Has anyone had success adding muscle while on a low carb diet? In my experience it's great for losing fat but is a huge challenge for gaining muscle.
If so, what's the trick?
Discussion
+Protein shakes
you beat me to it XD +1
low carb protein shakes after your workout.
As long as your eating >1g protein per lb of body weight and you’re in a caloric surplus you’ll put on muscle. In my experience though my energy levels in the gym are just much less when eating low carb.
IMO, intensity during workouts is one of the most important factors that ppl overlook
Heavier weights, lower reps, more protein
I've tried a few times. I'm now in my early 50s. I naturally burn calories like a pyromaniac anyway and dropping carbs too low just doesn't help. I can stay ripped on low carb but getting any attempt at increasing muscle mass on low carb hasn't worked for me. Dropping carbs too low also seems to make me sleep less so that aggravates the situation.
If you haven't tried creatine, suggest you give that a go.
Lots of potatoes? 🤷♂️ or sweet potatoes, yes i know its carbs but my understanding is carbs are good for muscle growth
Agreed. Fiber & healthy starches in proportion are useful carbs. It’s the sugar carbs that kill.
During my gaining, it's super hard without carbs.
In carbs, I prefer complex carbs rather than simple ones.
And in low carb diet it almost took 5X more time to gain that same amount. During that time - high protein, low carb. High weight, lower reps.
A lot of protein
Glad you asked; the website I'm building will have a full section dedicated to this topic. Here are some resources for a preview 👇
https://youtu.be/egi9SZFnhdI?si=kZwOseOFLLGqd6zt
https://youtu.be/ACn4tdqP52M?si=VYtMOO93_0X-1kju
https://youtu.be/LWtfOCebwzs?si=XoZxiVB6unExU8MJ
https://youtu.be/8DQ-OlLFun0?si=Ay97a-1-peOmRCyA
https://www.kevinstock.io/health/how-to-build-muscle-on-the-carnivore-diet/
https://fitawakening.co.uk/2023/09/07/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-building-muscle-on-carnivore/
off topic, but what bitcoin-cli commands show block subsidy? the only one i could find is getbockstats "blockheight". Just curious if you know of any others.
Good luck with the pumping iron 😄
The trick is hard boiled eggs. Anytime your mouth is empty and not talking, eat one.
I would add some limited amount of carbs (and slightly reduce fat), first figuring out what I digest better: fruit, honey or tubers. Different bodies do better with different carb sources, avoid anything that causes gas or bad stool
steroids
jk, low carb usually goes together with caloric deficit, it's almost impossible to add any muscle when in deficit, you making sure you gaining weight? (at least 0.5 kg per week)
Tearing muscle fibers.
I had no problem. Lift heavy stuff and eat more meat did the trick
#drugs
protein, lots of it. Aim for at least 0.8g per pound of bodyweight. 1g is even better. So, if you weight 180lbs, aim for 180g of protein
Eat more than you think, scale back cardio.
heavier weights, less cardio is what I was told.
Working quite well so far.
The trick is to eat more. If you're low carb, then you are probably getting enough protein from animal sources, so what's missing?
Insulin is an anabolic hormone. Aside carbs, insulin release is stimulated by protein ingestion, so the solution is to add another meal. This should be fairly obvious because usually this requirement manifests itself as a voracious appetite, at least for me.
FWIW, I have gained 2.5 kg of fat and 7kg of lean muscle on a low carb diet in three months of resistance training with no cardio (Starting Strength method).
The diet is excellent for gaining muscle and bone density but you need to eat enough fat for energy and to become ketone adapted, so that the protein can be used for building.
If you are eating low/zero carb but don't eat adequate fat you will turn protein into glucose in the liver, and so still be running on glucpse, which is inefficient and inflammatory, as opposed to using antiinflammatory ketones.
The ratio is 35g fat to 100g lean muscle meat, by weight before cooking, per meal.
You should eat when hungry. If you over eat your blood sugar and insulin will rise and your ketones will drop. You also need organs twice per week, adding fat to the same ratio.
Good fat and greens
Amino Acid diet like swimming olympic gold medal winner Mark Warneke after having real overweight...
Eat meat and potatoes and carrots and check out
Carbs are A-okay if you're bulking body mass! Just stick with whole foods! And keep it simple.