3 Suggestions to Increase Muscle Mass With Breakfast
When it comes to building muscle, it’s necessary to take advantage of all the meals you eat during the day. Increasing your lean muscle tissue requires specific nutrients that will guarantee your body has the energy it needs. In this article, we’ll tell you about some suggestions for helping to increase your muscle mass at breakfast time.
The first meal of the day can sometimes be a challenge. Common breakfast foods are highly processed items that have little nutritional value. The trans fats from these foods can be detrimental to the body’s processes of building muscle, even creating systematic inflammation in the body.
Three suggestions to help you increase muscle mass
Following, we’ll show you some keys to help you turn your breakfast into an ally for building muscle. However, make sure you take into account the fact that your personal needs may vary from these general recommendations. It’s always a good idea to consult a nutritionist.
1. Always include high quality protein
How can you guarantee an increase in muscle mass, apart from good training sessions of course? It’s necessary to consume sufficient protein. In agreement with a study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, it’s appropriate for athletes to consume (daily) one gram of protein per pound of body weight.
For that reason, it’s a good idea to include some kind of animal protein in your breakfast. Think dairy products or eggs, among other ingredients. You could also include lean cold meats, such as turkey breast or cured ham.
As an example of the above, you might consider breakfasting on toast with cheese, and a serving of yoghurt.
2. Don’t skimp on the calories
The laws of thermodynamics are unbreakable. To generate muscle tissue, your calorie intake will have to exceed your energy output. If not, all your training will be in vain.
Of course, where the calories come from is also important. Try choosing high quality carbohydrates with a low glycemic index in your breakfast to give you energy. The best selection of all is always oats. Recent studies have shown that the beta glucans that oats contain are also beneficial for your gut’s microbiota.
The best way to get your portion of high quality calories at breakfast is to eat oatmeal. Of course, if you’re out of oats, you can always fall back on toast to get your carbohydrates. It’s not the healthiest food out there, but in sports, it does its job of giving you energy.
3. Avoid sweets
This probably sounds familiar: it’s essential to eliminate or greatly reduce the consumption of ultra processed foods in your diet. Foods with a high sugar content, such as bakery products, generate spikes in your glucose levels, apart from a constant state of inflammation.
When you’re looking to increase muscle mass, high quality nutrients are important, not empty calories. That’s why you should habitually include fresh foods in your breakfast, avoiding sweet cereals and bagels.
If you don’t give the sugary foods a miss, you won’t be satisfying your body’s need for protein. And if you consume more than the amount of calories you need for energy, these will accumulate as body fat instead of muscle tissue. Don’t forget the fact that body fat is capable of limiting muscle building, due to several metabolic interactions that take place.
Why not decide to give the sweets a miss several times a week? That way, you’ll be more likely to be getting the nutrients you need at breakfast.
Examples of what to eat at breakfast to increase muscle mass
Before finishing up, we’ll show you some delicious examples of what you can use to create your breakfasts. Remember that you can change the recipes however you want and adapt them to your preferences.
- Oatmeal with nuts and dried blueberries.
- Toast with guacamole and smoked salmon.
- Toast with slices of tomato, turkey breast and cheese.
Make sure you avoid the following products, even though you might not think they’re that unhealthy:
- Sugary breakfast cereals
- Sweets
- Bagels and other pastries
- Sweet chocolate
- Highly processed cold meats (mortadella, salami, chorizo…)
Make the most out of breakfast to increase muscle mass
Starting the day with a healthy dose of high quality nutrients will mean a step forward when it comes to building muscle. That’s why it’s recommendable to include sufficient proteins in your breakfast. This will activate your anabolic processes, where your body uses the right kind of molecules to build tissue.
Also, you should make sure you’re getting the necessary energy, which will allow the growth of lean tissue. And don’t forget to limit your consumption of highly processed foods.
Lastly, don’t forget that fruit juices aren’t the best option. It’s always better to eat a whole piece of fruit instead of drinking juice. This way, you’ll be eating the fruit’s fiber as well, which will reduce the impact of its fructose in your body.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Jager R., Kerksick CM., Campbell BI., Cribb PJ., et al., International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr, 2017.
- Jayachandran M., Chen J., Chung SSM., Xu B., A critical review on the impacts of b glucans on gut microbiota and human health. J Nutr Biochem, 2018. 61: 101-110.
