Eating

[[xeno]Julios]

I'm 26 years old, new to weight lifting, and enjoy the benefits of it, aesthetics being one of the major ones.

I would like to keep gaining for another few years - i think by then i'll be quite satisfied with my physique - and i realize i'll have to eat a hell of a lot to get there.

As it is now i eat all natural food, 5 - 6 meals a day, and absolutely no supplements - not even protein or carb shakes. Because of this, i spend a fair amount on groceries, and it takes a bit of time and energy to prepare and eat this amount. Not only this, but with famine in other parts of the globe, or even poverty across the street, i do feel a bit guilty at times for eating like a king, for what are primarily aesthetic purposes.

I am concerned about this - i'd like to maintain at least a decent portion of my gains into my 30's and 40's, and even 50's, yet does this mean I'll have to eat 7000 calories a day for the rest of my life? (i'm at about 4200 cals now roughly)

 

[micmic]

It won't have to be that high, and maintenance is easier than bulking, but yes, you will have to eat more if you continue to workout into middle age. If you stop weight training you will eventually and inevitably fall back to a genetically predetermined level. If it is too troublesome to arrange your diet, you should find a way to make it easier and part of your routine. For me the only trouble (besides saying 'no' to numerous goodies) is having protein available at all times, so I consider protein powders to be indispensable. I'd love to get all my protein from food, but whenever I've tried it it really takes a lot of preplanning and it finally becomes obsession. You have to make training and diet a seamless part of your daily routine, something that happens without thinking.

 

[[xeno]Julios]

After stopping training, will I fall back to a level of muscularity and development identical to one where I had never weight trained?
Surely some of the muscularity remains - doesn't it?
Genes are more malleable than we think from what i understand; therefore isn't it plausible that a genetically determined body composition may be able to change over time?

 

[Mindwraith]

You'll have the muscle memory to return to where you were fairly quickly if you were to begin training again.

And I doubt you'll ever get to 7000 cals unless you plan on going past 400 lbs. I eat 3600 at 205 to bulk.

 

[micmic]

Genes can express themselves in various ways, but why believe that they will support more muscle than what we used to have before training when we detrain again ? Hormone levels will stabilize again to pre-training levels. I know people who have quit weights and they all gradually reverted to their previous state. The bad thing is that when someone stops training he will almost certainly mess his diet too, so I can't really see what would happen with a good diet.

 

[[xeno]Julios]

i guess the muscle memory is a consolation prize

but i was just guessing - maybe it's like scar tissue or something - maybe by increasing muscle mass you are altering the blueprint of your structure - but from what you've said it seems like these blueprints slowly revert back to a predetermined level.

btw i am a skinny guy but i have a very high metabolism which is why i eat so much to bulk.

 

[imported_edziu]

Any of your growth which comes from hyperplasia (increased number of fibers) will remain. If your exercise and hormones don't support the total mass, I guess your average fiber size may fall to be lower than your starting average, but you'll have more fibers.


As far as long-term sustaining -- as others have mentioned, you don't need to eat a bulking diet to maintain size, nor do you need to work out as frequently or as hard. But you do have to use it or lose it, and hard dieting can take it off.

 

[[xeno]Julios]

thx for reply - makes sense.

 

[Twin Peak]

Quote[/b] ([xeno]Julios @ July 30 2003,5:12)]After stopping training, will I fall back to a level of muscularity and development identical to one where I had never weight trained?
Surely some of the muscularity remains - doesn't it?
Genes are more malleable than we think from what i understand; therefore isn't it plausible that a genetically determined body composition may be able to change over time?

Alas you will return to your previous size, but why would you frey from the world of iron?

Do understand that you do not need to train with the same conviction and intensity to stay at a place, that it took to get there.

And there are few, but the extreme endomorphs and the juice-to-the-gill professionals, who can consume 7000 calories a day, without the requisite Goodyear stamp across their underbelly.

 

[Aaron_F]

I will always be bigger than when I started...

I started when I was 16, and 81kg, now I am older

and much heavier and there aint not way I would get back to 81kg without a lot of effort...

 

[[xeno]Julios]

Quote[/b] (Twin Peak @ Aug. 16 2003,12:51)]

Quote[/b] ([xeno]Julios @ July 30 2003,5:12)]After stopping training, will I fall back to a level of muscularity and development identical to one where I had never weight trained?
Surely some of the muscularity remains - doesn't it?
Genes are more malleable than we think from what i understand; therefore isn't it plausible that a genetically determined body composition may be able to change over time?

Alas you will return to your previous size, but why would you frey from the world of iron?
Do understand that you do not need to train with the same conviction and intensity to stay at a place, that it took to get there.
And there are few, but the extreme endomorphs and the juice-to-the-gill professionals, who can consume 7000 calories a day, without the requisite Goodyear stamp across their underbelly.

thanks

 

[Kiharan]

It could be that only time will tell, as far as your ability to retain muscle gains in later life.

I'm an ectomorph too. I gained about 20 pounds of LBM at around age 20, maintaining bodyfat at around 7 percent.

I maintained the gain until my mid-30's. Then my body seemed to "revert to type." I dropped back to to my "starting weight" of about 140 pounds at the same bf percentage.

I rededicated myself to lifting a couple of years ago (I'm 49 now, still 140 at about the same BF %age), but I've found it very difficult to gain lean body mass.

I've read that there is a tendency for men to drop about 10 percent of LBM per decade after they get into their 20's. This may be related to changes in testosterone levels or other biochemical changes, which probably vary from person to person. Undoubtedly other HST'ers know more about this subject.

I just finished SD and start my first HST cycle today, so I'm hopeful that the combination of the advances in training and nutrition science will help me get back some of what I lost.

One other thing -- I can sympathize with your moral concerns about eating like a king when people are starving.

The main reason people are starving in other parts of the world is that the global market doesn't move resources around effectively. There's more than enough food (for now, anyway). It's just difficult to find practical ways to make sure everybody gets enough.

When it comes to "poverty across the street," that's a more complicated moral issue.

I'm not a religious person in the "traditional" sense, but I think a statement attributed to Jesus Christ applies...(paraphrased) "There will always be poor people."

If I stopped eating like a bodybuilder, so a poor person across the street could eat better, it seems that would create a relationship of dependency that wouldn't be good for me or that other person.

We owe poor people empathy and respect. What else we give them has to be a matter of personal choice or the relationship becomes problematical for both the giver and the receiver...

Whew...if you're still reading, you've got an admirable attention span. Bottom line, I say let's enjoy what we have--the opportunity to be well nourished, strong and fit--and be thankful for it.