The Glucose Economy is a trademark of Robert
Thoburn.
In fact, you can build muscle and get leaner simultaneously. ‘Bulking up’ (read ‘getting fat’) is neither necessary, nor desirable.
Case in point: You gain muscle, but your body fat stays the same. You’re still fat, right? Wrong. Your relative (i.e., %) body fat has fallen, and you look leaner. The new muscle effectively displaces your body fat, spreading it thinner and creating a clearer view of your physique.
You can also reduce your total body fat and increase the size of your muscles at the same time. The Glucose Economy™ eating approach allows you to do so –starting as soon as your next meal!
Your Glucose Economy™
I don’t like body fat any more than you do. That’s why I follow the eating approach outlined below. It allows me to keep my muscles bulging with size, shape and energy while my body fat remains low.
Not that body fat is your enemy. In fact, it’s your best friend, survival-wise. Glucose (blood sugar) is your body’s most ‘preferred’ energy source. It absolutely requires glucose to survive. Body fat functions to preserve your total glucose supply, or ‘Glucose Economy’, as I’ve coined it. Surprised?
The secret to building muscle and losing body fat at the same time is mastering your Glucose Economy. Anyone can do it.
Your Metabolic ‘See Saw’
Since glucose is your body’s favorite energy source, when you provide it with glucose, it burns it in preference to fat. Typically, you get glucose from the sugars and starches (carbohydrate) in your diet.
The more carbohydrate you eat, the more glucose your body burns. Simultaneously, it burns less in the way of fat. This increases the risk that any fat eaten alongside that carbohydrate will be stored. That’s a good reason to choose carbohydrate sources that are low in fat (‘Lean Carbs’). Of course, at the end of the day, it’s how many total calories you’ve consumed that’s most important.
As you reduce your intake of carbohydrate, or your muscles burn glucose up with exercise, your Glucose Economy shrinks. This prompts your body to burn more fat, thereby preserving any available glucose for those tissues that really need it (e.g., your brain).
‘Muscle Deflation Syndrome’
The trouble with following a carbohydrate-restricted diet in order to lose body fat is that you subject yourself to ‘muscle deflation syndrome’. As serious bodybuilders know, when you eat less carbs, your muscles lose glycogen (the storage form of glucose) and water. This causes them to ‘deflate’ –they get smaller.
Thus, if you want to build --or even just maintain-- muscles that bulge with size, shape, and definition, you’ve got to keep them full of glycogen. That means you’ve got to eat enough carbohydrate!
The Glucose Economy Diet: Bigger Muscles, Less Fat
- STEP #1: TOTAL CALORIES - Give yourself 15 Calories/lb
body weight.
Your body’s preferred energy source is GLUCOSE. Thus, dietary carbohydrate should be your preferred energy source.
Once you’ve figured out how much protein to eat (below), subtract your protein calories from your total calories. Keep in mind that the 15 Calories/lb rule is only a starting point. Try it for 2 weeks before decreasing or increasing your total calorie intake according to how you look in the mirror.
- STEP #2: PROTEIN (GRAMS) - Give yourself 1.2 grams of protein/lb
body weight.
Bodybuilders may benefit from eating 0.73 g of protein/lb of body weight (1.6-1.7 g/kg) per day. More than this, it’s suggested, is a ‘waste’. However, ‘waste’ can be a good thing when it comes to losing body fat.
Protein is built of amino acids. Some of the excess amino acids you eat can be converted into glucose. This ‘costs’ energy, which your body gets from the burning of fat. That’s at least partly why Forslund et al. (1999), as well as other researchers, have found that healthy subjects eating diets providing more protein than is considered adequate for building muscle burn more fat both at rest and while exercising!
The higher-protein dieters in Forslund’s study consumed about 1.2 g of protein/lb body weight/day. They burned more fat and they showed signs of achieving a more positive ‘protein balance’ --an essential requirement for building bigger muscles! Those eating the ‘adequate’ protein diet, by contrast, burned less fat and failed to achieve a positive protein balance (Forslund et al., 1999).
While you may burn more fat by eating more than 1.2 g protein/lb, this will require that you reduce your intake of carbohydrate. This increases your risk of ‘muscle deflation syndrome’.
Whey is often separated from the other milk protein, casein, and sold as a stand-alone protein supplement. However, when combined, whey and casein may actually do a better job at promoting muscle growth. Thus, look for a low-fat protein powder or meal-replacement drink mix containing a blend of casein and whey. If you need more carbohydrate, simply add some fruit or toss your protein powder on some shredded wheat cereal (very good!).
- STEP #3: FAT (GRAMS) - Don’t go looking for it (it’ll
be there anyway).
Eat the most nutritious, low-fat carbohydrate and protein sources you can find:
‘Lean Proteins’:
- protein powders
- skinned chicken breasts
- egg whites
- non-fat dairy (cottage cheese, yogurt, milk)
- low-fat fish (tuna, sole)
- yams
- brown rice
- shredded wheat
- vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, corn, spinach (contains lots of ecdysteroids))
- fruit (grapefruit, blueberries, oranges)
Virtually all of the above foods contain some fat. Don’t go searching for more.
Using this approach, you’ll likely be consuming no more than 10% of your calories as fat, possibly less. Instead of factoring this into your total calories, just adjust the 15 Calories/lb starting figure up or down with time as your mirror instructs you to do.
Fresh fruits and vegetables (e.g., leafy greens) contain essential fatty acids (e.g., alpha-linolenic acid), but if you want extra insurance, take an essential fatty acid supplement or a ¼- ½ tablespoon of flaxseed oil every other day or so.
To make your nutritional insurance policy even more comprehensive, add a vitamin/mineral tablet to the picture.
The Glucose Economy Diet: Sample Daily Nutrient Intake
- Subject #1, Body weight: 150 lb
Total Calories: 15 Calories/lb x 150 lb = 2250 Total Calories
Protein (grams): 1.2 g/lb x 150 lb = 180 g Protein
Protein (Calories): 180 g x 4 Calories/g = 720 Protein Calories
Carbohydrate (Calories) = 2250 – 720 = 1530 Carbohydrate Calories
Carbohydrate (grams) = 1530 Calories ÷ 4 Calories/g = 382 g Carbohydrate
- Subject #2, Body weight: 180 lb
Total Calories: 15 Calories/lb x 180 lb = 2700 Total Calories
Protein (grams): 1.2 g/lb x 180 lb = 216 g Protein
Protein (Calories): 216 g x 4 Calories/g = 864 Protein Calories
Carbohydrate (Calories) = 2700 – 864 = 1836 Carbohydrate Calories
Carbohydrate (grams) = 1836 Calories ÷ 4 Calories/g = 459 g Carbohydrate
- Subject #3, Body weight: 210 lb
Total Calories: 15 Calories/lb x 210 lb = 3150 Total Calories
Protein (grams): 1.2 g/lb x 210 lb = 252 g Protein
Protein (Calories): 252 g x 4 Calories/g = 1008 Protein Calories
Carbohydrate (Calories) = 3150 - 1008 = 2142 Carbohydrate Calories
Carbohydrate (grams) = 2142 Calories ÷ 4 Calories/g = 536 g Carbohydrate
