Hello, My husband is into body building a bit. While he 100% supports me in the Zone diet and definitely thinks it's the best diet/eating style out there, he doesn't see how it would work for him, as he is trying to build muscle mass and gain more weight. He is basing his opinion of this on the research he has done on the Zone diet (mostly from Crossfit articles when he was into that) and on the information I have learned from this website and reading some of Dr. Sears' books. Does anyone have any information they could point me to that would give more insight on if/how the Zone would actually help him gain the weight and muscle mass he's looking for? Thank you!

Hello, I can understand where your husband could get misdirected about the Zone Diet being right for him.  If he gains lean muscle mass then he automatically gains weight...lean muscle mass weight, right?  I have been lifting weights while on the Zone Diet and at one point I fell into that trap of believing more is better after reading those bodybuilding websites! The Zone has helped me gain lean muscle mass while simultaneously lowering my body fat %.  I guess it comes down to what is the most important element to your husband when it comes to bodybuilding. Building lean mass as fast as he can no matter how much it affects his health in the short/long term or building lean body mass while keeping his hormones in balance which will affect his health in terms of inflammation.  While the Zone Diet does help people lose weight, the main purpose of the Zone is about keeping hormones in balance there by controlling inflammation in our bodies for better health.  I can tell you without a doubt that lifting weights at heavy intensity will create plenty of inflammation within the body and it would be better to have your hormones in balance to effectively deal with that.  I would suggest a book by former bodybuilder Gerard Dente called "Macrobolic Nutrition".  Gerard Dente suggests that Dr. Sears' Zone Diet is closest to the correct Carb/Protein/Fat ratio for bodybuilders interested in building lean body mass while lowering their body fat %.  I hope this helps.

Dennis -

That sounds like a great recommendation, thank you! My husband is all about legit stuff, not what all those dumb magazines out there tell you to do. I'll have to see where I can find a copy. I'm sure my husband would be interested in what it has to say.

Dennis - THANK YOU again for the book recommendation! I found it at our local library. My husband has been reading it and really enjoys it. He's learning a lot and glad to hear the same basic concept of the Zone coming from someone who he feels he can relate to better than Dr. Sears (no offense to him, my husband just needed to hear it from someone who has the same goals as he does).

OK, so now your husband can read the Zone books and learn more.

I'm working on it.

This subject had been covered extensively in the thread named Muscle growth in the Zone, intiated by Alex, with a last reply by myself on August 23, 2009.
For some reason I cannot put a link in here.