Its what you're growing towards, so if muscle 50 and size 100, they will grow 1/3rd muscle and 2/3rds sizeBut also if you hit grow then the growth animations will start at 0 then go to those values
What's up with the special blue orbs in the world? do they up your max GP?
also it feels like you can just spam grow outside of combat and keep growing even without destroying anything
blue orbs from what I can tell give you a burst of size.