Cowboy Gene’s BodyBlog

In general you should try to aim for 15 times your body weight in calories, divided up into 6-8 meals per day. You need a minimum 1 gram of quality protein per pound of your body weight.

Most of your carbohydrates should low Glycemic Index Carbohydrates except for the first meal following your weight lifting session. These carbohydrates should be high Glycemic so you can get a surge from the sugars in order to force the proper nutrients to where they are needed the most.

Polysaccarides are usually called complex carbohydrates or glucose polymers. This is where the real good stuff begins. Because the complex carbohydrates contain three or more sugar molecules, they take longer to break down. The longer it takes the body to break these carbs down, the more time it has to use them as opposed to storing them as fat. A good way to gauge the quickness of the break down is the Glycemic index.

There are some general principles that may help you decide how and when you might use low or high Glycemic index foods. In general, your body will burn more fat rather than carbohydrate in the following sequence during activity:

<dir><dir><dir>When you have eaten no food: most fat burned

When you have eaten no food: most fat burnedWhen you have eaten low-GI food: more fat burned than when you’ve eaten high-GI food, but less than when you haven’t eaten at all

When you have eaten high-GI food: least fat burned

</dir></dir></dir>Low-GI foods may be most useful prior to beginning training or an activity because they release glucose slowly. One possible advantage of this, especially for endurance exercisers, is that it allows you to use more fat early in the session and save the important muscle glucose for later, which may result in better performance. This is called “glucose sparing.” For bodybuilders, this may be useful in the cutting phase in preparation for events where very low body fat levels are necessary for competition success.

High-GI foods may be more suitable after training or competition because they release glucose rapidly, thus replenishing your depleted blood and muscle glucose quickly. Along with this rush of glucose is an insulin spike, which is important for muscle repair and development in this important post-exercise period for muscle builders and strength trainers. At this point High-GI food eating may produce more fat conversion from carbohydrates. When blood glucose levels are high, and storage in muscle and liver is saturated, some carbohydrate can be converted to fat. In an energy-balanced diet, this would probably not result in weight gain, yet it could be important for bodybuilders trying to reach body fat levels of around 5 to 6%.