Eat LESS OFTEN when BULKING!

Eat LESS OFTEN when BULKING!

There is something magical that happens when you consume around 100g+ of protein per meal..

This individual BOLUS of protein causes a distinct hormonal and biochemical response, ramping up anabolism at the cellular level. ONLY by crossing this protein threshold will you be able to stimulate what I call: “SPS, Super Protein Synthesis”. A standard 25-50g of protein per meal is not sufficient to produce this SPS response, you must break this “protein barrier”.

Studies have clearly shown that eating in this pattern leads to greater increases in protein synthesis and overall anabolism:

1.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22992307
2.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10357740

STOP WASTING YOUR TIME AND PROTEIN, EATING EVERY 2-3 HOURS! Not only is it not at all necessary, it isn’t even optimal! The protein that you are consuming is not being fully utilized, and so your gains are suffering. Just by making this one dietary adjustment, I will guarantee that you can increase muscle mass and strength dramatically–and within a very short period of time!

The secondly, eating less often is superior to eating more frequently when trying to add muscle mass, because eating less often while bulking will enable you to consume FAR MORE CALORIES than you’d be able to eating every 2-3 hours. Even if you have a naturally strong appetite, it will be even STRONGER if you WAIT to eat, priming your body to uptake nutrients and release digestive enzymes! The MORE calories that you consume, the HIGHER your IGF-1 level rises! By eating so often, you actually PREVENT your body from going in to this avid hunger mode(not catabolism!) and you therefore actually end up UNDEREATING. This is why eating often is an effective strategy for fat-loss–but not for muscle gain. Eating often is a way to control your appetite. You can do 2 meals, 3 meals, 4 meals, or more depending on how long you are awake. The bottom line is–do NOT EAT UNTIL YOU ARE VERY HUNGRY! This usually means 3-5 hours, NO MORE. We don’t want you going 6-8 hours with no calories, as this would interfere with muscle protein synthesis. However, the MYTH that you MUST eat every 2 hours is just that–a MYTH.
At the end of the day, as we all know: It’s calories IN vs calories OUT! Take in MORE CALORIES and you GROW!! EAT WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY! For me, that is usually 2-4 hours. Sometimes it’s less, sometimes it’s more, but I ALWAYS LISTEN TO MY BODY. I used to be the same way, I would eat JUST BECAUSE 2 hours had passed and I wasn’t even hungry. BUT–when I waited just a bit more(maybe just an hour or two) I found that I became MUCH HUNGRIER and ended up eating way more food. AGAIN, I EAT ONLY CLEAN FOOD, with occasional cheat meals. Remember, THE MORE CALORIES YOU CONSUME IN ONE SITTING, THE HIGHER YOUR INCREASE YOUR IGF-1 LEVEL

You can eat every 3-5 hours, which equates to anywhere from 3-6 meals on average. The POINT that I am stressing, is that it is LESS IMPORTANT HOW OFTEN YOU EAT and MORE IMPORTANT HOW MUCH YOU EAT. That’s the point to take home. You should NOT EAT before you are hungry, as this will prevent you from eating a lot of food, which is why it is a useful strategy when DIETING; eat BEFORE you get hungry. Eating before you get hungry will ensure that you DON’T over-eat. However, when bulking, you DO NOT want to eat before you get hungry, you want to be hungry so that you will consume more calories. You WANT to over-eat when bulking. Eating too soon will prevent you from getting VERY HUNGRY. You will NOT enter a catabolic state if you wait 3-5 hours to eat. In the end, IF YOU EAT MORE FOOD, YOU WILL GROW MORE. This strategy, eating when HUNGRY, will allow you do consume more food, which will produce more GROWTH.

All of the current scientific data validates the same thing: Meal FREQUENCY is not as important as we thought; all that matters most is HOW MANY CALORIES YOU CONSUME AND HOW MANY YOU BURN.