KETO BODYBUILDING

Read This If You Don’t Want To Lose Muscle On Keto

The real reason why you're losing muscle on a ketogenic diet

When first starting a ketogenic diet, your body is undergoing many changes. The transition to ketosis can affect your strength in the gym and even cause you to lose some of that hard-earned muscle if you're not careful.

Why you're losing muscle on keto. You're losing muscle on keto due to the increased protein demand during the keto-adaptation phase and not training correctly to signal your body that it should hold on to the muscle it has built.

In this article, I'll go over why you may be losing muscle on a ketogenic diet, how to transition correctly, and the right way to train to not only lose fat but build muscle while living a keto lifestyle.

Why You're Losing Muscle On Keto

There are a few reasons people typically lose muscle while trying to diet to get lean. However, keto adds in another layer of complexity that may cause you to lose muscle even quicker if you don't know how to counteract them.

Protein requirements increased

When you first transition to a ketogenic diet, your body's protein requirements go up. The brain's primary fuel source up until now has been glucose (sugar), and while it can and will utilize ketones, it hasn't yet “adapted” to use them efficiently.

Before you become keto-adapted, your brain's requirements for glucose must still be met. In non-ketotic states, the brain uses roughly 100 grams of carbohydrates per day. This requirement is met through the process of gluconeogenesis in the early stages of a ketogenic diet.

During this period, usually one to three weeks, your body drastically increases the production of glucose from protein and other substrates through a process called gluconeogenesis. In the beginning, the brain is incapable of using ketones for fuel.

Eventually, your brain adapts to using ketones as time passes. Ultimately, the brain will derive ~75% of its total energy from ketones, with the remaining coming from glucose made by the body.

Without sufficient dietary protein, the body undergoes a negative nitrogen balance and begins breaking down tissue to supply the required amino acids to undergo gluconeogenesis. When the body is in a positive nitrogen balance, your body experiences growth and tissue repair.

So, therefore, our goal during this period is to maintain a positive nitrogen balance.

… and this is where people go wrong.

When individuals switch to a ketogenic diet, they are often told that protein is bad and will prevent or kick them out of ketosis. Not only that, but you may have found information on the internet that had you limit your protein intake to a certain percentage of total calories.

Which is also incorrect.

Think about it this way, if Joe is a 200-pound male eating 2,000 calories and Suzy is a 120-pound female eating 2,000 calories, do you think Joe and Suzy will require the same amount of protein?

If the answer isn't apparent, it's of course not. Instead, protein requirements should be individualized and based on your total lean body mass (LBM), not a percentage of total calories.

Lean body mass (LBM) is calculated by taking your total body weight and subtracting your fat mass. For example, if you're a 180 pound male at 20% body fat, then you have 36 pounds of fat, leaving 144 pounds of LBM.

Under normal dieting circumstances, protein would be set at 0.8 – 1.2g/lbm, but due to the increased protein demand in the first few weeks of a ketogenic diet, you could argue that this should be even higher.

Regardless of size, a protein intake of ~150 grams per day should be sufficient to achieve this nitrogen balance during the first two to three weeks of a ketogenic diet. After the first three weeks, protein may be brought down to 0.8 – 1.2g/lbm

Dieting too aggressively

I get it; you want to lose the fat as quick as possible. Ask yourself, if it took you three months or a year, would it really matter?

Of course not, you'll never look back and think about how long it took you to lose the weight. The only thing that would matter is you lost the weight, and if you did it without a shotgun approach, hopefully, built up great habits and changed your lifestyle to keep the weight off.

That said, there's a time and a place to lose weight quickly, some of which are:

Weight class athletes
Upcoming special event or vacation
Kickstart a more moderate diet
Make weight for a procedure of some sort (bariatric surgery)

In most cases, I would recommend a weight loss rate of 0.5 – 1.0% of body weight per week. For severely overweight or obese individuals, a higher percentage of ~1.0 – 2.5% can be used without too many negative consequences.

Since you've stumbled on this article, I'm going to assume you're concerned with muscle loss. Studies show that losing weight at too fast of a rate won't necessarily lead to any more fat loss, but substantially more muscle loss, especially in lean individuals.

I.e., the more fat you have to lose, the more aggressive you can be with your diet without risking much if any, muscle loss.

The same argument can be made if you're looking to put on muscle. After a specific rate of gain, the weight you're gaining is no longer muscle, but fat, you'll have to diet off later.

You can read more on how to bulk on keto to make sure you're gaining muscle without putting on un-necessary amounts of fat. While fat loss is a much quicker process, we still have to be reasonable with our rate of loss to minimize losing that hard-earned muscle we worked for.

My general recommendation is to eat as much as you can while still losing fat. Using this method may take longer to reach your desired goal, but you'll probably feel much better, retain more muscle, and get to do it while eating more food.

Slow rate of loss to not lose muscle on keto

Not training hard enough

Somewhere, at some point in time, the myth emerged that to get “toned” you needed to lift lighter weights for higher reps. While there is a time and place to lift lighter, doing so while attempting to lose fat and retain muscle is not one of them.

The same training and stimulus that helped you put on the muscle will be the same training and stimulus that will help you retain the muscle.

Studies show that you can reduce volume by up to 2/3 and maintain strength and muscle mass, but if you maintain intensity. When referring to intensity, I mean weight on the bar and reps in reserve (RIR).

Reps in reserve are just a way of quantifying how close or far you are from failure in a given set. For example, with an RIR of 2, that would mean you were two reps shy of failure, and when I say two reps from failure, I mean two reps if I had a gun to your head two reps.

While you don't have to take every set to failure, with reduced volumes, one may argue that you should take most sets pretty near or close to failure (~1 – 3 rir) as a way to ensure sufficient stimulus for muscle retention.

Train intense to not lose muscle on keto

Additionally, I'd like to mention that you can potentially use this same strategy with “lighter” weights. Research suggests that you can cause sufficient stimulus for muscle growth with sets up to 30 reps.

Again, with enough intensity (RIR in this case), lighter weights can be used.

The Takeaway

Once you've become keto-adapted, the metabolic state of ketosis sets in motion a series of adaptations to minimize body protein losses during periods of caloric restriction.

By nature, ketogenic diets are muscle sparing.

If you maintain sufficient protein intake, diet at a moderate pace, and train with intensity, then you shouldn't lose any muscle while on a ketogenic diet. If you need help putting all the pieces together, I wrote up The Best Damn Keto Weight Loss Guide On The Internet.

How To Bulk On Keto Without Getting Fat

For whatever reason, there's a lot of misconception about how to bulk on keto and gain quality muscle. In fact, some people question whether or not you can put on any muscle while following a low-carb or ketogenic diet.

Not only have I cut on keto, but I’ve successfully bulked up and added muscle to my frame while on a ketogenic diet.

How to bulk on keto? To bulk on keto, you must make sure you’re in a caloric surplus, eating sufficient protein, and providing the necessary muscular tension to gain muscle.

In this article, I’ll go over how to bulk on keto WITHOUT getting fat, how to calculate your keto bulking macros, and even a few examples of keto bulking meals.

How To Bulk On Keto

First, let’s address the elephant in the room 1 You certainly CAN build muscle on a ketogenic diet. I and plenty of others have managed to do so.

By the time you’re done reading this, hopefully, you will have the knowledge and confidence to go out and have a successful keto bulk as well. Now, this isn’t an article meant to tell you whether or not keto is the best or most optimal way to bulk, but rather how to build muscle on keto effectively.

Building Muscle On Keto

Building muscle on keto can be broken down to a few factors, most notably, your total energy (calorie) intake, having sufficient protein, and progressive overload via resistance training.

First and foremost, the most optimal training and nutrition won’t mean a thing if you can’t stick to it. Learn to pick and choose your battles to avoid feeling burned out and making your approach unsustainable.

Adherence
Energy balance
Macronutrients
Micronutrients
Nutrient timing
Supplements

Keto Adaptation Period

If you’re transitioning to a ketogenic diet, it will take three to four weeks on average for your body and brain to adjust utilizing free fatty acids (FFA) and ketones as its primary fuel source. While the transition period affects everyone differently, you may notice a decrease in performance during this time.

The worst thing you could do during this period is to throw in the towel on your keto bulk. Rest assured, your performance and strength in the gym should return and likely increase after this period if it decreases at all.

Another thing to note, during the first few weeks of a ketogenic diet, protein requirements should be increased due to the increased rate of gluconeogenesis.2

One hundred fifty grams of protein should be the minimum amount of protein during the adaptation-phase to achieve nitrogen balance. This amount will serve to supply enough amino acids and prevent muscle breakdown during the keto-adaptation phase.3

How Many Calories To Bulk On Keto?

There’s often a misconception of how many calories one should consume to gain weight, more importantly, lean mass. After all, your goal isn’t simply to gain weight; it’s to put on muscle. Once you hit a specified rate of gain, a disproportionate of it will be fat.

A study by Garthe et al. on elite performance athletes led the non-control group to gain ~5x more fat mass than the control-group eating ad-libitum.4intuitively or to satiation. On average, the calorie intake of the non-control group was only ~500-600 calories more than the control group. Yet, they didn't gain any notable amount of lean body mass over the control group, only a significant amount of fat mass.5

So How Fast Should You Bulk?

Some key factors usually dictate the rate at which you can gain muscle:

Current body composition 6Your current body fat percentage
Training experience 7beginner, intermediate, advanced
Detrainee 8

Current body composition

Before getting started, as a general rule, I recommend men over 18% body fat and women over 28% body fat to first begin with a cutting phase before trying to bulk on keto. I say to cut first because doing so will set you up for long term success allowing more calories to be partitioned towards muscle versus fat when you do decide to do your keto bulk.

Additionally, losing some fat can offer a drastic change to your appearance, often making you look more muscular. After all, the ultimate goal is to look more jacked. If you’re interested in the BEST way to lose fat on keto, I wrote about that in detail, 12,000+ words, to be exact.

These aren’t black and white rules, but it’s an excellent place to start, especially if you’re wondering if you’re on the fence of whether to cut or bulk first.

Training experience

In short, the more training experience you have, the closer you’ll likely be to your natural genetic limit. As a consequence, the more advanced you are in the weight room, the more difficult it will be for you to gain lean mass.

Conversely, if you are new to weight training, you should theoretically be able to gain muscle much faster, possibly while simultaneously losing fat (i.e., body recomposition).

What’s this mean for you?

If you’re a beginner, you can use a more substantial caloric surplus with less risk of gaining fat. When you’re advanced, a large caloric surplus will lead to more fat gain rather than muscle, since you are more “resistant” to muscle gain.

Categorizing training experience for your bulk 9

Beginner: 0-2 years of lifting on average.
Intermediate: 2-5 years of training on average.
Advanced: 5+ years of serious lifting on average.

Detrainee

If you used to lift weights routinely way back when there may be good news for you, it’s much easier to re-build lost muscle than it is to build that muscle from scratch.

If you’ve ever heard of the phrase ‘muscle memory,’ it turns out that it does exist. The old school bodybuilders were onto something when they noticed this phenomenon occurring.

It turns out that the nuclei in the muscle (myonuclei) created during hypertrophy (muscle growth) is never lost, even though the muscle fibers decrease in size (atrophy) due to inactivity. Once you begin training again, the myonuclei can signal muscle growth much quicker than had you never trained before.10 11

A de-trainee could potentially fall under the category of beginner since they're often able to achieve the same results as a beginner would in respect to muscle gain and fat loss.

How To Calculate Your Keto Bulking Calorie Surplus

Now that I’ve outlined the different scenarios, you should have a good idea of where you might fall on the spectrum from beginner to an advanced trainee. The below recommendations will outline how much of a surplus you should generally be in to maximize muscle gain, but while minimizing the amount of fat gain.

All numbers are relative to theoretical caloric maintenance. 12

A more accurate body fat test such as a DEXA scan, bodpod, and other similar method should be utilized to determine body fat percentage. If you want to take a stab at guessing I've included a visual guide below for reference.

Beginner – Male < 12% body fat | Female < 22% body fat – ~25% caloric surplus
Intermediate – Male < 12% body fat | Female < 22% body fat – ~15-20% caloric surplus
Advanced – Male < 12% body fat | Female < 22% body fat – ~10-15% caloric surplus
Beginner – Advanced Male ~13-18% body fat | Female ~23-28% body fat – ~5-10% caloric surplus

If you want to make things even more straightforward, a good rule of thumb is to eat between 100 – 300 calories above maintenance. Beginners and detainees would stick more toward the higher end while intermediate and advanced will gravitate toward the 100 – 200 calorie surplus range.

You should expect to gain 1 – 4 pounds of weight on average per month. Again, beginners and detainees will want to stick with the higher range of ~4 pounds per month, while intermediate and advanced trainees should be closer to the ~2 pounds per month.

If you do not see the appropriate amount of weight gain, increase calories by an additional ~5-10% until you achieve the desired rate of gain.

How To Calculate Maintenance Calories On Keto

Maintenance calories are the number of calories needed to maintain your weight. While the number of calories will vary slightly day to day, our goal is to calculate what our average theoretical maintenance is to calculate our surplus.

There are three general methods I like to use to calculate maintenance calories:

Use a formula
Use a simple multiplier
Food diary

Use a formula

There are a few popular formulas for calculating your maintenance calories. These calculators usually take into account your height, weight, lean mass, and activity level.

I won’t go into too much detail about the formula in this article. I’ll point you to our keto macro calculator, where it takes the average of the most popular formulas in an easy to use plug and play fashion and gives you a number.

Use a simple multiplier

A simple way to calculate maintenance calories for most people is to use the simple multiplier method. Take your body weight in pounds (lbs) and multiply it by 14 to 16.

If you are less active or a smaller individual, stick to 14. If you fall on the heavier or more active side, perhaps start with 16 as your multiplier. You’ll find that if you use the keto macro calculator and select maintain as your goal, that these numbers should be pretty close.

Food diary

Using the food diary method is the most time consuming, but it is the MOST accurate method compared to the previous two. If you have the patience or were previously tracking, then I would recommend this method over the previous ones mentioned.

A little caveat, if you HAVEN’T transitioned to a ketogenic diet yet, these numbers may be skewed. Water fluctuations within the first two weeks of adopting a ketogenic diet are normal but don’t give us consistent enough data to determine our maintenance calories. If you find yourself in this scenario, I would first get the ball rolling with your keto diet and start tracking starting on the third week after the dust settles.

To use the food diary method:

Track body weight and calories every day for two weeks and average them out
Determine average weight gained or lost
Determine your maintenance calories based on weight gained or lost
If your weight remained the same, then you’ve found your caloric maintenance
If you lost weight, assuming you need a 500 calorie deficit per day to lose one pound per week, you could determine your maintenance by calculating how much of a deficit you were in.

Example: If you ate 2,500 calories per day on average and lost 0.5 pounds between the first and second week, then to calculate maintenance:
(2,500 + .5 x 500 = 2,500 + 250 = 2,750 calories)

An additional example

Example: if you ate 2,500 calories per day on average and GAINED 0.5 pounds between the first and second week, then to calculate maintenance:
(2,500 – .5 x 500 = 2,500 – 250 = 2,250 calories)

Whichever method, take your maintenance calories and add the appropriate surplus based on the appropriate percentage outlined in the previous section.

How To Calculate Your Keto Bulking Macros

To calculate our bulking macros on keto is pretty straight forward. After all, we are limiting or eliminating carbohydrates from the equation, thus making protein and fat the only variables we have to worry about it.

Once calories are determined and carbs limited (to whatever number you are sticking with, but generally 0 to 50 net carbohydrates for most), our next step is to determine protein intake. The amount of protein needed to optimize muscle gain is a highly debated topic. Still, there’s one thing that’s certain; protein is the most essential macronutrient when it comes to repairing and building muscle. 13

How Much Protein To Bulk On Keto

By nature, a ketogenic diet is protein sparing through a variety of mechanisms, making it an excellent diet for those wishing to lose fat while retaining as much lean mass as possible. Combine a diet that is protein sparing with a caloric surplus, and you may be wondering just how much protein you may need to build muscle optimally.

To make this as simple as possible, the recommendation for protein while bulking on keto will default to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. 14 However, if you prefer more protein due to preference or satiety purposes 15, you may increase this number to 1.6 grams, but per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, not weight.

There is a reason to believe that higher intakes of protein may be optimal for muscle gain and body recomposition1617, but 1 gram per pound of body weight is a fast and straightforward general rule. Whether you prefer more or want to experiment with higher intakes is left for you to decide.

If you are unsure of your body fat percentage, and do not have access to get it accurately tested, utilize the visual chart below to get a rough estimate:

How Much Fat To Bulk On Keto

Since we calculated our caloric surplus, limited our carbs, and picked a protein level… the only macronutrient left is fat.

This macronutrient is the easiest to calculate. By default, all the remaining calories after carbohydrates and protein will come from fat.

Example: A 200lb male

3,000 calories
50g of carbohydrates x 4 calories per gram = 200 calories
200g of protein x 4 calories per gram = 800 calories
200 + 800 = 1,000 calories from carbohydrates and protein leaving 2,000 calories from fat
Fat has 9 calories per gram (2,000 / 9 = 222 grams of fat)

Bill’s calories and macros for his keto bulk are 3,000 calories, 200 grams of protein 222 grams of fat, and 50 grams of carbohydrates.

How Frequent To Eat On Your Keto Bulk

It seems as if the entire ketogenic community is doing some version of intermittent fasting (IF), whether it’s 16:8 or one meal a day (OMAD). While you can still gain muscle using an intermittent fasting eating schedule, it may not be the most optimal. However, if you prefer to eat this way due to adherence or preference, you can still make progress. 18

What’s most important is your total calories and total protein intake, but if you wish to maximize your gains further, the rest of this section is for you.

If you’re looking to make the MOST gains possible during your keto bulk, and willing to do everything necessary to maximize muscle gain, I suggest a meal frequency of approximately three to five meals per day. Spreading out your protein in three to five meals will help maximize muscle building for reasons I will outline below.

You see, there are a minimum AND a maximum amount of protein per meal that helps to stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS). Eating any more protein than this amount will not stimulate MPS any higher, and not eating enough protein won't maximally stimulate MPS.

Muscle protein synthesis is the process of building muscle protein, the opposite of muscle protein breakdown (MPB).

Both MPS and MPB are happing all the time, and it is the sum of these two processes that determine your net balance. If muscle protein synthesis exceeds muscle protein breakdown, your muscles will grow.

You may be wondering, why can’t you consistently eat boluses of protein to stimulate muscle protein synthesis? Muscle protein synthesis (MPS) experiences a ‘muscle full effect.’ MPS can be stimulated for a short period, after which a refractory period ensues and will not respond to any more amino acids.

MPS peaks 90 to 120 minutes post-meal, after which MPS returns rapidly to baseline.1920

For most individuals, 20 grams of protein in one sitting is enough to stimulate protein synthesis while going up further to 40 grams of protein may yield you a 10 – 20% increase.2122

Smaller individuals may get by with 20 grams, while larger individuals should aim closer to the 40 grams per meal. To be more specific, 0.40 g/kg/meal is what you should aim for to maximize MPS response.

Keto Bodybuilding Supplements

Supplements are the last 5 – 10% that can potentially take your training and nutrition to the next level. Consider supplements only after you have all the other big rocks in place.

Supplements are NOT REQUIRED to gain muscle, and fine-tuning your nutritional and training approach will yield you better results than any supplement.

Remember, they are called supplements for a reason. They are meant to supplement your diet and training, not make up for it. Subpar diet and exercise couldn’t be made up for with all the supplements in the world. 23

Not all supplements are created equal. The truth is, most supplements on the market will offer very little to no benefit. When considering if you should take a supplement, ask the following:

Is it worth the cost?
How effective is it?
Are there any adverse side effects?

While cost is subjective, the other two are not. Based on the criteria outlined above, these are the supplements I would recommend or are worth considering.

Highly recommended supplements for your keto bulk

Protein powder

Think of protein powder as a powdered version of a chicken breast or egg whites. There is nothing magical about protein powder that you couldn’t get from eating whole foods. However, protein powder is a convenient and effective way to reach your daily protein requirements when you don’t have the time or the appetite to eat solid food.

Creatine

Creatine is the most studied and effective supplement shown to increase performance and muscle size.24 Additionally, creatine has been shown to exhibit neuroprotective properties.25

Any brand of creatine with the main ingredient “creapure” is fine. ~5g of creatine per day, any time of the day is recommended.

Check prices for creatine here.

Caffeine

Evidence supports the use of caffeine for increasing strength, prolonging fatigue, cognitive function, and much more.26

If looking to maximize strength and performance, doses between 3-6mg/kg are what’s shown to be effective.

The more frequent you use caffeine, the less effective it becomes. Essentially, over time, your body begins to build a tolerance to caffeine.

To maintain the effectiveness of caffeine, reserve it for your hardest workouts, or cycle off of caffeine periodically.

Check the prices of caffeine here.

Supplements worth considering for your keto bulk

Multivitamin

While it’s recommended to try and fill your nutrition needs from unprocessed whole foods, It’s not always easy to fill your micronutrient requirements from diet alone, especially for athletes.

Think of a multivitamin as a micronutrient insurance policy. However, not all multivitamins are created equal. Some multivitamins include forms of vitamins that are less bioavailable. Subpar types of particular vitamins make the vitamin less effective, if at all.

A few multivitamins I recommend:

Fish oil (Essential Fatty Acids)

The typical North American diet is deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. Deficiency in Omega 3 fatty acids may lead to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, fatigue, poor memory, depression, and other negative symptoms. 27

A great way to increase your intake of EFA’s in your diet is by consuming fatty fish, grass-fed meats, and pasture-raised eggs. Supplementation wise, certain studies suggest that you may benefit from increased absorption with krill oil over fish oil, though not conclusive.

Around 2g of combined EPA and DHA per day is recommended.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is considered an herbal adaptogen, a natural substance considered to help the body adapt to stress. Further research suggests it may improve strength performance and even testosterone levels.28

When supplementing with ashwagandha, choose one with the KSM-66 stand of ashwagandha, the most studied in the literature. An average dose of ashwagandha is between 500mg to 1,000mg and suggested to be taken either post-exercise or before bed.

Check current prices for ashwagandha here.

Best Way To Gain Muscle On Keto?

I’ve gone over how to set up your keto bulk to maximize muscle gain while limiting fat gain, which is inevitable when eating in a surplus. Specific individuals may achieve body recomposition, which is simultaneously gaining muscle while losing fat, but usually only occurs under a variety of circumstances.

If you’re serious about taking up a keto diet and bodybuilding, I’d suggest giving my other article a read. In my keto diet bodybuilding guide, I go over all the different aspects of setting up your diet, training, nutrition, and other important, but often overlooked aspects of gaining muscle in an 8,000+ word article.

The Takeaway

Muscle can effectively be built on a ketogenic diet as it can on a standard diet based on carbohydrates. Many of the same principles apply whether you’re keto or not. That is, the most critical factors are sufficient energy intake (calories) and progressive overload (resistance training).

The most important thing you can do is to pay close attention to your biofeedback and make adjustments as necessary to both your training and nutrition to ensure continued progress.

HOW TO USE A TARGETED KETOGENIC DIET TO INCREASE PERFORMANCE AND GAIN MUSCLE

One question I’m often asked on different forums and social media platforms is how to best use a ketogenic diet for performance and to build muscle.

While you can build muscle and perform well on a standard ketogenic diet, most bodybuilders and athletes I know who live a keto lifestyle implement a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) or a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD).

I’ve used variations of both over the last 15+ years, so here is how I can best explain what and how you can implement a targeted keto diet to maintain high-intensities in the gym or your sport.

What is a targeted ketogenic diet?

Simply put, a Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) is nothing more than the standard ketogenic diet (SKD) with carbs around your workout.

A quick reference:

SKD – Standard Ketogenic diet
TKD – Targeted Ketogenic diet
CKD – Cyclical Ketogenic diet

Who is a targeted ketogenic diet for?

The primary goal of a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) is to strategically consume carbohydrates at specific times around exercise to allow you to lift heavier, do some extra reps, and help promote muscle growth while minimizing fat gain.

If your goal is to maintain a ketogenic lifestyle while improving performance and body composition, I would recommend trying a targeted ketogenic diet.

That being said, it is a very specialized and advanced approach. I would only recommend a TKD to athletes and individuals who exercise regularly at high-intensities for extended periods of time.

Another caveat before starting…

For the best results, I would suggest you become keto-adapted (fat adapted) before implementing either a targeted ketogenic diet or a cyclical ketogenic diet

You can accomplish this by eating a strict ketogenic diet for 3 to 5 weeks (preferably longer). This gives your body time to upregulate the enzymes to burn fat and ketones as fuel.

But if you’ve already been doing this, you’re ahead of the game.

Benefits of a targeted ketogenic diet

Unlike a cyclical ketogenic diet where you would implement a full one to two days of carbohydrates, a TKD is a compromise between an SKD and a CKD.

Improve immediate performance without interrupting ketosis long if at all

The TKD is aimed at allowing you to perform high-intensity exercise without having to interrupt ketosis for long. You may even stay in ketosis despite your carb intake pre and/or post-exercise.

I find that those who took my suggestion above and gave their body time to become keto-adapted have an easier time maintaining ketosis despite the influx of carbohydrates.

The TKD is more anecdotal 29User feedback versus actual studies than anything because weight training isn’t really limited by the availability of blood glucose. This is another reason a standard keto diet and bodybuilding is more than doable.

To build muscle, one doesn’t require the consumption of carbohydrates.

Building muscle is mostly the result of resistance training, adequate protein intake, and enough energy. Whether that energy comes from high fat, carbohydrates, or even stored body fat really doesn’t matter.

Improve your NEXT workout

While pre-workout carbs may improve performance during that specific bout of exercise, especially for those who perform quick and explosive movements. Another aim of pre-workout carbohydrates would be to promote post-workout glycogen synthesis.

Loosely translated, the carbohydrates taken before today's workout would be an attempt to set your body up to perform well during your next workout by maintaining glycogen levels.

But why carbs if they are unnecessary?

While there have been a few studies these past couples of years related to a low carb high-fat diet and performance, there’s still little research on the effects of a true ketogenic diet and weight training.

While carbohydrates are unnecessary, they have shown as little as 5 grams of carbs to raise blood glucose to normal levels. This means better muscle fiber recruitment and even a delay in fatigue, which may translate to an improvement in performance.

Studies show that ingesting carbohydrates before endurance activities, think an hour or longer, can improve performance and reduce perceived exertion.

That said, individuals on an SKD, including myself, report not only improved strength but also increased endurance. I’ve used a keto diet for CrossFit at a competitive level and even set my best times in the half marathon and marathon distances using a targeted keto approach.

As I am writing this in 2019, I am using a hybrid of a TKD and a CKD while preparing for a bodybuilding show. Even with the ingestion of carbohydrates prior to my races and workouts, I still register ketones in my blood and normal blood glucose levels post workout.

How to do a targeted ketogenic diet

As mentioned previously, a TKD is simply your standard ketogenic diet with carbs strategically implemented before and/or after your workout. This section will be aimed at describing the amounts, types, and timing of carbohydrates.

How many carbohydrates

How many carbohydrates to take in on a TKD diet will vary, but you don’t need as much as you would think.

While I would highly suggest experimenting with the number of carbohydrates that best works for you, most people will find that 10 to 50 grams of carbohydrates is ample to enhance your workout.

If you migrate towards the upper half ~50 or above, I would suggest splitting the intake between pre and post workout.

What dictates how many carbohydrates you should consume ultimately comes down to how long and intense your workout will be.

What types of carbohydrates

When it comes to what carbohydrates to consume on a TKD, not all carbs are created equally. For our purposes, we want to focus on high GI 2glycemic index, easily digestible carbohydrates, preferably liquids.

Our goal with the pre-workout carbohydrates is to have them absorb rapidly. We want the carbs available for use immediately while also avoiding stomach upset during training.

I would recommend a glucose source like dextrose or highly branched cyclic dextrin (HBCD). 3Also referred to as clustered dextrin If you want to get fancy or rather chew your carbohydrates, they make candies like smarties out of pure dextrose.

HBCD is a fairly new form of carbohydrate that provides a sustained increase in energy levels without causing a spike in blood glucose or insulin levels. While dextrose is perfectly acceptable, and cheaper, HBCD is my new go-to for pre or intra-workout carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates I recommend:

Muscle Feast Dextrose
Muscle Feast Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin
NutraBio Super Carb – Another HBCD alternative with added electrolytes, I personally use this one most of the time and love the orange mango flavor.

Carbohydrates to avoid

You want to avoid fructose and sucrose since they primarily refill liver glycogen and can disrupt ketosis. This means that things like fruit, honey, and table sugar are not ideal for our purposes.

When to take in carbohydrates

It is preferred that you take in carbohydrates thirty minutes before a workout for enhanced performance. Some will also prefer to consume additional carbohydrates post-training to help with recovery.

With post-workout carbs, you want to consume those as soon as possible following a workout. While I don’t think post-workout carbs are necessary, experimenting to see what is optimal for YOU is the best course of action.

Another variation I’ve experimented with is ingesting carbohydrates intra-workout by sipping my carbohydrates at the beginning of the workout and finishing it right before my workout is complete.

Personally, I will take in ~30g of carbohydrates with ~10g of essential amino acids during or before my workouts. In addition, I may add MCT oil or caffeine for an added boost.

I usually consume my carbohydrate beverage before my first set and finish up close to the end of my workout. This gives me plenty of energy to sustain high volume workouts and recover well enough for my next session.

How does a TKD affect ketosis?

For many, just the act of working out causes blood sugar levels to rise due to the stress upon the body. However, as blood glucose is shuttled into the muscles, insulin levels will begin to drop and ketogenesis will resume.

If you stick to the tips I’ve laid out above and don’t overdo the carbohydrates, you might very still be in ketosis following your workout.

At the worst, you’ll transiently knock yourself out during your workout, but you find that you quickly re-enter ketosis shortly after.

Summary and guidelines for a TKD

Become keto-adapted by using a standard ketogenic diet for 3 to 5 weeks prior to implementing a TKD protocol.
Experiment with as little as 10 grams of carbohydrates pre-workout and adjust up or down as necessary.
If consuming upwards of 50 grams of carbs or more I would suggest splitting it up half pre-workout and the other half post-workout.
Stick to glucose based carbohydrates such as dextrose or clustered dextrin.
Whether fat loss or muscle gain is your goal, a targeted ketogenic approach is effective at accomplishing both through consistency and hard work.

Are you interested in giving a targeted ketogenic diet a try? Let me know down below if you have any questions or what your results have been giving on a TKD.

THE KETO DIET AND BODYBUILDING AN ULTIMATE GUIDE

This guide will teach you everything you need to know about a keto diet and bodybuilding.

First off, it is possible to build muscle on a ketogenic diet.

You will learn…

How to set up your keto diet.

How to train on a keto diet.

Plus much much more.

Let’s get started…

but first click here => 4

Don't have time to read all 8,000+ words? Download a PDF to read offline at a later time.

Chapter 1: Consistency of the fundamentals

The keto diet and bodybuilding are two words you may not often see thrown in the same sentence.

In fact, you may be here because there's so much misinformation floating around and you're questioning whether bodybuilding on keto is even possible.

One question I hear most is whether or not you can build muscle while on a keto diet. In short, yes it is possible to add muscle while on a ketogenic diet and I'm here to tell you how.

Trust me, I was there and had those very same questions, but I'm here to share with you that IT IS possible and many individuals are doing so.

When it comes to building muscle, it boils down to about four fundamental principles whether you're on a ketogenic diet or a high carbohydrate diet.

Keto diet bodybuilding fundamentals

A “traditional” bodybuilding regimen typically follows a super high carb high protein and virtually no fat diet, almost opposite of a ketogenic diet.

It's no wonder why there are so many people that question whether or not they can build sufficient muscle on a ketogenic diet.

Again, trust me… I was there! But when it comes down to it, building and/or maintaining muscle comes down to a few fundamental principles:

TRAINING. Sufficient stimulus and overload
NUTRITION. Enough calories and protein
RECOVERY. Rest and quality sleep
ADVANCED. Supplementation and meal timing

The bodybuilding world filled with all sorts of bro science and overhyped supplements, but when it comes to building muscle, you can't argue with key fundamentals backed by science.

A little forewarning:

First off, there is a strong chance you will not be able to work out with the same intensity as before… INITIALLY. That is, your body hasn't adapted to using fat as fuel or what many refer to as becoming fat adapted or keto-adapted.

Many say this process takes about 3-4 weeks, but from mine and many others personal experiences… it only gets better and better as time goes on.

Eventually, your gym performance will surpass that of when you were on a standard carbohydrate based diet.

With that said, let's get to the fundamental principles for putting on some quality muscle on a ketogenic diet.

Chapter 2: Keto bodybuilding and progressive overload

The most closely associated variables with muscle hypertrophy (growth) are progressively overloading your muscles and increasing your training volume.

Meaning, stressing your muscle over time and performing an adequate amount of volume (done by increasing your reps and/or sets)

Depending on the program, this can occur daily, weekly, monthly, or even over a longer duration of your choosing. The most IMPORTANT concept is that we do MORE over time.

Different progression schemes

The body will adapt to the stress of resistance training with increased fitness, in our case… muscle growth. Of course, the stress must meet a minimum threshold of intensity.

If the stress is not sufficient to overload the body, no adaptation will occur.

FORCE YOUR BODY TO ADAPT AND GROW!

LINEAR LOAD INCREASE

The weight used increases from week to week or session to session generally on the same exercise.

LINEAR REP INCREASES

An increase in the number of repetitions from week to week or session to session generally on the same exercise.

LINEAR SET INCREASES

Increase the number of sets performed from week to week or session to session generally on the same exercise.

ust remember, you should be increasing your training load over time using a single method or a combination of the above methods.

While strength increases are a useful marker for the effectiveness of your training program, it is not necessarily our primary function when it comes to bodybuilding which is muscle growth.

Just think of strength as a very welcome side effect. Hypertrophy is one component of strength, but not the other way around.

Furthermore, if you are effectively overloading the muscle and generating growth, you'll likely get stronger over time, but a part of that strength increase is also due in part to skill development (becoming more proficient) with the exercise and neurological adaptations.

Nevertheless, an increase in strength is also a useful marker of your training programs effectiveness. 2

You must provide enough of the right type of stimulus for your muscles to grow. This is accomplished by progressively overloading your muscles over time through resistance training using one or a multitude of progressions.

Chapter 3: Keto bodybuilding nutrition

Ever heard the phrase “Abs are made in the kitchen?” Well, that's because they are.

Whether you're looking to build muscle or lose fat, your diet is almost always the limiting factor WHATEVER your goal and given your training is in order.

That being said…

Keto diet and bodybuilding nutrition: CALORIES

During the first couple weeks of starting a ketogenic diet, it is imperative that an adequate or even increased amount of protein intake is consumed.

When switching to a keto diet for bodybuilding, your body has yet to shift to a fat-burning metabolism.

Before the adaptation period of about 3 weeks, small amounts of glucose are still required for your brain and body to function, in turn, your body ends up breaking down its own protein stores to provide that glucose.

Eating enough protein will help prevent muscle loss by supplying the amino acids for gluconeogenesis that would otherwise come from your body protein.

However, once your body has made the shift from using glucose as its primary source of energy to using ketones, the need for gluconeogenesis from protein will also decrease.

In fact, once your body is adapted to using ketones for fuel, the ketones exert a protein sparing effect which makes it great while cutting for the summer or getting shredded for the stage.

In the end, the importance of nutrition is no different on a ketogenic diet vs. a carbohydrate-based one regarding the fundamentals laid out below.

However, the macronutrient breakdown will, of course, differ since we are relying on a different source of energy, fat.

Here is an image to help you visualize the degree of importance when it comes to nutrition and meeting your goals.

keto diet bodybuilding keto body recomp pyramid of importance

How much weight is gained, lost, or maintained comes down to energy balance i.e. your calorie intake.

If you're not sure where to start, head over to our keto macro calculator to get a personalized starting point based on your lifestyle and goals or simply use the “easy” calculation method below to generate a great starting point.

keto bodybuilding calculator cheat sheet

When it comes to bodybuilding, people generally have one of two goals, ok maybe three. You either want to lose fat, gain muscle, or the third… accomplish both at the same time.

The ability to gain muscle while losing fat (caloric deficit) usually comes down to:

Your current body fat percentage
How trained you already are
The size of your caloric deficit

Essentially, the higher your body fat and the less training experience under your belt, the higher the likelihood you will be able to accomplish both, provided you're not HEAVILY restricting your calories.

Changes in your diet, rather than manipulating your training or cardio, should be used to create the energy surplus or deficit you need to put on muscle or drop body fat (for the most part).

It's just easier and more effective to control your energy balance through diet than it is through training, but hey… do what makes you happy.

As the saying goes, “You can't outrun a bad diet.”

For a better understanding of calories, how many you should eat, and best practices check out the article on How many calories should you eat on a ketogenic diet? 3

The foundation of any diet whether that is muscle gain or fat loss is total energy intake (calories). It’s easier to manipulate what you do or do not eat vs. your training or cardio.

Keto diet and bodybuilding nutrition: MACROS

To oversimplify things a bit, while calories (energy balance) determines whether weight is gained, lost, or maintained, macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) determine whether that change comes from fat or muscle.

If you ever hear the term or see me refer to ‘macros' you're just hearing an abbreviated term for the word macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat.

Macronutrients will be the biggest difference when it comes to a ketogenic diet and bodybuilding vs. your standard bodybuilding diet since our primary energy source is fat and not carbohydrates.

ONE MACRO TO RULE THEM ALL!

Which leaves us to what I consider the most important macronutrient, PROTEIN aka PROTONS. Protein, contrary to all the keto hearsay, is not a bad thing and is actually quite important.

Protein helps us to recover from our training, it preserves your lean tissue when dieting, helps us repair and grow muscle when bulking, and has the highest satiety effect of the three macronutrients.

But what about gluconeogenesis?

What about it?

Technically, gluconeogenesis is happening all the time, but there is this common misconception in the keto community that “a little extra“ protein in the diet will magically turn into chocolate cake (wouldn't that be cool though).

As in, excess protein will be converted to glucose and spike your insulin, therefore, knocking you out of ketosis, but this couldn't be any further from the truth.

Gluconeogenesis is a demand driven process. Meaning, it will only occur if it is absolutely necessary.

Myself, along with MANY others have successfully eaten high protein diets while maintaining a state of ketosis. In fact, the ONLY prerequisite to achieving a state of ketosis is the reduction or lack of carbohydrates , not eating high amounts of fat or eating low amounts of protein.

Mind you, if you are using a ketogenic diet for therapeutic reasons, please do so under the care of a medical professional.

Within the keto community it is quite common for people to stick to specific “percentages,” but this can often lead people to unintentionally under consume protein or over-consume fat.

Guidelines for protein intake should ideally be based on an individual’s lean mass and be given in total grams, rather than as a percentage of total energy intake.

Here's why you want to calculate by grams and NOT percentages.

Since we want to base protein on an individuals lean mass, let's give you an example:

Bob is a 195lb male with 20% body fat and wants to shed some of that fat.

This leaves Bob with 39lbs of fat mass and 156lbs of lean mass.

Per my experience and some of the scientific literature, Bob at the very least should be consuming 156 grams of protein, probably more since he is in a deficit. If Bob was dieting aggressively, say averaging 10 calories per pound of bodyweight based per our EZ calculator, that leaves Bob with 1950 calories.

Now, using traditional “ketogenic percentages,” even at the high end of the protein recommendation, 30% ( which is probably higher than what you'll see even at the HIGH end ) this leaves Bob with 146 grams of protein.

Imagine if Bob was eating even less than 1950 calories, protein intake would be insufficient.

One could argue that ketones are muscle sparing, and they are, but when it comes to protein, too much is better than too little.

HOW MUCH PROTEIN ON A KETOGENIC DIET? READ MORE.

For a better estimate, it's best to calculate protein requirements on lean body mass rather than total body weight. We can calculate lean mass by taking our total weight and subtracting our fat weight.

Protein recommendations are based on lean mass since individuals with more fat will end up with too much protein and leaner individuals end up with too little.

Basically, the more lean mass you have the more protein you require.

If you have no idea of what your body fat is, there are a myriad of testing methods such as body fat calipers, a bodpod, electrical impedance, or a DEXA scan.

Either way, all methods tend to have inaccuracies and inconsistencies so the purpose of having it done is to have a general starting point.

If you prefer, you can use the image on our keto calculator page to guesstimate your body fat and also calculate your calories and macros based on your preferences and goals. 4

Another, rather simple, method is to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of DESIRED bodyweight. Meaning, if you were 180 pounds but wanted to cut down to 150 then you would simply eat 150 grams of protein per day.

Other great reads on the other two macros right below:

How many carbohydrates on a ketogenic diet?

How much fat on a ketogenic diet?

When it comes to macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) we want to make sure we have a sufficient amount of protein, especially during the first 3 weeks of a ketogenic diet. Eating between .8g – 1.2g/lbm should provide an adequate amount of protein to help maintain lean mass in a caloric deficit and put on muscle during a caloric surplus. Carbs are typically limited to under 30g of net carbohydrates and fats will make up the rest of your calories and adjusted up or down depending on your goal.

Keto diet and bodybuilding nutrition: MICRONUTRIENTS

In short, these are your vitamins and minerals. If you are following a diet rich in whole foods and not solely relying on processed meats or fast food you may more or less have this covered on a ketogenic diet.

Long-term micronutrient deficiencies will eventually impact your health and hamper your bodybuilding efforts.

BUT WHAT ABOUT FIBER?

Depending on which side of the keto fence you land on, this may leave you with some fiber or none at all.

With the rise of the carnivore diet or even the keto carnivore diet, new research is emerging questioning the role of dietary fiber or if it is even required at all to live a happy and healthy life.

Moral of the story, we might not need as much fiber as we have been led to… especially if utilizing a ketogenic diet for bodybuilding.

CAN I JUST TAKE A MULTIVITAMIN?

A multivitamin isn’t a substitute for a poor diet, but it can be insurance on a good one. Those in a calorie deficit have a higher risk of micronutrient deficiencies since their overall intake is less and may benefit from supplementation. 5

Eat a diet high in whole UNprocessed foods such as pasture raised eggs, grass finished beef, full-fat dairy, and green leafy vegetables.

Keto diet and bodybuilding nutrition: NUTRIENT TIMING

To define nutrient timing simply, nutrient timing refers to eating specific macros (protein, carbs, or fats) in specific amounts and at specific times (such as before, during, or after exercise, before bed, you get the picture)

Trust me, I've done it all… everything from eating every 2 hours to downing a 4:1 carb to protein shake IMMEDIATELY post-workout, to eating my nightly cottage cheese, and even going as far as having a protein shake ready for when I woke up in the middle of the night.

Every fad, protocol, and bodybuilding folklore has been tested at some point.

As a whole, I've seen the shift from recommendations of eating every 2-3 hours throughout the day to everyone jumping into intermittent fasting and eating only one or two meals per day.

The best answer I can give you regarding meal frequency is that it likely falls somewhere in between one and five meals a day in terms of what is “optimal.”

At a certain point, you're seeing very marginal increases. For the recreational bodybuilder or those who are just trying to look and feel better, I don't believe it matters a great deal.

WHAT ABOUT PRE OR POST WORKOUT NUTRITION?

For years, we all used to believe in the “post-workout anabolic window.” Bodybuilders everywhere were rushing to chug down their protein and carb shakes within 30 – 45 minutes of finishing their workouts.

Well, hate to burst your bubble… but the “anabolic window” is actually a whole lot longer than we used to believe. In fact, muscle protein synthesis is elevated as long as 48 hours after a bout of heavy resistance training.

Recent data suggests that the total amount of protein and calories you eat, over the course of the entire day, is arguably more important for body composition and performance than worrying about nutrient timing.6

Nutrient timing may matter for high-level athletes or those performing multiple training sessions throughout the day, but for the recreational bodybuilder or those just trying to look and feel better, it doesn't matter a great deal. Your total protein and overall diet will have a more significant impact on your body composition and performance.

Keto diet and bodybuilding nutrition: SUPPLEMENTS

If everything else above is in order, supplements can benefit a good nutrition plan, but they cannot make up for a poor one.

When it comes to a ketogenic diet, the only one I believe to be essential are electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and magnesium).

When everything else above is dialed in, you don't need an extensive supplement list. This is why supplements are at the top of the pyramid and really shouldn't be considered until you have your training, calories, and macros in order.

There are very few supplements with strong evidence to support their effectiveness. Unfortunately, when it comes to most supplements most of them are all talk but here are a few that have deemed themselves worthy of being recommended.

Here are the ones I do recommend along with the brands I use and trust due to purity of ingredients.

CAFFEINE

Shown multiple times over to aid in fat loss, gym performance, appetite suppression, and if you're drinking it (i.e. coffee) filled with plenty of antioxidants.

Depending on your sensitivity, I would recommend between 100mg and 200mg 30 minutes to an hour before your workout. Just be mindful of your intake if you workout close to bed since caffeine carries a half-life of 5 to 6 hours.

A 16oz cup of coffee carries about 200mg so that should do the trick.

Another study shows that maybe even higher doses ~3-6mg/kg is required to see any kind of performance benefits.7

Recommended: Caffeine Tablets

CREATINE

Possibly one of the only well tested, tried, and true supplements.

Creatines benefits expand outside of just performance which makes it one of my most recommended supplements. It is indeed the number one supplements in my opinion for improving your gym performance.

I recommend a dose of 3g – 5g of creatine per day and with creatine being so cheap, why not? You can buy nearly a years supply for $20.

Recommended creatine: Bulk supplements creatine
Recommended creatine: Musclefeast creapure

Foods rich in creatine include beef, salmon, and tuna.

FISH OIL

I recommend eating plenty of omega-3 rich foods and possibly even supplementing in most cases. The typical diet contains about 10x more omega-6s than omega-3s.

This is why it's important to pay attention to food quality and sticking to whole and unprocessed foods when possible. Many experts believe we should be closer to a ratio of 2:1 (omega-6:omega-3) for optimal health.

If you're mindful of your food choices on a ketogenic diet you should be closer to the average than most people already. Personally, I aim for anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 milligrams of combined EPA/DHA day.

Recommended fish oil: Fish oil pills
Recommended fish oil: Fish oil liquid

Foods rich in Omega-3 include fatty fish, ( mackerel, wild caught salmon, sardines ) walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, and pasture-raised egg yolks.

VITAMIN D3

Vitamin D is made by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight, so If you find yourself in an area with very little or don't get out much then I would highly recommend between 1,000 – 6,000 IU per day.

Recommended Vitamind D: Vitamin D3 Soft Gels

Foods rich in Vitamin D include fatty fish, ( mackerel, wild caught salmon, sardines ) beef liver, and egg yolks.

WHEY / CASEIN PROTEIN

First off, there's nothing magical about whey or casein protein, but if you're having trouble hitting your protein intake then supplementing can make a difference. Just look at protein powders as just foods in powdered form and nothing more.

Recommended protein powder: Grass-Fed Whey isolate
Recommended protein powder: Grass-Fed Casein
Recommended protein powder: Vegan protein

KETONE SALTS

Great for a boost of energy / pre-workout or while making the transition to a ketogenic diet. Ketone salts or exogenous BHB supplements can supply you with a quick burst of energy.

Recommended Ketone Salts: Perfect Keto Exogenous Ketones

MCT OIL

Medium Chain Triglycerides are digested easily and sent directly to your liver, where they can be quickly converted to ketones because they require fewer steps to be metabolized in your cells.

Personally, I'll take about a tbsp (15g) in my pre-workout cocktail. If new to MCT oil I would suggest starting with about 5g and work your way up in dose. MCT oil has been known to give people the case of disaster pants.

Recommended MCT (C8 Oil): C8 MCT Oil
Recommended MCT Powder: Perfect Keto MCT Oil Powder
Recommended MCT Oil: Viva Naturals MCT Oil

SO YA… 8

Supplements are at the top of the pyramid and really shouldn't be considered until you have your training, calories, and macros in order. The only necessary supplements are electrolytes and any vitamin you may be deficient in such as Vitamin D.

Chapter 4: Keto diet bodybuilding recovery

Recovery from muscle breakdown is an often overlooked piece in this muscle building and fat loss puzzle.

After all, the better you can recover from workouts, the more frequently you can train, and training frequency does play a major key in hypertrophy (muscle gain).

I’m not advocating that hitting your chest every day is going to make it grow exponentially, but there is research to suggest that training a body part 2-3x per week seems to be more optimal if muscle growth is your goal.

With that said, recovery can be boiled down to some key principles.

Proper nutrition. Giving your body the fuel it needs.
Plenty of rest. Plenty of sleep, taking days off, and planned deloads.
Managing stress. Not much to add here.

Keto bodybuilding recovery: NUTRITION

Proper nutrition

Since we covered nutrition earlier, we won’t go into too much depth here, but a big part of recovery comes down to how much and what foods you put into your body.

You want your body to have the resources it needs to repair itself whether you’re looking to lose fat or pack on some muscle.

I can go on and on about food quality, but you either believe that food quality matters or you don’t so I’ll leave you with this tidbit, everything you put in your mouth either helps you or hurts you.

Now, when it comes to nutrition and recovery, you want to be following the guidelines we laid out above to first determine how many calories you should be eating and then following that up with making sure you are eating a sufficient amount of protein.

To rehash your memory here is the order of importance.

KETO AND BODYBUILDING HOW TO CALCULATE MACROS

Determine your calorie requirements (yes, calories still matter)
Eat an adequate amount of protein
Restrict your carbohydrates
Fill in the remaining calories with fat

If muscle gain is a priority

An extra 250-500 calories is really all it takes to give your body what it needs to build and repair. Any more than that and you risk putting on too much fat since there is a point of diminishing returns.

Muscle gain expectations

Regarding muscle growth, your level of training and even your genetics play a massive part in what determines muscle growth potential.

The more advanced in training age you are, the slower it'll likely be to pack on some muscle. Below is a rough breakdown of the rate of growth you can expect based on your training age:

KETO AND BODYBUILDING MUSCLE GROWTH POTENTIAL — Even for advanced lifters .5 lbs of actual muscle tissue is a stretch

If fat loss is a priority

How fast you want to lose body fat is determined by your caloric deficit. If we take the number of 3500 calories, the amount of calories in 1 pound of fat, we can assume that if we subtract 500 calories per day over the course of a week (500 calories x 7 days) that we would lose around 1 pound per week.

Therefore, if we were to increase our calorie deficit to 1000 calories per day, we could assume about a 2-pound decrease per week.

These are just estimates and don’t always work out this way since a lot of factors are at play, but in general, these principles do apply.

Fat loss expectations

Fat-loss tends to be proportional to a person's body fat percentage rather than total body weight. In general, the higher your starting body fat, the more aggressive you can be.

The below recommendations should be a realistic expectation of fat loss while also preserving muscle mass using a keto diet for cutting: 9

FAT LOSS EXPECTATION FOR KETO BODYBUILDERS

Proper nutrition plays a big part in how your body recovers from one training session to the next. Providing your body with sufficient calories and protein will give your body the substrate it needs to recover and rebuild.

Keto bodybuilding recovery: REST

All about rest

Rest comes down to three parts:

Days off from training
Deloading (strategic periods of less volume and intensity)
Sleep. Many individuals undervalue the importance of getting a sufficient amount of rest and end up burned out or spinning their wheels wondering why they aren’t seeing any progress in the gym.

1. Days off from training

As a culture, we tend to think the harder and longer we go the “bigger the gains” and this is true… to a certain extent.

Up to a certain point, the more is better approach is fine and dandy, but you may quickly end up at the more is TOO much making it harder to recover. You end up taking a four steps forward three steps back approach.

Your body doesn’t grow while you’re in the gym. If you’re not taking time away from the gym, your body doesn’t have time to adapt by becoming bigger and stronger than it was before.

2. Strategic deloads

Just as in life or business, training should also have a period of time where you reduce the intensity and volume.

Much like taking a vacation from work, by taking our foot off the gas for a brief period, it allows us to dissipate any fatigue and come back with a renewed sense of purpose and energy.

A deload may sound counterproductive, but if you want to make the best muscle and strength progress, you shouldn’t be training hard all the time.

Or best put, you cannot. After some time, residual fatigue accumulates, and performance ends up taking a dip and worse performance = fewer gains. Now, what once was your 100% may now only be 85%.

Can you still make progress without a deload? Sure, but you could make better progress by incorporating these periods of less intensity and volume, and that’s where a deload comes in.

Again, Why should you deload?

Dissipate fatigue
Mental rejuvenation
Time to heal any possible injuries
Allows a progressive system to ensure overloading

Picture a deload as walking up four flights of stairs, but we stop for a short rest on the fourth floor. We stop just long enough so that we may catch our breath and regain enough energy to continue another four flights of stairs before rinse and repeating.

How to implement a deload

In order to deload, all we are doing is reducing our intensity and volume to reduce the accumulated fatigue from weeks of hard training while maintaining our fitness.

In practice, you should not be going so hard as to cause more fatigue and muscle damage. At the same time, you should not be going too easy that you lose substantial fitness.

Just depending who you ask, everyone goes about deloading in one of two ways, planned or “by feel.” Personally, I subscribe to the first camp and plan my deloads since if you are “feeling” that you need one it may already to be too late.

For this purpose, I generally schedule a deload every 4-6 weeks where I reduce the load (weight) on every exercise by about 5% and cut my volume by about 25 – 50%

For example:

If in my 4th week of training after coming off a previous deload I was squatting 315lbs for four sets of 10 reps. During my 5th week (deload week) I would do the below:

315 x .05 = 300lbs (we’ll just round for simplicity sake)

4 / 2 = 2 sets

10 / 2 = 5 reps

Essentially, I would do 300lbs for 2 sets of 5 reps on my leg day for squats during my deload week and then I would apply this same load and volume decrease on every exercise during my deload week.

Again, the main goal is to allow us to continue progressing with maximum performance. It may suck to take it a bit easier every now and then, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives IMO.

Done correctly, you should be coming off that week stronger, feeling better, and even more excited to hit the weights hard.

3. Sleep

We all know that the body needs sleep, after all… sooner or later we all get tired. But how much sleep we need is difficult to determine because, like many other things, it depends on individual differences.

Besides, who doesn’t like sleep?

What most people don’t realize Is that sleep and muscle growth, and even fat loss, go hand in hand. During our workouts and even day to day life, we create microscopic tears within our muscle on a cellular level.

It’s these tears that repair and rebuild resulting in muscle growth. The biggest factors in how well our muscles repair after training are our sleep and our nutrition.

While not always possible, you should be aiming for anywhere from 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night. It is when we sleep that our body creates spikes in larger amounts of vital hormones for muscle repair and growth such as HGH, testosterone, and melatonin.

Moral of the story, get some shuteye.

Keto bodybuilding recovery: STRESS LESS

DESTRESS

There’s an often overlooked aspect to muscle gain or fat loss, and that’s stress. That’s because stress physiology can cascade down and effect virtually every other system in our body including the immune system, endocrine system, neurological system, and gastrointestinal system.

If you’re frustrated and know you may be doing everything right and still not seeing any progress, stress may be one part of your life you may need to take a good hard look at.

Lots of chemical responses occur during periods of stress including:

Rising levels of cortisol secretion. Cortisol isn’t bad in and of itself, but when it spikes and stays elevated for prolonged periods this may hamper your progress in the gym. Elevated levels of cortisol may negatively impact blood sugar levels, digestion, metabolism, fat storage, and the immune system.
Hunger and cravings increase. FOR SUGAR! Yepp, quite counterproductive for those looking at bodybuilding on keto as an alternative to the mainstream. Hormonal changes in the body can be the cause for that Ben and Jerrys craving.
Thyroid gland slows production. One of the essential hormones needed for metabolism. It may be one reason why you may spinning your wheels in the gym and sticking to your diet and not seeing the scale budge in the right direction.
Increase catabolism. Breaking down of muscle to use as energy while increasing fat stores… quite the opposite of what we’re looking to accomplish.

9 WAYS TO DESTRESS FOR KETO BODYBUILDING

Adequate sleep, calories, and attention to recovery as we’ve gone over earlier in the article are three of the biggest factors that we have control over on a daily basis.

In addition, supplements like ashwagandha and chaga mushrooms have been shown to aid in adaptation to stress.

Recommended ashwagandha: KSM-66

Recommended chaga mushroom: Chaga powder

Also, take time to relax! Go for a nice walk outside and soak up the sun, get a massage, watch a good movie, and my personal go to. MEDITATE.

I was never into meditation and was even a bit skeptical at first, but having incorporated meditation into my daily routine, the results speak for themselves.

In the end, do something you enjoy and helps you relax, feel happy, and most importantly stress less and unwind. 10

Recovery is an often overlooked aspect in peoples fat loss or muscle gain goals. Some tips for helping manage recovery:

Get adequate sleep (8-10 hours)
Proper nutrition (sufficient calories and protein)
Taking days off from the gym and planned periods of lower intensity
Managing stress by finding things that relax you and give you joy

Chapter 5: Keto bodybuilding concerns

Many of the same principles apply to gaining muscle and losing fat on a ketogenic diet as they do on your standard carbohydrate based diet.

However, there are some common concerns when it comes to bodybuilding on keto due to a lack of understanding and frankly a lot of misinformation and hearsay.

While not everything is fully understood in the realm of a keto diet and bodybuilding, research and anecdotal evidence is beginning to emerge at an increasing rate.

Water loss on a ketogenic diet

It’s well established that low carbohydrate diets, especially a ketogenic diet, cause rapid loss of water in the first few days. Reason being, three grams of water is stored for every gram of stored carbohydrate.

Additionally, ketones appear to have a diuretic effect themselves causing the excretion of water and electrolytes.

With a water loss of only 2% of your body weight, physical performance will be impaired, and with a 2.8% water loss, your cognitive functions begin to be impaired as well.

This amount of water loss can easily occur during the first week of a ketogenic diet as the body sheds water and sodium due to the reasons explained above.

If not mindful of your water and electrolyte intake especially during the first week of transitioning to a ketogenic diet, you may experience what is commonly referred to as the “keto flu.”

Basically NOT GOOD.

To diminish or even avoid these symptoms altogether, make sure you are drinking plenty of water and increasing your electrolytes. I usually suggest people aim for close to a gallon of water a day and between 4,000mg – 6,000mg of sodium.

I suggest people liberally salt their meals and possibly even dilute some salt in their water throughout the day to ensure adequate sodium intake.

KETO DIET BODYBUILDING SODIUM DEFICIENCY

TAKE HOME

Ketogenic diets cause a loss of water due to carbohydrate restriction and the fact that ketones exert a diuretic effect causing a loss of water and electrolytes.

To counteract the performance and cognitive decline that may happen you should increase your water intake (around 1 gallon per day) and electrolytes, especially sodium (4,000mg – 7,000mg).

Glycogen replenishment without carbohydrates

Often, a concern about a ketogenic diet for bodybuilding leads one to ask how glycogen is replenished.

The whole idea behind replenishing glycogen immediately following a workout was to set our bodies up for the next workout and switch off catabolism (bad) and switch on anabolism (good).

To break it down, we are trying to accomplish:

Replenished glycogen I.e. replenish energy stores
Decrease protein breakdown i.e. build bigger muscles
Increase protein synthesis i.e. repair damage from our workout

This is why you’ll often recommend eating carbohydrates post workout or ingesting a sugar-filled protein shake immediately post-workout. I used to do it, I’m sure you may have or may still be doing it, but I’m here to let you know there’s no need.

You’d have to train a muscle twice daily with a volume you could not possibly recover from in order to require carbs to replenish your glycogen in time for the next training session.

It’s been shown that when ample protein is ingested, carbs do not have any additive effect on protein balance.

Even with very minimal amounts of carbohydrates, as with those trying to use a keto diet for bodybuilding purposes, your body has more than enough to maintain a proper bodybuilding routine.

Research by Volek found that long-term ketogenic dieters not only have similar pre-exercise levels of glycogen but also deplete glycogen slower AND replete glycogen at a similar rate compared to long-term carbohydrate-adapted athletes.

This is likely an adaptation that occurs following longer adherence to the diet and becoming fully keto-adapted.

So, do we need glycogen and if so, how is glycogen replnished without carbohydrates?

Glad you asked…

Yes… your body does use glycogen when lifting, but this glycogen is already in your muscles.

What you eat right before your workout has very little to do with what your performance will be like, it’s more about what you already had inside your muscle. 11

Even high levels of bodybuilding (LOTS of volume) only roughly burn 40% of the glycogen stored within the muscle.

So how is glycogen replenished then?

The science behind this is explained via the Cori Cycle. The Cori Cycle provides the body with important pathways to maintain adequate muscle glycogen levels without glucose from the diet.

CORI CYCLE FOR KETO DIET AND BODYBUILDING

Glycogen can come from the conversion of lactate, a by-product of glycogen breakdown in the muscle, to glucose in the liver. This newly made glucose is released into the bloodstream and stored again in the muscle as glycogen.

As you see, low carbohydrate dieting isn’t the “performance killer” that people make it out to be. Therefore, If you’re looking at bodybuilding and strength training, the keto diet is not an issue.

Chapter 6: Keto diet and bodybuilding advanced strategies

Okay, so we gave you a breakdown of the three primary macronutrients in our ultimate keto diet food list. We even gave you our best recommendations for beverages, but what about supplements?

As this is primarily keto food list, we'll keep this section brief with some keto supplement recommendations we frequently get asked about.

Carbs as a tool to improve exercise performance

If you are an already lean individual or have noticed your performance in the gym still suffering, even after adapting to a ketogenic diet, you may benefit from strategically increasing carbs around your workouts.

The two main methods of strategically using carbs are known as a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) and a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD).

Having experimented with both a TKD and CKD, I much rather have people utilize the former rather than the latter.

The TKD is a much more simple strategy to implement that doesn’t involve complicated workouts and shifting your body out of ketosis for prolonged periods of time.

However, there is a time and place for everything. There are plenty of successful bodybuilders that utilize a cyclical approach to a ketogenic diet and make amazing progress.

The Targeted Ketogenic Diet

The TKD is a compromise to staying in ketosis ala the standard ketogenic diet, but instead, we interrupt ketosis for a short period of time by strategically implementing carbohydrates before and/or after our workout.

While studies giving carbs prior to resistance training have not found an increase in performance, anecdotal evidence from myself and many others have noticed improved strength and endurance from as little as 5-10g of carbohydrates right before working out.

Research also suggests that carbohydrates consumed before or after exercise should not negatively affect ketosis. Though, if you happen to drop out for a short period do not fret, you’ll likely jump right back in within a couple of hours. 12

If unable to sustain high intensity workouts on a standard ketogenic diet, a TKD may suit you. The targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) is your standard ketogenic diet (SKD) with carbohydrates consumed at specific times around exercise. Most individuals find that 5-50 grams of carbohydrates taken thirty minutes before a workout enhances performance.

Chapter 7: My top 5 tips for bodybuilding on keto

I'll be the first one to say that what works for one person may not work for the next.

If you decide on a keto diet and bodybuilding as your plan of attack, the best thing you can do is EXPERIMENT.

Every day is a chance to learn about yourself, your body, and make adjustments based on real-world results.

I believe a ketogenic approach is a great compromise between optimal health and aesthetics.

That said, I guess that makes it 6 tips.

🙂

Tip #1 Consistency is the name of the game. Muscle gain is a slow process and while fat loss can be achieved a bit quicker, results still take time.

Tip #2 Stick with a standard ketogenic diet for at least 3-4 weeks before deciding you want to strategically implement carbohydrates for performance.

It takes your body at least 3-4 weeks to become accustomed to utilizing free fatty acids and ketones as its primary fuel source.

Tip #3 Supplement sodium pre-workout. I take 1-2g (.5-1tsp salt) in my pre-workout cocktail. This allows me to push harder and also get those “pumps” we all seek at the gym.

Tip #4 If you want to optimize muscle protein synthesis, it might not hurt to spread out your protein between 3-4 meals.

Tip #5 Use good form and a full range of motion on all your lifts even if that means lowering the weight.

Recent studies suggest that a full range of motion led to more muscle activation and growth even with lighter loads than the participants who used heavier loads with partial range of motion.

Chapter 8: Keto diet plan for bodybuilding and closing thoughts

All good things must come to an end, but before I go, I want to leave you with some final tips and examples to get you on your way.

Sample keto diet for bodybuilding

First off, there are no magical keto diet bodybuilding macros that I am about to present to you. What follows is based on the principles outlined above and using our EZ calculation method for determining calorie intake.

Muscle gain

Based on a 180lb male at 10% body fat looking to put on muscle.

180 POUNDS X .10% = 162lbs of LBM and 18lbs of FAT MASS
TOTAL CALORIES = 180 x 18 = 3240 CALORIES
PROTEIN = 162 (lbm) X 1g/LBM = 162g PROTEIN = 648 CALORIES
CARBS = < 30 = 120 CALORIES
FAT = (3240 – PROTEIN CALORIES – CARB CALORIES) / 9 3240 – 648 – 120 = 2480 CALORIES / 9 (9 CALORIES PER GRAM OF FAT)

TOTALS 3240 CALORIES 162g PROTEIN 30g CARBS 276g FAT

SAMPLE KETO DIET FOR BODYBUILDING BREAKDOWN

TIME:BREAKDOWN

0600: PRE-WORKOUT COCKTAIL (CREATINE, SODIUM, CAFFEINE, 10g MCT OIL, 20g WHEY PROTEIN)

0630 – 0730: TRAINING

0830: MEAL 1 35g protein 10g carbs 66g fat

1230: MEAL 2 35g protein 5g carbs 66g fat

1630: MEAL 3 35g protein 5g carbs 66g fat

1830: MEAL 4 35g protein 10g carbs 66g fat

Fat loss

Based on a 180lb male at 20% body fat looking to drop body fat.

180 POUNDS X .20% = 144lbs of LBM and 36lbs of FAT MASS
TOTAL CALORIES = 180 X 13 = 2340 CALORIES
PROTEIN = 144(lbm) x 1g/LBM = 144g PROTEIN = 576 CALORIES
CARBS = <30 = 120 CALORIES
FAT = (2340 – PROTEIN CALORIES – CARB CALORIES) / 9 2340 – 576 – 120 = 1644 CALORIES / 9 (9 CALORIES PER GRAM OF FAT)

TOTALS 2340 CALORIES 144g PROTEIN 30g CARBS 183g FAT

1000: MEAL 1 48g protein 10g carbs 57g fat

1400: MEAL 2 48g protein 10g carbs 57g fat

1700: PRE-WORKOUT COCKTAIL (CREATINE, SODIUM, CAFFEINE, 10g MCT OIL)

1730 – 1830: WORKOUT

1930: MEAL 3 48g protein 10g carbs 57g fat

These are just examples of how one can calculate their calorie needs macro needs.

Using the easy calculation above might serve as a great starting point for some and be way off for others. It’s best to track on a weekly basis and make adjustments based on results or lack thereof.

Closing words

Ultimately, fat loss or muscle gain boils down to expending more calories than is consumed or eating more calories than is expended. Some individuals have difficulty restricting calories on a high-carbohydrate diet. GUILTY.

If lowering carbohydrates and increasing dietary fat increases satiety, and makes it easier to control calories, then a ketogenic diet for bodybuilding may be a better dietary choice for you

(Not to mention many of the health benefits myself and others experience on a ketogenic diet).

The keto diet is very appetite suppressing, this is one of the most significant benefits because it becomes easy to drop fat (by eating less than your body burns).

Fat tends to slow digestion, meaning that food stays in the stomach longer, providing a sense of fullness.

The same has been shown to for protein. Additionally, protein stimulates the release of the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) which is thought to help regulate appetite.

In general, individuals who begin a ketogenic diet without paying attention to calorie, protein, or fat levels will automatically lower their caloric intake below maintenance.

Therefore, if muscle gain is your goal, it may be useful for you to track your calories and macros. Otherwise, the resulting caloric deficit will result in weight/fat loss.

Putting it all together

Hopefully I’ve been able to shed some light about combining a keto diet and bodybuilding to obtain the results you seek.

Done correctly, a ketogenic diet with bodybuilding is an effective way to achieve not only health but your body composition goals.

IT IS POSSIBLE!

TO OPTIMIZE YOUR DIET FOR MUSCLE GAIN:

Eat a calorie surplus of 250 – 500 calories per day. The aim is to increase bodyweight by .5 to 1 pound a week. Stick to the lower weight gain range the more trained you are.
Keep protein intake between .8g – 1g per pound of lean body mass
Some studies show benefits of splitting protein between 3 – 4 meals

TO MAXIMIZE YOUR DIET FOR FAT LOSS:

I usually suggest a deficit of 10 – 20% below maintenance to ensure muscle is preserved. Heavier individuals with more body fat may be able to get away with bigger deficits. Aim to decrease bodyweight 1 to 2 pounds per week.
Keep protein intake between 1 – 1.2g per pound of lean body mass and create your calorie deficit by reducing your fat intake.

AND IN SHORT:

Progressively overload your muscles providing the stimulus needed to grow.
Consume enough calories and protein based on your goal.
Get adequate sleep

These are the main principles to muscle growth or fat loss regardless of diet. However, you can further optimize your health and bodybuilding results by including some of the following:

Supplement with tried and true supplements backed by strong evidence such as caffeine and creatine.
Include MCT Oil and/or Exogenous ketones like Perfect Keto BHB
Use carbohydrates as a tool to improve performance by following a targeted ketogenic diet as described above.

I hope you enjoyed THE ULTIMATE KETO DIET AND BODYBUILDING GUIDE.

Are you currently on a ketogenic diet with the goal of adding muscle to your frame?

Any questions? Feel free to drop them down below.

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