Hi all I was looking for some advice from keto people, I’m not looking to lose weight as I’m around 64kg and I’ve recently starting going to the gym again. I’m not looking to bodybuild but I am aiming to gain muscle, I have heard alot about keto diet and the interest has grown on me. Just wanted to know if going keto was a good route for what I’m looking to achieve, I have looked online but I just wanted to hear first hand from people that do the keto diet.
Thank you
Keto, not so much. Muscle building is generally slower. Low carb works, especially if you consume your carbs around your workouts. Keto really became popular as a way to cut fat for people who train or bodybuild, it enables you to preserve existing muscles while losing fat.
Having said that, yes you can build some muscle while following keto type macros, I’ve done it myself, but it’s nothing compared to eating carbs targeted around your training. You also have to consume a clear caloric excess either way you go.
Ok thank you so much for that advice, that’s what I wanted to hear. Appreciate it and the time you took to reply, thanks again.
@Dread1840 may be able to chip in here.
There are plenty of people building muscle on keto and lots of online info about doing it, I’m doing fine with it myself.
When I think back to my days of caloric deficit it was a foregone conclusion that it is unlikely to be able to build muscle mass on a calorie restricted diet.
So fast forward to low carb high fat diet I would say it may be easier to build muscle over calorie restricted but gobbling carbs and protein would probably win the muscle building race. I am like you, I don’t want to bulk up but do want a little tone and fitness is my main goal. At age 57 I am just trying not to get hurt while getting fit.
A ketogenic diet will help better than burning carbohydrate will. If you want to put on muscle, remember that you need a fairly high protein intake, one that includes the branched-chain amino acids. The essential BCAA’s are leucine, iso-leucine, and valine, so eat plenty of foods that contain them (Google will tell you).
People reading this post should bear in mind, however, that for folks who are not building muscle, BCAA’s in quantity can cause systemic inflammation, which is not generally a good idea. (A small amount, especially of the essential BCAA’s is fine, however.)
Now, as to how much protein, the keto experts’ recommendations generally vary, but they tend to fall in the range of 1.0-2.0 g/kg LBM/day. Putting on muscle means eating at the top end of that range. So if your lean body mass is, say, 90% of your weight, then you probably want somewhere in the vicinity of 64 * 0.9 * 2.0 = 115.2 g of protein a day, or around 460 g of meat. (Most meats are approximately 25% protein.) There is a fair amount of leeway here, so it doesn’t have to be precise. Listen to your body.
But the key is keeping that carb intake to less than 20 g/day and filling in your calories with fat. The best guide to how much to eat is your appetite, especially once you’ve been eating a ketogenic diet for a while, do eat when you get hungry, stop eating when you stop being hungry, and don’t eat again until you are hungry again.
