HST and Dr. Sears' Zone Diet

jdonahue

New Member
Does anyone have experience with Barry Sears' Zone Diet and HST training? Does the diet as reccommended by Sears provide enough calories for hypertrophy?
Thanks.
 
I have had the same/similiar question myself. I believe you would(should perhaps try adding the max amount of protein required for your bodyweight and then add in the carbs and fat as specified.) there are some others here who have more experience with dr. sears diet than I am i am a recent convertee and am still experimenting somewhat. I can tell you that I didn't get ripped, but seemed to lean out a little and didn't start gaining size again until i upped my total intake to around 3500 cal. Strenght and overall energy levels were probably a little better though when I was using his diet more as sears specifies.
 
Strict adherance to Sear's Zone specifications probably wouldn't be optimal, but, like all good things (including the HST program itself) it is open to individual tweaking to coincide with your specific goals.

If your sole goal is hypertrophy, then no, I don't think the Zone in it's raw form provides enough calories. BUT that doesn't mean you can't adjust your caloric intake.
Secondly, Sears shys away from ever spiking insulin which for bodybuilders is desirable after a workout. Again you could modify the diet for the insulin spike.

Duchaines and Lyle's isocaloric diet recommends an equal split of calories for fat, protein and carbs. But they don't stress balancing these ratios for each meal. I've tried the isocaloric diet, but I don't feel (for me anyway) it provides the same feeling of satiety, and overall wellness like the Zone does. Sears is a little more picky over his carb choices, and his aversion to grains and processed carbs is probably just what the doctor ordered in my case.

Adopting the Zone diet is the best thing I ever did for my health/weight. Of course, I'm not looking for insane mass. Weightlifting is just another piece of the puzzle in my overall health and fitness program.

Do I think the Zone does anything magical based on existing nutritional science? Nope, but it works like magic for me, and I'm sticking to it. :D
Of course, I feel I will be saying the same thing about HST within time.
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I have 'Zoned' full time for about 7 yeras or so. I cant change, I get all the proposed benefits 'as written'!

Can't say that I grow at lightning pace, but I never have under any circumstances. Sears' recommends adding slightly more protein (and carbs, to keep the p/c ratio) then adding anything upto 3 times the mono-fat to bring cals. up for growth. So it wont be 40/30/30 more like 30c/20p/50f.
 
Forgot to add this.

Jules and I came up with a good option plan that may be better optimized for building muscle but zoning 90% of the time.
 
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