Alice Jncharles shows her transformation after doubling calorie intake from 1300-1800 calories per day to over 3k calories daily.
Contrary to the belief that you want to eat less to build the body of your dreams, you’ll want to eat more. Often, people tend to undereat when working on their fitness goals. Not consuming enough calories puts you in a catabolic state and makes building muscle hard and losing body fat even harder. That’s because the more muscle you have, the faster your basal/resting metabolic rate (BMR) will be, which means you’ll burn more calories at rest. Of course, eating enough calories is essential to build muscle since you’ll need to be in a caloric surplus to maximize muscle growth.
Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (PNBA) pro competitor Alice Jncharles proves this concept. She doubled her caloric intake and went from eating 1300-1800 calories per day to over 3k calories daily and gained a whopping 7 pounds of pure muscle! On Instagram (IG), Jncharles claimed:
“The main difference between these pictures, my food intake, and a coach. From 1300-1800 to 3066 calories daily. You have to eat big and lift heavy to grow.”
You can see her complete statement and transformation pictures below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYDXh5YrJWK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Alice Jncharles’ nutrition change made a massive impact on her 2021 performance. She placed in the top 3 of the world in the Figure Masters division at 2021 Natural Olympia.
Natural Bodybuilding and Nutrition
Athletes in natural bodybuilding have to strategically structure their training regimen and nutrition since they don’t get to use any PEDs unless they want to end up on the Hall of Shame, of course – for all INBA/PNBA competitors.
With that being said, they’ll need to have their nutrition targets on point to match their training volume. This natural bodybuilder ranked the top 4 restaurants to hit your nutrition targets (click the link).
Importance of a Caloric Surplus
In the sport of natural bodybuilding, building muscle naturally is essential. However, to build muscle, you must be in a caloric surplus – e.g., doubling calorie intake. As Jncharles said in her IG above post, “You have to eat big and lift heavy to grow.”
How much protein you eat is critical as well. We recommend you eat between 0.7g – 1g of protein per lbs of body weight for maximal muscle growth. Research shows that 0.82g is what you want for maximal muscle growth. (1)
Now, that’s not to say that you don’t want to cut calories at some point to lose weight and fat. That’s because being in a caloric deficit is vital for weight loss. However, it’s better to build muscle and focus on a caloric surplus first, so your metabolism is working more efficiently. Furthermore, not eating enough calories will wreak havoc on your metabolism, making weight loss and fat loss near to impossible. Therefore, we recommend you eat more and build muscle, then slowly cut your calories back to cut weight.
Generation Iron would like to congratulate Alice Jncharles on her third-place finish in Figure Masters at 2021 Natural Olympia. We hope 2022 brings you success!
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated with PNBA/INBA athletes!
Reference
- Phillips, S. M., & Van Loon, L. J. (2011). Dietary protein for athletes: from requirements to optimum adaptation. Journal of sports sciences, 29 Suppl 1, S29–S38. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204
