Protein: A Bodybuilder's Best Friend
When building a meal plan, it makes sense to start with the most critical, yet physique-friendly macronutrient.
Although we're talking about advanced bodybuilding nutrition plans, things don't need to be overly complicated. In fact, I like to keep things really simple. That's why I summarize the intricate biochemistry of protein this way:
Your body uses protein to build stuff.
Anyone who knows what a dumbbell is knows that protein helps build muscle. But we tend to forget that protein helps build many other things like bones, hair, skin, nails, tendons, and ligaments, along with more obscure things like blood plasma, visceral (organ) tissue, and almost 2,000 enzymes.
The fact that the body (especially the body of a hard-training individual) has so many critical uses for protein, is the primary reason why using calories to indicate how much energy the human body will be able to derive from food doesn't make sense.
Virtually all of the protein you eat will be used as building blocks for something else. Very, very little will be available to produce our body's energy currency, glucose. Even less would be available to create fat, largely due to the inefficiency of this process.
When you consider that protein is very unlikely to cause fat gain along with the fact that protein consumption boosts metabolic rate by about 25%, you can see why it's a bodybuilder's best friend.
