The Bodybuilding Diet ‘House Brick’ Analogy
The bodybuilding diet can sometimes seem like a complicated thing to understand. Many people claim that nothing else matters but calories and the amount of protein that needs to be consumed along with carbs and fats is negligible. Others however, claim that unless you get sufficient amounts of each nutrient, particularly protein, your muscle building efforts will be minimal at best.
So, where does this leave us? Which is more important, overall energy in the form of calories, or the macronutrients protein, carbs and fats?
The answer, of course, is both — for they are just like a house brick.
Now, just before you think I’ve lost my mind, let me explain. Imagine a brick in the wall of your house. It is a certain size (calories) and it is made up of an optimum mix of components (sand, clay, etc.) in order to be as strong and optimum performing as possible. You see, if the brick wasn’t a certain size yet still contained the perfect proportional mix of each component, the brick would be useless in the wall because it would hold nothing up. Likewise, if the brick was the perfect size yet lacked the perfect proportional mix of each component it wouldn’t be strong enough to support the wall, and again, would be useless because it would hold nothing up.
Therefore, I like to look upon the bodybuilding diet is a house brick.