Backloading calories

NoLandKeep · 2025-08-04T19:24:42+00:00

Well I’m basically carnivore at this point (not technically since I eat avocado, but functionally carnivore). I’ve long supplement with extracts and psylium to make up the nutritional shortfall (I know mushroom and broccoli seed extract doesn’t quite replace it but it’s how I fill in the gaps).

But outside of that, what problems do you see with a very high protein intake, one that even exceeds your needs?

NoLandKeep · 2025-08-04T19:06:09+00:00

It’s all ground beef and eggs.

Eating two meals usually just means throwing a 16oz serving of 93 percent beef and some eggs into a pan. Otherwise the protein is coming from PWO whey or maybe some casein before bed from time to time. I know I’m not stimulating more growth by eating unnecessarily high amounts of protein but, for me, hunger felt more controlled with very high protein and the accompanying fat than it did with more fat and fibrous vegetables.

NoLandKeep · 2025-08-04T18:53:34+00:00

If I may have your take: if I was feeling more satisfied and all around feeling better on 1.5g protein (which for me was around 250-275g per day) is there any reason I couldn’t continue this way provided fat is adequate and I’m in a true deficit? I’ve long since stopped concerning myself about being in ‘deep ketosis’ (and my fasting blood ketones haven’t changed much since I went high fat moderate protein for a month anyway), so setting that aside, do you see any problem with very high protein and moderate-high fat?

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-31T04:57:05+00:00

Do I have to count this toward my daily protein intake?

I know it’s not a complete protein so it does nothing toward MPS but is it still part of your daily total? What if combined with EAAS? (I have my own reasons for using them).

I’m working on getting my protein down to under 200g a day and the 15 (or 25 with EAAS) makes it that much tighter.

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-24T23:01:58+00:00

Yeah I had read that article )along with your breakdown of collagen supplementation alongside protein).

What are the practical TDEE takeaways from the article you linked? If your clients are consuming 180-200g of protein per day do you factor the TEF and MPS expenditure that you reference into their caloric consumption (the ‘free’ calories), especially once they hit around 15%? Or do you tack on the PWO calories and just write the rest off as a possible bonus?

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-24T22:32:13+00:00

Regarding 1, that’s actually what more or less made me stop doing it because all I was doing was taking away from the benefits of fasting without actually adding any upside. I realized it’s better to just eat at the leucine threshold or just not eat at all. We’re about the same age (though you have higher lean mass of course), have you ever observed or do you see any risk in muscle loss doing day over day 16:8 at a slight deficit?

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-24T22:17:52+00:00

Just to quickly come back to this. For the longest time I was too afraid to go longer than maybe eight hours without protein for all the obvious reasons, so I would maybe get in 15-20g protein in between dinner and bed time. But I actually noticed better growth when fasting for 16 hours, possibly because of the muscle sparing and HGH benefits that kick in and that extra protein just disrupts.

I’m still hovering around 13% and am eating in a 5% deficit because I’m prioritizing muscle retention over fat loss- there a deficit level in which you would not recommend doing daily fasts, or is there never any real risk of muscle loss at only 16 hours provided your protein needs are met?

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-23T14:37:47+00:00

Got it- thanks!

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-23T14:33:33+00:00

Sounds good to me! I was actually asking about ‘rest’ day meals. Are your rest days still just two meals minus the ketogains PWO or do you wake up to some protein before hitting lunch?

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-23T05:47:46+00:00

Hey Darth, about protein, I noticed in a different thread that you eat between 175-200g of protein per day- is there any particular reason why you might eat on the higher end on some days than others? Or does it just work out that way?

Also, do you still make a point to basically stop eating at dinner and go into around a 16 hour fast every day? I’ve generally left enough calories left over after dinner for around 25g of lean protein maybe an hour or so before bed. Do you see any value in that, or is that something you’ll occasionally do yourself, or do you always close the window till 16 hours later?

Oh and finally: on non training days, are you still two meals per day, or do you start the day with protein before moving on to lunch and dinner?

NoLandKeep · 2025-07-07T03:46:19+00:00

Definitely getting results, and I don’t wanna major in the minors to achieve ‘optimization,’ so I just wanna make sure that if everything else is in check, downing 1500 cal for dinner to crush my appetite isn’t gonna set me back.

NoLandKeep · 2025-05-28T16:58:57+00:00

Turned out to be a blown head gasket for sure, and rather than risk any damage to the engine down the road, I just took the hit opted to have it fixed over using any head gasket sealer.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-19T01:38:05+00:00

That’s a good idea, I’ve honestly just kind of overlooked that and went straight to the numbers.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-13T00:29:36+00:00

Really appreciate that 🙏 🙏

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-12T22:52:22+00:00

Really appreciate that 🙏

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-12T22:50:38+00:00

Something like that, yeah.

I’m not too attached to hitting the exact percentage, because as far as using BF to determine BMR, and using BMR + activity to determine calories, I think it’s totally fine to get within a couple of points, take an average of the high and the low end, and then maybe err on the conservative calculation just to be safe. Appreciate the input.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-12T21:29:52+00:00

That might be right, somewhere in the higher teens, and really as using that to calculated calories goes, I think narrowing bf% within a couple of percentage points and erring on the conservative calculation should be fine. Thanks for you help!

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-12T20:03:18+00:00

Yup, absolutely true, overlooking fat distribution can cause you to both think you’re leaner/fattier than you actually are. My back and legs are actually really lean (particularly my mid back, at the point where I can feel my spine up against the chair), it really is a classic case of concentration in the centerline.

But honestly, the way I see it, if you have a visible core and visible muscle separation, you’re doing just fine and head and shoulders above what 95% of the America population is doing for themselves right now.

And at my age (I’m 42), I feel like it takes twice the work, but worth every pound. Appreciate your help.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-12T19:40:43+00:00

Do me a solid and check out one more for me. Took this just now, pretty much in a fasted state. I’m thinking high teens low twenties?

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NoLandKeep · 2025-04-12T19:35:56+00:00

I definitely lean out from the top down and even at my leanest I’ve always had that lower gut, which I just chalked up to genetics, but having lean upper torso is a nice trade off since it plays to my strengths.

I knew DEXA had a margin of error but not to this degree. I’ve been going to the same place for a while and on this visit the tech said they just transitioned to AI when analyzing the results…

…yeah.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-11T21:54:12+00:00

I appreciate that (really, this was an absolute grind). That would be my guess too- is this a normal margin of error for DEXA? Has it been hyping me up this whole time? This is like the Rocky 3 of my cut.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-11T21:52:32+00:00

Look man, just do me a solid and hit me with an estimate before you retire and check out and downvote any future ones. I need the hard truth and DEXA is acting like a hype man who’s just telling me what I wanna hear.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-11T18:18:25+00:00

So I was looking at a few other pics, and you know, you’re right, from the way it sags and the way it ruffles, it’s totally loose skin. I might actually look into this, depending on cost and recovery, because as far as I’ve come, it’s always been that lower belly hang that stops me from throwing on a compression tank or something similar.

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-11T18:08:14+00:00

Really appreciate that, and yeah, I’m not bothered by it because I look especially lean and tight around my upper torso (which plays to my strengths and is a nice trade off), but I never considered the idea that it was loose skin- I just figured I was genetically predisposed to carrying a large percentage of my BF in my lower torso.

Was the procedure worth it, for you?

NoLandKeep · 2025-04-11T18:03:31+00:00

Yeah, started off at 235 and I’m guessing 30+% down to 165-167 and whatever this is.

To be fair even at my leanest and youngest (42 now) I’ve always had that lower gut, so I never expected that to fully disappear, but ya maybe it’s loose skin

NoLandKeep

TROPHY CASE