The four variables

#1. Protein — 1.6–2.2 g/kg

The meta-analytic plateau sits near 1.6 g/kg bodyweight. Above that you are buying insurance and satiety rather than more growth.

#2. Distribution — 0.4 g/kg per feeding, 4× a day

This is a threshold, not a gradient, and it is the part people get wrong.

Leucine binds Sestrin2, which releases its inhibition of GATOR2, which permits the Rag GTPases to recruit mTORC1 to the lysosomal surface where Rheb activates it. Roughly 2.5–3 g of leucine per feeding — about 30–45 g of quality protein — fully triggers the response. More per sitting adds little.

Each feeding is a separate activation event. Two enormous meals leave most of the day sub-threshold, which is why 150 g spread across four meals beats 150 g across two.

#3. Energy — the rate is the decision

Muscle accretion has a hard ceiling. An experienced trainee gains on the order of 0.25–0.5% of bodyweight per month in lean mass, and no surplus makes that faster. Energy above that becomes fat.

For a 78 kg intermediate lean-gaining: about +200 kcal, expecting ~0.15 kg/month. If the scale moves faster than that, the extra is fat. Not "mostly muscle if you train hard." Fat.

In a deficit, raise protein to 2.4–3.0 g/kg and keep training intensity. Cut volume by 20–30% if recovery suffers; never cut load. Intensity is what tells the body the muscle is still needed.

#4. Carbohydrate — 4–6 g/kg on training days

Glycogen availability determines how many hard sets you can produce before performance falls. Glycogen-depleted training measurably reduces volume tolerance, which on this program means losing stimulating reps.

Fat takes the remainder, minimum 0.6 g/kg — below about 0.5 g/kg hormone production starts being affected.

#What does not matter as much as you have been told

Meal timing beyond rough distribution. Protein source beyond leucine content and digestibility. Fasted versus fed training. The "anabolic window." Nutrient partitioning tricks.

These are real effects with small magnitudes. Chasing them is how people end up with an elaborate diet they cannot sustain and a protein target they still miss.

#How to track it

Weigh daily, same conditions, and read the 7-day rolling average. Daily weight is water, glycogen and gut content — reacting to it is reacting to noise.

Adjust every 2–3 weeks, never weekly. One data point is not a trend. The tracker computes the average and the macro targets from your bodyweight and phase.