Protein Intake

Q: "Hello! A friend of mine just directed me to your web page. I have some questions, but this might be too much to ask from you. I'll try to be brief. I'm a 40 year old female, I've been weightlifting for 6 years, I've competed in strong woman competitions including nationals, and some powerlifting competitions. I'm 185 and 25% body fat. 

"I'm in the process of applying for the police academy here in Wichita which will start in January. I am working on my conditioning through hill sprints, running, calisthenics, some weights, etc. usually with 2 a day workouts. I still have to pass the Cooper's run (1.5 miles in under 14 minutes).

"Here's the big question: I feel like I need to lose about 30 pounds to be really lean and mean. I've already lost 40 since last September, mostly using low carb, but also a 4 week ultra low calorie diet. For the past month or so I've been doing something more like the Zone. Did you find that you could support your daily LEO activities when you were on the metabolic diet? Would you recommend it for me in my current situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated."

Thank you!

Michelle S.
Assistant District Attorney
Wichita, KS


My Answer: Well first off congratulations on losing 40 pounds! That is a huge achievement, so keep up the great work. To answer your question, I experimented with the Metabolic Diet (Anabolic Diet) prior to my law enforcement career. When I was on that diet at the time, it was a logistical nightmare, because nobody had heard of low carb dieting and there were no products to help with low carb dieting. Had I been in law enforcement at that time, it would have been hard to prepare and pack lunches for patrol. I would have tied a large animal to the hood of my patrol car and eaten my 5-6 meals that way.

The Metabolic Diet is a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD). CKD's are excellent for fat loss and muscle preservation, but I would not recommend it if you are an athlete who needs to train all day every day and needs to be at peak performance. But as far as body recompositioning, CKD's are the best, hands down. I have a fellow officer on a CKD, and the resulting changes on his face and waistline were almost immediate.

What I would suggest is that if you want to give the CKD a try, then follow the diet primarily for fat loss from now until you're accepted by the academy. Once you start the academy, up the carbs. The Zone Diet would be good for this. This way you get enough carbs for the high volume of physical work you'll do in the academy. But if you find that you can stay on the CKD and perform fine athletically and not tear people's heads off, then by all means stay on it.

Good luck!

Q: "I am a State Trooper here in Ohio. Our academy was exactly like the one you described. I made it through our academy, but almost immediately, I lost interest in running long distances, or even any distances at all. I never saw the point in running 5+ miles a day or doing 143 pushups and situps every morning (as that was my class number). I haven't been working out for 2 to 3 years. I was wondering if I should just jump into your program or if you would prefer me to try something else first?"

Thanks,
Scott


My Answer: Dear God, Scott! Don't jump right into the program if you haven't been working out for 2-3 years. The program outlined in Return to Copland is BRUTAL. You should start off with a low number of sets per body part (2) and build up your volume from there. Once you get back into the swing of things and can handle high volume, high frequency workouts, then try the Professional Warrior program.



Q: "Strength and Physique: The Articles is absolutely incredible! I'm so thankful I bought it. I have a question about page 67 on your book, 'For Those Who Want Muscle.' Would it be OK to take a protein supplement (even though it's mostly artificial) along with the Paleo Diet? And why are bananas excluded from the fruit section on the daily diet plan?"

Thank you,
-J.G


My Answer: Thanks for purchasing the book, JG! I'm glad you like it. As far as protein intake, it's OK to take a protein supplement, but when it comes to weight gain, it is ALWAYS preferable to eat your protein rather than drink it. I find people gain more muscle on high protein foods than high protein drinks, even when they drank more grams of protein than grams from eating real food. Chewing your food stimulates the digestive process and preps your body to absorb it. Drinking liquefied food doesn't stimulate the digestive process at all, which is why people lose weight on liquid diets.

Protein supplements are really meant for convenience, but if you must use it, then ask yourself this: are you lactose intolerant? If so, then you should avoid most protein powders. Drinking a protein supplement would do more harm to you than good. If not, then choose a protein according to your needs. If you need a post-workout drink, then choose a protein powder designed for quick absorption. Preferably something with a lot of simple fast-acting carbs and whey hydrolysate. If you're a skinny bastard who has a high-speed metabolism and no appetite, then consider a protein powder with micellar casein.

Now as far as bananas, I don't recommend bananas, because it's fairly high on the glycemic index. If you want to gain muscle, but stay leaner, then bananas will interfere with that goal. This is why I only recommend it for poor skinny bastards: Poor Man's Bulking Diet.