Can't gain muscle on keto - a good scientific explanation?

Therefore, any carbohydrates that you do intake will be automatically shunted towards providing energy for the brain and be broken down into glucose.

Alpha Lipoic Acid can increase glucose uptake into skeletal muscle that is hindered by high fat diets. I suspect it is not the only insulin mimetic to do so. You might want to add more carbs or protein though to preserve the same amount going to the brain.

Why’s this bad for muscle growth? Well, for one this means that the glycogen stores in your muscles will become depleted very quickly (usually within a few days),

I would like to know whether glycogen is actually required for muscle growth, or it only provides (more) energy for workouts.

and two, your body will being to rely heavily on the urea cycle (the breakdown of amino acids)

HMB could prevent muscle catabolism.

All of these factors result in a large net decrease in the rate of amino acid (protein) synthesis, especially true in skeletal muscle tissue.

Leucin promotes protein synthesis.

Not only does this inhibit muscle hypertrophy and increase rate of catabolism, but it also makes the body more acidic (fyi, some enzymes – enzymes catalyze reactions, some of which are catabolic – operate more efficiently in an acidic environment) due to an increase in nitrogen content in the body (the result of large scale breakdown of amino (NH2) acids) which together with CO2 forms urea. Everyone loves gout, right?

Sodium Bicarbonate and Potassium Bicarbonate could help increase the bicarbonate buffer to help against acidity, if it is a problem at all. Be cautious with the Sodium Bicarbonate though, it causes Potassium efflux.

Finally, your insulin levels will plummet pretty low. Insulin is released in response to carbohydrate ingestion and it is the most anabolic hormone known to man. Without it, it’s definitely going to be nearly impossible to grow.

Whey Protein triggers insulin hard. If that is not enough, there are insulin mimetics. But as far as I know, there is no additional muscle growth when adding carbs to whey protein.

Anything I missed?

/r/ketoscience Thread