Can You Build Muscle While Fasting or on Keto?

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When you are inside the gym, you are breaking down the muscle. When you are outside the gym, you are building up the muscle. Muscle protein synthesis is taking its place now, with you feeding your body the protein that it needs to repair, to grow, and to build back the muscle.

What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott.

Welcome to today's episode, episode 137, where I want to chat about the drawbacks of fasting and the drawbacks of the ketogenic diet when it comes to the overarching goal of building more muscle. So stay with me high level here, because I'm going to talk about specific things in relation to building more muscle. That is the overarching goal for many of you on this podcast, and the reason why you follow me on Instagram, or follow me in general, or follow WarriorBabe, is because you want to build more muscle. You want to be toned, right? Which is building more muscle and decreasing your body fat around the muscle. You want to have more of an aesthetic appearance in terms of body composition, changing what your body composition looks like. And obviously all the other things, like longevity and feeling good, adding more skeletal muscle to your body. That's a lot of you guys. And in relation to that goal, a lot of you still think that you can get to that goal while fasting and while doing the ketogenic diet.

And I've got to say, before I dive into all of this, those are great tools and resources when it comes to unique cases of individuals that may need to follow that specific protocol of fasting and keto, like for hormonal imbalances or medical reasons, right? Those are great things. So I don't want to take away from that. But I'm talking about the overarching goal of building more muscle and changing your body composition, and speaking to those specific things.

So for the purposes of this podcast, that's where I'm going to share my opinion: if you want to build more muscle, fasting and the ketogenic diet may be getting in the way of getting to that goal. And first and foremost, guys, a lot of studies for these specific diets have mainly been done on men, and not too many have been done on females. I think I talked about this with Esther Blum in a recent podcast, and other podcast guests have also mentioned this.

So I want you to consider that as I dive into this kind of stuff, because inside the WarriorBabe community, there are around 1,800 members inside one of our products, and 17,000 members have come through the entire program over the course of the last six years. And I've seen women come off of these diets, women who don't need to be following these specific types of diet protocols, and start implementing carbohydrates and start implementing pre-workout food. And they're getting the results that they want of building more muscle and changing their body composition.

And that's women. These are females inside of our community. So I want to pin that little nugget of knowledge there. And again, remember before I dive into the concepts of this, the ketogenic diet and fasting totally serve a purpose as a tool and a resource, right? However, when it comes to building muscle, this may not be the path I would recommend. So let's talk first about the drawbacks of fasting when it comes to building muscle.

When you are trying to build muscle and you are in a fasted state, there are specifics of muscle protein synthesis, right? I've talked about this many, many times on the podcast. The process that you want to happen with muscle protein synthesis in your body gets impaired. Fasting impedes this from happening internally. So when you're fasted for extended periods of time and you're without adequate protein intake, this can inhibit that process from happening.

And that process is the one by which the body builds, repairs, and grows muscle after you exercise. You guys have heard me say this time and time again. When you are inside the gym, you are breaking down the muscle. When you are outside the gym, you are building up the muscle. Muscle protein synthesis is taking its place now, with you feeding your body the protein that it needs to repair, to grow, and to build back the muscle. So when you are in a fasted state for extended periods of time, right?

And I'll share at the end when I'm talking about fasting, hopefully I remember that. Put a little pin there for me to remember. But when you are fasted for extended periods of time and you're not giving your body the protein that it needs, this whole process is happening at maybe half of what it actually can do when you're giving the body what it needs: protein and food and fuel for muscle to repair, build, and grow.

So while we're on it, so I don't forget about that little pin, think about this: you are in a fasted state while you are sleeping. So from like 8 p.m. at night, when you have your last meal, all the way up to maybe 6 a.m. when you wake up, you are in a fasted state. And that's the best type of fasted state, because your body is sleeping. It's in the best form of recovery if you're a good sleeper. That's a whole other podcast for a whole other time. But you get what I'm saying, right? That's enough time for your body to go through these processes, to do what it needs, to focus on healing, to focus on repairing. And then when you wake up in the morning, your metabolism doesn't stop. You've got to fuel that metabolism to do all the things that you want it to do and aid in the process of you building muscle.

A second thing that happens when you are in a fasted state is two things, actually. I'm going to pair these up together. One is performance impairment. You may notice a lack of ability to perform during your workouts. And I've heard this time and time and time again. Women inside the WarriorBabe program would say, 'Nikkiey, I don't want to eat before I work out. I feel like I'm going to get sick if I do.' And I've literally heard that probably hundreds of times, right?

And I was like, cool, I totally get that. I've heard that so many times before. But listen to me. Your body needs this, scientifically breaking it down. There's a method to the madness. So let's just give your body what it needs for the next two weeks pre-workout. Take it small, like a protein shake and maybe a banana or something like that. Something easy and fast to digest. It doesn't need to be overconsuming, right? Because if it's a ton of food in the beginning of the morning and you go and work out, yeah, it's probably going to make you feel sick.

But regardless, in the first two weeks, if you're doing something you've never done to your body before, it's probably going to feel a little bit uncomfortable until your body adapts to it. But trust me, of the hundreds of times I've heard this, when women actually do implement this pre-workout meal and then they go and lift, they come back after two weeks, after the body adjusts, like, 'Dude, I cannot believe I have not been eating before I work out. I have so much energy. I feel so strong. I'm lifting heavier. I'm picking up heavier weights. I feel good.' And I'm like, yeah. Your body's soaking it up. It's using that fuel for your lifting session.

And again, these are the drawbacks when it comes to building muscle. That's what I'm talking about. When you are working out, when you're doing strength training, you need to give your body fuel to do all of the things internally that it needs to do to help you get to that goal. Fasting is kind of counterproductive to what I'm saying so far, right? You guys are with me here. And on top of that, with an impairment to your performance, you're going to feel fatigued. You're going to feel tired. It's going to hinder your ability to perform at an optimal intensity during your workouts. And this is going to compromise muscle building efforts.

And second to that, with insufficient energy that you're giving your body, this can result in long-term muscle loss rather than gain, as the body will try to prioritize energy conservation. Oh my God, I can't say that word. You guys know what I'm saying. It prioritizes conservation over muscle building. So it's going to prioritize energy. It's going to take energy from other things, which is counterproductive to the whole muscle building process, because muscles need energy. Muscles need that fuel for this to happen. So those are the top three things that I wanted to talk about with the drawbacks of fasting.

Another thing you can take into consideration is that fasting can affect the timing of nutrient intake, right? It can limit the availability of the nutrients that your body needs to support muscle repair and growth: protein, carbohydrates, all the other micronutrients, and fats too. People fast for different windows. I've heard eight hours, 16 hours, yada yada yada, four hours. If you're in a window of time, you're trying to cram in all of this stuff that you actually need, right?

If you're eating 2,200 calories, can you imagine cramming 2,200 calories into a set amount of time, when the most important priority there is the 2,200 calories and not the timing, especially when it comes to building muscle? So just a little added note there. Think about that. The priority is food. And if you're trying to cram it into a window of time, it's probably going to be really hard to fit all that food in. So I just wanted to add that little extra plug for drawbacks to fasting.

So again, those are a few. It inhibits muscle protein synthesis. It impairs your performance. The body looks for energy elsewhere rather than having the energy it needs for the muscle building process. And these things are very counterproductive to building more muscle, right? And building muscle is what's going to get you toned. And I'll add a last one about nutrient timing, because nutrient fuel is the priority with this whole process that you want to happen. Muscles need energy in order to survive, to build, to grow, to repair, and to do all the things.

Now, the second thing that I want to talk about on this podcast is the drawbacks of the ketogenic diet when it comes to building more muscle. First and foremost, when you are on the ketogenic diet, you are limiting your carbohydrate availability. We all know that in the keto world, you are restricting carbohydrate intake to get into that state of ketosis.

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Ketosis is the metabolic state where your body primarily burns fat for fuel. But carbohydrates are the body's primary source of energy during high-intensity, voluminous exercise, such as weightlifting. I'm going to say that one more time, because I need that to be drilled into your brains. While your body can and will adapt to burning fat for fuel, carbohydrates are its main priority source of energy for weightlifting. You can't turn fats into carbohydrates.

So when you're limiting the fuel the body needs from carbohydrates, and like I said at the beginning of the podcast, the drawbacks of fasting and the drawbacks of keto kind of marry together, this is going to cause a decrease in your workout performance. It's going to cause fatigue. It's going to cause reduced intensity during training sessions. And those things combined will hinder the muscle building efforts.

Again, carbohydrates are the body's main source and priority for weightlifting and strength training during high-intensity exercise, and they're also your brain's preferred source of energy. They're the body's preferred source of energy.

Also, some variations of the ketogenic diet will limit protein intake and focus on moderate levels of protein. I've heard of people eating around 60 grams of protein when they're coming off of it. But again, like I talked about with fasting, if you're limiting your protein intake, especially with muscle protein synthesis and the whole thing needing to happen, it's very similar to that.

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Inadequate protein is not going to help with supporting muscle repair and growth, especially if you're doing weightlifting and resistance training exercises. On top of the muscle protein synthesis thing that I talked about with fasting, having enough protein intake is essential for maintaining the muscle mass on your body. And like I said with fasting, your body will turn to different energy sources if you're not giving it the energy that it needs. And one of the energy sources it will go after is your muscle first.

So you need to give your body not only the nutrients and food that it needs, but also enough protein. And one of the biggest things that I see a lot of women struggle with all the time is eating enough protein on a regular basis. When you're not getting enough, that's a problem, because protein is so essential to maintain the muscle mass that you have on your body, and it's also so essential for building more muscle. And again, like I said, it promotes the muscle protein synthesis process and makes it happen in your body. That's the process by which muscle gets repaired and grows, and it gets you to the end result you want with the goals that you're striving for.

A couple of other things that are drawbacks of keto. Actually, one more main thing I want to talk about is that the glycogen stores in your body get completely depleted. Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles and in your liver as glycogen, which serves as a readily available energy source during your exercise, right?

I've talked about this in many podcasts before, because the more carbohydrates you eat, the more gets stored in your body, and in turn that can mean holding onto water. And then when you step on the scale, people are like, 'I gained weight because I ate too many carbs.' Well, that is not true. You gained weight because you probably had more carbs than normal, and your body is holding onto more water.

So the ketogenic diet restricts carbohydrate intake, and then glycogen stores may become completely depleted. This is going to lead to decreased muscle glycogen levels in your body. And when you have lower muscle glycogen levels, it will impair your exercise performance. It will impair muscle endurance. And most importantly, it will impair the recovery process, because your body needs glycogen to start the repair and building. All of these together compromise the muscle building process that your body wants to do and needs to do to get you to the results you want of building more muscle.

And in turn, you guys, I know a lot of you are like, 'I don't want to build a lot of muscle because I don't want to get bulky.' Women, it's not possible for us to get so bulky in a natural state, because we don't have as much testosterone as men do, or as people who are taking drugs to enhance that even more.

So just keep in mind those couple of things I just said. Limited carbohydrate availability is a drawback of the keto diet when it comes to building muscle. Insufficient protein intake: some variations of the keto diet have you eat less protein than you should be having, and protein is so essential when it comes to maintaining and building new muscle mass. And your glycogen stores get completely depleted if you're not eating carbohydrates, and when they're completely depleted, your muscle glycogen levels get depleted. This just impairs so many aspects of the muscle building process.

One last thing I want to note here is that when you're on a ketogenic diet, you could possibly have an electrolyte imbalance, which means imbalances in sodium, potassium, and magnesium levels. When it comes to building more muscle and making that process happen in a really good, solid manner, electrolytes play a crucial role in muscle function, hydration, nerve transmission, and all of these things. If any of you have ever experienced muscle cramps, or you're fatigued or tired a lot of the time, this could also be a factor of an electrolyte imbalance in your body, and it could be related to the keto diet if you were on it.

So again, these are a couple of the things that I wanted to shed light on when it comes to building more muscle, because you might be doing these things when you don't necessarily need to be. You're kind of just looking for a quick fix and immediate results, or all of those other things people go on these diets for. Let me remind you, these are tools and resources. There are tons of different things you could be doing out there, and there are tools and resources that are useful for unique situations. So I don't want to put down certain things.

But when the overarching goal is this, and you are a healthy individual, and you just need to get past excuses and understand the long term that it takes to get to that goal, I would encourage you to think about the drawbacks I'm sharing with you on this podcast. If your overarching goal is building more muscle and changing your body composition, know that your body needs food. It needs fuel. It needs to eat. It needs carbohydrates, it needs protein, it needs fat. I understand that I need to eat food. I need to get past this narrative in my brain that if I eat more food, I'm going to gain more weight, because I need to eat more food in order to get to the goals that I want to accomplish. And you can change these narratives in your brain. You can recognize that food is fuel and that you are feeding the amazing machine you have here, your body.

If you want to get to that goal, then I would reconsider the way you're getting there if you're doing these things. What we do at WarriorBabe is provide personalized nutrition plans tailored to the individual, tailored to your goals, tailored to your preferences, tailored to your metabolic needs. We ensure it's sustainable and realistic for you and your lifestyle. And at the same time, we make sure that you're getting the adequate nutrient intake your body needs, to help with long-term adherence to the plan, but also the long-term goals and results you want to accomplish.

Think about it, too, with these two things I just talked about. Will you fast for the rest of your life? And will you be on the ketogenic diet for the rest of your life? Because at WarriorBabe, what we want to do, like I just said, is create a sustainable and realistic approach that is going to serve you for the long term. At WarriorBabe, strength training is our foundation, because we want you to build more lean skeletal muscle mass for longevity, for overall health, and X, Y, and Z.

But most importantly, we promote a sustainable approach with your nutrition habits, how you're eating and what you're eating, and learning how to fit that into your life. So if you are still struggling to get past these things I talked about and to learn how to incorporate the right methodology, the right approaches, the right way to be sustainable, check out WarriorBabe. I highly encourage it. So many women have come to us and learned how to get off of intermittent fasting, fasting, or the ketogenic diet when they don't need to be on it, and I need to preface that, so that their eating really supports and aligns with their goals, which is building more muscle, the foundation of WarriorBabe.

So again, absorb all this from the podcast, those tips, those little nuggets of knowledge. I hope it helped you think in a different light, especially if you're wanting to do quick things, knowing that it doesn't happen quick, especially when it comes to building muscle, and accepting that building muscle takes a while to do. It takes years to do. So you might as well get on an approach with nutrition that you're going to be able to use for the long term and that will get you to the goals you want. Instead of 10 years of trying different things, if you just do a sustainable method for a year, I bet you're going to get further than you have with many other things before. I've seen that in so many comments inside of our community.

But anyway, I'm rambling now. I just wanted to share that stuff with you guys. I hope that it helped you. I hope that it served you. And please, if this podcast resonated with you, I just ask that you take two minutes after this podcast and go into the review section and review the podcast. I love reading how you guys are enjoying these little knowledge bombs, these little podcasts, and how you're taking these action items and implementing them into your life, and then seeing amazing results, even just from this podcast. So I love being able to read that in the review section. So please, two minutes. That's all I ask after you're done listening to this. And I'll see you in the next podcast. Peace out.

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