CLASH And Auslander

[CLASH]

Good Evening Ray Peat Forum

@Auslander and I are going to work together for 2 week-1month to implement the dietary principles I discuss in my posts. We are going to work together publicly through this forum so everyone can see. This is an experiment to see if my dietary principles actually work. Auslander is welcome to walk anytime he would like, there is no obligation to be here. This entire idea stemmed from this thread, in case anyone is interested:
Why You Stay Slimmer More Easily With Olive Oil Than With Saturated Fats

I'd like to ask that other members besides @Auslander and I avoid posting in the thread so that everyone can see what we are doing, uninterrupted. I think this will allow others to see the process clearly, so that when/ if the principles do in fact work, they can recreate the process for themselves.

@Auslander if you could post your diet in detail, your current workout in detail and any health issues your working with that you feel comfortable in sharing, that would be helpful. Also, your height and weight and the before picture you posted in the other thread if you feel comfortable posting that. If you could post these things bullet pointed as opposed to narrative this would be helpful as well. If you have narrative info please post it below the bullet points. If you have any parameters you want to change or clarify please let me know, I want to be on the same page here. Also, I think its important that I have your word that your going to implement the things we discuss. I don't want to spend this time, effort, and put my ideas on the line to have you not take this seriously.

@charlie @Giraffe @Blossom

I hope this is cool with you guys, if not please let me know what you guys would prefer.

 

[Auslander]

Alright Clash, let me put something together. And thanks.

 

[Auslander]

BREAKFAST
200 ml orange juice
200 ml purple grape juice
35 grams whey (grass fed no additives)
10 grams collagen


BRUNCH
2 hard boiled organic eggs
10 grams collagen
1 tbsp coconut oil


LUNCH
400 grams fresh pineapple
250 grams no fat cottage cheese or quark (no fat meaning under 1%)
10 grams collagen


LATE LUNCH
300 ml orange juice
2 bananas
250 grams no fat cottage cheese or quark
10 grams collagen


DINNER
50 grams of dried dates
200 grams of fresh grapes/watermelon/cantaloupe
200 ml orange juice
200 ml pineapple juice
250 grams no fat cottage cheese or quark
10 grams collagen


This is pretty much what I eat every day, with some variations being:

3 eggs instead of 2 on weekend mornings
Tenderloin steak 1 a week (just the steak, nothing with it)
Chicken thighs once a week
Beef liver every single sunday of the year, 250 grams, cooked in boiling water for a few minutes


On a work out day (2x a week), add:
50 grams of dextrose (glucose) before work out + 70 grams during + 50 grams after.
30 grams of whey+10 grams of collagen before AND after workout.
500 grams of skyr yogurt.


DAILY SUPPLEMENTS:

5 grams creatine
5 grams taurine
5 grams glycine

25 mg zinc gluconate
200 mg magnesium glycinate
200 mcg K2-MK7
4000 IU Vitamin D
B-Complex 50, I take half a pill

Once or twice a week I take Vitamin E in the evening, also 500mg Niacinamide before gym workout (twice a week).



WORKOUT

GYM 1x week BACK BICEPS TRICEPS DAY

Dips warm up: 20
Pullups: 6, 4, 3, 2, 2
Preacher curl: 5 sets of 6 reps (freakin heavy)
Cable row: 5 sets of 6 reps (freakin heavy)
Barbel biceps curl: 3x 8 reps (30 kg..exhausted at this point)
Diamond pushups: 3 x 10
Cable lat raises: 5 x 8


GYM 1 x week CHEST SHOULDER DAY

Dips warm up: 20
Pull up warm up: 1 x 6
Dumbbell bench press: 5 x 8 reps (31 kg each dumbbell)
Overhead press: 5 x 8 (40 kg)
Cable flies: 5 x 8 (heavy)
Reverse cable crossovers: 5 x 8

It takes me about 80 minutes to do, i take about 2 minute breaks between sets, rarely get breathless, and if so, only for a while. But the weights are heavy, and progress is not good. Until about 2 months ago, I used to do full upper body each one of the 2 gym days. Pretty much all of the above in one, just fewer sets. 2 hours per workout, times 2 a week. This split I’m doing now is just experimentation.


HOME 2 x week ABS:

8 minute plank, with ab contractions throughout
6 x 1 minute planks with more intense ab contractions


LEGS...I don’t do legs, and I won’t. I run up to 6th floor at least 3 to 4 times a day, that’ll do.

No cardio of any kind.

I have been working out for 4 years, but have very little to show for it in terms of muscle growth.


HEALTH CONDITIONS

I have hashimoto but T4 is normal, I don’t supplement.

I have something with heart electrical impulse conductivity (bifascular blockade), but no symptoms.

I Can’t put on muscle - this is really my only issue.


Age: 44
Highest weight: 102 kg / 225 pounds
Current weight: 89 kg / 196 pounds
Height: 201 cm / 6’7’’

I lost this weight since April, after I stopped drinking 1% milk (1 liter a day), and stopped eating about 60 grams of honey a day. But most importantly, I stoped mixing honey and coconut oil, and fruit with meat. I do mono meals. That means when I eat steak, I only eat steak. When I eat eggs, or fruit, or cheese, I only eat those by themselves. I don't mix! HOWEVER I always precede protein or fat meal with a carbohydrate, mostly orange juice. I wait at least 15 minutes before eating the meal (longer if the carb is fruit, and not just liquid juice). After the fatty meal, I wait at least 3-4 hours before having carbs again. This is working for me very well...hence the weight loss. Thats my take on Randle cycle. People in the forum often question the cycle in terms of it having a body fat impact, but look at me, I shed 13 kilos thanks to applying it to my diet.


Peating for 4 years, after couple years of Paleo. Not real issues on Paleo, I was very skinny, but felt I needed carbs, that’s how I discovered Peat. I don't have any conditions that make me try these diets, I just like to experiment.

Now you may be thinking my problem is that I don’t eat enough, but when my caloric intake was higher, I only had a little more muscle, but a lot more fat in my stomach area. Not a good look. Also, I don’t deprive myself of food, actually I eat more than I would want to. I always finish the day with juice and cottage cheese, even when I’m not hungry.


SOME BLOOD WORK
(they are all in European units, but I’m including the recommended range):

Total cholesterol: 4.32 (Range 3.2-5)
Triglycerides: 0.81 (0.4-1.82)
TSH: 2.09 (0.35-5.10)
T4 Free: 19.17 (10.5-22.7)
Testosterone: 14.93 (7.96-27.3)
T3 Free: 8.58 (3.7-6.6)
T3 Total: 1.51 (1.2-3.1)

MACROS AND MICROS (just food+whey+collagen, excluding all other above supplements)

 

[Auslander]

 

[CLASH]

@Auslander
I like the organization, very concise and clear. Its very helpful that you use cronometer. Before we get started I have a few questions/ comments:

•What I usually like to do, is set up a baseline in which the most probable foods to cause issues are removed. In my experience I have seen quite a few people have issues with Dairy (particularly casein) and collagen. For this experiment would you be ok with switching up the dairy (perhaps we will keep the whey) and collagen with some meat sources such as steak, shrimp, and chicken? After a baseline is established, dairy can be reintroduced to see its effects.

•As far as your application of the randle cycle goes, I like it. I have been setting up my meals in a somewhat similar way, and I think keeping that going is helpful. However, I dont think its necessarily due to the randle cycle, I think it may be due to optimization of digestion. So when I eat I tend to eat the fruit, juice and carrots first and then I follow up 10-15 minutes later with the meat and the fat. I think the fruit juice, fruit and carrots digest very fast and often tend to have a lot of liquid that can impair the digestion of the meat and the fat if taken directly together, or if taken after the meat and fat. I think the large volume of juice can dilute stomach acid to some extent and since the meat and fat tend to slow stomach emptying, the combination produce feelings of fullness due to the large volume created by the juice and fruit combined with the slow gastric emptying rate. This is hypothesis based on my experience, not necessarily science supported facts though, so as with everything, take your grains of salt.

•As far as the cause of your weight gain, I think it may have actually been caused by the combination of coconut oil and honey to a large extent. Honey being mostly fructose with a smaller percentage of glucose can lead to endotoxin formation, as the gut in many people (I think this is especially so for northern europeans/ europeans such yourself and myself in general, due to their/ our previous ancestral environments often being low on such types of carb sources due to the climate), cannot absorb fructose without glucose. This leads to the bacteria fermenting the fructose and creating endotoxin. Add the coconut oil there and this is how they induce fat gain and liver dysfunction in the rat studies. Also, milk seems to be ubiquitous weight gainer for almost everyone I have spoken with, with minor exceptions of course (and I don't think its because of the fat, I eat 60g of butter a day or more).

•Based on your picture, your already very lean which is helpful and makes my life easier. Sometimes its can take longer than expected in my experience to get weight off people when they are starting out with a decent amount of fat, especially around the mid section. I think in these cases, the extra time is due to clearing the liver out a bit before the rest of the body can recomposition itself.

 

[RWilly]

Edit: Oops. I forgot... no posting.

 

[Auslander]

@CLASH thanks

Dairy: this is a tough one. It was pretty hard to give up milk, but I did it, replacing it with more quark/cottage cheese. I don't really love it, but it’s super convenient. That's what I love. You open the plastic cup anywhere and eat it, with zero preparation. What would I replace all that protein with that would be of equal convenience? And equally light and easy to eat even when you're not hungry, which is often my case. I don't love quark, and i don't hate it, I view it as a functional and practical meal to help hit the macros. I don't think I could eat meat when not hungry. What do you propose exactly?

Meal separation: to be honest I think you nailed it. It is more likely the digestion efficiency than anything else.

 

[CLASH]

@Auslander

*DIET*

So, this is just a baseline, we will of course adjust from here as we go. I kept your original diet template since you already have that built in as habit, so that application and transition will hopefully be smooth and easy. To answer your question on hunger I think you may find your hunger comes back on this diet, so I would give it a try first.

*Calories: Based on the Katch-mccardle metabolic formula at a weight of 200lbs, estimated 10% bodyfat I have you at a (rounded up, because your 6'7") resting metabolic rate of 2200 kcal/ day. Considering your only working out 2x/ week, your activity multiplier would be 1.3-1.4x, so ≈2800-3000kcal/ day. Since you want to gain weight I would bump that up to the next multiplier (just to start) so 1.5-1.6x or 3300-3500kcal/ day. I don't expect you to start off at this many kcal/ day off the bat considering your current caloric intake, but I assume that once I change things up, after a little while, your appetite will pick up and you will easily eat that much.

*Protein: As for your protein I used your 200lb bodyweight and multiplied it by .6-.8g/lb, based on the research I've read to get 120-160g/day. Because of your size and goal I would definetly shoot for the higher end.

*Carbs: For carbs, at a minimum, considering your size, goal and caloric requirement I'd like to see atleast 2x as much protein so 320g min (which your already getting).

*Fat: For fats I'd like to see 20-30g/ meal to start. I find this range to produce the least digestive discomfort while optimizing the benefits of the fats.

*Summary:
•Calories: 3300-3500 kcal/ day
•Protein: ≈160g/ day
•Carbs: minimum 320g/ day
•Fat: 20-30g added/ meal ≈120g/ day as added fat

*Meal timing:
-separate meals by 2.5- 3 hours of the end of one meal till the beginning of the next meal (I'd use 2.5 hours for you since 5 meals seems to be your preference). For example if you finish eating at 7AM, I'd eat the next meal around 9:30-10AM.
-As mentioned above I would eat the juice, fruit and carrots first, then wait 10-15 minutes and eat the fat and protein.

•Breakfast
-200ml OJ juice
-200ml Grape juice
-35g whey

•Brunch
-200ml OJ juice
-200ml grape juice
-1 raw carrot
-3 hardboiled eggs + 1 tbsp butter (I'd just eat a small piece of butter with each bite of egg lol...)

•Lunch
-400g pineapple
-1 raw carrot
-4oz protein + 2tbsp butter

•Late Lunch
-200ml OJ juice
-2 banana
-4oz protein + 2tbsp butter

•Dinner
-50g dates
-200g fruit
-200ml OJ juice
-200ml pineapple juice
-4oz protein + 2 tbsp butter

*protein sources: boneless- skinless chicken breast, steak/ beef (if ground meat is used I'd adjust the amount of butter added so that the combination of fat from the butter and the meat falls between 20-30g), shrimp, cod, sole.

*The only thing you have to cook on this diet is the protein sources. I tend to cook all my sources in bulk and leave them in a container in the fridge and eat them as I go. So I'll cook 2lbs of flank steak and 2lbs of shrimp and get about 2-3 days work of meals out of those. This is really the only prep time you'll have, besides warming up meals with butter if you want lol.



*WORKOUT*

I think the issue with your workout is that you dont have enough volume/ frequency. I would program it differently to something like this:

•Warm up:
-jump rope or bike in standing position
-Core circuit 1-2x through:
+med ball slam x10
+alternating single arm kettlebell hip thrust x10
+banded woodchopper x10/ side

•Workout A:
A1. Dumbbell Bench 3x10
A2. Pull-ups 3x10
B1. Hammer strength Incline bench 3x10
B2. Dumbbell row 3x10
C. Overhead press 3x10
D1. Cable curl 3x10
D2. Cable side rope extension 3x10

•Workout B:
A1. Dumbbell incline bench 3x10
A2. Chin ups 3x10
B1. Hammer strength flat bench 3x10
B2. Cable row 3x10
C. Dumbbell military press 3x10
D1. Dumbbell hammer curl 3x10
D2. Cable overhead rope extension 3x10

*if this is too much to start, I would take out the hammer strength exercises and replace them with overhead pressing exercises. I have hammer strength there because they are good for putting on mass, as they take out the stabilization component of the exercise, which can limit the ability to overload the muscle as the stabilizers are often the weakest links in the exercise.

*For rest I would rest 1 minute between each superset exercise and 2 minutes between each superset. For example:

•set 1
-Dumbbell bench
-1 min rest
-pullups
-2 min rest

•set 2
-Dumbbell bench
-1 min rest
-pull ups
-2 min rest

•set 3
-dumbbell bench
-1 min rest
-pull ups
-2 min rest

*as for the carbs during your workout, I personally just use juice, and drink as much as I'm thirsty for.



*SUPPLEMENTS*

*They look pretty good:
•I'd lower the zinc dosage down to max 10mg/ day and consider replacing it with canned oysters in which you eat a can of oysters over the course of a week. I drain the oil off, then rinse the oysters to get rid of the last bits of olive oil. Then I put them in a pyrex container in the fridge and cover them in franks red hot. I add one oyster to each meal. I throw them in the pan when I warm up my food.
•The amount of liver your having, about 1/2lb per week, is a lot. I'd consider moving that to maybe a quarter lb a week or maybe less.
•Considering the hashimotos diagnosis, have you given Broda Barnes book "hypothyroidism: the unsuspected illness" a look? Have you seen Danny Roddy's protocol? I have personally used dessicated thyroid in the past as an experiment and it has raised my temps in range. I did feel some improvements with it as well. I used Haidut's tyromax orally.
I'd be careful with the heart situation tho, I'm not a doctor and I'm not prescribing anything, just sharing my experience.

 

[CLASH]

@Auslander
Whats going on man?

 

[Auslander]

@CLASH hey!

Firstly THANKS A LOT man.

Sorry for the belated response, too busy at work, but I just came from the gym, having tried to modify the routine as you suggested.

But lets go back to your suggestions, I have a few questions:

1. Firstly I am glad you didn’t mess up too much my nutritional routine, it tells me we’re on the same page or at least close enough.

2. The fat. You gotta help me on this one. Why am I adding fat to everything? You mention digestive discomfort, but I have none. I’m really healthy, I eat and digest food easily, have no issues. What Am I to gain by adding these huge amounts of fat to every meal?

Also what fat are we talking about? You mention butter, but elsewhere I saw you mention beef tallow, which I just can’t find anywhere here (I actually actively looked a few months ago). Pork fat is plentiful but I suspect that won’t do, will it? Besides the fact it’s mostly MFA, it must be dirty as hell, given what pigs are fed, and given most garbage accumulates in fat, as opposed to liver as most people mistakenly believe.

What about olive oil, or of course coconut oil?

Why any fat with all the meals?

3. You’re prescribing caloric intake that is 1000 kcal above my current intake. How is this not gonna make me fat?? Keep in mind I’m 44, and also my caloric intake used to be considerably higher. I ate more to go along with my gym efforts, to gain muscle. I had a little more muscle I have now, but I had considerably more belly fat too. How do I not go back to that, eating 1000 calories over my current level??

4. Workout
You say I don’t have enough volume and intensity in my current routine. Most of mu current sets are 6 to 8 reps (I lift really heavy, that’s mostly why). You replaced it with 10 rep sets, but you lowered the number of sets from 5 to 3. How is that going to help in your view? It will be less overall volume (fewer total reps) and with less weight, if I am to go up to 10 reps.

Would a smith machine achieve the same goal as the hammer strength machine?

Most people frown at these machines, ironically for the same reason you seem to suggest them - they bypass stabilizers. I used to use the smith machine, for the very reason it allowed mento put on more weight, but I kind of felt lazy, and went to more difficult and more challenging free weights that I have to stabilize. Being a hard gainer I don’t see results one way or another, but I feel better with the free weights since I feel like I’m doing more of a real lifting.

 

[CLASH]

@CLASH hey!

Firstly THANKS A LOT man.

Sorry for the belated response, too busy at work, but I just came from the gym, having tried to modify the routine as you suggested.

But lets go back to your suggestions, I have a few questions:

1. Firstly I am glad you didn’t mess up too much my nutritional routine, it tells me we’re on the same page or at least close enough.

2. The fat. You gotta help me on this one. Why am I adding fat to everything? You mention digestive discomfort, but I have none. I’m really healthy, I eat and digest food easily, have no issues. What Am I to gain by adding these huge amounts of fat to every meal?

Also what fat are we talking about? You mention butter, but elsewhere I saw you mention beef tallow, which I just can’t find anywhere here (I actually actively looked a few months ago). Pork fat is plentiful but I suspect that won’t do, will it? Besides the fact it’s mostly MFA, it must be dirty as hell, given what pigs are fed, and given most garbage accumulates in fat, as opposed to liver as most people mistakenly believe.

What about olive oil, or of course coconut oil?

Why any fat with all the meals?

3. You’re prescribing caloric intake that is 1000 kcal above my current intake. How is this not gonna make me fat?? Keep in mind I’m 44, and also my caloric intake used to be considerably higher. I ate more to go along with my gym efforts, to gain muscle. I had a little more muscle I have now, but I had considerably more belly fat too. How do I not go back to that, eating 1000 calories over my current level??

4. Workout
You say I don’t have enough volume and intensity in my current routine. Most of mu current sets are 6 to 8 reps (I lift really heavy, that’s mostly why). You replaced it with 10 rep sets, but you lowered the number of sets from 5 to 3. How is that going to help in your view? It will be less overall volume (fewer total reps) and with less weight, if I am to go up to 10 reps.

Would a smith machine achieve the same goal as the hammer strength machine?

Most people frown at these machines, ironically for the same reason you seem to suggest them - they bypass stabilizers. I used to use the smith machine, for the very reason it allowed mento put on more weight, but I kind of felt lazy, and went to more difficult and more challenging free weights that I have to stabilize. Being a hard gainer I don’t see results one way or another, but I feel better with the free weights since I feel like I’m doing more of a real lifting.

1. The best plan is the one that works and the one you'll follow

2. The fat is to add calories for one. Its also to add some substrate for you to increase your androgens which I think will help you to build muscle mass. I also think it wil help you provide energy for that muscle mass at rest to maintain it. I think it will help you last between meals as well if your removing dairy (which tends to slow digestion a bit on its own). If you are worried about the fat content of the diet I hear that, so perhaps in the last three meals only do 1 tbsp of butter to start and see how you feel.

I'd avoid the pork fat. The MUFA isn't so bad, its the PUFA. I mentioned beef tallow just to provide options. Coconut oil has a different metabolic effect than the longer chain fatty acids, nothing necessarily wrong with it, just the effect is different. I prefer macadamia nut oil over olive oil, it has way less PUFA than olive oil.

3. This is a quote from my post:

Since you want to gain weight I would bump that up to the next multiplier (just to start) so 1.5-1.6x or 3300-3500kcal/ day. I don't expect you to start off at this many kcal/ day off the bat considering your current caloric intake, but I assume that once I change things up, after a little while, your appetite will pick up and you will easily eat that much.

I don't expect you to start off 1000kcal over where you are. I expect you to build up to it, especially considering your goal of putting on muscle mass as mentioned in the quote. I dont expect you to get fat because the goal of the approach here is to manipulate your hormonal environment. I think the metabolic rate can be adjusted more strongly by diet from a physiologic basis than a from a caloric basis. The calorie is merely a fungible relatively abstract unit, used to compare foods that are generally non-comparable. I actually assume your appetite and metabolism to trend upwards by eliminating some foods and adding others, especially considering your size at 6'7". I think the belly fat gain is mediated by inflammation not necessarily calories, hence my statements on coconut oil/ honey in the prior post. I havent experienced any of the foods I mentioned to induce weight gain or inflammation, this is why I removed dairy to start; to remove all the possible inflammatory foods. Once we establish a baseline and we start to see some results, we can add dairy back in as an experiment. Also considering your medical conditions, which may effect metabolic rate, I mentioned Broda Barnes, thyroid and Danny Roddy. Lastly, the point of the experiment was to prove my point on metabolism, especially in the context of age, which was your initial statement in the other thread. My hypothesis is that the age wont be a massive factor. It may make things take a bit longer, but I still think the principles are sound.

4. Your goal is hypertrophy, in my reading and experience, some of the most important things for hypertophy are frequency and volume. On your routine:
-your total volume is
•53 reps for back (These reps aren't so great for hypertrophy considering the pull up sets are at 3, 2 and 2 reps in a set. So you essentially have 2 sets of pullups and 5 sets of row for your back exercises, which gives you about 42 reps. Even if we go with the 53, the total weekly volume is too low in my opinion)
•110 reps for chest (this is questionable tho; you have 30 reps from 3x10 pushups in a diamond fashion which I doubt is enough weight, nor do I think it targets the chest the best way. After this, the other half of your reps for chest is flys, which can help with growth but I wouldn't make them as much a primary exercise as they are here. So you really have dumbbell bench as the main exercise and thats at 40 reps. Considering your exercise selection, although your volume looks adequate, I would question the effectiveness of that actual volume.)
•40 reps for triceps (dips, but I think the rep range is too high, plus you aren't targeting all of the heads of the tricep)
•40 reps anterior delt (not bad but I like to see more heavy pressing exercises to really develop the shoulders)
•40 reps rear delt (not too bad)
•40 reps side delt (not too bad)
•54 reps of bicep (should be ok)


*On the program I wrote you, you have:
•120 reps of heavy pressing exercises for the chest (Considering you only have 2 days, I would focus on the major lifts over the accesory ones)
•120 reps of heavy pulling exercises for the back (for pullups if you can get 10, you can use a band, stop in between reps and keep going in the set until you get 10, or use lat pull down instead)
•60 reps of heavy pressing exercises for the shoulders
•60 reps of biceps
•60 reps of triceps, hitting all heads

In conjunction with the volume, in my program you are hitting every muscle group 2x per week with a decent stimulus. Plus, you are also focusing on all the major planes of movement of the shoulder joint, although to be fair you had this to some extent in your original program.

I think working the stabilizers are important but I also think overloading by removing the stabilizers is helpful, thats why I programmed both an overloading exercise (hammer strength) and a free weight exercise that requires stabilization. I don't think the machines are bad, especially if programmed in and used in the correct way.

 

[CLASH]

*A side note for people viewing this thread. I don't have Auslander using starch to start because he mentioned not doing well with it on a previous thread. If someone tolerated potatoes, yams or rice well, then I think it may not be a problem. I'm not married to the concept of no starch, I'm married to the concept of individual context and figuring out what works for people based on thier personal situation.

The only time I like to remove foods, is to start to develop a baseline. Sometimes foods may be causing an issue for someone and they dont know becuase they have eaten that food for so long that they have established equilibrium with that food.

 

[CLASH]

@Auslander
Hows it going man?

 

[Auslander]

I’m on board with the workout. It’s more hight intensity thats for sure but it feels right.

But I have a major problem with the fat. I cant take it. At this point it just kills my every meal, Im getting sick of it. I miss the lightness of a carb and protein meal. And ive gaines 2 kilos. And its not muscle I can tell, because I measure my gut regularly. It all went into my gut.

What do I do?

 

[CLASH]

How many days has it been since you added fat?

How much fat have you been adding?

Are you following the rest of the diet?

Sometimes it can take a few days to adjust to the fat intake, especially if you've been zero fat for a while. As I mentioned in a previous post, you can gradually work yourself up with fat you by lowering the amount from my original sample meal plan if that works for you. So for example only add 1 tbsp of butter to the last three meals. Do you have any symptoms?

As far as 2kg weight gain, I dont think that its fat or muscle gain. Its most likely water weight.

 

[Auslander]

It’ll be two weeks on Monday.

I eat 8 tbsp of butter.

On top of my existing diet. And no, I havent been able to drop the quark. Very early on i realized i cant do the meat preparation of any kind. I still eat beef but only when eating out. The quark and cottage cheese is my main staple,

My gut has objectively gotten bigger. I check my circumference almost every day, its always 79 cm, above my belly button. Its at 81 now.

 

[CLASH]

•Breakfast
-200ml OJ juice
-200ml Grape juice
-35g whey

•Brunch
-200ml OJ juice
-200ml grape juice
-1 raw carrot
-3 hardboiled eggs + 1 tbsp butter

•Lunch
-400g pineapple
-1 raw carrot
-250g quark + 2tbsp butter

•Late Lunch
-200ml OJ juice
-2 banana
-250g quark + 2tbsp butter

•Dinner
-50g dates
-200g fruit
-200ml OJ juice
-200ml pineapple juice
-250g quark + 2 tbsp butter

So, the above is your current diet?
Can you list all the symptoms for me that you are experiencing since you added in the butter?

I don't doubt that your gut may have gotten bigger, I just don't think it's necessarily all fat weight; I think it's most likely water weight.
With all this said, I don't think that solely adding butter to your current regimen is going to necessarily allow you to put on the muscle you want. I think that the issue here is actually the dairy (and the overall lack of calories and programming of your previous workout routine). In my experience, depending on the person, dairy (excluding butter) may not be such an ideal food source. I think if you want to increase your muscle mass while staying lean, then dropping dairy for a period of time while increasing calories and fat is necessary.

As far as preparing the meat based protein sources, cooking 2lbs of chicken, steak, or shrimp, etc. should last you about 2 days. To cook the chicken or steak I prefer to broil them in the oven (This generally takes me a total of 30 minutes time to prepare and partition them out). For the shrimp I generally pour the entire 2lb bag into a large pan with water and boil them (another 30 min prep time). The nice thing about these preparation methods is I can do other things while they are cooking (for people who want more variety and flavor, more prep time might be neccesary). I usually throw the steak or chicken in the oven on parchment paper before I drink my juice/ eat my fruit. By the time I finish the juice and fruit, and wait 15 min the steak and/ or chicken is usually done. As for the shrimp, its the same deal except as mentioned above I boil them.

With your current paradigm I don't see where else for you to go to put on the muscle you want. There isn't much benefit in increasing the protein anymore than it is (at least from my reading and experience); the cheese doesn't seem to be increasing your muscle mass and the more eggs you add, the more PUFA and fat you add. This is essentially what your currently doing by adding the butter (minus the PUFA, as the butter is much lower in PUFA). As for carbs your already at 400g of carbs from sugar and you don't want to use starch. I don't think continuing to add sugar from fruit is going to help you put on the muscle you want. Lastly, if your not adding carbs or protein, and you don't want to/ can't add fat then I'm not sure how you are going to increase your caloric intake to increase your muscle mass. At 6'7" 195, despite being within the realm of normal for BMI, I'd say your on the thinner side. Also, for comparisons sake (this isn't a personal attack, just a point of reference) I'm currently working with a girl who is 5'6" 114lbs who eats 2500kcal on a daily basis and doesn't currently workout (to be fair she is 24 years old but still).

From my point of view, you have essentially put yourself in a corner where your current paradigm is the only one your able/ willing to entertain. With this in mind, if you've been getting the same result from what you've been doing and you don't do anything different than I would expect you to continue to get the same result. As far as time management in cooking food for yourself, I can't speak to that as I don't know your personal context. However, the question then becomes: what do you actually want for yourself?