Only Eating Protein Will Not Help Build Muscle

I'll cut to the chase and put it out very simply- to build muscle, you need food. You won`t grow any muscle tissue unless you are eating in a caloric surplus. Drink as many protein shakes as you want, eat as much chicken breast you can, but if you are not eating enough calories, then don`t expect any muscle gain. There's no refuting this FACT. © Thinkstock Beginners and someone starting with training after a layoff will still build muscle irrespective of poor nutrition. However, this doesn't happen once you get past these stages. On one hand, we have dudes who consume little to no protein while on the other hand, there are those who live on protein, neglecting carbohydrates and fats. This article focuses on the latter kind of gym 'brahs'. © Thinkstock A lot of guys have a misconception that only protein builds muscle. This is highly inaccurate. Protein in combination with carbohydrates and fats (or just fats if you are doing keto), builds muscle. You can only consume a limited number of calories from protein alone, rest have to come from fats and carbohydrates. If you are not eating enough, your body will not have enough calories needed for repair and growth. Consider a 160-pound athlete needing 2800 kcal to build muscle. If he is consuming around 1.3g/pound of bodyweight protein, this will turn out to be 208gm of protein. Total calories will be 208*4=832kcal. So even if this athlete consumes the optimal amount of protein, he won`t gain any muscle if he`s not eating the rest of his calories from carbs and fats. In this case, unless the athlete consumes the remaining 1968kcal (2800-832) from fats and carbs, he can say bye-bye to gains. © Thinkstock Gym rats in recent years are so concerned about meeting their protein requirements that they ignore other macronutrients, which work in tandem with protein to build muscle. Now please don't ask what if he consumes all the calories from protein. This will require a whole new article to answer. Another misconception gym guys have in mind is only protein is needed for building muscle and recovery while carbohydrates are needed only for energy. Bullshit. Try eating just protein for few days while avoiding carbohydrates (unless you are on keto) and tell me how well you recover while feeling low and irritated. Try going too low fat or avoiding them altogether for a while in your diet and see your testosterone levels drop. Low testosterone means low energy levels, low motivation and even lower ability to recover from taxing workouts. Say bye-bye to muscle growth, again! Skinny dudes often ask me to suggest them the best protein powder with 0 gram of carbs and fat, the reason being they don`t want to gain any fat. It just makes me cringe and I`m like "2-4gm of carbs won`t kill you or make you fat". I don`t know if this term exists but they for sure, are suffering from 'carbophobia'. I`ll just say this, don`t be that idiot who avoids carbs like they are a mortal sin. A diet rich in complex carbohydrates, good fat and protein will pack on the muscle mass that you are looking for. Fulfill your intake of carbs and fat the same way you complete your protein requirements. Daman Singh is an internationally certified sports Nutritionist and an athlete competes in Strongman and powerlifting without the aid of Anabolics .He also runs a YouTube channel named :- SIKHSPACK and you can follow him on Instagram and trains Drug free population .