Celebrity Diet Secrets: Brad Pitt (And the Protein Myth!)

Back when Brad Pitt was filming Troy, an article in Fitness Magazine proclaimed: "His days included two to three hours in the gym, two additional hours of sword work and four high-protein, low-carb meals. As a result, he gained about 10 pounds of brawn."

Before you binge on 15 egg whites in an attempt to get Brad Pitt's body, please read this in its entirety.

The two “secrets” behind gaining muscle are performing weight-bearing exercises and consuming more calories than your body can burn.

If you eat large amounts of food and don't exercise, the extra calories will show up as fat, but working out makes your muscles hungry, which then absorb all the food they are given and grow.

Similarly, spending two hours a day lifting weights but not getting enough calories will result in more toning, but you can completely forget bulking up.

“But if I eat so much food, I’ll get fat!” Sure, if you are a couch potato. If you are in the gym lifting weights day in and day out, you’re burning a good number of calories and should not be worried.

Onto the protein myth. I am sure you've heard it from a personal trainer (some of the worst people to get nutrition advice from, by the way) -- eat as much tuna or grilled chicken as you want, but say "no" to a side dish of whole wheat cous cous and raisins.

Enough! The protein powder companies, of course, love that so many of us have fallen hook, line, and sinker.

Here is the deal. Protein is a necessary nutrient, but the average adult in the United States gets 150% of their daily protein requirement. No one in this country is lacking protein.

Furthermore, extra protein does not make muscles grow – it just makes our kidneys work unnecessarily harder than they need to.

Yes, if you exercise heavily you need to replace it (which is why having some protein after a workout is ideal), but you also need a carbohydrate source after your workouts to ensure your muscles are getting adequately fed.

Is there a place for protein shakes in diets? Absolutely. Some people want to add mass but are unable to consume a lot of calories a day, so a protein shake (providing concentrated calories) is helpful. However, rather than consuming 60 grams of protein in a shake, use only one scoop of powder and accompany the drink with a bowl of oatmeal topped with fruit and slivered almonds to make sure you are getting all the nutrients your muscles need.

The crucial point that many people keep missing is that carbohydrates are our body’s main source of energy – the same energy you need for hard, effective workouts. In fact, carbohydrate spares protein from being used as energy so it can do what it’s supposed to do – help muscles grow.

If you shun carbs and down as much protein as possible, you’re asking it to give you energy rather than do the muscle growth and repair it’s supposed to be doing! People who go low-carb in hopes of “getting big” end up canceling all that hard work in the gym because their muscles aren't getting the care they need.

Remember, carbs are broken down into glucose, which our body stores for energy. This is why they (ie: oatmeal, a piece of fruit, whole grain toast) are a great pre-workout snacks -- they are instant fuel!

The reason Brad Pitt put on mass is because he endured grueling workout sessions (who WOULDN'T build muscle spending two to three HOURS at a gym 7 days a week and then practicing sword skills for another two hours for an entire year?) and consumed a large amount of healthy calories (3,500 calories of Big Macs do not translate to muscle).

It is quite possible that his protein needs at this time were slightly higher than normal, but there was absolutely no need for him to go on a low-carb diet.

Now, get that Atkins bar out of your mouth and have some real food, will you?