Bodybuilding diet is not just about protein only. You can't build your muscles based on protein alone. To achieve peak performance, other than protein you need the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals, enzymes, friendly bacterias and also plenty of good fats.

Well, there is no such thing as essential sugar. The importance of carbs in bb is overstated.
I had discussed with some bodybuilders at oversea bb forum that they gained muscle mass on very low carbs diet (long term).
They had proven the insulin spike theory wrong. I would suggest eat just enough for not getting fat if you want to have lean muscle mass.
Too bad the members here did not have the patience to do it for long term.
Fats and protein play more important role in building muscles than carbs.

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Added on July 26, 2009, 5:29 pmNope.

This post has been edited by 4Rings: Jul 26 2009, 05:29 PM

There are 2 schools of thought in BB. One advocates low carb while the mainstream school advocates hi carb.
We have been brainwashed into thinking carbs are food from heaven. Fats are bad, cholesterol is bad and fats make you fat these kind of craps.
Carbs are depicted as hero while fats as villain.

Fats are essential to life while carbs are not. Fats are needed in the synthesis of protein and they help in the absorption and utilization of protein, vitamins and minerals. If you are on a low carb, hi fat diet your body doesn't need carbs as energy. Dietary fats and your body fats will be used in the production of energy.

It is not uncommon for mainstreamers to believe low carb is a fad or crap until they dare to experiment with it. Not many dare to try. I spoke with a few local competitive bodybuilders, none dare to try simply because they had been led to believe fat makes you fat since they started pumping irons. They didn't dare to take the risk.

I was a mainstreamer once. I 'converted' to low carb hi fat because my body was like $hit while on vegan diet for 2 years (that was in the mid 90's). My diet was hi complex carbs and very low fat but my body fat was high and I lost so much strength. I was lethargic all the time.

Since I had nothing to lose, I decided to try low carb hi fat after an argument with a local doctor who advocates that diet.
While on starch free hi protein and hi fat, I made a remarkable transformation. My waistline was down from 34" down to 29".
I gained more than 10lbs of lean muscle mass (based on the bodyfat machine I had) and my strength levels increased tremendously.
I could lift weights in certain exercises heavier than in my bodybuilding days (hi carb + juice). I was juice free while on low carb.
If I had known this diet earlier, I could have added a few more titles during my competitive days.

I introduced this diet to my 'subjects' then. One of them who had better genetics made remarkable results in 2 years training (juice free).
He was placed 4th in Mr KL junior on his 1st attempt in BB contest.

Sometimes last year, while we were actively discussing about this topic, I was back on low carb hi fat and started training seriously.
I made some good gains within a few months, and my gym mates were asking for my recipes. It was short lived and I am now back to square one.

In my opinion, I don't believe carbs help to prevent catabolism. I have used my own body to prove low carb hi fat is right. So are those who have been on this diet long enough to see the positive results. I am not saying carb is bad. Too much is no good as it wouldl lead to cardiovascular disease. And I don't see bodybuilders would give a damn about it as long as they can achieve their goals. Otherwise they wouldn't be using juice and GH. I was one of them once.

PS. The Inuits eat hi protein hi fat zero carbs during 9 months winter in the Artic for their entire lives. If carbs are needed to prevent catabolism, they wouldn't have survived and grown into adult.

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Added on July 27, 2009, 10:39 amOn the other hand, carb is a primary source of energy if you are on hi carb diet because your body can't utilise your body fat as energy. You will get lethargy if your carb is running low. Hence carb is important to the hi carb dieters.

This post has been edited by 4Rings: Jul 27 2009, 10:39 AM

I didn't really count my carbs intake. I just made sure my diet was starch free. At one stage when I was on keto for a few weeks, I ate only a few slices of cucumber daily for carbs. The rest of my low carbs months, I ate plenty of green leafy veges. Those were my carbs.

Your body needs time to adjust to low carb before you can actually feel the muscular strength and endurance. I feel that long term on keto is not practical. Anything below 50g of carbs a day is considered keto. You can't $hit on keto. Low carb in between 30% & 40% carbs of total calorie is more practical.

The initial keto stage is important to promote fat burning process if you want to go low carb. Then carbs will be introduced progressively in later stages.

When I was preparing for a contest (during my bb days), I reduced my fat intake to bare minimum while on calorie restriction diet. We believed in fat makes you fat crap then. I lost so much muscles and strength.

When I experimented with hi fat diet while restricting carbs, I had more energy and strength. Instead of losing muscles while dieting, I gained muscles. This made me realized that fats are far more important in maintaining muscle mass while you are on carbs restriction diet.

But too bad, I have lost interest in bodybuilding now.

The problem with most people they are afraid to go low carb fearing that they would lose muscle mass. The moment one goes low carb, he tend to lose water as carbs hold water. At later stage your body will start burning body fats as fuel. These people will start losing their 'size' and will very likely to stop this diet worrying that they'd look small. They need those fats to make them look big. That contradicts with bodybuilding. Bodybuilding means build muscles to look big not gain fats to look big.

BTW, good luck to your quest in building a good physique whether you choose to go low carb or hi carb or hi fat or low fat or whatever.