Positive Nitrogen Balance

[Massive1]

This document describes something called "Positive Nitrogen Balance", or PNB. PNB is a state that your body must be in if you hope to make gains in lean body mass (IE: grow muscle). It's also important to be in PNB if you are trying to recover from injury or an intense weight training session. Read through this document, and you will see some pretty complicated equations that can help you determine your exact protein needs -or- you can just use the general "rule of thumb" of making sure to simply eat one gram of protein per pound of body weight. It's easy, and it pretty much guarantees you'll be in PNB.


It is not that simple to figure out if you are in positive nitrogen balance(PNB). One thing you can say for sure, is that most bodybuilders *easily* get enough protein to be in some range of PNB.

UUN, urinary urea nitrogen can be used to estimate a persons nitrogen balance.

Step 1: UUN is measured from a 24-hour urine sample.

Step 2: Use the concentration of UUN and the 24-hour urine volume to calculate the total UUN per day using the following equation:

Total UUN = (UUN) (Urine volume) / 100

*where total UUN is in mg, urinary UUN is in mg/dl, and urine volume is in ml.

Step 3: Estimate the person's protein intake for the day.

Step 4: Calculate the person's nitrogen balance using the equation:

N balance (g/day) = protein intake/6.25 - (UUN + 4)

* where 6.25 converts protein intake to nitrogen intake (since protein is 16% nitrogen), protein intake and UUN are given in grams, and the number 4 represents grams of nitrogen excretion by routes other than urinary, plus urinary nitrogen other than in urea.

Or you can do it this way, which is *WAY* easier:

Step 1: obtain an estimate of the person's energy needs by using this following equation:

For men: BEE = 66 + 13.7(W) + 5(H) - 6.8(A)

For Women: BEE = 655 + 9.6(W) + 1.7(H) - 4.7(A)

*where W= bodyweight in kg, H= height in cm, and A= age in years.
* to get bodyweight in kg, take weight in pounds/2.2
* to get height in cm, take height in inches X 2.54 (1 inch = 2.54 cm)
* This is used to find maintenance calories

Then you need to figure out your activity factor (AF) and your injury factor (IF). For obvious reasons will we exclude the IF unless of course you think you have undergone major surgery, elective surgery, major sepsis, trauma plus steroids, or severe thermal burns.

Activity factors (AF) are as follows:

1.2 - for people confined to bed
1.3 - for ambulatory people
1.5-1.75 - for normally active people
2.0 - for extremely active people (I would choose this!)

Then take your number you got from your BEE and take it times your activity factor. That number will give you an approximation of the *maintenance* calories needed. Obviously to gain add 500 kcal's per day, to lose subtract 500 kcal's a day. (3500 kcal's = 1 pound) Whew!, that was just the first step!

Step 2: Estimate desired ratio of kcal/g of dietary nitrogen. This varies of course with person's condition. For simplicity, use 150:1 for anabolism and 200:1 for maintenance.

Step 3: Calculate the nitrogen requirement from the following equations:

N required(g) = kcal/kcal:N ratio

Step 4: using this equation, calculate the amount of protein which would contain the N required from the above equation.

Protein (g) = Nitrogen (g) X 6.25

This will give you this required protein to be in either anabolism, or maintenance depending on the ratio you choose.

For me this work out to be 183.755 grams of protein a day for anabolism at a caloric intake of 4410.12. But, I am dieting, so it needs to be refigured, but I think you get the picture. For my current weight of 224 at 6% bodyfat, ironically this works out to be about 1.7 g of protein per kg of bodyweight. Interesting!

To the person asking about protein. You gave an example of eating 100 g of P a day, but then said for example your "needs" were only 80 grams of P a day. Your wondering where it is going. If your training either anaerobically or aerobically, your probably going to be using the excess for energy needs, *BUT* that depends on caloric intake.

Jeffrey P. Krabbe

[intense]

eat mo chicken

[Massive1]

The best way to reduce the catabolism of your hard-earned muscle (in particular, muscle protein) is to eat (and NOT to over-train). The protein in the food you eat signals your body to reduce the catabolism of its muscle protein. In fact, suppression of protein catabolism is the central means by which your body maintains protein balance in the face of fluctuations in dietary protein intake over the course of a day.

However, slowing down muscle protein catabolism is one half of the muscle-building equation. To increase the size of your muscles, you've got to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, as well. In fact, stimulating the synthesis of new muscle protein is the more important half of the muscle-building equation.

You can stimulate muscle protein synthesis by performing the right kind of exercise (e.g., pumping iron), and it can also be stimulated by certain anabolic drugs - testosterone and related steroid drugs (e.g., nandrolone), growth hormone, etc.

Post maturity, for most people, no matter how intelligently you exercise and eat, your muscles grow only very slowly. There's a reason for this.

As you emerge from childhood your muscles lose much of their ability to respond to the food you eat with an increase in protein synthesis. The growth signals that normally allow this to occur when you're a youngster severely weaken in intensity as you enter adulthood. It's as if Mother Nature has locked away your muscles' protein-synthesizing "machinery," allowing you to build muscle only to a very limited extent as an adult. Pretty crummy huh?

Protein, whether from your own tissues (e.g., muscle) or from food, consists of amino acids linked together in chains. Amino acids are the principle means by which we humans get nitrogen, for growth.

Building muscle is about protein balance. If you make more muscle protein than you break down (positive muscle protein balance), your muscles will increase in size and strength (slowly, but with time).

Conversely, if you make less muscle protein than you break down (negative protein balance), your muscles will tend to get weaker and smaller. Thus, a positive protein balance indicates an anabolic state. Since protein contains nitrogen, we can estimate your protein balance by measuring your nitrogen balance. Technically speaking, however, the two should not be considered equal.

In any case, a positive nitrogen balance is generally taken as a sign of an anabolic state with an overall gain (retention) of nitrogen for the day, whereas a negative nitrogen balance indicates a catabolic state.

Another way to estimate your protein balance is by measuring your body's balance of a particular amino acid, leucine. A positive leucine balance indicates protein anabolism ("building"). Or, at least, a positive leucine balance reflects a state (i.e., increased availability of leucine inside your muscle cells) that promotes protein anabolism. Conversely, a negative leucine balance indicates protein catabolism ("breaking down").

[PURE ADRENALINE]

hollllly shit that is a long asssssss way to say EAT more protein and don't over train!!!!!

[Massive1]

Muscular/Anabolic Steroids act on the balance between anabolic and Catabolic processes within the body. Anabolism is the constructive process by which simple substances are transformed to more complex compounds, such as bone and muscle tissue. Catabolism is the opposite destructive process which breaks down these complex compounds for removal from the body. The normal body will attempt to maintain a balance between these two processes as they carry out tissue renewal and replacement. The state of anabolism and Catabolism may be measured by evaluating the body's nitrogen balance. As Stedman's Medical Dictionary puts it; Nitrogen balance is: "- the difference between total nitrogen ingested and the total nitrogen excreted by an organism". In an adult, or a person that is not growing, this should be zero at a given intake or above. Anabolic Steroids reverse the Catabolic effect by increasing protein synthesis in skeletal muscle. They are believed to diffuse into the cellular cytosol and bind to the Androgen receptor. The newly formed receptor-steroid complex travels to the nucleus, interacts with the DNA and starts the transcription. The production of RNA is then increased, causing an increased rate of protein synthesis. In this way, the use of AS increases muscle size and strength. In order for the patient to gain extra muscle mass, his or her body must temporarily be in positive nitrogen balance: More nitrogen (as muscle mass) must come into the body than is lost. During hard exercise, the release of Glucocorticosteroids throws the body into a negative nitrogen balance. After exercise, the body experiences a temporary state of positive nitrogen balance, where new proteins are added to muscle tissue. Unless there is further exercise, the nitrogen balance returns to zero. Without the use of Anabolic Steroids, muscle mass is built up very slowly after long periods of very hard training. Anabolic Steroids can reverse the short-term Catabolic effect, leading to positive nitrogen balance and faster gains in muscle mass. However, maintenance of a positive nitrogen balance is short lived (1 - 2 months) unless the steroid dose is continually increased. Rapid tolerance (tachyphylaxis ) to steroids occurs in muscle tissue as the body attempts to maintain homeostasis. One homeostatic mechanism may be a rise in serum Cortisol during steroid treatment. This may decrease the anabolic effect while it increases the catabolic. The risk of serious side effects is increased if the person takes higher and higher doses of anabolics to maintain a positive nitrogen balance. There is some evidence that Anabolic Steroids cause the athlete to feel like working out more often and more vigorously. This psychological effect may be more important than any direct chemical effect. Frequent and more vigorous workouts may be a reason for the increased incidence of connective tissue injuries associated with steroid abuse. The hormones testosterone and Cortisol have a similar molecular shape. Thus, they have the same binding sites in many tissues. When AS are used, the amount of AS in the blood stream is much more abundant than Catabolic steroids like cortisol. The AS will consequently take up a larger amount of the receptor sites. The muscle cells will be packed with hormones that promote growth. So it is a double effect, a combination of 1 and 2 as mentioned earlier. This balance will remain positive until a plateau is reached.

[koss]

Cant read this much stuff

[koss]

I'll just try to eat lots of meat, shoot lots of juice, and work hard

[Massive1]

koss I'll just try to eat lots of meat, shoot lots of juice, and work hard

That's the iright idea