Energy Intake And Macronutrient Ratios Determine Long Term Protein And Fat Storage

I've noticed that many people interested in body recomposition place way more emphasis on exercise than on diet. Yet the science is clear that total energy balance (intake minus expenditure) and the ratio of CHO:PRO:FAT:ALC are the major determinants of muscle and fat gain. As I've covered previously, studies on human metabolism show that basic physics holds: exercise is not required for large muscle gains. For example this classic overfeeding study by Forbes et al showed that "Forty-six percent of the 4.3-kg average weight gain experienced by these subjects consisted of lean body mass (LBM)." This comes out to 4.4 lbs of muscle gained in a three week period (18.8 grams of net protein added per day). Because the study used a high-fat diet (45% FAT!), the subjects gained an average of 115 grams of FAT per day as well. Each gram of protein came with nearly 3 grams of FAT. As the evidence I've shown previously reveals, if an MNP diet had been used the results would have been much improved. Still, the women in this study gained 1/5 LB of muscle PER DAY with zero exercise. Of course the starch overfeeding studies I've covered previously caused even more gains (3/4 LB LBM per day), and the reason is because the diet maximized complex carbohydrates and the CHO:FAT ratio. In the starch studies I estimate they ate 1800 kcal per day over their energy needs. Here the subjects ate 900-1700 kcal above needs. Had the diet been based on MNP principles, the body composition results would be improved a great deal.

Hormonal response to overfeeding. Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Apr;49(4):608-11.

But my main point in this post is not to further support MNP as much as it is to elucidate the poorly realized fact that diet is the key to muscle gain, not exercise.

Strength Is A Skill And Not Directly Controlled By Muscularity

If you've done much reading on strength, you quickly realize that the smallest guy in the room might sometimes be the strongest, not because of genetics, but precisely because strength is the result of practicing neuromuscular coordination: developing skill through intense practice. For example, look at the size of these classic strongmen.

Many of today's famous bodybuilders would be easily outperformed by these classic (much smaller) strongmen. My point is simply that a higher level of protein storage does not necessarily mean a higher level of strength skill. Obese Americans have some of the largest protein stores on the planet, because "[o]bese individuals have a greater lean body mass (LBM) than normal weight subjects" (Forbes et al). Yet most have not developed their strength skill very much.

The Iron Willpower Of The Sumo Kid

The fact is the human body has no choice but to deposit surplus energy intake. If kcal intake is above expenditure, energy stores will increase. 75-95% of the energy will make it into storage (higher efficiency caused by fat overfeeding). The truth is, protein and fat stores can be increased to staggering amounts. Just imagine a child who will in the future become a massive sumo wrestler. If at age 10 you asked people to guess the kid's "genetic limit" for protein and fat stores, the guesses would be way off! This is because in the future that child will practice daily overfeeding, constantly eating more kcal than expending (on a fairly high fat diet obviously). Since the laws of physics don't change, this means protein and/or fat stores MUST increase.

Sumo wrestlers probably have equal or greater protein stores than the biggest bodybuilders; they are just covered by fat. The truth is genes do have an effect on one's natural activity level and appetite, BUT these things can be greatly controlled by the individual through diet. People often misunderstand this: energy is what builds muscles and fat stores, NOT EXERCISE! Dozens of overfeeding studies show large muscle gains in subjects not on an exercise program.

Exercise Is An Important Chisel In The Tool Kit, But Diet Alone Provides The Raw Materials

Exercise does some positive things for body recomposition. First, it oxidizes FAT. Second, it stimulates protein synthesis. But without food in the stomach, studies show that net protein balance is negative, because exercise stimulates both protein synthesis and protein breakdown.

Basically, the only limit to how much muscle a person may gain is determined by the macronutrient ratio of the diet and total kcal intake minus energy expenditure. As an aside, I wonder if the main practical effect of steroids is to increase appetite (because steroids cannot change the basic physics of metabolism).

Some people expend prodigious amounts of energy, eat a high fat diet that creates inefficient protein deposition (weak insulin response), fail to eat more kcal than they expend, and then wonder why they are a genetic "hardgainer." The truth is, whatever
their genetic foundation, they are confusing training specific neuromuscular skills with increasing protein stores. Those are two distinct but related goals.

As you gain weight, the metabolic cost of the additional weight gain requires you to eat relatively more energy to gain the same amount of muscle as before. So as you meet your short term goals it does becomes harder to eat more kcal than you expend. Weight tends to stablize because people are creatures of habit. But, as sumo wrestlers demonstrate, if you overfeed, you will gain weight, no exceptions. Sumos are huge because they overfeed religiously. Since the focus here is muscle gain not fat, we implement the principles of MNP. The evidence shows that body recomposition improves the fastest when MNP is combined with overfeeding (surplus kcal). There really isn't such a thing as a genetic limit, except that one may get so huge that they impair their health and die. Otherwise it's simply a question of whether the person eats more kcal than they expend. So when people talk about genetic limits they are really talking about their predisposition for a lower kcal diet and a high activity level. But physics guarantees that those things can be overcome if the knowledge of macronutrients is there, if the iron willpower is there. Certainly it is not easy to steadily grow protein stores while limiting fat gain, but with the MNP diet you can open up the most direct pathway towards the goal of growing protein stores (by regularly ingesting more MNP kcal than you expend).