What is the relationship between weight lifting and diet? How do people in prison become so jacked when their diet is likely terrible? Does weight lifting account for more than we think? I always hear how the gym is 80% diet but idk if that’s really true.
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It’s not that the gym is 80% diet, it’s that weight loss (or weight gain) is largely diet. Getting jacked is easier when you take in lots of protein and are in a caloric surplus, but your body can do amazing things with whatever it has to work with. Lift a lot and skimp on protein while eating like crap (lots of “empty” carbs for example)? It’ll be more difficult to build muscle, but as long as you have a surplus of calories to work with, your body will be able to more or less repair the damage from lifting which builds muscle and strength.
You can eat a ton of prison nutraloaf and white bread and still build muscle as long as you’re in a caloric surplus and lift heavy things. Better to eat things like chicken breast, whole grain rice, veggies, etc., but it’s not absolutely necessary. The critical part is getting enough calories to add mass, the quality of the food is secondary (but still important to your health). If you ate nothing but free-range organic chicken, fresh organic veggies and rice, but you only ate half the calories you’re body needs to maintain itself, no amount of lifting will pack on muscle (in fact, you’ll waste away and have a really hard time lifting at all).
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