Why are no Carb Diets not good for building muscle? Why do they usually fail?

The body uses carbs for 2 main things. The first use is energy. Carbs are stored as glycogen in muscle and when using those muscles the glycogen is burned as energy. The second is fat storage, which is where no carb diets are correct. Unused carbs are stored in the body as adipose (fat) tissue. If you eat no carbs the body will use your stored fat for energy because there are no carbs to be harvested. The problem here is that the body also uses proteins and muscle that you have for energy. On a no carb diet you will lose a lot of weight, but it won't all be fat. You may lose 30 pounds but 5 or 7 of those pounds may be muscle. The other problem is that your body needs and craves carbs when you are on this diet. So the second that you begin eating carbs again, the body will absorb more carbs than it usually would. For this reason most people gain back more weight than they lost after these no carb diets. The better way to lose fat and keep/build muscle is to carb cycle. I will provide another post about carb cycling in a couple days...

Heavy Whipping Cream's Use

Many people that are on a certain nutrition diet at Wiefit see heavy whipping cream as an ingredient in their protein shakes, and automatically question it because of the amount of fat that it contains. The thing that they don't understand is it's use in the body. The fats in the heavy whipping cream raise testosterone levels in the body, which aid in muscle growth. The amount of muscle gained on the diets involving heavy whipping cream far outweighs the minor amount of fat that is put on because of the whipping cream. So next time you guys trying to put on muscle quickly, rethink putting heavy whipping cream in where the diet tells you too!

Biological Value of Protein in Food

Over this Spring Break, my dad and I went on a fishing trip, and caught a bunch of fish to eat. When thinking about the fish, I began to think about something Brian was talking about called the biological value of proteins. The biological value of a food refers to how quickly and effectively the protein in the food can be digested and used by the human body. Brian spoke about a couple foods, and one he referred to was fish. He said it had a very high biological value, so i decided to see just how high it and other foods were. I found that eggs are one of the highest at 94%, with fish slightly ahead of beef at 76% with beef at 74%. What these numbers show is the percent of the nitrogen that is absorbed by the body.  A ratio of nitrogen incorporated into the body over nitrogen absorbed gives a measure of protein 'usability' - the BV.

Isolates vs. Concentrates

In protein supplements, the powder that you have is usually an isolate, concentrate or mixture of the two. They come from the same source, but they are slightly different.

Concentrates are not as pure of a protein and are a fair amount cheaper than isolates. They are only about 70% protein, and have a higher fat content than isolates. Isolates are about 90-95% protein and are more costly. But they are also a much more quality protein supplement than concentrates. In terms of whey protein, a very popular type of protein, concentrates have a higher amount of lactose in them, because whey is a milk protein. Not that this is bad, but it is better for those who are lactose intolerant to take an isolate whey protein supplement.

In the end, both are good and will provide you with the protein you want, its just that the isolate proteins are much higher quality and much more pure.

Carb Back Loading

Many people have heard that carbs are becoming very crucial in many diet plans. Everyone knows about the no carb diets (which are horrible), carb loading, and carb cycling. A very new and recent trend in utilizing carbohydrates in fat loss/muscle gain is called carbohydrate back loading. I find this to be very interesting, and many people who are on it now love it even more. This kind of diet is made for those who work out later in the day, between 3 and 6. During the early morning and day, our bodies are very sensitive to carbs and are more likely to store them as fat rather than as glycogen in the muscle cells. Also, after workouts our bodies are more likely to store carbohydrates as glycogen. So knowing this, we can figure that the best time to have carbs in our diet is later at night (in the couple hours following your workout). These carbs as crazy as it seems can even be sugar as long as it is fat free. Fat free ice cream and cereal, anything that is fat free can be eaten. In the morning and day you want to stick strictly to vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats. Again don't go crazy, an example of a breakfast for a male athlete would be 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, and 1 oz of cheese. Don't overdo the fats during the day time, but you can do a fair amount of carb loading in the hours following your workout. Workout hard and this kind of diet will help you lose fat and gain muscle.

Staying on Track During Vacation

It can be hard for many to stay on track with their fitness and nutrition plan over vacation, with all of the reasons not to. In complete honesty a week off of your diet will not kill you, so feel free to live a little, but don't go crazy. Fitness however can be very easy to keep going on vacation. I am going to Florida this year, and I'm excited to do some different kind of workouts that I do not get to do as often up here. I plan to do a lot of push ups with different hand placement (wide, close, and shoulder width), crunches, squat jumps, and even some sprinting on the beach. It is very difficult to run in the sand, so I am looking forward to doing some speed training that is virtually impossible to do in my hometown. I also plan to do some swimming in the ocean for cardio purposes, because I don't want my cardio to suffer either. It can be very easy to let yourself go crazy, but make sure that you at least keep your fitness plan going over vacation. In addition, make sure once you are home you get back into the nutrition plan you had before vacation, because it is very easy to fall into bad habits.

Sleep

The key thing that most people lack in their everyday lives is sleep. Very often we see people only getting three or four hours of sleep, which is not nearly enough for anyone. Younger guys trying to bulk up really need sleep, because when you are asleep, your testosterone levels are at their highest. This means that when sleeping, human growth hormones are at their highest in your body, so getting enough is very beneficial towards bulking up and growing muscle. For those not trying to build muscle, sleep is very important for staying healthy, because studies show that during sleep, your body's immune system is much stronger. Therefore sleeping enough will help you fight off infections and illness. Also, sleep helps with memory and attentiveness. Those who sleep more are much more likely to be able to store things in their mind and will be more mentally active throughout the day. This would help you in school and in your workouts. If you can keep your mind active during school, your are much more likely to understand the ideas being taught in class. The most important thing about getting the right amount of rest is that your body requires energy to work, and sleep allows your body to regenerate. Being active is very important to living a healthy life, and your body requires rest to stay active, so make sure you get about 7-9 hours of sleep every night.