I have a question that has to do with the effects of eating unhealthy and muscle building.

If you eat food that is unhealthy, like breaded fish, pizza, stuff like that... but you get the same amount of protein as if you are eating chicken, fish, etc., all healthy, clean foods...

I understand that you will gain more fat by eating the unhealthy foods, correct?... but will you gain less muscle this way as well? Even if you are getting the same amount of protein and calories?

I am just trying to get to the bottom of the reason why I gained less muscle over the last two week period, I ate more calories than any other 2 week period prior, but only gained one pound... and .6 of it was fat.

What do you guys think about the questions I asked? Is there any proof/studies either way?

No, and its called dirty bulking, you'll still make the same muscle gains as eating clean, but probably will put on more fat. And if you gained muscle, change up your workout and find another way to stimulate your muscles...

The gain of muscle is not effected by the "type" of food eaten. As long as enough food is eaten gains will be made.

I have no studies. I know Olympic gold medalists who eat whatever they want all the time. (throwers, strength athletes) I know top power lifters and weight lifters are a group who eat whatever they want as well and do not keep track of anything. The basic rule is.

If you eat enough, you can gain muscle and strength.

There is no reason. Results are not linear. They will never be linear. You will have times where they are better and times where they are not as good. (as far as increase in size goes)

If you have a good handle on training, what you are doing during the time where you are not gaining a lot of muscle is setting the groundwork for larger gains later.

Also you recently changed your workout. Give it time time, 4-6 weeks, to fully understand how it is working.

Thanks a lot for the reply Phate and goergen!

So if I eat unhealthy for one day but get enough calories I should gain the same amount of muscle as normal... but i'd be more likely to add fat along with it.. correct?

One day will not make you gain fat. A lot of days will.

If you eat unhealthy often you will gain fat.

With Dirty bulking you will gain the maximum amount of muscle a week but the fat gains will really overshadow any muscle gained.

to answer your question- You will gain the MAX amount of muscle a week but alot more fat to where its' not worth it.

well as long as I will gain the maximum amount of muscle that's really what matters to me right now.

I had one big ass cheat meal last week, and then tonight I made a frozen pizza which had been in my freezer for like 3 months... I got it free at the grocery store with a $25 purchase... and wanted to get rid of it.

I won't sweat things like this that much then...

I usually eat very clean, so.

Also, long term unhealthy eating can cause various health problems, such as increased risk of cancer, in addition to excess fat gain.

How "dirty" pizza is depends on the toppings. Vegetable topping pizza is a lot cleaner than pepperoni and sausage which are mostly bad kinds of fat and not that much protein.

Seem to me, the bigger issue ' between ' clean and ' dirty ' might have more to do with the amount of processing, chemicals, and additives ( i.e sodium, hyrdogenated oils, trans fats, aspartame, artificial flavors, sugar ) etc. a food might have more than anything else.

Because, gaining fat is really more an issue of " excess " calories IMO - whether the calories are from ' dirty ' or ' clean ' foods.

So, for example, if you went to McDonald's and had a ' dirty ' lunch with a macro nutrient profile of say.......

Total Calories ......1,0000

Carbs.....................50%
Protein....................20%
Fats.......................30%
( saturated fat ).......15%

Or, you went to an eatery that only served freshly made and 100% organic foods etc. etc. and had a ' clean ' lunch with the exact same macro nutrient profile of say......

Total Calories ......1,0000

Carbs.....................50%
Protein....................20%
Fats.......................30%
( saturated fat ).......15%

...all other things being equal, you're going to have pretty much the same outcome from the ' clean ' or ' dirty ' lunch - from the context of a muscle gain and fat gain perspective from either one.

But ,clearly, the clean meal is still much much better for you for a host of other reasons....... like the quality of nutrients, GI score etc. etc. ( as well as what I mentioned above ).

The key issue ( with respect to fat gain ) with eating " dirty food " IMO - like McDonalds - is that because their meals tend to have poor macro nutrient profiles IMO ( i.e high in fat ) so you tend to get more of a higher ' calorie punch per serving weight ' compared to ' cleaner ' foods.

So, whereas if you had a 200 gram serving size meal at McDonalds that might clock in at 1,000 calories...a 200 gram meal from the the organic eatery might only come to 600 calories....and... you'd be stuffed ! Looking at it the other way, if your target for a given meal was 600 calories, you'd likely have to eat a lot more food if it was a ' clean ' meal ( i.e 200 grams ) compared to 600 calories from a ' dirty ' meal ( i.e only 150 grams ).

That's very true wrangell. That frozen pizza I made last night had 1600 calories total. I could have easily ate the whole thing in one sitting because it wasn't that big...(only ate 1/4 of it though.. will split it up into smaller meals)

Whereas if I make a healthy meal I am really full with 500 calories... I usually only eat 350-500 calorie meals with my clean food.