calories/protein

[ged]

i think ive read once or twice here that to put on weight, you need to intake more calories than you use up, and doing weights 'tells' your body to put on muscle.

whats the correlation between protein and calories? calories are energy (sugar?) and energy is not protein, which, along with water, is the building block of muscle, right?

[monkey mind]

All the body's tissues, including muscles, are made up of proteins. So, in order to build or repair muscle tissue you need to ingest enough protein (big controversy on what constitutes "enough"). 1 gram of protein equals 4 kCal, so protein can be used as fuel for the body, but it is not the body's first choice - that would be glycogen (which you make form carbohydrates), and then fat. Bottom line: eat protein for the health of your body's tissues, but not for energy. Hope that at least sort of answers your question.

[ged]

thanks for the post, it did help me out. so calories aren't purely sugar, you get energy from other substances.

im curious about the 1g protein = 4 kcal though.
how is the energy obtained from protein? by breaking up the amino acids or something?

[SevenStar]

The body can break calcium down to glucose, BUT the process (catabolism) can cause calcium depletion, which over time, obviously, can lead to diseases, like osteoporosis. And yes, catabolism breaks the protein down to simpler forms.

[greyseal]

Calories are actually the amount of heat/energy that it takes to burn food. I beleive that's how they determine the caloric value of a given food/liquid substance. THey apply heat to it and see how much heat/energy it takes to diminsish the target. UNfortunately, some things are easier to burn than others. 1 gram of Carbohydrates or proteins are equal to 4 calories, while 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.:eek:

[IronFist]

Like greyseal said, everything you eat has calories, except for like water and stuff. Fat has 9 calories per gram, carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram. Calroies are what cause you to gain or lose weight, but to gain weight you need to increase all your calories (fat, carbs, and protein).

IronFist

[SevenStar]

The body will start to use protein for energy 1) if you have a lack of carbs and fats, or 2)if you've been doing intense exercise for a prolonged amount of time. While you are active, the body burns available carbs, then looks for fats, and finally proteins. When you are not active (sleeping, net surfing, etc) the body looks for fat first, then carbs, then protein.

[IronFist]

I thought it was carbs, then fat, then protein.

But I don't know diet stuff that well so maybe I'm wrong.

IronFist

[SevenStar]

it's carbs first when you are exercising. While resting, 70% of atp production is due to fats.

[ged]

so if proteins are absorbed last, and proteins are used to build muscle - that makes it sound as though you can both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. is this correct?

[Serpent]

Certainly. That's what a good balance of cardio and resistance training will do for you. BUT, if you want massive gains then no cardio. But that's just plain unhealthy.

[12345]

Slight change of subject but still dietary. Does anyone know much about carb loading/preparing for an endurance event. I have a half marathon coming up a week on Sunday - hoping to do it as close to 1 hour 30 as I can. Never ran as far as this before. I am planning to taper my training so that my last long run will be 5 days before the race, just do a couple of easy jogs after that. But I am wondering what my diet should be.

I intend to eat a high carb meal the day before, a light breakfast and maybe a muesli bar or some jaffa cakes just prior to the race. Would it be worth eating more carbs in the days leading up to it?

Might think about a sports carbo drink with some glycerol (to inhibit urination and help hydration) mixed in prior to the race - don't want to spend the race dying for a pee - sort of puts you off your stride. Maybe some caffeine - no harm in a little legal stimulant. They will have water stations throughout the race.

Anyone care to comment?

[IronFist]

ged:
so if proteins are absorbed last, and proteins are used to build muscle - that makes it sound as though you can both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. is this correct?

serpent:
Certainly. That's what a good balance of cardio and resistance training will do for you. BUT, if you want massive gains then no cardio. But that's just plain unhealthy.

Um... to the best of my knowledge, it is very difficult to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time when you're talking significant changes. The body either is in an anabolic or catabolic mode, not both. I mean, you can do it, but you might only gain 5lbs of muscle all year. This is why you gain fat along with muscle if you're going for significant gains.

Note: if you're a complete newbie to working out, or if you're on the right drugs, then you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. But otherwise... not really unless you're a genetic freak.

IronFist

[ged]

thanks for the info everyone.
so if i'm serious about gains, i should forget about losing my gut? i suppose it's the price i have to pay. personally i think it adds to my debonair appeal.

[ged]

good luck for your race 12345. ive got no useful advice, apart from maybe finding out how long it takes your body to get the energy from carbos once you consume them, and eat a lot of them around that time.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by ged
thanks for the info everyone.
so if i'm serious about gains, i should forget about losing my gut? i suppose it's the price i have to pay. personally i think it adds to my debonair appeal.

Not really. you can be big and lean, you just can't really do both at the same time. prioritize what you want and go from there. What's your diet like?

[ged]

basically i just eat as much protein as i can. for breakfast this morning, i had a tuna sandwich and a glass of milk. i fit in a protein shake during the day, have 2 other meals during the day with around 35 g of protein, have red meat or chicken for dinner, and in between drink lots of milk and eat cheese.

that doesnt include the crap i eat obviously, which i cut out when im trying to lose fat.

i think ill try and put on mass for a year or so, then concentrate on getting the fat cut out. ill probably be used to eating a mountain of food every day by then, i only hope ill be able to lose the fat successfully.

[SevenStar]

how much do you weigh and how tall are you?

[ged]

89kg, or 195 pounds, bit over 6 foot, and am nearly 19 years old. in the last 2 years ive put on about 20kg, of which a fair bit is fat, but a fair bit is muscle too. all the fat is mostly on my stomach.

[SevenStar]

How much do you want to gain?

[greyseal]

Here is a freaky thing, and I'm not totally sure what it is, but here goes: The 'second wind' thing. Everyone has heard of it, right. I experienced it once during a pick-up basket ball game. I'd been running for some time, back and up the court, and eventually, I was so tired. Then, about five to ten minutes later, I had so much energy it was sick! I actually think that I felt better than, then when I started to play. So, does anyone have an opinion as to what happened? Carb depletion followed by the body burning fat stores? :confused:

[SevenStar]

yeah, that's the way it works. fat has twice the amount of energy per gram than carbs, so you get that boost when the body starts converting fat to energy.

[ged]

not sure how much i want to gain - im going to leave it open ended.

[SevenStar]

eat like a hungry hippo. Keep it healthy though - Ironfist has a reccomendation of how much protein you should get - I think it was one gram per pound of bodyweight. I've got a chart that shows approx how many calories people of a certain height/weight burn per day for active, fairly active and sedentary people. I'll check it and see what it says. you'll want to consume at least 500 calories a day more than that number - if you count calories anyway.

[12345]

Originally posted by ged
89kg, or 195 pounds, bit over 6 foot, and am nearly 19 years old. in the last 2 years ive put on about 20kg, of which a fair bit is fat, but a fair bit is muscle too. all the fat is mostly on my stomach.

Ged

Your call but I am a bit worried that you are eating so much fat - the cheese, meat and milk might be overdoing it a bit. Also as you already weigh quite a bit so I would not worry about how much you eat - rather I would concentrate on what I ate. If you want to really concentrate on gaining mass at least cut out the fat and go for something healthier - but there is no real need to start worrying about diets to gain .

[SevenStar]

he's okay as long as he keeps the meat lean and the cheese and milk lowfat. I can't stand skim milk though, so for me it would be chicken, fish and occasional red meat. the extra protein would be protein shakes w/milk.

[ged]

thatd be cool sevenstar if you could find the calories info. not sure if id be active/ fairly active or what, 10 hours of kung fu a week is a heap of aerobic/anaerobic activity (never sure which one).

1245 - yeah, im a bit worried about my fat gains too :) the cheese i eat is low fat, the milk isnt - like sevenstar, i hate skim milk. tastes like white water. but i seem to be actually losing a bit of fat since ive doing regular kung fu again - hopefully this wont affect my mass gain. im going to eat like a 'hungry hippo', concentrate on low fat high protein, and see where it takes me.

thanks once more for the advice/info guys.

[SevenStar]

To maintain that weight, you should be consuming about 3,120 calories a day.