High Metabolism

[ddazndd]

What's the advantage/disadvantage of having a high metabolism while trying to gain muscle mass (working out)?

 

[D_Jurgen Klitgaard]

I would like to know this as well.

 

[tripod]

The metabolism is just the rate at which your body digests and processes nutrients. A low metabolism would allow a human to survive with smaller amounts of food than one with a high metabolism. Low and high metabolisms are related to one's ancestors food availability throughout the year, with food scarcity activating starvation genes found deep within our DNA.

Fast forward to modern society and the three classifications of body types, the Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph. Endomorphs are those individuals which I mentioned earlier whose ancestors starved too often in their lifetimes activating the starvation gene, resulting in body types that have a high fat to bone and muscle ratio. Ectomorphs are humans whose ancestors have had plenty of food abundance and hardly ever starved, resulting in a high bone to fat and muscle ratio. mesomorphs are those whose ancestors experienced equal amounts of scarcity and abundance, resulting in a physique that has a balanced muscle/bone/fat ratio.

Mesomorphs are the best candidates for muscle building because their metabolisms are fast enough to prevent excess fat storage yet slow enough as to be able to achieve positive nitrogen retention. Nitrogen retention is the state in which the body has enough or more than enough protein for muscle growth and synthesis. Endomorphs have slow metabolisms allowing for excellent nitrogen retention but being too slow to prevent excess fat storage.

Ectomorphs have the natural God given human ability to achieve thermogenesis overnight while they sleep. Thermogenesis is the body's strange ability to burn off the days excess calories as heat, which just dissipates into the atmosphere. That's why skinny people have a Dicken's of a time getting their food to stick to their ribs. Endomorphs not only have the thermogenesis gene turned off, they have the starvation gene turned on... that's why they can just look at food and gain weight. Positive nitrogen retention is basically ruined in the presence of the incredible thermogenesis of the ectomorph, resulting in the skinny guy eating everyone out of the house yet gaining very little weight.

There are ways around this.

The ectomorph is gonna have to shuttle so much damn protein and nutrients through the body as to go the distance with their thermogenic ability and actually surpass it. This means... PROTEIN powder and it's resulting side effect... gas! lol!!! Ectomorphs need to eat soooo damn much that they are passing gas constantly, this means that you are taxing your digestive system and running circles around your metabolism.

You will have to get up in the middle of the night and eat... you will eat every two and a half hours... you will drink atleast three protein shakes a day... your food bill will go through the roof! lol!!! Use a long lasting protein like Casein, which breaks down very slowly sending a steady stream of amino acids through your blood stream, resulting in better nitrogen retention. Eat as much high quality food that you can... no more junk food, unless it is pizza and burgers. Ice cream is your friend... use it wisely and mix your protein powder with it. Your protein shakes will taste delicious and you won't have to bear the strange aftertaste 'cause the ice cream will mask it. Weight gain powders should probably be avoided because they are incredibly high in sugar and polyunsaturated fats, to gain muscle, an ectomorph will need animal fat (saturated) and rich complex carbs like pasta and rice.

The only problem with the ectomorphic muscle building diet is that your cholesterol and or blood pressure could go through the roof... try to prevent it by taking folic acid which will lower your body's homocysteine levels which research has shown to aid in the prevention of heart disease. You should also consume garlic which will further aid your body's cardiovascular system. You can further prevent the negative effects of the ectomorphic muscle building diet by taking between 2 and 6 grams of omega-3 fatty acids a day in the form of fish oil capsules, this will also aid in the health of your heart and arteries. Try to eat fish as much as possible, it is heart healthy and an excellent source of protein. Stay away from Albacore tune... it has ridiculous levels of Mercury compared to the "light" tuna which is red in color. Choose the chunk light tuna packed in oil, it has much lower levels of Mercury and the oil will protect the integrity of the meat better than water. You will most likely have to try several ways of eating this diet in order to find the food combinations that work best for you.

 

[D_Baitmason Snotrocket]

to put it simply, when trying to cut and gain clean muscle mass, having a high metabolism helps you to cut fat, but not necessarily build the muscle... the optimal metabolism you want is one that is slightly higher than average, because it gives you the chance to pack on weight, but at the same time keeping it clean (ie: you won't be adding too much fat to your body if you have a higher metabolism) most bodybuilders you see don't have extraordinarily fast metabolisms, but rather a combination of both...

hope that helps. give me a shout if you need any more detail

 

[simcha]

The metabolism is just the rate at which your body digests and processes nutrients. A low metabolism would allow a human to survive with smaller amounts of food than one with a high metabolism. Low and high metabolisms are related to one's ancestors food availability throughout the year, with food scarcity activating starvation genes found deep within our DNA.

Fast forward to modern society and the three classifications of body types, the Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph. Endomorphs are those individuals which I mentioned earlier whose ancestors starved too often in their lifetimes activating the starvation gene, resulting in body types that have a high fat to bone and muscle ratio. Ectomorphs are humans whose ancestors have had plenty of food abundance and hardly ever starved, resulting in a high bone to fat and muscle ratio. mesomorphs are those whose ancestors experienced equal amounts of scarcity and abundance, resulting in a physique that has a balanced muscle/bone/fat ratio.

Mesomorphs are the best candidates for muscle building because their metabolisms are fast enough to prevent excess fat storage yet slow enough as to be able to achieve positive nitrogen retention. Nitrogen retention is the state in which the body has enough or more than enough protein for muscle growth and synthesis. Endomorphs have slow metabolisms allowing for excellent nitrogen retention but being too slow to prevent excess fat storage.

Ectomorphs have the natural God given human ability to achieve thermogenesis overnight while they sleep. Thermogenesis is the body's strange ability to burn off the days excess calories as heat, which just dissipates into the atmosphere. That's why skinny people have a Dicken's of a time getting their food to stick to their ribs. Endomorphs not only have the thermogenesis gene turned off, they have the starvation gene turned on... that's why they can just look at food and gain weight. Positive nitrogen retention is basically ruined in the presence of the incredible thermogenesis of the ectomorph, resulting in the skinny guy eating everyone out of the house yet gaining very little weight.

So basically, if we ever have a famine with a total world-wide depression, we endomorphs are going to be just fine, you ectomorphs are going to die off like the dinosaurs.

 

[midlifebear]

So basically, if we ever have a famine with a total world-wide depression, we endomorphs are going to be just fine, you ectomorphs are going to die off like the dinosaurs.

Simcha, my love: Yeah, you're basically correct. Us bears with big dicks will have a better chance eeking out an existence during the next ice age. LOL!

 

[D_Jurgen Klitgaard]

Simcha, my love: Yeah, you're basically correct. Us bears with big dicks will have a better chance eeking out an existence during the next ice age. LOL!

:rofl:

 

[Calboner]

Thanks for the informative post, Tripod. Unfortunately, you have mixed some fiction in with your facts. For instance:

Low and high metabolisms are related to one's ancestors food availability throughout the year, with food scarcity activating starvation genes found deep within our DNA.

Fast forward to modern society and the three classifications of body types, the Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph. Endomorphs are those individuals which I mentioned earlier whose ancestors starved too often in their lifetimes activating the starvation gene, resulting in body types that have a high fat to bone and muscle ratio. Ectomorphs are humans whose ancestors have had plenty of food abundance and hardly ever starved, resulting in a high bone to fat and muscle ratio. mesomorphs are those whose ancestors experienced equal amounts of scarcity and abundance, resulting in a physique that has a balanced muscle/bone/fat ratio.

You claim that each of the three body types occurs in consequence of descent from ancestors who lived in conditions that activated a particular gene. Granted that there is such a thing as a "starvation gene" (a point on which I know nothing one way or the other), the idea that environmental conditions can "activate" a gene and thereby generate heritable physical characteristics is just a modernized version of the Laplacian idea of the heritability of acquired traits. As far as I know, this idea was conclusively discredited in the 19th century. I am no biologist, but I do know that you can only inherit what is in your genes: you can't inherit traits that are effects of your ancestors' environment.

If you are going to ascribe human body types to the environmental conditions of our ancestors, then you are going to have to say, not that the types arose from genes being "activated" by environmental conditions, but that the environmental conditions over time effected the selection of certain genes over others. Even that claim, however, seems to me dubious, given how mixed human heredity is. I don't believe that there are many populations in the world, if there are any at all, where you cannot find a mix of the three body types. I suspect that your whole would-be explanation of the three body types comes down to this: your body type is a consequence of your genes, period.

You will have to get up in the middle of the night and eat... you will eat every two and a half hours... you will drink atleast three protein shakes a day... your food bill will go through the roof! lol!!! Use a long lasting protein like Casein, which breaks down very slowly sending a steady stream of amino acids through your blood stream, resulting in better nitrogen retention. Eat as much high quality food that you can... no more junk food, unless it is pizza and burgers. Ice cream is your friend... use it wisely and mix your protein powder with it. Your protein shakes will taste delicious and you won't have to bear the strange aftertaste 'cause the ice cream will mask it. Weight gain powders should probably be avoided because they are incredibly high in sugar and polyunsaturated fats, to gain muscle, an ectomorph will need animal fat (saturated) and rich complex carbs like pasta and rice.

Two points of doubt: (1) I have read that food consumed shortly before sleep or in the middle of sleeping tends to get turned into fat rather than muscle, so getting up in the middle of the night to have another protein shake does not sound like good advice to me. I think it can also lead to the development of acid reflux. (2) None of the weight-gain mixes that I have used have had any significant amount of polyunsaturated fat or any other kind of fat in them. Optimum Nutrition Mighty One, for instance. (3) The carbohydrates in weight-gain powders are mostly in the form of maltodextrin, which is a complex carbohydrate: it is the main ingredient in corn starch. The nutritional label will tell you what proportion of the calories in a given mix are in the form of sugar. Of course, it is always a good idea to get as many of your calories from real food as you can, and your carbohydrates from whole grains rather than processed ones.

Edited to add: Through diet and weight training I went from about 125 to 165 pounds, but it took me years, including some periods in which I lost ground.

 

[ddazndd]

Is there any way to lower my metabolism?

Thanks for the descriptive answers everyone.

 

[tripod]

Is there any way to lower my metabolism?

Not really. But you can get around your metabolism's rate at which it can get rid of it's calories by shoveling in more nutrients then your body can burn off. Your body is more efficient at burning off fats and carbs than protein, that's why I put the emphasis on getting tons of extra protein in your diet.

Two points of doubt: (1) I have read that food consumed shortly before sleep or in the middle of sleeping tends to get turned into fat rather than muscle, so getting up in the middle of the night to have another protein shake does not sound like good advice to me. I think it can also lead to the development of acid reflux.

I just said that ectomorphs have a built in regulator of the overconsumption of calories, they cannot usually consume enough calories to have a conversion to bodyfat. The acid reflux is again, getting into genes. If you have the gene for acid reflux, then you will need to coordinate your diet accordingly, if you do not, which most people don't, then you have nothing to worry about. One knows for certain whether or not they are prone to acid reflux disease and it's nasty counterpart esophageal cancer, it is very painful and highly recognizable.

(2) None of the weight-gain mixes that I have used have had any significant amount of polyunsaturated fat or any other kind of fat in them. Optimum Nutrition Mighty One, for instance. (3) The carbohydrates in weight-gain powders are mostly in the form of maltodextrin, which is a complex carbohydrate: it is the main ingredient in corn starch. The nutritional label will tell you what proportion of the calories in a given mix are in the form of sugar. Of course, it is always a good idea to get as many of your calories from real food as you can, and your carbohydrates from whole grains rather than processed ones.

Sorry about the sugar thing. Nutritionists are currently classing carbs such as starches and sugars according to how fast they are metabolized into glucose (glycemic index). Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that occurs naturally in complex carbohydrates like wheat and potatoes. Maltodextrin naturally occurs with other dextrins like soluble and insoluble fiber as well as gluten and amino acids. Eaten within the structure of a complex carbohydrate like wheat, maltodextrin can give a sustained release of glucose that gives wheat it's characteristic nutrition and fairly low glycemix index, hence it behaves like a starch when digested.

When Maltodextrin is isolated away from the other classes of Dextrins and proteins like gluten, it behaves like a SUGAR and has a high glycemix index rating, meaning that it is converted RAPIDLY into blood sugar like sucrose.

There are a lot of weight gain powders on the market, many contain soybean oil or coconut oil. In the late eighties and nineties, many weight gain powders removed the fat from their formulas because of the whole fat is bad campaign waged by nutritionists. A lot of those companies put the fat back in to reach the astronomical caloric values of 2500 - 3500 calories per serving (Hence, the South Park episode parodying the fictional supplement Beefcake 3000! lol!) Some did not, evidently Optimum Nutrition did... I have never liked that company, I always thought that they didn't have any research facilities and just bought bulk product and re-labeled it (which is what most companies do anyway! lol!)

I used to run a few GNC's back when I was a younger man and competed in two bodybuilding contests. I have always been a bit of a supplement and nutrition nerd.

As far as the genetic debate goes, I don't think that 19th century genetics knew a damn thing as compared to where we are now. The debate over whether we are activating our genes through environment or selecting them through breeding is a highly charged one. I don't think that they occur in isolation, I think that environment and natural selection are both responsible for genetic development. My theories are just that, theories... but they are damn good ones and are not based on opinion, but on empirical evidence and personal experience.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

I have read that food consumed shortly before sleep or in the middle of sleeping tends to get turned into fat rather than muscle, so getting up in the middle of the night to have another protein shake does not sound like good advice to me. I think it can also lead to the development of acid reflux.

I couldn't agree more about the acid reflux problem. I don't really agree with the claim of eating before bed causing more fat storage. This hasn't been proven. It has been proven that frequency of eating and midnight snacking doesn't affect weight gain.

Getting up in the middle of the night to take a protein shake does make sense, if you are a bodybuilder. Your body can only assimilate about 20 grams of protein at a time, and any excess protein that you ingest can't be stored. The body has no method of storing protein. Most muscle growth occurs while you sleep because 90% of the HGH that triggers anabolism is released during sleep. Protein is needed for this, so it makes perfect sense to get up at 3 AM to have a bit of protein. That's a level of dedication that far surpasses mine.

None of the weight-gain mixes that I have used have had any significant amount of polyunsaturated fat or any other kind of fat in them.

Excess protein is converted to calories, so fat isn't really needed for gaining weight -- be it muscle or fat.

The carbohydrates in weight-gain powders are mostly in the form of maltodextrin, which is a complex carbohydrate: it is the main ingredient in corn starch. The nutritional label will tell you what proportion of the calories in a given mix are in the form of sugar. Of course, it is always a good idea to get as many of your calories from real food as you can, and your carbohydrates from whole grains rather than processed ones.

You need alot of complex carbs to bulk up. Low-carb proponents claim that the proportions trick the body into losing weight, but in reality any diet will work for a while. Low-carb diets are downright dangerous; they usually lack fiber and are high in saturated fats. These powers are often packed with whey protein and, often, simple sugars.

Through diet and weight training I went from about 125 to 165 pounds, but it took me years, including some periods in which I lost ground.

Congrats. I guess you are a fellow ectomorph. I know how difficult it can be to bulk up, and how quickly you can lose your hard-earned gains.

 

[Lex]

...
Getting up in the middle of the night to take a protein shake does make sense, if you are a bodybuilder. Your body can only assimilate about 20 grams of protein at a time, and any excess protein that you ingest can't be stored. The body has no method of storing protein. Most muscle growth occurs while you sleep because 90% of the HGH that triggers anabolism is released during sleep. Protein is needed for this, so it makes perfect sense to get up at 3 AM to have a bit of protein. That's a level of dedication that far surpasses mine.


Excess protein is converted to calories, so fat isn't really needed for gaining weight -- be it muscle or fat.
...

I have had a hard time gaining weight in the past as well. I usually try to limit my protein shake intake to right after I exercise, which is when you get your maximum protein uptake.

I get complex carbs and protein throughout the day by eating lots of organic yogurt, chicken, fish, and nuts.

Eating too much protein has little benefit, from what I understand.

 

[ZOS23xy]

I can sort of speed up my metabolism by eating apples, which sort of makes my digestive system move along fast. I've lost weight from apples in my diet.