Stop Overthinking Your Diet!

[@adamantiumbullet9215]

Mike Mentzer was saying this very thing in the early '80s, and other authors were breaking down the math in similar ways 15-20 years ago or longer. Good nuts-and-bolts common sense nutritional and training advice never get outdated. Awesome discussion.

[@bobbyhunt3009]

Mentzer said add about 15-16 calories/day over maintenance to gain I believe it was 10 lbs. of muscle a year

[@TyghtAlso]

They are saying the opposite of what Mentzer said.

[@adamantiumbullet9215]

@@TyghtAlso Sure. Go ahead and explain the "differences".

[@willthomas7666]

I literally got my best results,just listening to my body and eating healthy medium to high protein foods when hungry until I was full,and got ripped and in the best shape of my life looking pretty impressive for someone natural,literally that easy,never tracked calories,fat,carbs,or protein,that simple,may be diff if u have hard time gaining weight or really skinny,but for most ppl that will work just find

[@cwharris773]

I've lost close to 200 lbs. doing this. I (re)taught myself to listen to my body, and eat protein every time I eat to support my weight room goals.

[@austinhowell3463]

Need more of these 'cut the bs' type talks in the community

[@joechaos13]

That last statement brings me back to being 5'10" and maintaining 165lbs at 3500-4k calories a day bc I worked warehouse and trained outside of work. I was shredded.

[@Quaos1]

Absolutely hooked on these guys now - great and honest advice and information from real people who actually know what they're talking about.

[@mcfarvo]

2:30 the rest of the amino acids you ingest are not 100% converted to carbohydrates via gluconeogenesis as that would be ignoring all of the amino acid turnover in every single cell of your body. All of your non-skeletal muscle tissues also require amino acids to function all the time. He is correct that there is a limit of how much MPS can occur per unit time and so much of your protein intake goes to other cellular and metabolic processes. He is also correct when he later says if you are eating well in excess of needs (as all bodybuilders do), then much of that is converted to glucose. Excess protein is not stored in any large reservoir or depots (whereas fats have adipose tissue and carbs have glycogen in the liver and muscle), so excess is often converted to glucose for other use/storage. Now, your proteins can be degraded to amino acid and then recycled, so it's not like you constantly lose amino acids either. "Body proteins are being synthesized and degraded continuously (1). The estimated turnover is ∼210 g/day (2). Amino acids resulting from protein degradation can be recycled (reused for synthesis), but this is incomplete. Therefore, dietary protein is necessary for maintenance of lean body mass. Also, dietary protein is required to replace protein lost from the shedding of skin, hair, nails, cells in the gastrointestinal tract, and protein-containing secretions. However, the actual losses are estimated to be only 6-8 g/day (3). Overall, approximately ∼32-46 g of high-quality dietary protein/day is reported to be required to maintain protein balance (2). This is considerably less than amounts of protein reportedly consumed by American adults (∼65-100+ g/day) (4). The excess food-derived amino acids then are oxidized as fuel directly or indirectly after conversion to glucose." www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3636610/

[@mcfarvo]

Note: most normal adults are not providing a frequent stimulus for muscle hypertrophy, so their protein needs are necessarily less than a bodybuilder or athlete.

[@JAMIE_ATKINS]

I LOVE Dave, FTS, and everyone Dave involves himself with. I'm so glad he's here and involved with youtube in the capacity he is right now! So AWESOME and valuable!

[@Lorij24]

These chats are extremely useful.

[@joshferguson9703]

Love Dave and I much like many old school guys have heard all this before from Mike Mentzer I am glad somebody today who is very respected is saying it thank you EliteFts family

[@Giantmouseketeer]

9:37 this is gold.. well said sir. 👍

[@MannysFitnessProgram]

So many factors vary due to the individual person. It’s always a trial and error until you zero in on your best results. Great Vid! 👏 Consistency Conditioning Patience and Hard Work is KEY! Keep motivating and inspiring! 🙏🔥

[@The-eo4lj]

Huge portion of the protein we eat gets turned into enzymes, this is why an avg male who doesn't train and doesn't expect to grow should still eat about 300g of meat worth of protein a day. So a portion goes to enzyme production, which is the first thing digested protein does, for without them you die on the spot, secondly it rebuilds tissue, and third is gluconeogenesis

[@danielghesquiere2011]

Dani's right he's one of the best online diet coaches you can hire, troponin got me ripped

[@alexanderschooler579]

25 grams of additional protein on top of whatever your maintenance is. You won’t build size without it and it took me years to figure that out, because I was trying to be fit, but also put on muscle. I simply couldn’t do it on 2500 calories, I needed more like 2800.

[@shadybaba5379]

I’m 5’7 and 138lbs.My target is to reach 150lbs.I just started working out. I’m currently consuming 2000 calories/day. Do you think that’s enough calorie to reach my goal? Because eating has been my biggest challenge.

[@willthomas7666]

Track your weight for a week at 2000 cal,at the same time of the day,and if ur not gaining weight add 2-300 cal,and do that until you find what u need,it's that simple,it's prob somewhere in the range of 2-3000 a day but you have to find out urself

[@cjmarsh321]

I really needed to hear this insight. Thanks.

[@AnthonyVenmans]

Well detailed explained, everything covered in 10 min!

[@malcolmjelani3588]

I'm on the horizontal diet...

[@JAMIE_ATKINS]

This is a great explanation

[@ClarksvilleBarbellClub]

Great conversation!

[@sir_nicks_allot_8902]

I wish I understood any of this...

[@davidec.4021]

Hell yeah! Justin Harris! Missed the big man

[@brianzuchelli2988]

First here, elitefts is the best.

[@JAMIE_ATKINS]

ABSOLUTELY!!!

[@ryanhalien8468]

Ok, I get the math, I get what you’re saying, but I feel like this assumes that your body is using protein at 100% efficiency and our bodies just don’t work that way, even if all your energy needs are covered by your Carbs, your body won’t use that 30 grams of protein at 100% perfect efficiency for nothing but protein synthesis will it?

[@dartanianoakley]

This is pretty hard to follow cause it's out of context. I believe what they are saying is you don't need these excessive amounts of carbs and protein intake. Sounds like the claim is that your body will only use about 20-25g of protein on top of your maintenance baseline. So if you need 175g of protein for maint. Then you would need to take in 200g of protein in order to have sufficient material for muscle growth. You wouldn't be able to only take in 25g of protein on a daily basis, your body would fall apart.

[@DavidKArrrrgh]

So in short, nutrition is important.

[@XTheSpartanX7]

Anything with Justin Harris is gold. His programs on his site are next level. Definitely check it out. I'm not affiliated with him in any way.

[@jeffreybabino8161]

Great video what's a good diet for a older novice trainer thanks I eat very well and I watch my protein intake thanks

[@eliteftsofficial]

Sounds like you are on the right path then

[@matthewgregg3979]

So, what's the deal with 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight? How does this factor in? 200 pound guy should be eating 200 grams of protein per day right??....

[@willthomas7666]

Ppl make thinks so much more complicated then it is,track your weight for a week and if ur not gaining add 2-300 cal,and do thG until ur gaining it's literally that simple,I don't even track cal and do fine,it's easy

[@RCT21985]

How does the carnivore diet work into this? I've been doing carnivore for two weeks now and I have lost a decent amount of water weight and I definitely notice a difference in how I feel and to some extent how I look, but I just want to know how you guys think the carnivore diet fits into bodybuilding.

[@joshventura8193]

Is he saying 25 grams of protein a day total or 25 grams on top of maintenance levels? Cause I thought you need about 1 gram per pound of body weight.

[@tombrockhoff3081]

no idea

[@brickhandle1577]

If this is true, then why do successful bodybuilders/lifters eat 1 - 2 lbs of meat, protein shakes, and eggs everyday?

[@Mr_G_in_Alba]

“In the absence of carbs, the body’s going to use the protein as a quick energy source etc etc…….. your gonna smell it too, if you’re sweating ammonia” Was a 💡moment…. I thought it was simply due to dehydration 😬 Great info 👍

[@margecallover]

So basically if we cover our energy expenditure with carbs/fats and eat 25g of protein net we've covered our bases is that it or am I tripping

[@chriswr_]

In a perfect world, maybe? But that’s assuming that every gram of protein that comes into your mouth gets 100% metabolized as protein at a 1:1 rate of efficiency, which is impossible even with the perfect genetics, anabolics, hyper caloric diet, and intake timing. Additionally, as he kinda touched on, protein synthesis is a constant process. Since we can’t be hooked up to an IV mainlining amino acids 24/7 and guarantee that all of it is being used for muscle protein synthesis, eating more protein at multiple points throughout the day is the reality of the situation. In “The Renaissance Diet” Israetel et al state that minimum daily protein for general health is covered with ~0.4g/lb bodyweight (assuming a heathy body fat%). For body composition maintenance, ~0.6g/lb is the absolute minimum given the parameters I mentioned earlier. Above 1.25g/lb encroaches on being excessive due to the needless drop in carb and fat intake within a caloric restraint. Optimal ranges are obviously complete individual, but generally range between 0.8 and 1g/lb bodyweight for hard training individuals.

[@margecallover]

@@chriswr_ that's what's confusing me since half of protein/gram undergoes gluconeogenisis but my point or rather my interrogation here is that if for example carb intake is adequate, hypothetically speaking, the body wouldn't need to metabolise protein for energy and given that 25g of protein is all that is needed regardless of bodyweight and other factors then the recommendations of 1.6g x bodyweight in kg would be excessive and the same goes for Dr Mike's recommendations considering most people weigh enough to cover the 25g of protein needed

[@Xplora213]

@@margecallover 25g of NEW MUSCLE. Not maintenance of the original 200 pounds of mass you have now.

[@rayseidel7567]

So NOT 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight?

[@patrciaclemons8183]

2022 be like, this guy still can't get hired as a nutritionist because he doesn't have the degree. Only 30 years of experience and knowledge.

[@Misterprepper]

Well what do we call training

[@sdsswanson]

Good content. You guys should have Ted naimen on!

[@FastingFTW]

Is he saying you only need 25g protein per day or am I missing something

[@josephbanas4584]

25 extra grams of protien a day above baseline.

[@troponinnutrition]

You can’t know how many grams you need, but if you convert even 25g of protein to new muscle each day you’re essentially maxing out the rate of muscle growth you can sustain

[@Xplora213]

@@troponinnutrition thanks Justin for clarifying. Inspiring pod.

[@HurtCrayon]

Im trying to down 170g of protein a day. Now im hearing I only need 25? Or am I not getting some context?

[@Xplora213]

You need a lot more than 25. 25 is turning into NEW muscle. You need the other 150g to heal damage, keep normal processes going and prevent catabolism. You need serious nutrition to grow... let alone stay alive. And that’s why so Many diets fail. The success comes from the 10% of excellence rather than the 90% of excellence. 💡

[@gmontenegro9711]

Stop overthinking your diet. When the successful people keep their secrets and give you vague information about how to eat and live a normal yet healthy lifestyle while making progress in lean mass and strength increases. When you have to depend on share sites to download $100+ programs in PDF format to learn just one form of dieting. People have to overthink, the ones who made it keep their secrets or sell them. Just sayin

[@germanrud9904]

Fitness and diet is a personal journey. Discover what works best for you. Aounds like you're comparing yourself to others too much.

[@gmontenegro9711]

@@germanrud9904 nah my diet and training is on point. Just pointing out the obvious from observations of information on KZbin and social media outlets.

[@Petarosus]

Except that there is CONSTANT protein turnover. Even small malnourished guy need 40gs of protein to not die. Justin is unfortunatelly misguided on that part. Not to mention anabolic signalling you get from protein. There is reason why top coaches (Hany and Chad) focus on high protein. Anabolic signaling and I believe even levels of IGF-1 depend on this....

[@platogenova9573]

80% of people start their sentences with “so”. It’s a bad modern speech habit.

[@Jr-lb3xb]

I gained 365lbs of muscle last year

[@nochill9722]

Oh no war on protein!

[@cpw2k217]

Justin Harris and Branch Warren have very similar voices.

[@shawnnevalainen1337]

This "math" depends on an incorrect, cartoon model of biochemistry, and it conflicts with data from controlled, human trials. Building muscle from protein is not like adding a lump of clay to statue. It's not a one-to-one, direct conversion, and it doesn't happen in a vacuum. Aren't there dozens of studies and meta analyses that show that the rate of muscle growth increases with increased protein intake up to .72 grams per pound of lean body mass? We need to stop pulling things out of our proverbial asses and repeating them just because they sound like they make sense.

[@HkFinn83]

The math is correct, as Harris acknowledges it’s not sufficient obviously to eat 24 grammes per day. The question is how much ‘wasted’ protein is required to cover that bio-physiological inexactness. So the math is correct, the question that remains is largely irrelevant as what we’re doing here is challenging the excess of the excess: once you know you have your bases covered nutritionally there’s no need to further cover your bases etc.

[@shawnnevalainen1337]

@@HkFinn83 Why do mental gymnastics to defend a bad argument? It's like saying it only takes 1/2 gallon of gas for me to drive from NY to LA if you only count the energy required to move my body mass and don't count the energy required to move the car. That's not how cars work, so it's a pointless claim to argue, even if there is some sense in which it's true. Mentzer, Darden, and the HIT people claimed that you literally only need to consume an additional twelve calories etc. to build mass. That is the argument we're discussing, and it is patently false.

[@HkFinn83]

@@shawnnevalainen1337 I don’t think that’s the argument. It’s more along the lines of ‘if it takes x amount of fuel to drive from a to b, and you have y (which is 2x), should we be thinking about increasing to z, which 3x.

[@tombrockhoff3081]

dont do 0 carb diet reeee

[@ryansweeney8173]

the contradiction

[@zbo_77]

As a biochemist, macromolecules don’t convert from one to another. You need more than 25g of protein a day 😂

[@pauldavies7251]

25grams above maintenance you plumb😂🤦

[@ozzythegreat88]

one word steroids

[@soofitnsexy]

everyone in this frame

[@magnushulten205]

Fitnessindustri dont like Justin very much when he talks about protein. Protein dont converts to glukos...its only converts to muscles. And you nead att least 400g daily. 😂😂😂. We need money....mfr😡

[@NoName-ql1wk]

Nonsense.