Okay, so after talking with Sean yesterday we decided to increase protein in order to keep it around 30% of total kcal, as well as increase fats because my glycogen is likely over-saturated and the majority of my activity throughout the day is fat-burning (i.e. walking 10k steps). Ignoring the macros from my previous journal entry on 9/5, the new ones appear below.
Training
kcal = 3590
PRO = 270g (30%)
FAT = 90g (23%)
CHO = 425g (47%)
Recovery
kcal = 3270
PRO = 240g (29%)
FAT = 90g (25%)
CHO = 375g (46%)
Extended Fast
kcal = 2400
PRO = 220g (37%)
FAT = 80g (30%)
CHO = 200g (33%)
This is a tremendous amount of protein to be eating and I honestly do not know what to expect. It comes out to about 3.7g/kg on training days, and 3.3g/kg on recovery days (fasted day is still 3g/kg). These amounts are well below the
4.4g/kg that was used in the recent ISSN study. As the authors state,
Quote:We would posit that using percentages as a means of defining ‘low’ or ‘high’ protein intakes is misleading. If one were to consume the hypothetical low calorie diet (ex. 1000 kcal/d), a protein intake of 36% (of total kcals) would be 90 grams; in contrast, it would be 180 grams on a 2000 kcal/d. Thus, it is best to measure protein intake per unit body weight instead of as a percentage of total energy.
This is my thought as well because although 3g/kg for myself started around 1/3 my energy intake, as I have needed to increase kcal it has decreased. Thus, my "high" protein diet experiment wasn't truly "high" protein relative to my kcal. I admit that I will have no problem consuming this much because, frankly, I am a carnivore and love protein-based foods. However, I am not sure what to expect in terms of weight, health, and mood. I plan to stick with this until my current bulk cycle ends, which would be the week before Thanksgiving. At that time I will have my annual physical and be able to compare my blood test results to those from before going high protein. Related to this,
Quote:We did not measure blood indices to determine if any side effects (i.e. renal or hepatic function) occurred in the high protein group. A few subjects did complain of gastrointestinal distress as well as feeling ‘hot’ (i.e. their body temperature was chronically elevated).
I expect liver enzymes to be through the roof, and I will be curious to see if BUN is elevated as well, which would indicate difficulties eliminating the ammonia from the protein. Depending on gym progress, the blood tests, and overall mood/energy/subjective feelings I will be able to confidently cross another n=1 experiment off the list and have a solid analysis of how it worked for me. Perhaps I will thrive, perhaps I will crash; but we won't know until I try! That said, if shit goes WAY sour before thanksgiving then I will definitely stop early and drop the protein; no point in being stupid about it. I will also try to update my journal with things I notice more often. And finally, I figure I have hit my protein limit when I start smelling like ammonia. If after beginning this new 270g protein intake I start smelling, then I will decrease it. High protein isn't worth smelling like shit.
Quote:Subjects kept a daily diary of their food intake via a smartphone app (MyFitnessPal®)... In order to maintain a high protein diet, subjects consumed commercially available whey and casein protein powder... Otherwise, the rest of their dietary protein was obtained from their normal food intake.
I track my food using FatSecret (obviously), and even now at 220g PRO I consume about 60g through protein powder, and another 20-40g through dairy, on average. I figure I will elevate my protein powder usage somewhat, mainly through using more post-workout and mixing more in my oatmeal. However, I also expect to consume more dairy. I already eat cheese daily, but I will probably also start having greek yogurt daily. Nothing like some steak dipped in yogurt ;-)
Assuming that the food intake was accurate in the ISSN study, it appears that they were consuming an average of 310g/day PRO, which made up 35-55% of the total kcal. Clearly I am well below both the grams and percentages. Moreover, FAT was at 90g just like mine but made up 27% of energy intake, while CHO was at 230g (30%) while mine is 425g (47%). Thus, there is a possibility that the lack of body composition changes were because the high-protein merely replaced the CHO via gluconeogenesis. Since my CHO is still very high, it will be interesting to see how I differ from the study.
Some additional quotes from the study,
Quote:The results of the current investigation do not support the notion that consuming protein in excess of purported needs results in a gain in fat mass. Certainly, this dispels the notion that ‘a calorie is just a calorie.’ That is, protein calories in ‘excess’ of requirements are not metabolized by the body in a manner similar to carbohydrate... Thus, eating extra calories will result in a gain in body fat; however, overfeeding on protein will also result in a gain in lean body mass perhaps due to an increase in muscle protein synthesis.
Quote:One might suggest that the high thermic effect of protein may make it difficult to gain body weight during times of overfeeding. It has been shown that the greater the protein content of a meal, the higher the thermic effect [34]. Both young and old individuals experience an increase in resting energy expenditure after a 60 gram protein meal (17-21% increase) [35]... According to the authors, “the results of this study indicate that for men of similar total body weight and BMI, body composition is a significant determinant of postprandial thermogenesis; the responses of obese are significantly blunted compared with those of lean men” [37].
Quote:It is unusual that despite no change in their training volume, the ~800 kcal increase in caloric intake had no effect on body composition. This is the first overfeeding study done on well-trained individuals; thus, one might speculate that their response differs from sedentary individuals. Although there was no significant change in the mean value for body weight, body fat, lean body mass or percent fat, the individual responses were quite varied. This may be due to the fact that other dietary factors were not controlled (e.g. carbohydrate intake). There was a mean increase in carbohydrate intake (~14%) in the high protein group. This was not significant due to the wide variation in intakes. Of the 20 subjects in the high protein group, 9 consumed more carbohydrate whereas 11 decreased or maintained the same intake.
These three quotes somewhat get at what I am going for. The best "bulk" is the one that maximizes muscle gain with minimal fat gain, at least in my opinion. Now obviously some fat gain is necessary, but the less the better. Thus, the higher PRO given how lean and insulin sensitive I am, may make my thermogenic response very high. Hopefully this will work in some weird way to continue muscle protein synthesis while burning away some fat. But that is just wishful thinking at the moment, and is quite honestly unlikely to happen. Regardless, if I just end up having a metabolic boost that demands more calories, they will be going to CHO or FAT. Wouldn't it be fun to get up to 4,000 kcal with my 3 meals/day (sarcasm; actually it would be an interesting challenge).
Thanks for reading!