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I read on a website recently that when trying to put on muscle mass you should use a breakdown of roughly:

Protein – 25%, Fat – 15%, Carbohydrate – 60%

And when cutting:

Protein – 40%, Fat – 30%, Carbohydrate – 30%

The reason given is that you need more protein to preserve your muscle mass when cutting bodyfat.

I′m not so sure about this. To keep your strength gains increasing in the gym, you would need more fuel ( carbs ) wouldn′t you?

I believe Mike recommended –
Protein – 25% Fat – 15% Carbohydrate – 60% when both cutting or trying to add muscle mass.

Comments appreciated

Cheers

Stevo,

I remember Mike said that carbohydrates also have a ′protein-sparing effect′, i.e. carbs also play a key role in preserving your muscle mass. According to Mike in his ′The Mentzer Method to Fitness′ (with Ardy Friedberg, 1980), ′protein requirements depend almost entirely on your body weight, not your level of physical activity, because it is not used as a fuel as long as the body′s energy supply is adequate (…) I maintain my weight at about 220 pounds and consume about 60 grams of protein a day, less than recommended for my weight, and I′m still growing muscle′.

And skipping carbs for protein really won′t help you getting cut up, because protein, like carbs and fats, contain calories as well!

Hope this will help you a bit.

Cheers B-WINE

I agree that carbs play a role in maintaining muscle mass. To guarentee that you are preserving, or even increasing muscle mass you must increase, or at least maintain, your strength in the gym from workout to workout, for which you need plenty of fuel. i.e Carbs. Low Carb doesn′t make you lose fat, low calorie does.

Stevo & B-WINE,

Yes, carbs play a role in maintaining muscle mass. If there is not enough calories from carbs you body will burn a mixture of protein (being from muscle tissue) and body fat. That′s why you have to eat more protein during a low-carb diet, since the brain and immune system function more easily on carbs then on ketones during the breakdown of fat, the protein goes to the liver and goes through a process called gluconeogenis which converts protein (amino acids) to carbohydreates. Up to 57% excess protein can be converted to carbs by the liver. I went on the Atkins diet for 5 days consuming 20 g. of carbs a day (extremely low) and got such bad constipation that I had to take an enima to help me use the bathroom. Since there was no fiber in my diet during those 5 days there was nothing to propel the waste out and believe me, you won′t catch me on a low carb diet again! Clarence Bass got his bodyfat level down to 2.8% (no bodyfat in the body except in bones, etc.) by eating a high fiber diet where (the fiber holds onto calories as it passes through the body).NEW STUDIES have proven that in the beginning of a low carb diet you will lose more fat than on a high carb low fat diet in only the beginning stages of the diet and then the body leveles off giving both groups of participants equal weight loss in the end.

Hi Stevo & Garrett,*

I agree: low calories are the ′trick′. According to Mentzer, when on a ′fad diet′ – like the Atkins diet -, yes, most people lose weight rapidly. However, this rapid weight loss is not the immediate result of ′burning′ fat, but the result of losing a lot of water. Remember, carbs (in the form of glycogen stored in the muscles and the liver) bind to water. So eating almost no carbs – as with Atkins – will make you lose weight fast, but, again, it is mainly water. And because your muscles consist mostly of water (about 72%), they′ll shrink too, which is most undesirable.

* Just curious: are you the Garrett – or ′Growth′ – mentioned on the HIT tapes?