By No, you do not and absolutely should not eat too much in order to gain muscle mass. It’s actually really detrimental to your health when you start accumulating fat stores. This obviously will easily happen when you increase your calories more so than what your body can burn off. You do run the risk of developing insulin resistance, and then causing some hormonal disfunction. It’s unfortunate that when you get into that spiral of eating, your body uses muscle to burn as energy, instead of fat. This is what will make it even harder to lose body fat over time. I suggest you take another look at something a lot more user friendly, as well as a strategy that can be used within your lifestyle that’s easy – not to mention effective.
Here are some better strategies for you to add muscle mass and keep yourself looking lean enough to show off those muscular curves (which look amazing when you are leaner!)
5 athlete tips to stay lean while putting on the most muscle mass
- Always eat protein to fuel your workouts, keep your energy levels stable during the day, and curb your appetite. Remember that protein will always be the best macronutrient for increasing your gains
- Opt for weight training over long duration cardio. If your main focus is to build muscle mass, then focus on that only. When you are happy with your shape, then you can think about decreasing your fat stores – but only if you need to. Don’t sacrifice hard earned muscle mass just to lose a minuscule amount of body fat. Control your diet and you will have control of your fat storage.
- Time your carbs, so that you consume more during your weight training days, and less when you are having a rest day. This is a great alternative than going absolutely no carbs, because we do need carbs to function optimally, and also replace glycogen when we train.
- Keep improving your insulin sensitivity as much as possible, Try fasting every so often, use vinegar in your salads, drink green tea and eat nuts. When you have a higher carb meal, sprinkle cinnamon on top, as well as turmeric, I use these spices when I’m eating oats, or on my sweet potato. It actually tastes divine! Don’t forget that weight training improves insulin sensitivity too, so keep lifting those weights!
- Don’t be afraid of eating fats. Fat is needed as it improves our insulin sensitivity and is actually used by the body to build the outside lipid (fat) layer that protects cells. The lipid layer functions best when it is flexible and strong, improving the cells sensitivity to insulin.
Top secret tip for increasing resistant starch in your carbs (which leads fo fewer calories and more insulin sensitivity at the same time) Cook your carbs, let them cool, then reheat them again. This process changes the structure of the carbs in everything from pasta to bread, thereby reducing the blood glucose response. Use this as your carb strategy, allowing you to consume just that little bit more.
Hopefully this has been helpful to you. Remember, it’s not the quantity of food, it’s the quality of it that matters. Eat well and you will experience results with your training regime. If you appreciate this, why not stick with my ranting via my website or join me on fb and insta social. Please feel free to upvote this answer if it has been useful in some way to you.
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