Fruit

[Kelly White]

I have been working SS style program while learning the Oly lifts for the past 2-3 months. Goals are to gain strength first with lean mass second. I have been willing to dump on some extra body fat as it helps huge with my strength gains.

I went from 167 to 185 in two months, with maybe 5% body fat increase. (I have been crushing the milk.) I am making slower gains now, and want to gain maybe 10-15 more pounds of LBM without too much more fat gain, before I start to drop fat in March.

My question is regarding fruit. It is very easy to eat fruit, and I can eat a ton of it. Any draw backs to eating tons of fruit as far as sugars, or filling up the belly where protein could be?

The diet is fairly "clean" the rest of the time (meats & vegg and I try to eat decent carbs), except for breakfast which is usually at a resturant.

I am eating mostly apples and bannanas, and I am eating at least 5 a day, and I could probally go 10.

Good source of calories or bad idea?

[Kevin Perry]

how much more time are you giving yourself to gain another 15 lbs? If you want to keep getting stronger your going to have to eat a lot of food especially to gain more muscle and thats gonna add some fat either way.

Fruit is better than candy but it still has lots of sugar. Why don't you fill up on more fat instead?

[Mike ODonnell]

How much protein you taking in? I'd worry about that first if you want more muscle size....not carb intake.

[Kelly White]

Im not set on 15 lbs, I mainly just want to get stronger, but the size I get from eating like a hippo makes me feel so much stronger.

I am going to keep the strength cycle going until March, then I will work in some heavy hard metcon. Hopefully by then I will have my Oly lifts to where I can start following the CA WOD, right now my oly lifts are so light I feel like I get nothing out of the WOD.

Im getting somewhere around 2 grams per pound per day. Usually more, but I am too lazy to keep track. I am right at a gallon a day on the Milk- which is some where around 125G, i think.

Im really eating the fruit, because its easy. At work it is just easier to eat fruit between meals, and it ramps up my intake.

I guess the sugar is my main concern.

How much fruit are you guys getting per day, or do you stay away because the sugar?

[Kelly White]

Actually the protein is around 220-250. Not 2g per pound.

[Donald Lee]

If my interpretation of fructose is correct, fructose fills up your liver and doesn't get converted to glycogen in your muscles; hence, too much fruit post-workout for your carbs wouldn't be beneficial.

Here's an article from Mercola's site about fructose, insulin, and syndrome X. I think it's probably more applicable to high-fructose corn syrup, but it's still an interesting read:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...yndrome-x.aspx

Here's another one on just fruit:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...e-healthy.aspx

[Kelly White]

From the fruit article;

"As I said, the number one source of calories in the United States is not meat, veggies or even bread -- it’s high-fructose corn syrup from soda."

Holy crap!

[Mike ODonnell]

High Fructose Syrup is something to stay away from. Also remember that you burn liver glycogen overnight as your brain is a glucose hog and in full swing sleeping. Reloading just on fruit should be ok as long as you are not dosing additional loads of HFCS in with it....then it becomes a potential for fatty liver disease...something you see in alcholics and people eating too much HFCS.

I do some fruit, not a ton and not everyday.

Constant sugar is always not ideal....as you can build up insulin resistance...and then have issues losing the fat afterwards (and because of that losing lean muscle in the process). If you are doing alot of carbs all day every day (as milk has plenty of sugar), keep it spread out rather than all at once.

Only way to really know what is working...is to do it and measure your gains for fat and muscle. Then determine if that is the ratio you want to continue on....as you say you went from 167-185, which is 18lbs of weight....with a 5% increase in BF then it's roughly about 7lbs of lean gain. So if you want another 7lbs of lean muscle...then you will put on another 5% BF and another 18lbs total....if you want 14lbs of lean gain you will put on 10% BF more and another 36lbs. Again....very rough (and probably a little off) numbers. All depends on how much fat you want to gain in the process....as there are better ways to gain lean lbs but it is much slower pace. So slow and steady lean gains vs quick and additional fat (and then you have to lose the fat and keep the muscle....something some people don't do very well and lose lean muscle in the process and come out with a very low net gain....aka the old BB bulking and cutting diets of old).

[Jane Michel]

Originally Posted by Kelly White

Im not set on 15 lbs, I mainly just want to get stronger, but the size I get from eating like a hippo makes me feel so much stronger.

Hey Kelly, I kind of know what you mean I think..... when I started SS I seemed pretty weak. Found out that the more I ate and the more I gained, the more I could lift. Strength increased a lot but I gained about maybe 7-8kg in the process, mostly bodyfat I think. Very frustrating.

[JooYoung Song]

5 pieces of fruit is nothing. It's nothing compared to all the lactose you're consuming because of the milk.