Building muscle on a keto diet
It is rare to see people on a ketogenic diet trying to gain muscle mass and losing fat mass. Since the keto diet is low on carbs and you need to have a moderate percentage of carbohydrates to gain muscles, one needs to be very careful with three things: what to eat, how much of it and when to eat?
Ketogenesis and Protein Relationship
It is a known fact that getting adequate protein is crucial for building and preserving muscle mass. But it is important to maintain a proportion in relevance with carbohydrate as they provide the glycogen stores in the body needed to sustain muscle building training. Also, eating excessive protein may kick you off the ketosis, and so it is lately considered to include 15-20% of calories coming from protein. Although, the touted amount is 30% of protein when the goal is ‘muscle growth’. But here’s the catch, as a study published in the Journal of Sports Science, found that if the protein is evenly distributed between meals i.e. 3-4 meals, which offer adequate overall calories in every meal, it is adequate to optimise muscle protein synthesis. The suggested protein is 0.8 gm/kg body weight divided evenly in all meals.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that when your body is deprived of carbs, very high protein intake may lead to some of the protein to be converted into glucose, which eventually takes you out of ketosis.
Confused about what to do? A keto diet leads to the increased production of ketones which are a byproduct of fat breakdown, and the benefit of elevated levels of ketones is that they are muscle sparing. A ketone body, beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) in particular has been shown to have a positive impact on muscle growth, leading to a decrease in leucine oxidation while also promoting protein synthesis.
Three simple points to follow while on the keto diet:-
1) Focus on High-quality proteins
Protein sources which are animal-based offer all essential amino acids, which includes BCAA and leucine in particular which is considered to be the main anabolic amino acid.
Food choices include eggs, whole fat milk, greek yoghurt, cheese, chicken, lamb, fish, turkey and seafood. Include more of these sources as much as possible as one needs to preserve lean muscle mass and for the synthesis of new muscles.
2) Be particular about your protein timing
After quality concern, timings is another important factor you should be eating the above discussed quality food sources at the leucine threshold at anabolic timing every few hours, and being consistent with the habit day after day and week after, it is needed to yield some muscle growth results.
3) Maintain Calorie Surplus State
A calorie deficit cannot help you accomplish your goal of building muscle, as muscles need calories to grow. This is the key to better muscle gaining results while being on a keto diet.
In conclusion, focus on eating 3-4 meals surplus calories every day with a fairly consistent amount of high-quality protein, so that you reach the leucine threshold, which is important for gaining muscles.
REFERENCES
- Phillips, S. M., & Van Loon, L. J. (2011). Dietary protein for athletes: from requirements to optimum adaptation. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(sup1), S29-S38.
- Nair, K. S., Welle, S. L., Halliday, D., & Campbell, R. G. (1988). Effect of beta-hydroxybutyrate on whole-body leucine kinetics and fractional mixed skeletal muscle protein synthesis in humans. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 82(1), 198-205.