Here's Why Fasting Won't Help You Build Muscle

00:00Real 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. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. When you are inside the gym, you are breaking down the muscle. When you are outside the gym, you are building up the muscle.

00:31Muscle protein synthesis is taking its place on now with you feeding your body the protein that it needs to as well to prepare, to grow, and to build back the muscle. What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkie Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. And 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, Nikkie Stott.

01:02And 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 that are in relation to building more muscle. And that is the overarching goal, which many of you guys on this podcast, or the reasons why you follow me on Instagram,

01:33or follow me in general, or follow WarriorBabe, is because you want to build more muscle. You want to look more, you want to build, you want to be toned, right? Which is building more muscle and decreasing your body fat around the muscle. And you want to have, like, more of an aesthetic appearance in terms of the body composition and changing what your body composition looks like. And obviously, of all the other things, like longevity and feeling good, adding more skeletal muscle to your body, okay? That's a lot of you guys. And so, in relation to that goal, a lot of you guys still think that you can get to that goal while fasting and while doing the ketogenic diet.

02:09And I got to say, like, before I dive into all of this, like, those are great tools and resources for which it comes to unique cases of individuals that may need to follow the specific, that specific protocol of fasting and keto when it comes to, like, hormonal imbalances or medical reasons, right? Those are great things. So I don't want to, like, take away from that. But I'm talking about the overarching goal of building more muscle, changing your body composition, and speaking to those specific things, okay?

02:41So for the purposes of this podcast, that's where I'm going to share that and the opinion towards, you know, when, again, if you think, if you want to build more muscle, fasting, ketogenic diet may be getting in the way. If you think that you're doing that, it may be getting in the way of getting to that goal. And first and foremost, too, as well, is that, guys, a lot of studies for these specific diets mainly have been done on men. And not too many have been done on females. I think I talked about this with Esther Bloom in a recent podcast and other podcast guests have also mentioned this.

03:16So I want you guys to consider that as I dive into talking about this kind of stuff because inside the Warrior Babe community, right, there's, like, 1,800 members inside of one of our products. There's been 17 members that have come through the entire program over the course of the last six years. And I've seen women come off of these that are okay to, right, that, like, 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.

03:50So, and that's women. These are females inside of our community, okay? So I want to, like, add that little, like, pin that little nugget there of knowledge. And then also, again, remember before I dive into, like, the concepts of this is, you know, ketogenic diet and the fasting diet totally serve a purpose or a tool and a resource, right? However, when it comes to building muscle, this may not be the path of which I would recommend, okay? So let's talk about first the drawbacks of fasting when it comes to building muscle.

04:26When you are trying to build muscle and say you are in a fasted state, there is specifics of muscle protein synthesis, right? I've talked about this many, many, many times in the podcast. That type of what the process that you want to happen with muscle protein synthesis in your body gets impaired. It gets kind of, it gets, fasting impedes this thing from happening internally, right? So when you're fasted for extended periods of time and you're without adequate protein intake, this can inhibit that process from happening.

05:06And that process is which, by which the body builds and 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 protein synthesis or muscle protein synthesis is taking its place on now with you feeding your body the protein that it needs to as well to prepare, to grow, and to build back the muscle. So when you are in a fasted state for extended periods of time, right?

05:40Like, 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, you know, 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, like, you are, think about this, you are in a fasted state while you are sleeping.

06:16So 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. That is, and then 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 got what I'm saying, right? So 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, you want to, your body, your metabolism don't stop.

06:47You got to fuel that metabolism to do all the things that it wants, that you want it to do and aiding in the process of you building muscle, okay? A second thing that happens here when you are in a fasted state is two things, actually. I'm going to pair these up together is one being the performance impairment. So you may notice a lack of your ability to perform during your workouts. And I've heard this time and time and time again. Women inside the program Warrior Babe, they would always kind of, they would say,

07:19Nikki, I don't want to eat before I work out. I feel like I'm going to get sick if I do. And I was like, yeah, I've literally heard that probably hundreds of times, right? And I was like, cool. Like, 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. Doesn't need to be overconsuming, right? Because if it's over and it's a ton of food in the beginning of the morning and you go and work out,

07:51yeah, you're probably going to make, 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, I have heard time and time again of the hundred times I've heard this, when women actually do implement this pre-workout meal and then they go and lift, they come back afterwards after two weeks at the body adjuster like, dude, I cannot believe I have not been eating before I work out. They're like, I have so much energy. I feel so strong. I'm lifting heavier. I'm picking up heavier weights.

08:22Like, I feel good. And I'm like, yeah. So your body's soaking up. It's eating. It's using that fuel for your lifting session. And again, this is the drawbacks of building muscle, okay? That's what I'm talking about. Like, when you are working out, 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 of what I'm saying so far, right? You guys are with me here. And on top of that, with having an impairment to your performance, you're going to feel

08:57fatigued. 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, okay? And then second to that, right? 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 and prioritize energy conservation or conservation.

09:30Oh my God, I can't say that word. You guys know what I'm saying. 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 to happen, okay? So those are a few things. The top three things that I wanted to talk about with the drawbacks of fasting. Another thing too that you can take into consideration when it comes to this is like fasting can affect

10:02the timing of nutrient intake, right? So it can limit the ability and availability of the nutrients that your body needs, the nutrients that need to support and repair muscle growth, right? Protein, carbohydrates, and all the other micronutrients and fats too. So if you're in like a window of time, people fast, I don't know, I've heard like, you know, 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?

10:33If you're eating 2200 calories, can you imagine cramming 2200 calories in a set amount of time when the most important priority there is 2200 calories and not the timing, especially when it's coming to building muscle. So just a little added note there, like think about that, like the priority is food. And if you're trying to cram in a window of time, it's probably gonna be really hard to cram all that food in that window of time. So just wanted to add that little extra plug there for drawbacks to fasting. So again, those are a few. It inhibits muscle protein synthesis. It impairs your performance.

11:04It looks for energy elsewhere rather than giving the energy that it needs to do the muscle building process. And these things are very counterproductive to building more muscle, right? And that is what's going to get you toned. And I'll add a last one about nutrient timing. Because nutrient fuel, that's priority with this whole process that you want to happen. Muscles need energy in order to survive and to build and to grow and to repair and do all the things. Now, the second thing that I want to talk about on this podcast is the drawbacks of the ketogenic

11:39diet when it comes to building more muscle. First and foremost, when you are on the ketogenic diet, you are limiting your carbohydrate availability. So we all know that with the keto world, you are restricting carbohydrate intake to get into that state of ketosis. Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it. And there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons.

12:10And also, 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. And that's 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 just drilled inside of your guys' brains. While your body can and will adapt to burning fat for fuel, carbohydrates are its main priority

12:45source of energy for weightlifting. You can't turn fats into carbohydrates. So when you're limiting the availability of which the body needs for fuel coming from carbohydrates, this is going to not only in this kind of what I said at the beginning of the podcast, like they kind of marry together with the drawbacks of fasting, the drawbacks of keto. But this is going to cause decrease in your workout performance. It's going to cause fatigue. It's going to cause reduced intensity during training sessions. And this, those things combined will hinder the muscle building efforts.

13:19Again, not only is carbohydrates, it's the body's main source and priority for weightlifting and strength training. And during high-intensity exercises, it is also your brain's preferred source of energy. It's your, it's, it's, it's allowed the body's preferred source of energy. Okay. Also with the ketogenic diet, some variations of it, um, will limit protein intake and it will focus on like moderate levels of protein.

13:50Maybe like, I don't know, I've heard like 60 grams of people, 60 grams of protein people are eating when they're coming off of it. Um, but again, what I kind of talked to in the fasting is one, if you're limiting your protein intake, especially, uh, with the muscle protein synthesis for the whole thing to happen, it's, it's very similar to that. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause?

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14:53Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warrior babe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warrior babe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. At inadequate protein is, is not going to help with supporting muscle repair and growth. Um, especially if you're doing weightlifting exercises and resistance training exercises,

15:24it adequate protein, right on top of the muscle protein synthesis thing that I talked about in fasting, but is the, it is having enough protein intake is essential for not only maintaining muscle mass on your body. And when I said in fasting, it's like your body will turn for different energy sources. If you're not giving the energy that it needs. And one of the energy sources it will go after is your muscle first. So if you're not giving your body, not only nutrients and food that it needs, but also

15:55the enough protein that it needs, which is like, you know, one of the biggest things that a lot of women struggle with getting in that I see all the time is eating enough protein on a regular basis. But when you're not getting enough, it's not only it's, it's so essential to maintain the muscle mass that you have on your body, but it's also so essential for building more muscle. And again, like I said, to promote the muscle protein synthesis process from, to make it happen in your body. And again, that's the process of which muscle gets repaired and it grows and it, it, it,

16:26it gets to the end result of what you want with your, your, the goals that you're striving for. Okay. A couple of other things that are drawbacks of, of keto. Actually, one more main thing that I want to talk about is, um, your, the glycogen stores of which are in your body get completely depleted. So carbohydrates are stored in your muscles and in your liver as glycogen, which serves as a, like being readily available, being a readily available energy source during your

16:59exercise, right? I've talked about this in many podcasts before, because, um, the more carbohydrates you eat, the more gets stored in your body and also in turn can turn into hold on, holding to, onto retention of water. And then when you go on 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 had probably more carbs than normal and of which your body is holding onto more water. Okay. So in the ketogenic diet, it restricts carbohydrate intake and then glycogen stores may become

17:32completely depleted. And this is going to lead to decrease my muscle glycogen levels in your body. And when you have lower muscle glycogen levels in your body, it will impair your exercise performance. It will impair muscle endurance. And it will most importantly, impair the recovery process of which your body needs the glycogen to start the repair and building. Um, and all of these together come into compromising the muscle building process that your body wants to do and needs to do to get you to those results that you want to have of building more muscle.

18:08And in turn, you guys, again, the more muscle that you build, it's not like you're going to, I know a lot of you guys like, I don't want to build a lot of muscle because I want to get bulky. Women, it's not possible for us to get so, so, so bulky in a natural state because we don't have as much testosterone as men do. Um, and or of which people are taking drugs to enhance that happening even more. So just keep in mind, um, those couple of things that I just said, limited carbohydrate availability leads is a, is a drawback of the keto diet when it comes to building muscle

18:39insufficient protein intake. You know, some variations of keto diet have you eat less than what you should be having a protein. Protein is so essential when it comes to maintaining and building new muscle mass. And then your glycogen stores completely get depleted, uh, if you're not eating carbohydrates and when they're completely depleted, your muscle glycogen levels get depleted. And this just impairs so many aspects of the muscle building process. One last thing too, that I want to note here is when you're on a ketogenic diet, the, you

19:10could possibly have an electrolyte imbalance, um, which means that it could lead to imbalances in sodium and potassium magnesium levels. And when it comes to building more muscle and making that process kind of happen in a really good solid manner, electrolytes play a crucial role in that process happening in muscle function and hydration and nerve transmission and all of these things. And they also, uh, if you don't have enough, this could be, if any of you guys who have ever

19:44experienced muscle cramps or fatigued, or you're, you're tired a lot of the time, this could also be a factor of you having an apparent, impairment, impairment imbalance, um, to electrolytes in your body. And it could be in relation if you were on the keto diet to that. So again, like these are a couple of the things that I just wanted to shed light on in overarching when it comes to building more muscle, because if you were doing these things of which like

20:14you don't necessarily need to be doing, you're kind of just looking for like a quick fix and to get immediate results. Um, or it's like, you know, all of those things of which people go on these diets for, let me remind you, there are tools and resources. There's tons of different things you could be doing out there and there's tools and resources which are, uh, resourceful to unique situations. Okay. So I don't want to like, I don't want to down certain things, but when the overarching goal is this and you are healthy individual and like, you just need to get past like excuses

20:48and understanding the longterm that it takes to get to the said goal, these, and you're in, I would encourage you to think about the drawbacks I'm sharing with you on this podcast. If this is your overarching goal, building more muscle and changing your body composition and knowing that, okay, my 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. And 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 you are feeding your amazing machine that you have

21:22here, your body, and you want to get to the said goal. Then I would reconsider the way you're getting there. If you're doing these things, I would say, you know, what we do at Warrior Babies, we provide personalized nutrition plans tailored to the individual, tailored to your goals, tailored to your preferences, tailored to your metabolic needs. We are ensuring it's sustainable and realistic to you and your lifestyle. And at the same time, we're making sure that you're getting the adequate nutrient intake that your body needs to, you know, help with long-term adherence, one, to the plan, but also

21:59long-term goals and results you want to accomplish. It's, you know, 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 when it comes to Warrior Babies, what we want to do is, like I just said, make a sustainable and realistic approach that is going to serve you for the long-term. And we, at Warrior Babies, strength training is our foundation because we want you to build more lean skeletal muscle mass for longevity and for overall health and X, Y, and Z.

22:32But most importantly, we promote having a sustainable approach with your nutrition habits and how you're eating and what you're eating and learning how to fit that world into your life. So if you are still like struggling, like maybe getting past these things I talked about and learning how to really incorporate the right methodology, the right approaches, the right way to be sustainable, check out Warrior Babe. I highly encourage that so many women have come to us learning how to get off of intermittent

23:04fasting or fasting or ketogenic diet who don't need to be on it. I need to preface that in order to really make it supporting to their, in an alignment to their goals, which is building more muscle, which is the foundation of Warrior Babe, right? So again, I would, you know, absorbing all this from the podcast I share with you guys, those tips, those little nuggets of knowledge. Um, I hope that it helped you maybe think in a different light, right? If, especially if you're wanting to do quick things and knowing that it doesn't happen quick,

23:36especially when it comes to building muscle and accepting that building muscle takes a while to do, takes years to do. And so you might as well get on an approach with nutrition that is going to, um, you know, you're going to be able to use for the longterm and be able to get you to the goals that you want to, uh, right? Like instead of 10 years of trying different things, if you just do a sustainable method in a year, I bet you're going to get further than you've done in many, in, in many other things before. I've seen that so many in so many comments inside of our community, but anyway, I'm rambling

24:08now. I just wanted to share that stuff with you guys. Um, I hope that it helped you. I hope that it served you. And please, if this podcast resonate with you guys, I just ask that you take like two minutes following this podcast and go into the review section, review the podcast. I love reading how you guys are enjoying these little knowledge bombs. You're enjoying these little podcasts and then you're implementing these things. You're taking these action items and you're implementing them into your life. And then you're seeing amazing results, even just from this podcast. So I love being able to read that in, in the review section.

24:40So please two minutes. That's all I ask after we have, after you're done, listen to this and, uh, I'll see you in the next podcast. Peace out. Hey guys, real quick. If you're interested in taking your body to the next level, lose body fat, build more muscle, feel more confident. Do it alongside one of our 30 plus professional coaches work one-on-one with her to eliminate all of the guesswork that you may have. And all you need to do is just do the work that she tells you to do to get to those goals of yours.

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