Fat Intake for Muscle Building

[BendtheBar]

I received an email this morning telling me my fat intake recommendations are outdated, and that fat should only be based on body weight. A liter should never eat more than their bodyweight dictates.

I believe my recommendation was to an 18 year old with a fast metabolism. I told him to eat 30-35% of his daily calories from fats.

This is a good example of science meeting reality, and reality winning.

Here we have an 18 year old kid who needs 4000 calories to grow. he has a hard enough time getting in his calories to begin with. So what are guys telling him to do? Limit protein and fats because of some study.

The result is that he is forced to rely very heavy on carbs. This is not only an unbalanced approach, and I don't care for such things, but it also makes it harder for this kid to get in his calories.

So that's my opinion.

What say you?

[Hunterace]

Well if the lifter is in it for lifestyle and not just training for 6 months then stopping. I'd say have him try both ways... 3 months of the really high carb diet and fat based on body weight, and 3 months of more protein and fat and compare his gains. I'm sure his gains will be far better on the increased protein and fat!

[MC]

Fats are good for joints and hormone/lipid production. I'm not a fan of low protein, low fat, high carb. With bulking, I am more a fan of increasing fat and protein intake and maybe, slightly increasing carbs.

Every time my weight gained stalled, I upped my fat and protein content and my gains would restart again. Swapped steak for chicken, increased almonds, and more olive oil and butter. Lather, rinse, repeat.

That email is why guys are rails and not tanks.

People need to stop it with the "science" of macros and focus more on the "simple math" of calories in versus calories out. Especially when they want to get huge. If you are cutting, different story. But this is a guy trying to bulk.

[bruteforce]

Anytime I see something like "a lifter should never" is it isn't followed by something along the lines of "deadlift on a bosu ball" I'm skeptical of the advice.

[markievicz]

Originally Posted by MC

That email is why guys are rails and not tanks.

awesome phrase!

[ricka182]

I agree with you BTB. It is hard for a person who only knows of an online study, or hearsay from others without doing their own research, to understand proper nutrition..

The recco's online are not geared for people like us, who want more than basic fitness, health and strength.

Follow the "guidelines", and you will either be a succesful, albeit, little person, or fail miserably and become a fatty looking for someone else to blame. Or, follow the sound advice given from people who can back it up, like you, and achieve goals, strength, and a better life overall.

[5kgLifter]

The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.High triglycerides driven by carbohydrate consumption » The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.


Never heard of the bodyweight "theory" but can't say that it makes sense given that people need to eat what the body requires and a smaller person can still require more calories than a bigger person depeding on their metabolism, so to base everything on bodyweight would mean no gains, basically, in that scenario.

The link above is quite good for anyone interested; I was actually looking for a carb/triglyceride study.