EatQOD

how would I maintain my protein levels? i.e. to keep up my muscle mass.
without putting on extra weight?

[quote="tommi_boy"]how would I maintain my protein levels? i.e. to keep up my muscle mass.
without putting on extra weight?[/quote]

Good question. In the original diet idea, I didn't recommend taking in extra protein. (I started out doing this 20 years ago!). But lately, I've been recommending buying some protein powder at the vitamin shop and taking about 60 g during the OFF day. I like egg protein myself, but whey is good, or even soy. It should be high-biologic-value protein (almost all the stuff you get at the vitamin shop is). But avoid powders that contain extra calories or sugar. Pure protein should have about 4 cal/g. So read the label. 30 g of protein powder should have about 120 calories. You can weigh your scoop on a food scale and then fill it with powder and weigh it again.

Taking in even 60 g of protein powder has several beneficial effects:

1) It makes you less hungry during your OFF day
2) It contains essential amino acids, especially leucine, that may help keep up your muscle mass
3) It will make you less hungry for protein the next day - during your ON day, so you won't be so hungry for meat, etc. In fact, you can take in 30 g or more of this stuff on your ON day.

so what prevents all of the protein ingested during the on day from merely being burned up as fuel?

Bart,
Well, if you eat excess protein, it will be burned as fuel. But maintaining protein intake towards the higher end does tend to suppress appetite.

If you're protein deficient, you'll tend to look for high-protein foods such as eggs and meat, and sometimes these foods come in high-fat and high-calorie packaging.

The important thing is to take the protein powder supplements during the OFF day, but I've found that taking in 30 g on the ON day as well helps to suppress hunger and helps to keep calorie intake on the ON day from going too high.

Not a critical part of the QOD diet, but a useful tip for some people, I would think.

If you take this protein soon after doing some strength training exercises, all the better.

JT