Curious to know did you think those initial 200 grams of protein a day, during the time you built that mass you have(obviously you did not become 230 sold overnight), do you think that and/or the excess calories helped ?
Plus I know you train lighter now, but did you train heavier in the past?
The reason I ask this is because you get guys like dj for example who may misinterpret what you and others have said because you have built an impressive physique but I am sure there are many years prior to that ie the eighties to the mid ninetie where you may or may not have done heavy training and ate like a guy,
just trying to get the specifics my friend if you don't mind answering because I am curious as to how someone got to where they are today.
ps I have had the same experience with BCAA's, what I do notice is they help keep me from having any sugar drops or getting hungry during workouts rather than having sugary gatorade on hand lol
I have always been a light eater, I have always stayed lean, never really got fat during a bulk, I started off at 150lbs and have gone up to 200lbs stage weight in the 30 years I have been at it, I did have a big gap from 96 to 2011 where I didn't really train much at all.
I have trained heavier in the past but never really less than 8-10 rep range.
I train lighter now and less intensely than in the past and yet am still making improvements, if I told you some of the poundages I use you wouldn't believe me, people sometimes ask me why I don't train heavy when Im at the gym.
I definitely believe its more down to training than stuffing down mountains of food, after all your body can only convert so much of the fuel into muscle and everyone has differing limits as to how quickly that process works.
I think the key is your digestive system, if that is working optimally then you can convert the energy into tissue.
If anyone is struggling to gain then rather than force feeding they may be better off looking at a good digestive enzyme supplement.