Finally building muscle because of fat?
gsp90x
Posts: 416 Member
Hi folks.
I have my own opinion on this but wanted to poll the experts. You ARE all experts on your own experience and in my opinion often more so than any of the "nutritionists" because you have first hand experience.
So, I started LCHF around march 2015. May I went to zero carb. The Beast thought I was nuts bordering on dangerous. Prior to this there was no denying it that I was ill. I had been seriously ill since I was 14. "ill" encompases many, many things all of which I'm sure you can imaging from your own experiences. Prior to this, The Beast would (I am not exagerating) 20-30 minutes removing the fat from his meat prior to cooking. Of course trimming steak, but even trimming out the marbling. Chiken always took the longest. Upwards of 45minutes trimming and and all visible fat from legs, thighs, breasts. It drove me mad.
As I progressed on this way of eating and he saw undeniable proof that I was getting better and better he became more interested. At the very least he wanted to be able to support me if other people challenged my "dangerous" way of eating because he could see the undeniable way it was changing my life for the better. (And how I was getting easier to live with, even enjoyable to be around)
Finally, we are 7 months in and The Beast no longer worries about fat at all. He still won't eat chicken skin, but all the more for me. He's switched to 2% milk from skim. No longer trims the fat and actually enjoys bacon and eggs on occasion now. He's drastically lowered how much sugar and carbs he eats, even his fruit consumption has gone down. He's not low carb by any means but he's sort of middle of the road with lots of meat and veggies.
kay, so now that you know HIS lifestyle somewhat.
He's always been active. 4th degree black belt in Tai Kwon-do. Mixed martial arts 3-4 times a week. He's competed at the elite level (7th in Canada last year in his age group- proud of him) in Ultra Beast Spartan Races... suffice it to say, this is a strong-as-heck dude. (one legged piston squats anyone?)
But he's never been big as in bulky big. In fact, there have been times I have to encourage him to eat more because he looked ill. Too skinny. Strong as ox. skinny as a rake. He says he's "ripped". I say he's Skeletor. He's had problems with low testosterone as well.
Since he's lost his fear of fat.... that's all changed. He's actually decreased his activity somewhat. He's mostly focusing on body weight exercises with light MMA 2 times a week and almost no cardio, and he's gaining muscle at a noticeable rate! I mean dude's getting buff! It's really cool. He says he's not really even trying. In fact he feels he's being lazy. But there's not denying the muscle he's putting on. No, it's not fat. it's muscle and it's defined.
So, of course, my theory is that for all those years (30+) that he really ate almost no fat what so ever, do you think that he must simply have been so low fat his body didn't have what it needed to make the muscle? Now that he's lost his fear of fat the muscle is just growing like it could have all along given his propensity for athletics?
It's probably unscientific, but what do you think? It`s the only thing we can figure but it seems a little funny that he just starts eating fat and poof! here come the muscles.
??
I have my own opinion on this but wanted to poll the experts. You ARE all experts on your own experience and in my opinion often more so than any of the "nutritionists" because you have first hand experience.
So, I started LCHF around march 2015. May I went to zero carb. The Beast thought I was nuts bordering on dangerous. Prior to this there was no denying it that I was ill. I had been seriously ill since I was 14. "ill" encompases many, many things all of which I'm sure you can imaging from your own experiences. Prior to this, The Beast would (I am not exagerating) 20-30 minutes removing the fat from his meat prior to cooking. Of course trimming steak, but even trimming out the marbling. Chiken always took the longest. Upwards of 45minutes trimming and and all visible fat from legs, thighs, breasts. It drove me mad.
As I progressed on this way of eating and he saw undeniable proof that I was getting better and better he became more interested. At the very least he wanted to be able to support me if other people challenged my "dangerous" way of eating because he could see the undeniable way it was changing my life for the better. (And how I was getting easier to live with, even enjoyable to be around)
Finally, we are 7 months in and The Beast no longer worries about fat at all. He still won't eat chicken skin, but all the more for me. He's switched to 2% milk from skim. No longer trims the fat and actually enjoys bacon and eggs on occasion now. He's drastically lowered how much sugar and carbs he eats, even his fruit consumption has gone down. He's not low carb by any means but he's sort of middle of the road with lots of meat and veggies.
kay, so now that you know HIS lifestyle somewhat.
He's always been active. 4th degree black belt in Tai Kwon-do. Mixed martial arts 3-4 times a week. He's competed at the elite level (7th in Canada last year in his age group- proud of him) in Ultra Beast Spartan Races... suffice it to say, this is a strong-as-heck dude. (one legged piston squats anyone?)
But he's never been big as in bulky big. In fact, there have been times I have to encourage him to eat more because he looked ill. Too skinny. Strong as ox. skinny as a rake. He says he's "ripped". I say he's Skeletor. He's had problems with low testosterone as well.
Since he's lost his fear of fat.... that's all changed. He's actually decreased his activity somewhat. He's mostly focusing on body weight exercises with light MMA 2 times a week and almost no cardio, and he's gaining muscle at a noticeable rate! I mean dude's getting buff! It's really cool. He says he's not really even trying. In fact he feels he's being lazy. But there's not denying the muscle he's putting on. No, it's not fat. it's muscle and it's defined.
So, of course, my theory is that for all those years (30+) that he really ate almost no fat what so ever, do you think that he must simply have been so low fat his body didn't have what it needed to make the muscle? Now that he's lost his fear of fat the muscle is just growing like it could have all along given his propensity for athletics?
It's probably unscientific, but what do you think? It`s the only thing we can figure but it seems a little funny that he just starts eating fat and poof! here come the muscles.
??
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Replies
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I haven't really looked into bodybuilding, but you need protein and anabolic hormones to build muscle.
The weightlifting d00ds typically like carbs because insulin is anabolic, but fat could be increasing his testosterone level. Maybe it's time for a new blood test?
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See that's the funny thing though. He's never been a "body builder" just using his body. It's uber strong when it comes to functional strength. just not bulked like a builder would be. Now, it seems to be just bulking on it's own!
But yeah, that sounds reasonable. Maybe his testosterone is raising. Something to look into!0 -
Over trained and too low of a fat level decreases T levels
That is the culprit.
Eliminating soy products helps too.
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You always hear about how much the lack of fat messes with women's hormones, the same is true of men. Just manifests differently.0
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More rest could be helping, my partner always gets bigger when he has more rest over the months versus doing weights every day.0
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I don't exercise. That is one thing I have yet to incorporate into my day. Years of fibro pain made me friends with sitting, and even modifying some standing activities to sitting because of aversion to pain. I hope to be able to add it without experiencing more than soreness at some point in this journey. I said that to say this, I see more muscle definition than I have in years, maybe ever!0
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My friends in here know I am an exercise fanatic.
But for weight loss for me, the first 50 pounds was diet. Then the exercise kicked in. It kept it interesting
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KittensMaster wrote: »Over trained and too low of a fat level decreases T levels
That is the culprit.
Eliminating soy products helps too.
SECOND THIS COMPLETELY!!0
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