Do you also think that when you fast from dawn to dusk, what should you do to build the body you want? Many people struggle with this problem, and the main reason is the lack of strategy, which is rooted in a lack of awareness and knowledge.

The fact is that fasting is beneficial in many ways – for example, it puts your body into a catabolic state. Some studies show that training in a fasted state can even double the rate of muscle growth! But, it’s clear why people encounter obstacles along the way. These problems are usually caused by people’s rigid habits and their limited knowledge about how to minimize the negative impact of fasting.

In the following article, we’ll investigate how it’s possible to enjoy an intermittent diet and build muscles at the same time.

Can you gain muscle while fasting?

Most people enjoying this type of diet ask can I gain muscle while intermittent fasting? Well, if you know what exactly the human body needs for gaining muscles, then definitely yes! Within the ocean of different factors that affect your body regarding building muscles, here we listed some of the most important ones. 

Don’t Give Up on Exercising

If your goal is to build muscle or preserve muscle, you have to continue training at your full capacity while fasting. Well, this can be a little tricky, huh?  Not if you have a protein snack a couple of hours before starting your training or exercise. It is for the best if you have high-protein meals several times a day. This really helps your muscle gain.

Some studies show that consuming a certain amount of protein (20–30 grams) before a workout can lead to an increased rate of muscle protein synthesis that lasts for several hours.

Try Different Types of Intermittent Fasting

Although there are different types of IF, skipping meals is something that is required in most of them. Here are a few that are favored right now:

• The 5:2 Diet: You will have your body’s standard daily calorie intake for five days of the week, and then harshly specify your calories to 500-600 calories per day for two non-consecutive days.
• The 16/8 Fast: You consume your routine daily calories within 8 hours and fast for the remaining 16 hours of the day. For instance, you bypass breakfast, eating only between 10.30 am and 6.30 pm.
• The Fast 800: You restrict your calories to 800 per day for a fortnight, and you can only consume these within an 8-12 hour time frame per day.

Utilize the different types of intermittent diets and choose one that works for you. You are more likely to succeed if you find one that permits planning your eating span around your work schedule and lifestyle.

Supervise What You Eat

If you want to build muscle, you will need to pay great attention to what you eat. Trying to fill your daily caloric intake into a small meal is not an excuse to eat what you crave. As everybody knows, weight loss happens by eating fewer calories to create a calorie deficit, but, on the other hand, people need to eat more calories if they want to build muscle.

Regardless, if you pack in food high in sugar, fat, and empty calories, your body will bulk up – but on fat mass, not muscles. Your high-calorie intake has to include raising your protein intake with meals, such as baked salmon or chicken breast.

Preparing your meals on your own, and picking high-quality protein intake is a perfect manner to monitor what you put into your body. Cafeteria food or fast takeaway options are typically jam-packed with a bad variety of calories. Don’t forget to drink water or zero-calorie beverages besides your meals. Here is some sort of meals that help you build muscle.

Eat Meals Riched in Proteins to Boost The Muscle Mass

Your body needs protein to fabricate and keep up with muscle. To accomplish this, you ought to be hoping to eat no less than 1g per 454g of body weight. That is 200g/day assuming you weigh 91kg. The most straightforward method for getting this sum is to eat an entire protein source with every dinner. Best meals for muscle building while intermittent fasting includes:

• Lean meat: Animal products are often a fantastic source of protein, mainly lean meats like chicken and turkey. They supply a low-fat meal choice filled with amino acids, which can support muscle growth and recovery.
• Eggs: These are an amazing source of protein. Each of them offers around 6g of protein. Loaded with the 9 essential amino acids, they also retain vitamins D and B2.
• Fish: Oily types of fish like tuna and salmon are high in protein. They also have omega-3 fatty acids which are a crucial part of a nutritious and balanced diet.
• Diary products: Yogurt, cheese, and milk also contain high protein. Moreover, they also offer calcium. Having up to 20g of protein, they can be a suitable fuel on the go for athletes.
• Whole grains: Eating whole grains, like brown rice and bread (which are both sources of carbohydrates and fiber) is important for preserving energy levels throughout the day. Some hormones such as insulin, are made in response to nutrients such as glucose (which comes from carbohydrates), and some amino acids influence muscle growth.
• Beans and Lentils: It might be interesting for you if you know that even plants can also provide protein. Beans and lentils are both high in protein and work pleasingly as meat replacements in many dishes when combined with cereals such as rice. Additional sources of vegan protein include tofu, nuts, and seeds.

Eat a Healthy Breakfast (Like omelets, smoothies, and cottage cheese) Which Is Full of Energy!

This provides you with a quick explosion of energy and assists you with remaining full until your next dinner or tidbit. It likewise starts the precedent: you will quite often eat better if your day begins with major areas of strength for a solid breakfast. Attempt to assemble bulk with morning meals like omelets, smoothies, and curds.

Try To Exercise In The Morning

If you want to build muscle, you have to find the most satisfactory time for working out. The optimal time for training is likely a short time after waking up in the morning or at least four hours before bedtime.

Different studies show that exercising too close to sleeping time can have an impact on our levels of deep sleep. So if you want to have better sleep, allow your body to recuperate and support muscle recovery, and don’t exercise too close to bedtime. You might not want to eat directly after training as well. Analyses also indicate that waiting a few hours to eat after a workout increases the hormone, human growth hormone (HGH) in our bodies, which assists to burn fat.

Pick the Right Type of Training:

Analyses show that some exercise varieties, like resistance training, make your muscles more sensitive to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that pushes glucose into the muscles and is active when glycogen stockpiles are low in the body.

To maintain and build muscle mass, you need to focus on these types of exercises:

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

HIIT is occasionally known as Sprint training or Burst training and involves intense workout sessions followed by periods of resting (15 to 30 minutes usually.)

Studies show that HIIT training provides more advantages to health than cardio alone, such as raising HGH, muscle power, and muscle stamina, and can improve body composition.

Cardio Training

Cardio training actually is an aerobic exercise and is ideal for losing fat. Keep in mind that too much cardio and not having enough calories may result in losing lean body mass (including muscles) and fat loss.

If you need to hire a fat-burning cardio activity yet want new muscle tissue or to maintain lean mass, running sprints or activities incorporating explosive motions with some resistance exercises may help you to build muscle. Resistance training also can help increase muscle protein balance and promote muscle gain.

Weight Lifting

Lifting weights can definitely help you to build or maintain muscle, but you have to consider the role of glucose in muscle recovery after a heavy lifting session, particularly when you’re fasting.

Despite HITT workouts, a major weight-lifting harshly stresses your body to warrant a direct feeding period – but this may not be comfortable to achieve depending on your eating window.

Imagine you choose to lift weights as the primary form for building your muscles. In that case, you may want to select an IF protocol that permits you to weight lift soon after eating and so allows you to fast for hours after your workout. 

Limit Your Exercise To 30-45 minutes

One of your main goals during fasting should be muscle retention. However, instead of hypertrophy training, use shorter strength training routines. For variety, try moderate strength training. These exercises consist of 30 to 45 minutes of exercise, consisting of movements involving several joints, at a low to moderate repetition frequency.

Use underarms, barbell squats, deadlifts, and various pressing exercises such as chest press or shoulder press. These exercises are less likely to lead to fatigue associated with prolonged exercise or cardio and aerobic exercise.

You won’t have much time to stock up on carbs during the day. So, try to avoid a calorie deficit during fasting.

Eat Enough Carbohydrates at Night

Some people advocate avoiding carbohydrates at night and before bed. However, many professionals have never been a fan of this. If you think like those people, good luck trying to fall asleep on an empty stomach!

In addition to your post-workout meal, make sure you eat well before bed. Just like any other meal, make sure your meal includes plenty of carbohydrates and a variety of other healthy options essential for building muscle. Consuming protein (especially casein) 30 minutes before bed will increase your muscle synthesis, allowing your body to absorb nutrients during your body’s natural fasted state (ie, sleep).

The fact is that the whole concept of “no carbs before bed” is rooted in the idea of using less energy during the night. However, studies show that this energy consumption is almost as much as doing nothing while awake. So don’t worry about those late-night carbs, especially during long periods of fasting like fasting.

Keep Your Body Hydrated and Sleep Well

The importance of drinking enough water is a matter that most people are not aware of. Ensuring you drink before, during, and after a workout indicates that your body can transport all of the nutrients you eat around to your muscles to build them and keep them operating accurately. If you work out intensively for a long duration, go after drinks with sodium to make the best use of the water you drink.

Another vital part of muscle mass building is allowing your body to rest and recover – which is where sleep comes in. The human body is in a regenerative state while asleep, so resting is important for reducing the chance of injury and making sure you perform at your best.

Intermittent Fasting and Its Functions

So now that you have the keys to muscle building, let’s find out how can we grow muscle while Intermittent Fasting. First of all, we need to take a look at the exact definition of this kind of fasting and how it functions.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a short-term that alternates between normal eating and fasting periods. During this type of fasting, your feeding window begins from the last meal you have to when your next mouthful of food is (including your sleep time). There are different types of IF that each help you control calorie intake and keep your healthy diet. 

Advantages of Intermittent Fasting:

• Helps weight loss: You will naturally lose weight due to fewer meals (because you consume fewer calories). Studies show that an intermittent diet can help burn belly fat (visceral fat) which helps with fat loss.
• Provokes hormone release and cell repair: During the time of fasting, your body changes to make body fat more available. Insulin levels significantly fall, and human growth hormone levels in your blood rise enormously. This helps your body to break down more body fat. When you fast, your body experiences cellular repair as well.
• Boosts fatty acid production: Intermittent fasting pushes your body to burn stored glucose and then body fat for energy. Your body fat releases fatty acids, which alter to ketones for your body to use as energy sources.

Final Thoughts

Finally, if you still wonder how you get gain while fasting, here is the short answer. Watch what you eat and exercise properly. If you are seeking to build muscle while enjoying an intermittent diet, you need to adopt a combined training plan (like resistance training, HIIT sessions, and lifting weights). You also need to balance your intake of calories with a sufficient amount of protein foods for maximum muscle gain. Follow all these tips to see quick results in gaining muscle while intermittent fasting.