Wow I seem to have triggered myself after writing "catabolic", going off on a tangent about training routines when I meant to talk about nutrition. The above pr

Wow I seem to have triggered myself after writing "catabolic", going off on a tangent about training routines when I meant to talk about nutrition. The above program is just a starting point, but I want to emphasize that it's worked for me throughout the years, especially when cycled with heavier programs like 5x5. What I was going to say is that the body does protein synthesis for 24 hours after a workout, then healing quickly drops by a factor of 3. So it's important to shoot for around 200 grams of protein and not miss a meal the day after. But the day of the workout, it's ok to eat a little less, just make sure to eat 1-2 hours before exercise to have energy. That gives us an opportunity to either gain or lose weight without losing muscle, by scheduling our food intake in phase with protein synthesis. That point about periodicity is what I was trying to get to, and why I believe that it's more important than variety. We can use 6-8 week training cycles to target muscle gain or weight loss. We can also tailor the program for work stress and seasons, maybe walking more to clear out cortisol during crunch time before a deadline, or eating more in the fall. All of the above is the "why" behind which meal plans work. I don't think that eating advice makes any sense on its own outside the context of exercise.