It is the general opinion of fitness experts that a high-carb diet is necessary for building muscle. However, this doesn’t have to be the case and going keto doesn’t mean that you can’t bulk up.
As a matter of fact, not only is the high-carb paradigm outdated but it’s plain wrong. A good number of keto diets, in fact, have been used to increase strength and build muscle. Many gym rats and professional bodybuilders worship keto.
Why It Works
So, here’s how keto works: you burn fats for energy, your stored fat at first and the fats that you eat after, ensuring lean muscles. By default, your body is used to getting all the necessary energy from glucose, which comes from non-fiber carbohydrates that you eat. If a person cuts off their carb intake, the body will automatically start generating the necessary energy from the fat reserves. This process is called ketosis, as in the ketogenic or keto diet.
In fact, cutting back on carbs has been known to help achieve weight loss and muscle mass gain.
However, many bodybuilding enthusiasts try keto and give up quickly, reassuring their attitudes that “of course you can’t gain muscle mass without carbs.” That’s because there is something called ‘keto-adaptation’. Switching from glucose to fats as the primary energy source takes time and practice. Nobody can jump into keto gains before going through keto-adaptation.
In for the Long Run
In order to gain more strength and more lean muscle mass than ever before using keto gains, you need to get into it for the long run. Soon after you cut carbohydrates from your diet, your body will enter the panic mode. It will struggle to find another source of energy, quickly settling for the stored fats. However, it will take some time until your body learns how to efficiently use fats for energy. Over this period, you may experience energy deficiency and muscle mass loss.
Sticking with the keto diet long-term is the only way to get the most out of keto and ensure lean muscle mass with minimal body fat.
More Protein
Keto enthusiasts talk about avoiding carbs as much as possible and focusing on eating fatty foods, but protein is still extremely crucial for building muscle mass on keto. You’re supposed to just subtract your targeted fats and carbs intake to arrive at protein, which can be tricky because if you eat too much protein, your body converts some of the amino acids into glucose (known as glucogenesis).
Keto gains, though, focus on your protein intake. Lowering carbs and maximizing fats while consuming moderate amounts of protein is crucial to keto gains.
Keto and Muscles
Clearly, keto gains can not only help you boost muscle mass but also lose that excess body fat. However, the keto diet requires dedication and perseverance – if you quit after a few weeks, the whole thing is probably going to end up counterproductive. Focus on your goals, cut the carbs, take in moderate amounts of protein, and don’t forget the healthy fats.
