Nitrogen Balance.

[bode]

So I take protein 3 times a day. 2 ON whey shakes. pre and post workout. And 1 ON casein before bed. I usually mix in a few egg whites for good measure into each. I also eat foods throughout the day like tuna, eggs, oats, and chicken breast. I keep hearing about nitrogen balance and that your body is only anabolic under certain conditions. Does anyone know how to maintain nitro balance. I know I've heard by eating every three hours, but what should I eat. I'm currently trying to cut to 180 and not only do I want to maintain mass, but I also want to avoid fat. Any advice would be good.reps

[elitejp]

I would personnaly up your protein and meal frequency. I dont know how much you weigh, but you should try to be eating 1-1.5g protein/lb of bw. I personally like to keep it around 2, whether bulking or dieting but thats me and many people get in a histeria with high protein diets. Next, up your meals to 6 meals a day making sure that there is protein in every meal. Now try to eat healthy carbs such as bananas and some fruit, yams, anything high fiber (high fiber cereal is great), quinoa(keen-wah, found in the health food section of your grocery store),grains, and lots of veggies. Fats you can get from almunds, cashews, walnuts, and of course flax seed oil, olive oil and fish oil. These types of fats dont make you fat. Do a study on these oils and you will find out how heart healthy these fats are. Now you need to know how to eat. I recommend getting your carbs in in the morning and early afternoon at the latest, or around workout times. after that try to eat salads and such for your last two meals of the day. Do some cardio in the morning and you will be set.

[elitejp]

also the best way to tell whether or not you are losing fat or muscle during a cut is to watch how your strength levels are doing. if you were benching 300 for reps before dieting and now you cant do one, your dropping muscle along with the fat. or I should say, you are excessivly dropping muscle along with fat, because you will always lose some muscle.

As for knowing whether or not you are nitrogen positive, i have no idea how to test for that.???

[davielawson]

I have to disagree with you on the upping the protein thing...
Provided you are consuming apx 1.8gms/KG of bodyweight/day and you sperad it out over 6 meals, you will be consuming more than enough protein to maintain a postivite nitrogen balance.
Any more than 1.8gms/kg results in amino acid oxidation, which in turn provides your body with calories as energy. NOT what u need on a cutting pahse.
The 1.8gms/kg is not a random number but one deduced from clinical research into athletes and bodybuilders with respect to protein consumption.

The biological value of the protein is also important, tuna is not a good source, and is also high in toxins and heavy metals-mercury,
Chicken, Tuan and steak are all good sources as well as fish