Building Muscle on Keto: AnEvidence-Based GuideWhen someone starts the keto diet, their goals are usually targeted towardweight loss. The low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein diet has been shownto suppress appetite and metabolically rejigger the body to use fat as fuel.

Low on the list of keto goals is typically muscle building. At first glance, adiet low in carbs and moderate in protein doesnʼt seem appropriate forbulking up. To gain muscle, most envision carb-loading and protein shakes–not diets high in fibrous vegetables, with little-to-no carbs.

Because building muscle is hard; if you're a beginner, take a look at thiscomprehensive exercise guide to building muscle, which includes exercisetechniques to try.

Weʼre here to rewrite the narrative that building muscle on keto isimpossible. Both science and subjective experiences speak to the ability tomaintain, or sometimes gain, muscle mass while on keto. Researchsuggests most weight loss on keto is fat (after some initial water loss), notmuscle.1,2

But before turning the tables, the table must first be set. How does onedevelop muscle in the first place?

Muscle Protein Synthesis: Whatʼs Required, andWhat Isnʼt

mTOR is the protein responsible for building muscle mass; it anchors apowerful signaling pathway, activating cellular machinery the body uses tomanufacture muscle protein.3

Muscle development happens a few different ways, but mTOR is usually

involved.

Resistance Training

Essential to muscle growth, resistance training is a key trigger for boostingmuscle size.

Muscle mass is maintained by a tightly regulated balance between proteinsynthesis and protein breakdown. Inactivity can lead to muscle proteindegradation and muscle loss, while resistance training, such as weightlifting(“mechanically overloading the muscle”) activates the mTOR pathway toincrease muscle protein synthesis and slow muscle breakdown.3,4

This can lead to an increase in muscle size (aka hypertrophy) and strength.More intense exercise leads to greater activation of mTOR and increasedmuscle growth.5,6

Natural Hormone Release

mTOR can be activated by triggers including insulin and insulin-like growthfactor 1 (IGF1). Both are potent anabolic (tissue-building) hormones–buthave been used to bulk up artificially. These hormones are important formuscle growth, but arenʼt essential.

Essential Amino Acids

Amino acids are essential building blocks for muscle protein; whenconsumed via food, essential amino acids directly stimulate mTOR andmuscle protein synthesis to a much greater extent than insulin.7,8,9

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a group of essential amino acids,and are the most effective at both triggering muscle growth andsuppressing muscle breakdown–especially the BCAA leucine.7,10,11

Post-exercise, the consensus is to consume 20 - 30 grams of protein tomaximize muscle protein synthesis. This protein should provide ~2 grams ofleucine, a key driver of protein synthesis.12,13 Animal-source protein is moreeffective at building and sustaining muscle mass than plant-sourceprotein.14

But consuming enough protein with each meal may actually be moreimportant for muscle maintenance when not training. Dietary protein canprovide the stimulus for mTOR activation and the protein synthesis missingon rest days.15,16,17

Carbohydrate

Protein consumption post-resistance training promotes muscle growth;carbs, on the other hand, arenʼt necessary for muscle growth.

Current belief suggests ingesting carbs along with protein following aworkout will enhance the anabolic effect of exercise by raising insulin levels.But evidence doesnʼt support this claim. Several studies have shown thecombined impact of carbohydrate and protein ingestion after resistanceexercise doesnʼt further increase muscle protein synthesis (vs. proteinintake alone).18,19,20,21

The relatively low concentrations of insulin, stimulated by dietary protein,are sufficient to achieve maximal increase in muscle protein synthesisand/or reduce protein breakdown. The additional rise in insulin levelstriggered by carbs does not appear to provide a greater stimulus for proteinsynthesis.18,19

Another common belief is that carbs are essential to consume after everyworkout to replenish muscle glycogen levels (stored carb energy). But afteran extended period of adaptation to ketosis, muscle glycogen is the sameas athletes who eat a normal, higher-carb diet.

In a ground-breaking study, elite ultra-marathoners and Ironman triathleteswho were keto-adapted for an average of 20 months had similar rates ofglycogen repletion post-exercise compared to athletes on a high-carb diet.

After exercise, the low-carb athletes consumed 4 grams of carbs and 31grams of fat; the high-carb group ingested 43 grams of carbs and 14 gramsof fat.22 But both showed similar rates of glycogen repletion–how?

So where s̓ all the glycogen coming from, if not from carbs?Gluconeogenesis likely caused the synthesis of glycogen in low-carbathletes; non-carbohydrate molecules, such as lactate amino acids andglycerol (from fat burning) are used to make glucose in the liver. Thisglucose is transported to muscle tissue, where it s̓ stored as glycogen.22,23

In essence–carbs arenʼt required to trigger protein synthesis or makemuscle glycogen.

Does this same logic follow resistance training? Yes. While lifting weights isone of the most important triggers for muscle growth, glycogen is lessimportant for resistance work (when compared to endurance training).Muscle glycogen is reduced by more than 60% after two hours of running;22

but during high-intensity resistance workouts (6 - 9 sets per muscle group),muscle glycogen is depleted by 36% - 39%.24

A post-workout drink with whey protein, along with exercise-inducedlactate, may be sufficient to restock muscle glycogen via gluconeogenesis–without the need for carbs.

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Building Muscle on Keto – The Evidence

Here's what the science says.

Keto Burns Fat

The keto diet optimizes body composition. When on keto, carbs arenʼtrequired for muscle growth or glycogen replenishment, thus avoiding thepotential to gain body fat from excess carbs / insulin. Instead, low-carbconsumption leads to low insulin levels, which enables the body to accessand burn fat for energy.

Keto Spares Muscle Protein Breakdown

Simultaneous to fat-burning, ketosis spares muscle from being brokendown to provide amino acids for gluconeogenesis. A study showcased thisfact by comparing three diets with an equal amount of calories and protein,but different amounts of carbs. The diet with the fewest carbs (30 grams /day) caused an increase in ketones and resulted in more fat loss than otherdiets.

Lean tissue was also preserved to the greatest extent on the keto diet.25

The utilization of protein is improved during nutritional ketosis. This enablesone to eat less protein on keto while maintaining muscle mass.

Blood levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are also significantlyincreased on keto. BCAAs provide direct energy to muscle cells andpromote muscle growth. Ketones and BCAAs are structurally very similar;during ketosis, ketones may be preferentially burned for energy, thussparing BCAAS for muscle maintenance.26 Intravenous infusion of theketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) in volunteers resulted indecreased use of leucine (a BCAA) for energy and enhanced proteinsynthesis.27

Ketones Activate mTOR

Exogenous ketones, such as HVMN Ketone, have created a protein-boosting effect.

When athletes took HVMN Ketone after exercise, BHB enhanced mTORsignaling, stimulated by leucine. This increase in mTOR activity led to adoubling of protein synthesis tested in-vitro.28 Since carbs werenʼtrestricted, results suggest exogenous ketone esters may be used byathletes on a mixed diet who need carbs for quick-burst, high-intensityperformance, and who also want to promote muscle building throughketosis.

Balancing Protein Consumption on the Ketogenic Diet

Some people confuse keto to be high-protein; in fact, the diet encourageslow-to-moderate protein intake. In some people, excess protein can kickthem out of ketosis.26 Conversely, others can get into ketosis withoutrestricting protein at all.29

For muscle building, this is a win-win.

Even those needing to curb protein intake to maintain ketosis, less protein iswasted and more is used to drive muscle growth.

The Ketogenic Diet for Body Composition and MuscleGrowth

There are a limited number of human studies investigated how the low-carbketogenic diet supports gains in muscle mass with resistance training.

A recent study in college-aged athletes analyzed the effects of the keto dietwhen compared to a traditional Western diet containing identical amountsof calories and protein. After ten weeks of resistance training, gains inmuscle mass and reductions in body fat were found to be similar for bothgroups.30

Reports of keto-induced muscle gains without the inclusion of a structuredresistance exercise program have been recorded. A six-week,carbohydrate-restricted diet resulted in a significant, but unexpected,increase in lean body mass (along with decreased body fat) in a group ofhealthy, average-weight men. These subjects transitioned from a diet of48% carbs to a keto diet of 8% carbs.1

Other studies on resistance exercise while on the keto diet didnʼt showsimilar muscle gains–but they did show muscle preservation. In one 30-daystudy, elite gymnasts followed their normal training program while on a keto

diet. The result was a substantial decrease in body fat and fat percentagewithout compromising strength and power performance. Muscle mass wasbasically maintained.31

Another study in non-elite CrossFit (high-intensity training with both weightlifting and other resistance exercises) athletes illustrated the keto dietinduced major losses in body fat while preserving muscle mass. Allparticipants in the study significantly improved CrossFit performance timeand overall power.32

Studies designed specifically to analyze muscle building on the keto diet arenecessary. An important confounding issues with studies on ketosis is thelength of time allowed for keto-adaption. This often varies from study tostudy, which can affect outcomes.

Positive effects on body composition, without performance impairment,showcase the versatility of the keto diet. For example, a wrestler needing togain weight could use a short-to-medium-term keto diet to burn body fatwithout undermining strength and muscle mass.

Building & Maintaining Muscle on Keto

Many people today are successfully building muscle on the ketogenic diet–unless youʼre trying to pile on muscle mass without thinking about body fat.

A low-carb keto diet is certainly a powerful tool for shedding extra body fat.With a calorie surplus from protein and/or fat, combined with resistanceexercise, muscle growth can be pulled off. The payoff is a more favorablebody composition.

Adequate protein is crucial for muscle-building, but eating 20 - 30 grams ofhigh-quality protein per meal will supply the body with enough leucine totrigger mTOR, and encourage protein synthesis. This isnʼt a high proteinintake, and shouldnʼt affect ketosis. What s̓ more, ketones are anti-catabolic, meaning they spare muscle protein from being degraded.

Carbs arenʼt necessary for building muscle. On keto, the insulin effect from

protein is sufficient enough to promote muscle protein synthesis, and thatprotein can be used to refill depleted glycogen stores via gluconeogenesis.

Building muscle on keto can be challenging. But exogenous ketones, such aHVMN Ketone, show promise in their ability to help build muscle. It s̓ both apre-workout superfuel and post-workout recovery supplement thatencourages muscle growth and repair, while slowing muscle breakdown.

This is a new tool for keto athletes to investigate, to help with musclegrowth without adding carbs to the diet.

Weʼd love to hear about your experience using HVMN Ketone for musclegain and body composition optimization. Comment below to get theconversation started.

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