contradicting shit. confused to hell. protein or carbs?

[Elite_Fry]

I was talking to this guy who owned a bodybuilding store (he used to compete and shit). Anyway we ended up talking for about an hour and i just mentioned that i have trouble gaining weight. And he said i needed to up my protein meals to 8. Because i was currently taking 5 - 6 and that's just enough for me to maintain. Then i talked to someone else at my gym and he told me that it was natural carbs that i needed to gain weight, and not the protein.
He also said you shouldn't drink while eating because it makes it go to waist or something. Don't exactly remember what he said about that.
So that just contradicted the other thing out and now im confused to fuck as to which to do.
Any ideas??
Thanks

 

[Elite_Fry]

please also check out my training question
http://boards.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=121402

 

[gymtime]

The problem with bodybuilding, as with many hobbies or pursuits, is that there is a TON of information available on everything; diet, lifting, cardio, etc.. People who give advice on this stuff often fall into the slippery slope of "what worked for me will surely work for you." Doesn't work that way.

The frustrating part is that the more you research, the more contradictions you'll find. What it comes down to as a lot of trial and error, years of it in fact. It sucks, but the only way to know for sure what works is to try it! That's why you'll find the guys who've been at this a long time have tried many different diets and workouts until they figured out what works best for them.

 

[Par Deus]

Carbs are the foundation of a proper bulking cycle. Beyond a certain point, protein will just get converted to glucose and fat will mostly just make you fat.

 

[RGC3]

What it comes down to as a lot of trial and error, years of it in fact.

Ahem! No one will agrue with that.

Hey Flubber,

To gain weight (size) is to consum more calories than you burn. No matter if you do it with 3 meals or 10 meals.
a) Figure out how many calories you are eating currently. Then increase this by 100. Wait 2-3 weeks, if you haven't gained weight, add another 100 cals. Continue this cycle until you find the cal amount you need to consum.
b) I suggest eating 6-8 meals a day. This way you are eating protein/carbs every 2-3 hrs. The smaller meals are also easier on your digestive system.

NOTE: Protein vs Carbs vs Fat....Protein and carbs are 4 cals per gram while fat is 9 cals per gram (this is why most people are on low-fat diets). Carbs are used for energy in the body....if you don't burn all the carbs you intake, they are stored as fat. Protein doesn't convert to fat as fast as carbs. You will store some as fat when eating more than you burn, but you will also be using the toliet a lot more. I recommend adding a combo of both (I also recommend restricting both while dieting). Start eating and goodluck.

 

[MS]

Yup. Excess protein is just an expensive and inefficient source of glucose. You can gain weight by eat a shit load of protein, but what a waste. As long as you're getting at least a gram of quality protein per pound bodyweight per day, everything else comes down training, carbs, enough calories and recovery (and patience!).

 

[Elite_Fry]

yes but what kinds of calories?
calories from portein? or calories from carbs?
cos calories come from both those things

 

[Vageta]

They answered your question. Get the extra calories from carbs. Just make sure you get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and fill the rest with carbs and some fat. During bulking you usually don't want to get your fat intake too high so just add in carbs.

To simplify this further take a 200 lb man for example. During bulking he should get at least 200g of protein a day. Just to be safe we can give him 250g. So 250g x 4 = 1000 calories. For this person to gain weight he most likely will need 3500-4000 calories to bulk. If you gain weight easily go with a conservative estimate and modify it from there. If you have trouble gaining weight go with the high estimate and so on. Assuming you went with 4000 calories then 25% of your calories will come from protein. That leaves 3000 calories to fill. You don't want your fat to go too high during a bulk cycle so let's say keep it to 25% as well. That means 1000 calories of fat and 1000 calories as protein. That leaves 2000 calories for carbs which gives you a ratio of 50/25/25 carb/pro/fat.

That is very broad and over simplified but should give you a place to start.

 

[Super Halo Man]

With me, I am bulking now.

Start weight 185...
Currently 208...
**Loss of bodyfat


Started at eating 3,500 calories/day.
300+g protein
500+g carbs
all clean

Now: 5,500-6,000 calories/day
500-600g protein
700+g carbs
all clean

 

[Elite_Fry]

500-600g protein
700+g carbs
fuck
how can you handle it?
how many meals does that work out in being