[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]Meni69 wrote:
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Yes, the amounts have been blown out of proportion.
Yes, having more muscle is all around better for metabolism and health. What’s the shocking story here?[/quote]
you said it
Yes, the amounts have been blown out of proportion.[/quote]
Yeah…but to even think that because you gained just 20lbs of muscle over several years that this means a drastically increased food intake is equally ridiculous.
I think this is no more than a simple case of “I’m a gym rat too!”. Most guys really into bodybuilding would laugh at the idea of ONLY gaining 20lbs over the course of training for years. That is, unless built like Mad titan on this site and happen to be shorter than 5’10".
I need way more calories at this weight than I did at 150lbs. I couldn’t care less exactly how many.[/quote]
I’ve gained at least 25lbs of muscle in my time on this site, from about 155 to about 185 at close to similar body fat levels at around 5’7". I don’t train or eat with the intention of gaining weight either, but I have done some mass building phases. It just seems to happen if you work out and don’t like restricting your calories.
The thing that surprises me though, and I remember a couple high level guys on here saying that they can maintain their bodyweight at around 2000-2500 calories a day. I think the guy’s name was “caveman” or something like that. I think he has a gym in south america somewhere and theres a big thread in the progress pics thread of him.
I’m currently of the opinion that small to moderate amounts of muscle is relatively difficult to lose, but I have no idea about bigger guys, especially guys whose bodyweight is kept to unnaturally high levels through AAS.
I hear people say if get weaker when dieting and then you are losing muscle, but I think it is far more complicated than that and more due to underrecovery and hormone status than muscle loss.