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I've been looking in to pulse feeding with protein shakes in order to fill my muscle glycogen stores via gluconeogenesis for my regular workouts (3 times a week). Pulse feeding is simply taking 20-30 grams of protein every few hours in order to spur gluconeogenesis to fill muscle glycogen stores.Supposedly this process will stop once the muscle and liver glycogen stores are full to avoid excess glucose from spilling in to fat cells.

I currently use Vitargo to fill muscle glycogen before and after workouts, but would like to find an alternative to the Vitargo since it's fractionalized barley.

I understand I can eat sweet potatoes before and after a work out, but I simply need an EXTREMELY easy and portable solution. Vitargo and Protein only require water and a shaker.

My questions are as follow:

Have you tried pulse feeding with protein and does it work as advertised? How did you implement it (your procedure)?

Is it safe? Is there a potential danger to kidney's and liver due to the very high protein consumption?

Is it sustainable?

Any other valuable input you can give me on pulse feeding would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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2 Answers

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You might be interested in this article http://www.ketotic.org/2012/08/if-you-eat-excess-protein-does-it-turn.html.

Otherwise, I have not tried pusle feeding. I eat a significant amount of protein on a daily basis and stay low carb, but I don't think snacking is beneficial for health.

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I agree with you about the snacking. That was an issue I was seeing with this protocol. I currently practice one meal a day at night (warrior diet style) so basically micro fasting daily, which I really enjoy. I've just been concerned with my use of Vitargo for my lifting days though. – Nick Aug 28 at 23:18
I have heard positive things for retaining and gaining mass on this sort of protocol. I think that is a seperate issue from "health" is all. I would not worry about the overconsumption of protein though. Seems to me that as long as you are meeting your other necessary macro or micro necessities the ceiling for protein consumption is quite high, and likely self limiting. – JayJay Aug 29 at 0:13
Welll, it is definitely self limiting in whole food form. I'm not sure about drinks. I suppose it could be overdone with drinks just as carbs are overdone with HFCS. How much are you taking a day? I've read some stuff on the ceiling being 250g or greater. – JayJay Aug 29 at 0:15
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this seems so unnecessary. why are you trying to use gluconeogenesis to fill your glycogen stores? why not just make it easy on your body and give it some glucose? i really don't understand why anyone would want to do this.

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I haven't actually tried it, I'm just gathering some info. The only reason it appealed to me was that it supposedly would self regulate so that it would only fill glycogen stores until they are full,then stop and not produce excess glucose that would spill in to fat cells. I found that to be interesting, plus I would love to get away from Vitargo. I'm more and more considering some way to keep sweet potatoes on hand with out them spoiling since I'm always on the go. – Nick Aug 28 at 23:20
im no expert on gluconeogenesis but i was always under the impression that its primary function was to be able to supply glucose for the brain not to store muscle glycogen. i don't even know if its possible to fill glycogen stores with gluconeogenesis but if it is i would think it would be incredibly taxing on the body and not really a good idea. i would think most people would have to eat an obscene amount of protein to fill their stores through GNG. i know this may not be a popular recommendation but maybe invest in some dextrose powder (pure glucose) to take with your protein. i think it – jake Aug 29 at 15:17
would makes things much easier for yourself and you wouldn't have to worry about it going bad. – jake Aug 29 at 15:17

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