Can You Build Muscle While Intermittent Fasting?

Nikkiey: Muscle is active tissue and it gets its energy from food. And you need food all throughout the day, especially pre- and post-workout, to fuel your body and those processes to happen.

What's up, 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, and welcome to episode number 38.

This is a listener Q&A inspired podcast. I know on Monday I talked about traveling and all that jazz, which was inspired by a question from you guys too. This one was needed and bound to happen, so here we are today. It's all about intermittent fasting and building muscle. You guys know, if you've been following me for a while, how I feel about IF. But I think we're going to turn a corner here today.

Damn, this would be perfect for April Fool's if I went down that avenue and told you guys I was going to do intermittent fasting. That's not going to happen. But there is a way that, if you do it right, it can be compatible with building muscle. I'm going to talk about that a little bit later in the podcast.

But first, I want to dish my opinion. If you don't know my opinion, look, it's a tool to lose weight. But when it comes to building more muscle, which is what a lot of you women who follow me and listen to this podcast want, aka getting toned, you need to build more muscle in order to get toned. It's not a tool I'd recommend.

Then, like I said, I'll share what it looks like when it's done right, which I personally just don't think many people do. They hear this term that's thrown around, they see people getting these results and X, Y, and Z, and so they try it. There was a video that just popped off recently. Was it Gwyneth Paltrow, I think, or someone? There was an actress who talked about it, and she got a lot of backlash around it.

But when it's done right, I'll talk about how it could help. Because like I said, I don't think 90% of people do it right. They hear it, they try it, they want this result, but they aren't doing it right, so they're not going to get that result. And look, that's that.

Some more of my opinion: you fast while you sleep. Your metabolism never stops. It's always active, it's always going. It's going while you sleep, which also involves so many other things that help with recovery. And you are technically in a fasted state that entire freaking time, you guys. Some of you sleep six hours, some of you sleep eight hours. You're fasted during that time. Maybe some of you sleep eight or nine hours and then don't eat right away, so you may be in a fasted state for like 10 freaking hours. Why do you need to do more than that? You know what I mean?

Especially if your goal is to build muscle, to see the differences in your body composition, to have those visible changes. Muscle is active tissue, and it gets its energy from food. If you didn't know that, now you know it. Muscle doesn't stop. Your metabolism doesn't stop. It needs energy, and it gets that energy, in order to grow, in order to recover, all of that jazz, from food.

Plus, on top of that, there are some other things that happen. For you guys who are AM workout goers practicing IF, or who don't eat before you work out, you are lifting in a catabolic state. You're catabolic during your workout. In layman's terms, when you're in this state, your body is breaking down muscle and storing body fat for the production of energy to get you through that workout. That is completely counterproductive to the goals you are working towards. You want to live in an anabolic state, where you build and maintain muscle and burn away body fat.

You get there by fueling your body properly with food pre- and post-workout and all throughout the entire day. Like I said, all the processes that go along with building muscle don't stop. They don't turn off. They're always active, always alive. And you need food all throughout the day, especially pre- and post-workout, to fuel your body and for those processes to happen.

I did a whole podcast on pre- and post-workout nutrition. I don't know which episode it was. I think it was pretty recent, but definitely go check it out. In it I actually speak to you morning workout people who don't eat before you work out. What a difference in endurance and strength you're going to feel by fueling your body before you work out. So that's a big one. You're in a catabolic state, and you don't want to be in a catabolic state. You want to be in an anabolic state. Plus all the things I just said about how you fast when you sleep. These things are counterproductive.

And I told you I'm going to talk about when you do it right, because these are a lot of the things people do wrong. When you do it right, it can be compatible with building muscle.

The second thing I want to talk about goes along with being catabolic. When this happens, cortisol gets elevated. While you're living in a catabolic state, the main hormone that's elevated is cortisol. And cortisol is a fat-storing hormone, not to mention all the other hormones this can cause to get wacky. The more cortisol you produce, the more pounds you can pack on, especially in your midsection.

If you're doing all of these things, not eating before you go work out, and six months down the road you're wondering why you're not seeing the results you want to see, this could be a huge reason why. You're not fueling your body appropriately. So you're in a catabolic state, your cortisol gets elevated, and cortisol is a fat-storing hormone. And where do you think it's going to hold on to? Your abdomen.

Before I pivot into talking about how they can be compatible, look, this is my overall opinion. It's just not realistic if your goal is to build muscle, tone up, and drop body fat, because the majority of you are doing it the wrong way. The first couple of points, the catabolic state, the sleeping, the cortisol being elevated, are reasons enough for me to hold my opinion pretty strongly.

Again, you technically intermittent fast while you're sleeping. But like I said earlier, I guess it feels more reliable when you put a name on it and push it publicly. A lot of people just see others doing it and getting results from it. Then you Google 'what is IF,' and it explains it but doesn't give you the tactics for how to implement it the right way. It's like, 'Oh, I have this window where I'm fasting for 16 hours, and this is what I do in that window of time. But I train before this window,' X, Y, and Z. There are so many things out there.

So for the sake of this podcast, on top of my opinion, I also want to give you the way to do it right and how to make it compatible with building muscle. Maybe you want to use intermittent fasting to help with habits you have around food and build a better relationship with it. Or you're doing it for health reasons, which is mainly why intermittent fasting is big. But you also have this goal of building muscle.

So I want the takeaway of this podcast to be that you can walk away and say, 'Okay, I do this lifestyle. I already know that maybe I'm not doing it right. So I'm going to leave this podcast today and start doing it right.' That's my whole goal for you.

If you jive with my opinion, then just eat normally throughout the day. Please, all throughout the day: pre-workout, post-workout, all throughout the day. The mechanics, systems, hormones, everything related to building muscle doesn't stop. Your metabolism doesn't stop. Muscle tissue doesn't stop. It's all active. It needs energy, and to get that energy, it needs food. But like I mentioned at the beginning, it can be compatible. You just have to do it with the tactics I'm about to share with you.

Hey, I just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys for listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you're enjoying it, and there's so much more to come. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate it tons, and it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show.

To piggyback off what I already spoke about in my opinion, a lot of people get things wrong, like not eating around their training or not giving their body enough protein. Here are some supporting ways to make sure you're doing it right when you practice or implement IF in your routine.

When you're doing IF, obviously, there's a period of fasting, and during that period there's limited nutrient availability. This can make it super challenging to consume the calories and macronutrients you need to support muscle growth. Think about it. In the window of time you're eating, the majority of people are eating not even in a true deficit, but below a deficit. They're not eating enough. Yeah, they may have snacks in this window, but are you eating enough to support the goal of building muscle?

To do that, an average number is around 2,000 calories. Let me ask you: if you're practicing IF, are you hitting 2,000 calories in that timeframe? A handful of you will probably say yes, but the majority of you will probably say no. And are you eating enough protein to support all of the things protein does?

Which leads me to my second point: intermittent fasting leads to a reduction in protein synthesis, which is the process of building new muscle tissue. Protein synthesis is most active after you consume protein. So if protein intake is limited, muscle growth can be totally compromised. Again, a lot of people who practice IF do it because they want to lose weight, and they're not eating enough protein.

That's a big epidemic in the industry. People just don't know how to eat enough protein or what protein number they need to be hitting. You need to be hitting at least 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per body weight.

So there are those two things. In that window of time, are you really eating enough? Because you need to be eating enough to support the muscle growth you want. Ask yourself, 'Am I truly eating what I'm supposed to be eating?' 1,600 calories, 1,800 calories, 2,000 calories. A handful of you may say yes, but the majority of you are going to say no, because you're just eating snacks in this window, since that's what a lot of people say to do with IF.

And then, are you eating enough protein? Like I've said over and over again, protein is so important to muscle growth, to muscle recovery, to all of the things that are going to help you build more muscle and, aka, get toned.

The last one I want to touch on as a tactical takeaway: when intermittent fasting is done wrong, increased muscle breakdown happens. To do it right, fasting for extended periods of time isn't necessary. People do the 16 hours, but in my opinion, you fast while you sleep, and that's enough time. Those long periods of time can lead to muscle breakdown, because the body lacks the source of energy it needs to build muscle. All of these things happen when it's done wrong.

When it's done right, it involves carefully planning your meals to make sure you're getting adequate calorie and nutrient intake during your eating window, which I already alluded to. Make sure you're planning your meals ahead of time and hitting 1,600, 1,800, 2,000, 2,200, 2,400 calories, whatever is sufficient for your goals. And it should be on the higher end, because building muscle needs those calories and those macros. So carefully plan and make sure you're hitting it in that window of time, prioritize your protein intake, and limit your fasting periods to prevent muscle breakdown. In my opinion, like I said, the time while you sleep is enough of a fasted window to support this goal.

Look, I said it in the beginning: it's a tool for weight loss. If your jam is just to lose weight, then cool, intermittent fasting may help you. I know it helped my dad. He did it. But in previous podcasts I've mentioned telling him, 'Yo, Dad, you've got to start strength training. You've got to start building muscle.' And that's another beast.

There's a difference between fat loss and weight loss. I did an episode on that much earlier that you can definitely check out, and it will give you some clarity on where your goals should be. Because if your goal is to build muscle, that's a different beast than just trying to lose weight.

So again: plan your meals ahead of time, prioritize protein intake, and limit your fasting periods. Also, resistance training could be done, and should be done, in the eating window to give the body the nutrients it needs to support muscle growth.

So my AM goers who work out and practice IF, in order to do it right and make it compatible with building muscle, train during the window of time that you're eating. Make sure you're giving your body the necessary nutrients to support muscle growth. If you could hear that, Maverick just whined. He's like, 'Yo, Mom, it's my time.'

But seriously, those are the ways you make it compatible. Plan your meals ahead of time. Make sure you're getting the right calorie and nutrient intake during that eating window. If you want to practice IF and you don't eat until 11 a.m., but you're still hitting 2,000 calories in your day, that's amazing. Make sure you're getting enough protein in that window too. And this is the most important one: resistance train during that eating window so your body has all the nutrients to support the muscle growth that is your overall goal. That makes it productive towards the goals you want to accomplish.

But with everything I mentioned in my opinion, being in a catabolic state is not supportive of the goals you want. It's counterproductive to those goals, and it makes all of these things get wacky inside your body. It's just not realistic for the goal of building muscle. But if you do it the right way I just described, it can be compatible. Like I mentioned, the majority of people do it the wrong way. So if you put all of these tactics, tips, and tricks into play and you want to practice IF, have at it. Go do it. Just do it the right way, because that's how you'll get to the goals you're striving for.

All right, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Please share this with a friend, especially anyone you know who wants to be toned and build some muscle but is doing IF and probably doing it the wrong way. Share this with them. That's all I ask: take the knowledge I'm sharing with you on this podcast and give it to somebody else who needs to hear it. Thanks. I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.

Real quick: the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. The only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask is that you leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, it will mean the absolute world to me, and it may change the world of someone else.