T Nation

Massive Eating

Bodybuilding
#1

Hey Guys,

Just back for another piece of advice. Right now I am just starting to work out again. It seems that I have tailored my workouts for Hypertrophy right now, but I will soon move to strength workouts once I find out how to do olympic lifts and read a bit more on it… ANYWAY, I was reading the Massive eating article, and followed all of the instructions on how to find my caloric intake. I ended up getting a figure of 3800 cals, and I assume that I have a moderate response to insulin, so my ratio is 30C/40P/30F. This equals 285g carbs, 380g prot., and 126g fat. Does this sound right to you guys? I’m going to go get tested for the insulin sensitivity like it says, but I’m using those ratios until I find out for sure. If I’m at 18-20% body fat, and am trying to slim down, is this a bad diet for me right now? I can only work out 3 days a week. Also, if I’m strenth training, will I require such a huge amount of calories? and the meal combinations found in Massive eating should be applied to meals for the rest of my life(i.e. Prot w/ Fat, or Prot w/ Carb, never Fat/Carb?)? A little help Please

#2

I have yet to see any research that meal combining does squat, so the key to this diet’s effectiveness is in the caloric intake.

I have found that Massive Eating requirements put on way too much fat/total weight unless using prohormones or steroids. Others suggest anywhere 14 - 16 calories per lb of body weight, up or down regulate (2cal per pound) after two weeks, based on progress toward goals.

Bottom line, you can not gain muscle mass and take off fat, effectively, simultaneously. You need to make a decision. Personally I like to collar my bodyfat between 5% for fat loss and muscle gain, that way I can plan my workouts and diets 6-12 weeks out.

If you are going for the fat loss and don’t want to lose much muscle mass the cyclo ketogenic diet with your personal modifications seems to be the most well accepted anecdote.

#3

If you are trying to slim down, then the full-blown Massive Eating calorie calculations are NOT for you. You might want to try the Don’t Diet plan outlined in the Growth Surge Project Stage 1. This would present a slightly hypocaloric diet that allows you to still train hard, but lose the fat. Your post is slightly confusing though. You’ve tailored your workouts for hypertrophy, but want to slim down? Maybe you could clarify exactly what you really want to do. By the way, there may be no clear published evidence that Massive Eating food pairing are optimal for bodybuilding, but it is not going to hurt you to try it out.

#4

Why is that just because you limit yourself by maintaining you can’t lean out while gaining mass, you feel the need to limit others??? The bottom line is that there isn’t a bottom line.

#5

The “don’t diet” diet may be more suitable than Massive Eating according to your body comp right now. Individuals with higher body fat are great at storing excess kcals as fat. They’re also great at losing fat when kcals are restricted and they involve themselves in a training program. Since by your estimates you’re in the high middle ground, I would suggest you “don’t diet” first and see how your body reacts.