount of protein I’ve been eating consistently every single day throughout my bodybuilding career, I either don’t believe this is true or I am willing to take the risk in order to reach my ambitious bodybuilding goals.

Do I think, regardless of what the experts say, you should ingest a large amount of protein like I choose to do? I can’t make that decision for you. I can, however, share with you the reason why I do despite some people’s warnings. The people that I trust to give me accurate information tell me there are no scientific studies to back up those doom-and-gloom claims. They have theorized that the experts have come to their conclusion because the kidneys play a major role in the synthesizing of protein. Thus, if they are forced to do more work than the average person, they are at a greater risk to suffer damage.

I, myself, haven’t had any problems (at least, any that I am aware of). I always make sure I do the things doctors recommend to help your body digest the protein like drinking a lot of water.

I am certain, however, that I have built a significant amount of muscle mass every single year that I’ve been training. I attribute much of that to consistently eating high-quality protein day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.

I firmly believe my body is able to assimilate most of the 400 grams I eat every day. There are studies that suggest the hard training athletes can efficiently assimilate up to a whopping 72 grams of protein at a time. That’s far more than the old “multiply your body weight in kilograms times 1.5” formula!

I choose to take my chances, but to be perfectly honest, I am not a doctor or claim to be a medical expert. I don’t know anything about the effects of “excess” protein for certain. You’ll need to make the decision of exactly how much protein to eat for yourself.

 The “Bulking Up” Strategy For Packing On Muscle Mass

Is it better to bulk up for added muscle growth, or stay lean all year around? Unfortunately, this is an area where there are no definitive answers.

One school of thought is that if you consistently ingest high-quality protein and train heavily and efficiently, it is not necessary to put on excess weight to gain muscle. The additional body fat does not pack on more muscle. The more fat you put on, the harder you need to work to melt it off when you want to get lean or get ready for a bodybuilding contest. This way of thinking advises you to stay within 10 -15 pounds of lean weight or your shredded contest condition.

I, myself, agree with this thought process. Heavy training, adequate recuperation, and consistently eating high-quality protein is what builds rock-solid muscle mass—not excess body fat. The only things extra food and excess body fat can do for you is prevent your body from ever using precious muscle as an energy source, give you the feeling you have more energy and can train heavier in the gym.

Those are some decent benefits, mind you, but if you are dedicated to be the best bodybuilder you can be, you can get the same benefits by eating smaller, well-balanced meals consistently throughout the day and becoming more focused and mentally tough when you’re in the gym.

While I feel certain about my contradicting philosophy, others feel that if you limit the amount of weight you can gain, you will also limit the amount of muscle you can gain in the process.

If you do decide to bulk up, be sure not to get too far away from contest shape. The longer body fat stays on your body the harder it will be to take it off later. If you get behind schedule and need to drastically reduce your calorie intake to be ready for your contest in time, you will undoubtedly sacrifice a lot of precious muscle in the process. This will negate the very reason why you bulked up in the first place! If you are a drug-free bodybuilder, you do not have any chemicals to help you save muscle. You’ll need to use intelligence and discipline.

Whether or not you are a competitive bodybuilder, ultimately you will need to decide how much body fat you are comfortable carrying. It may not be worth it to feel "sloppy" most of the year just to display more muscle on that one day of the contest.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to eating in the off-season is "eat to gain muscle." Do not eat to get fat or eat to stay lean. Consistently feed yourself high-quality protein for muscle growth and enough carbohydrates to keep you feeling your strongest. After prioritizing those needs, consume as much fat as you feel comfortable eating.

Eating to Lose Body Fat

One pound of body fat contains about 3,500 stored calories. You must reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories a week to lose one pound per week or increase your activity level to burn 3,500 extra calories per week. You must either eat fewer calories or burn more calories by increasing your activity level, or a combination of both—it’s that simple.

But don't expect getting lean, ripped, or shredded to be so easy. The first few days on a diet, you may lose several pounds. That's because your body takes the easy way out when it needs energy. It uses up your stored carbohydrate (glycogen). Carbohydrates contain a relatively large amount of water. When you begin a diet, you can lose a lot of fluid—but no fat. You have a weight loss that only lasts until your next drink of water.

Your body does other things to preserve body fat. When it has used up its carbohydrate stores, it will shift your metabolism into a slower rate. You will discover you are moving more slowly and have less energy because you have used up your carbohydrate (quick energy) stores. Our bodies have been conditioned, over time, to guard against famine and will do almost anything to conserve fat. If weight loss is not done properly, too much precious muscle mass will be lost. But, if you are persistent, as a last resort, your body will begin to use its fat stores for energy.

Don’t look too long for easy answers when trying to lose body fat. You are going to have to “pay a price” if you are truly committed to getting lean. There are no fancy pain-free diets or state-of-the-art supplements that are going to do the bulk of the work for you. Don’t try to fool yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure and disappointment.

If you want to lose excess body fat, the bottom line is you have to eat fewer calories than you burn each day. There are several ways to burn more calories than you eat. You can add more cardiovascular work to your training regimen. You can also simply eat less food throughout the day. You can even do a combination of these two strategies by doing more cardiovascular training and eating less food.

How quickly you will shred that body fat will depend on how much of a deficit you create between the calories you consume and the calories you burn on a daily basis—and for how long you wish to go through the sacrifice and pain it takes to train and/or diet this way.

Although my advice doesn’t make the fat loss process a whole lot easier, it should make the process more simple. Without being distracted by constantly searching for unrealistic, quick-fix solutions, or super-duper supplements, you can now focus on the task in front of you, get to work, and achieve the results you truly desire.

There’s No Substitute For Hard Work When It Comes To Losing Body Fat

When it comes to dieting to lose body fat, there’s no substitute for hard work. Believe me, I really wish this were not the case. Unfortunately, however, you must burn more calories than you ingest every day to lose that stubborn body fat.

Low-fat diets, high-fat, carefully watching your fat intake, or paying close attention to the glycemic index in your foods—it doesn’t matter. When the day is done, you must burn more calories than you eat. It doesn’t even matter if all the food you eat is healthy, non-junk food, or “clean,” it’s total must be lower than your maintenance level.

As I always say, “God puts a price-tag on everything.” If you’ve accumulated some body fat and desperately want to get rid of it, you are going to have to pay the price. The price may be spending more time sweating on a treadmill, feeling hungry on occasion, or both. Whatever method you choose, there will be some pain involved. I would be lying to you if I told you any differently.

Anyone who tells you differently is just flat-out misleading you! I firmly believe it is our desire to discover some painless alternative that we mistakenly believe is “somewhere out there” which prevents us from dieting the way we must in order to accomplish our goal of losing body fat.

There are several ways to burn more calories than you eat. You can add more cardiovascular work to your training regimen, simply eat less food throughout the day, or even do a combination of more cardiovascular training and eating less food.

So, let’s quit looking for a magic solution when comes to losing body fat and get to work!

Starchy Carbohydrates—The Silent Killer!

As I work with more bodybuilders from around the world, I’m beginning to realize the biggest problem for most of us (even the most disciplined among us) is over eating starchy or grainy carbohydrates. I think the biggest problem with starchy, complex carbohydrates is that they are very easy to overeat. It doesn’t take very much rice or pasta to add up to a lot of calories.

When you’re on a strict bodybuilding diet, starchy carbohydrates are a godsend! They taste awesome! They give you that warm feeling throughout your body. They calm you and relax you. They get you out of that funky, bad mood you’re sometimes in when your dieting.

You don’t get very much food in a single serving of starchy carbohydrates—especially for the amount of calories that one serving contains. One serving of white rice contains about 150 calories and about 35 grams of carbohydrates. One serving of rice adds up to a puny  ¾ of a cup—and that’s after it’s cooked! That’s not very much food.

How often do you stop after eating only ¾ of a cup of cooked white rice when you are hungry, really? Come on! Be honest. “Whoops, I guess I put a little too much in that measuring cup. Oh well.” I know how it goes—I’ve been there too! The difference between one serving and 1½  is 300 calories and 70 grams of carbohydrates over the course of one day (I have four servings a day). That’s a significant difference. I think the reason why a lot of bodybuilders who eat “clean” but can’t get lean as quickly as they want or even stay fat is because they’re unaware of overeating starchy carbohydrates.

I tend to lose body fat more quickly when I avoid starchy carbohydrates altogether. I believe the reason why is because I ingest fewer calories by replacing them with vegetables, or fibrous carbohydrates. You can eat an entire 16-ounce bag of broccoli has only 175 calories and 20 grams of carbohydrates. I don’t know about you, but I’m never tempted to eat extra broccoli!

I used to believe avoiding carbohydrates like rice, potatoes, oatmeal, and pasta and substituting them for vegetables was better for fat loss because I thought different types carbohydrates were digested a lot differently. I now feel that it’s all a matter of calories burned versus calories ingested. That’s how you effectively lose body fat. It doesn’t matter which kind of carbohydrates you eat.

You should get your hands on a calorie-conversion book and look up just exactly what is considered a serving of your favorite carbohydrate, and more importantly, exactly how many calories that serving contains. In many cases, you’ll be surprised just how small the serving is and how large the number of calories it contains. When dieting strictly, what type of foods do you crave the most and find the most satisfying? If you are like me—it’s definitely complex carbohydrates!