Eating Too Little To Build Muscles

Eating Too Little To Build Muscles

Your body needs to recover from your workouts to get stronger. Food contains the material to recover your muscles. When there’s a lack of food, your body uses it for critical tasks first. So your muscles can’t recover well to get stronger. You have low energy, fail reps, and can’t add weight.

Skinny guys are often afraid to gain fat. Maybe you have a low body-fat and don’t want to lose your abs by eating more. But lifting heavy is easier with more muscle mass. There isn’t enough if you’re 1m82/6’2″ but only 60kg/135lb. I’m shorter and weigh almost 20kg/45lb more. Gotta eat.

People who’ve been fat before are often afraid to get fat again. Maybe you did cardio and strict dieting to lose fat. And you now want to build muscle to look better. But the idea of eating more scares you. You’re not supposed to eat junk food like when you were fat though. And you lift weights now.

Obese guys usually want to lose fat/weight fast. The usual mistake is to cut too many calories. Eating 1500kcal/day can work when the weights are light. But your fat loss and strength will both plateau eventually – your calories are too low to cut further, and you can’t recover well to lift heavy.

Most people need at least 3000kcal/day. If you’re obese, you’ll build muscle while losing fat. But most people need to choose between building muscle or losing fat. Choose muscle first since it’s harder than losing fat. You need to lift heavy to build muscle. So eat up for proper recovery.

But don’t eat like a pig. Don’t eat mostly junk food. That builds bad habits that will make you unhealthy and fat in the long run. Eat quality food. Real food not shakes. Three to four meals a day.