These healthy fats should be in the form of raw nuts, raw nut butter such as cashew, almond butter, peanut butter, avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, chia seeds, flax seeds, and as a by-product from consuming whole eggs and wild-caught salmon. It will also make you feel better by providing fuel for your brain to run on. In addition dietary fat has little to no impact on leptin levels. As one diets, leptin levels drop in an attempt by the body to spare body fat. Meijer AJ. If you follow this bodybuilding cutting diet, you should expect to lose anywhere between 1-1.5 lbs of fat PER WEEK while maintaining all of your lean muscle mass. Required fields are marked *. The other time of day when one should consume a meal containing carbohydrates is upon rising. This means that you will consume a simple sugar in the form of maltodextrin or dextrose along with your fast-digesting protein. As many of you already know, working out is actually catabolic. If one is naturally endomorphic (has a hard time losing weight), then they may want to lengthen their dieting time to 16-22 weeks. Brosnan JT. Protein is a thermogenic macronutrient key in sparing muscle tissue when in a caloric deficit (see aforementioned section on protein). Rather than continuing with this discussion I will provide a link to an article which covers the subject quite nicely. It is easy to infer we would like to maintain cell volume, especially when dieting. Ketones are by-products of fat oxidation and the brain can use ketones for energy. To simplify everything that I have said, it seems that one should not lower fat below 15% of daily calories unless they would like to face extreme testosterone deficiencies. Rockwell MS, Rankin JW, Dixon H. “Effects of muscle glycogen on performance of repeated sprints and mechanisms of fatigue.” . The body stores carbohydrates inside cells as glycogen. Hart et al. Cell size is an indicator of the “state” that the body is in. The problem with extreme low carbohydrate diets is they cause severe reduction in cell size. Keep in mind that insulin is highly anabolic following a workout, so after consuming a post-workout recovery supplement, we want to consume a shake that consists of a fast digesting protein source such as whey isolate and a rapid digesting carbohydrate source such as maltodextrin or dextrose. Nuts (limit to 1 serving per day), peanut butter (as long as it does not contain hydrogenated oils). Obviously as one loses body fat they will need to re-feed more often. It is also a wise idea to consume a post workout meal composed of whole food, low GI carbohydrate sources (although one may consume another protein shake if they feel so inclined) about 30 minutes after finishing the in workout shake. Dietary protein however, is not as muscle sparing as are carbohydrates when used as a substrate for glucose synthesis. Your email address will not be published. When the body is in a low energy state, it may try to produce energy by converting amino acids to glucose. Endomorphs – 23%-28% of total calories (fat intake is increased in order to reduce carbohydrate intake, as endomorphs may have a difficult time losing fat with higher carbohydrate intakes). There are essentially two crucial times during the day when muscle tissue is at the greatest risk of catabolism. This makes perfect sense: the body senses it is “starving” and thus it represses it’s anabolic hormones to prevent nutrients from being used to increase tissue mass and spares them for energy production. _g1 = document.getElementById('g1-logo-inverted-img'); Mesomorphs – 17% – 23% of total calories. Insulin inhibits protein breakdown and amino acid oxidation, thus promoting muscle maintenance or gain. For our subject in question, this leaves 2400 (1000 + 495) = 905 kcals per day for carbohydrate intake. These factors include your training intensity, bodybuilding split, supplementation, and sleep. “Efficacy of a high-carbohydrate diet in catabolic illness.” Crit Care Med 2001 Jul;29(7):1318-24, 4. As a general rule of thumb, losing 1 lb of bodyweight per week will allow one to retain most of their muscle mass.