[lil fu fu girl]

Originally Posted by bonbon

Thank you!!

I have another question for you, if you don't mind (sorry to flood you with questions). Does the level of protein in a food play any part in weight gain, or is weight gain strictly connected with caloric intake/output? It seems like some of mine gain too much on the higher protein foods.

Not at all, I do not mind, all those years in school are finally paying off...LOL
You are right, weight gain is strictly connected to caloric intake. All the energy units, Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Fats are used within the body and then whatever is not needed currently is turned into "storage units" via fats. This happens to All of the energy units.

Some of the excess Carbohydrates are stored in the liver as glycogen, and then whatever is left is turned into fat and stored in cells.

Fats are digested and the excess is sent to the liver as well, where it can be turned into such things as cholesterol, and then the unused portions are sent to the fat cells for future use.

Proteins are broken down into peptides, and then farther, into amino acids. From here, the amino acids go through the body via the blood stream restocking, if you will, all the cells needs, then they too , are eventually converted into fats and sugars and follow the same sequence as the other two and get stored as fat.

Now when you speak of building muscle, proteins do that better than any of the others. Just ask any bodybuilder what their protein kcal intake per day is and you will be astonished!

Some speak of muscle weighing more than fat, which is not really correct. 1pound of fat = 1pound muscle, which = 1 pound of anything else, right? However, the density,size, or bulk of the actual 1 pound of fat is larger than the 1 pound of muscle. So two dogs of the exact weight may vary greatly as to their appearance, and as to whether they are healthy or not. As one dog might be 3 pounds of fat where the other might be 3 pounds of muscle.

So maybe yours are not gaining fat, but gaining denser muscle tissue through the protein. Maybe if you track their measurements you could see if the actual inches are going down , despite the weight gain.

Hope this gives you some more information to work with...