April 26, 2017

The pulse feast

The pulse feast

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/pulse-feast

The author of this article has stumbled upon the holy grail of body transformation: a nutritional strategy that allows him to build muscle and maintain defined, visible abs - all without having to worry about food.

But this is not what you might think. Like the story with the blind man who found himself in a room with an elephant, we've discovered parts of this strategy before. But now someone has put those pieces together into a simple plan that works shockingly well.

Oh yes, you can feast in the evening. Bonus!

This nutrition strategy is the next big thing in muscle building nutrition science.

The Pulse Feast

The problem: if I have food there, I eat it!

As a former fat kid, dieting has fascinated me my whole life. I've always had a love-hate relationship with food and I'm always looking for ways to get lean and stay happy at the same time. And the latter is really important.

When I was training for bodybuilding purposes, I used a low-carb approach with six meals a day and got really super lean with it. But I had two problems with eating this way. Even though it made me lean, I felt bad all the time. I wanted to kill everyone and I had no social life. I was robbed of all the pleasures of life.

The second problem was that after a bodybuilding competition, I put on weight in leaps and bounds. Even though I knew better, I was a yo-yo dieter.

The problem I had with a traditional bodybuilding diet - six to eight small meals a day - is that my psychological profile gives me a tendency to binge. I can force myself not to eat for two or three days, no problem. As long as I don't start eating, I have no psychological desire to eat.

However, once food enters my mouth - whether this is based on a neurological response or a hormonal response (because I'm producing too much insulin) - I simply can't stop eating. If food is available, I will definitely eat it.

Eating six small meals a day was like being irritated by an attractive woman six times a day and not being able to touch her. I was constantly suffering. This made me angry at food and angry at life.

It got so bad that to avoid going off track, I had virtually no food at home. I actually went shopping six times a day to buy the ingredients for each meal separately! What else could I have done? If I had six meals at home at the same time, I would have eaten all that food at once.

As you can see, it was impossible for me to eat six small meals a day and stay sane. I was losing body fat, but I felt miserable. So I started looking for ways to stay lean while enjoying life.

Let's face it, it's one thing to get super lean for one week a year and it's another thing to stay reasonably lean all year round. Personally, I'd rather have an 8% body fat percentage all year round and be happy than feel bad about getting to a 4% body fat percentage for a month and then gaining up to 14% body fat for the rest of the year. I had to find a solution!

My experiments

Experiment 1 - Defined but losing muscle mass

The first strategy I found appealing was Ori Hofmekler's Warrior Diet. The basic idea of this diet strategy is to fast (eat no food) throughout the day and then eat a lot in the evening.

I found this strategy appealing as it seemed to be the ultimate solution: I could eat whatever I wanted and still stay slim. This diet suited my psychological profile. I didn't have to eat for 18 hours, which made this diet strategy quite easy for me.

I started this diet straight after a bodybuilding competition. I wanted to stay in competition shape and still eat everything I wanted. I stayed very lean, had a lot of energy, but I lost some muscle mass.

The plan suited my needs the whole time, but I knew that slowly progressing muscle loss was not what I wanted in the long term.

Experiment 2 - Lean while maintaining muscle mass

I tried several different strategies to improve on the basic "fast and then eat" idea. I took BCAAs throughout the day to prevent a catabolic state. I still wasn't building muscle mass, but adding the BCAAs seemed to prevent muscle loss and also kept my strength up.

This new strategy was better than the original plan. It worked, but it had its limitations. Maintaining muscle was great, but it still wasn't enough for me. I wanted to build muscle.

Experiment 3 - Defined with muscle gains!

Not long after, I read about protein hydrolysate with a high degree of hydrolysis and a high proportion of di- and tripeptides. All I had to do was use protein hydrolysate pulses throughout the day

Once I had obtained one of these protein hydrolysates, I started to use pulses of protein during the day and then feast on them in the evening. In addition to this, I combined the pulse protein boosts with a good dose of creatine each time.

This was the first time I was able to eat what I wanted, stay lean and actually build strength and muscle mass.

Over the last year I have used different protein pulse strategies throughout the day and only eat one big meal at the end of the day. Now I eat like this almost every day and the results are better than I ever expected - and I feel great doing it!

The perfect metabolic efficiency

The Pulse Binge strategy - two large pulse-like protein bursts during the day and one large meal in the evening - combined with a stimulation of anabolic physiology, makes you metabolically efficient. And with continued use, you'll be able to build muscle and strength, stay lean, stay mentally healthy and stop obsessing about food.

Most people don't want to step onto a bodybuilding stage. But almost everyone wants to look lean and not feel bad about getting and staying lean. They also want to have the energy and mental focus to exercise or participate in any athletic activity they want to participate in. And with this plan, you can have all of that - without your entire schedule having to revolve around your diet.

No more packing Tupperware containers to take with you everywhere and no more freaking out when you can't eat solid food every three hours.

Have a few pulse-like protein hydrolysate spurts during the day and eat practically anything you want at night. It's easy, it's stress-free and it's the most effective strategy I've ever used for building muscle and getting lean.

Let's analyze the strategy.

Phase 1 - pulse-like protein boosts in the morning and afternoon

From the time you get up in the morning until about 7:00 pm, you will consume two large pulse-like protein boosts, which equates to one boost in the morning and one boost four or five hours later.

Each protein boost consists of 30 grams of protein hydrolysate. You consume these two protein boosts in addition to your nutritional protocol around your training. So on training days you get a third boost of anabolic nutrients through your training nutrition.

I have paid a lot of attention to this dosing protocol. I've scoured all the available scientific literature, discussed the protocol with different scientists and experimented with all the variables.

In summary, the science matches my personal experience -that in addition to nutrition around training, two large pulse-like protein bursts separated by four or five hours work best. Here's the explanation for this:

The goal is to flood the bloodstream with massive amounts of dipeptides, tripeptides and amino acids, move these nutrients out of the blood and into muscle cells and other target tissues, and then return the bloodstream's amino acid concentration to baseline at least an hour before the next protein pulse.

To keep the body maximally responsive to the effects of the pulse-like protein surges, you must have periods during which the bloodstream "pauses" at its amino acid baseline. And with the two large pulsed protein bursts, the two-serving dosing protocol provides just enough time for all of this to work.

In other words, a two-pulse protein delivery requires more time for the bloodstream amino acid concentration to fall back to baseline and you have just enough time to use two pulse protein boosts and still use another large protein pulse during a training session.

In my experience, this dosing protocol produces maximum anabolic benefits while keeping the body highly susceptible to the effects.

Here's what I do:

I usually train at 5:00 pm, which is why I take a protein boost shortly after I get up in the morning and another protein boost in the early afternoon. At 5pm when I train, I use another boost of protein hydrolysate combined with some functional carbs for my nutrition protocol around training.

Phase 2 - Feasting!

After 19:00, the feasting begins. However, there are a few rules to follow depending on your goals:

Goal - Get or stay slim

If your main goal is a single-digit body fat percentage, then your evening feast will consist of one meal. Even though you can basically eat anything you want, your feasting needs to be a little more structured for ultimate slimness.

Start feasting with a focus on animal foods and vegetables. In other words, start with protein (meat, fish, eggs, etc.) and then add some vegetables. And if you still want to eat after this, then you can eat fruit.

Rule of thumb: the fatter you are, the more restrictive you need to be in your food choices. Feast, but watch the carbohydrates.

Goal - Maintain the current state

I don't like the term "maintenance". Even though I'm not specifically trying to get super lean or build large amounts of muscle mass quickly, I'm always striving to improve.

Let's call this "maintenance" for simplicity's sake. This is where you will find yourself during most of the year. I use this strategy myself for about 80% of the year.

During "maintenance" you basically eat what you want during a predetermined phase of the fast. I prefer 7:00pm to 11:00pm. Again, start with protein and vegetables and only then eat pasta, cereal or even dessert if you want to.

Goal - muscle mass

If your main goal is to build lean muscle mass, increase your carbohydrate intake and overall food intake during your evening hours of feasting. You still need to start your feast with protein, but after this you have more leeway than those whose goal is to get very lean.

The psychology of nutrient partitioning

I believe that the psychological state you are in when you eat affects nutrient partitioning. If you are stressed or have a negative opinion about your food, then you may be storing more nutrients as fat.

Pulse feasting is a stress-free way to eat. You don't have to feel guilty when you feast because feasting is part of the plan and is even necessary.

This could be related to the "stingy gene" hypothesis. The body is designed to function in cycles of high activity and low food intake, followed by low activity and high food intake. In other words, it is fasting and feasting.

If you are in a high activity mode, then you are not in a state to properly absorb nutrients and store them as usable energy - you are not as efficient. If you are stressed - psychologically or physically - then you will not be as efficient in your eating.

With this plan, you will enjoy your meal because you know your body is prepared to use the nutrients. You've fasted for 18 hours in combination with anabolic protein boosts, which is why you won't get fat. The lack of stress and worry will contribute to the positive effect of this strategy. You can enjoy your meal without stress and guilt and achieve better results in terms of developing your body composition.

The Pulse Feasting Introductory Phase

If you've been reading bodybuilding and fitness magazines for the last 20 years, you've been trained to eat every three hours. But this is a psychological need, not a physical one. What I have found for myself is that this is a bad habit and is not necessary for muscle growth or high performance training.

To help you break this habit, you could use a traditional pulse fast before you start pulse feasting. Pulse fasting consists of a short fast for 36 hours during which you consume mainly pulse-like spurts of protein hydrolysate plus some nutrition around your workout.

Pulse Fasting will prepare your body for the powerful metabolic rebound effect and muscle gains instead of fat storage. In addition, this introductory phase will show you that you don't have to eat all day long to grow. And you don't have to panic about getting into a catabolic state if you don't eat a mouthful of chicken and rice every minute of the day.

I would recommend you get a few non-consecutive days of pulse fasting under your belt before you start the pulse feasting strategy.

Pulse Feasting Summary

In summary, here is what pulse feasting does:

Pulse Feasting...

Stimulates anabolic physiology for maximum gains in lean muscle mass while preventing fat gain.
Drives nutrients into the muscles and stops fat storage.
Improves the function of the digestive system, making it more efficient at breaking down food and utilizing the nutrients it contains.
Removes stress and guilt from eating.
Gives you more time in the morning and afternoon - no more packing food for everywhere you go and no panic if you can't eat every two or three hours.
Makes eating enjoyable again and does it at the time of day when you have more freedom to relax, prepare good food and enjoy it with your family and friends.
Trains your body to become more metabolically efficient when you eat "normally", like during a vacation, so you don't get fat.

Pulse Feast sample plan

Time	Training in the evening	Late morning workout	Early morning workout	Non-workout day
7:00 a.m.	Protein pulse	Protein pulse	training	Protein pulse
8:00 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.		workout	Protein pulse	Protein pulse
12:00 pm	Protein pulse
13:00
14:00 h
3:00 p.m.		Protein pulse	Protein pulse	Protein pulse
16:00 h
17:00	Training
6:00 p.m.
7:00 pm	Feasting	Feast	Feasting	Feasting

Instructions for pulse protein intake

Each pulse-style protein boost consists of 30 grams of protein hydrolysate with a high degree of hydrolysis and a high proportion of di- and tripeptides. You can prepare both portions the evening before or in the morning so that you can drink them at the specified times. The finished mixture is best kept in the refrigerator.

It's simple and highly effective

Use a pulse-style protein intake with a high-quality protein hydrolyzate during the day and eat what you want in the evening.

Less stress, less body fat, more muscle?

What more could you want?