Too much BCAAs??

[sskeckowski]

I just read somewhere that if you take too much BCAAs, the excess can get stored as fat. Is this true? How much is too much?

I do a TON of cardio (1.5 hrs/day) and decided to start taking a BCAA supplement to prevent muscle breakdown. There are 6 pills to a serving and I take 3 before cardio and 3 after. If I go back to the gym to weight lift later in the day, I take another 3 before and 3 after. So on 3 days a week I will get 2 servings. Is that too much??

[gsw33me]

It depends on what brand it is and how much is a serving size. For me I drink Xtend for BCAA's and the serving size for my body size is 6 scoops. so look up the supplement information and use you weight to figure out how much you need.

[kaspar_19]

How would BCAA's get stored as fat? Do you have the information source? Or at least could you elaborate a bit more on this?

[Nelli]

Originally Posted by sskeckowski

I just read somewhere that if you take too much BCAAs, the excess can get stored as fat. Is this true? How much is too much?

I do a TON of cardio (1.5 hrs/day) and decided to start taking a BCAA supplement to prevent muscle breakdown. There are 6 pills to a serving and I take 3 before cardio and 3 after. If I go back to the gym to weight lift later in the day, I take another 3 before and 3 after. So on 3 days a week I will get 2 servings. Is that too much??

Its not to much - and if you are eating a whole heap of food any excess of calories will be stored as fat BUT not BCAA specifically.
BCAA is great and i have it twice a day as well (so i get double 5 days a week) and im contest prepping.

[dvsness]

The concern with megadosing BCAA is not fat storage, but rather gluconeogenesis. One serving is not megadosing, don't sweat it. The question is what's up with all that cardio?????

[bachovas]

Originally Posted by sskeckowski

I just read somewhere that if you take too much BCAAs, the excess can get stored as fat. Is this true? How much is too much?

I do a TON of cardio (1.5 hrs/day) and decided to start taking a BCAA supplement to prevent muscle breakdown. There are 6 pills to a serving and I take 3 before cardio and 3 after. If I go back to the gym to weight lift later in the day, I take another 3 before and 3 after. So on 3 days a week I will get 2 servings. Is that too much??

You are 96lbs and do 1.5hr of cardio/day, hopefully you're an endurance athlete. If not, one of the females here can provide you some guidance.

As far as excess BCAA's like dvsness said, they end up as very expensive glucose with muscle retention properties. You are not taking too much, in fact, I'd recommend you to drop the pills and get a powder like Xtend or ICE and follow the direction on the bottle and then some. 10-20grs per every exercise session will help you hold on to your muscle during catabolic times.

[Guejsn]

Originally Posted by sskeckowski

I just read somewhere that if you take too much BCAAs, the excess can get stored as fat. Is this true? How much is too much?

I do a TON of cardio (1.5 hrs/day) and decided to start taking a BCAA supplement to prevent muscle breakdown. There are 6 pills to a serving and I take 3 before cardio and 3 after. If I go back to the gym to weight lift later in the day, I take another 3 before and 3 after. So on 3 days a week I will get 2 servings. Is that too much??

Whatever you read was wrong, Sandi. BCAA will never get stored as fat! And during cardio BCAA are preferentially oxidized (Goldberg & Chang, 1978; MacLean et. al., 1991)...However, taking BCAA can help in net protein retention by decreasing protein degradation whilst protein synthesis remains the same (Tarnopolsky, 2006)...Also another quick note: you are wanting to increase your muscle mass. You seriously DON'T need to be doing that much cardio (in fact, you don't need to do any!) to gain muscle. And if your diet is set right, then you won't gain much fat along with the muscle, either.