It's the most important meal of the day for building and maintaining muscle, says Jose Antonio, Ph. D., CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
The Best Meal Plan To Build Muscle Faster (EAT LIKE THIS!)
21 related questions found
What not to eat when building muscle?
Avoid or limit alcohol, foods with added sugars and deep-fried foods. In addition to your diet, whey protein, creatine and caffeine can be useful supplements.
If you skip a meal at this time, in the hope of losing more weight, you fail to fuel your body, so you're at greater risk of headaches, fatigue, hunger and infection. The bottom line: Skipping meals will make you lose muscle, not fat.
How many eggs should I eat for breakfast to gain muscle?
“To increase muscle mass, you need about 1.6 or 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. That's about 155 grams of protein per day for a 200-pound man. If eating 4 meals per day, that would amount to about 39 grams of protein per meal, or about 11 egg whites.”
As mentioned, in the early morning hours, crucial hormones (i.e., testosterone) that help build muscle mass are elevated in the body. By exercising in the morning, you're taking advantage of these naturally circulating hormones as they're peaking, rather than later in the day when they're lower.
While weightlifting any time of day is better than none at all, research shows weightlifting in the late afternoon/ early evening has the most benefits. If you work out later in the day, you'll have more fuel to burn as energy, and your body temperature will peak, which is closely related to improved performance.
You can have tummy troubles if you chow down right before. That's because more blood goes to your muscles during exercise, leaving less for digestion. After exercise, your body is ready to refuel and rebuild muscle tissue. Eat or drink within an hour of finishing.
While the importance of eating before a workout may vary based on the situation, most scientists agree that it's beneficial to eat after exercise. Research shows that some nutrients, particularly protein and carbs, can help your body recover and adapt after exercise.
People who skip their morning meal are more likely to have clogged arteries. Skipping breakfast is linked to other harmful habits which can leads to hypertension, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol which in turn increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes by 27%.
"In general, muscle is not lost before fat—it is very dependent on nutrition and activity volume," Miranda-Comas says. "A person who is attempting to lose weight by not eating may lose weight in muscle first before fat."
Whey is the consensus-MVP protein for building muscle, so if you can swing it, make sure you're taking the good stuff. Ascent's powder is made using native whey, which the company calls the "least-processed" form. There are 25 g of protein per serving and 0 artificial ingredients, so you're getting the good stuff.
If you're burning more calories than you're taking in, you'll create a state of catabolism (breaking down of molecules) instead and defeat the purpose of strength training. For example, if you consume 1,600 calories a day but burn more than 2,000 calories, you won't gain muscle.
