I am often asked whether it is possible to eat sweets and grow muscle. Like, insulin, fat, and all that. Let’s, as always, go from afar. So that you don’t just have a “yes” or “no” answer, but a full-fledged picture.
And so, sweet things are carbohydrates—almost pure glucose. We will talk about “sugar” sweets, such as cookies, gingerbread, and other things. Fruits also have sugars (including fructose), but fruits on the mass are “only on the way.” I think that there should be no questions about fruits.
How Glucose helps Grow Muscle?
And so, sweets are carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are digested, converted into pure glucose, and enter the bloodstream. Perhaps I will tell someone a secret, but buckwheat and gingerbread will eventually become the same glucose. It’s just that the carrot will turn into it faster.
Next, the glucose will be directed:
- first, to provide for some urgent energy needs and all metabolic processes
- secondly, the synthesis of glycogen (which accumulates in the liver and muscle cells and becomes a reserve source of energy)
- thirdly, on the synthesis of adipose tissue (in the absence of the need to provide some energy needs and glycogen synthesis)
In general, glucose is either used immediately or stored in reserve in glycogen and fat. We are primarily interested in glycogen. It is he who creates the bulk of the muscle cell. Plus, with one glycogen molecule, 4-5 molecules of water are stored in the cell. Glycogen in a cell is both its volume and strength. And if you want to grow muscle mass effectively, your cells should be sufficiently filled with glycogen. Although this is an energy material, it directly affects the set of net muscle mass.
If there is enough glycogen in the cells, then your strength indicators grow. As your strength indicators grow, the ligaments become stronger. You can take more and more working weights, which invariably leads to an increase in net muscle mass and new contractile structures.
Are Sweet Foods enough to grow muscle?
And now back to carbohydrates. If the classic diet is enough to provide all the metabolic processes and synthesize enough glycogen, then you do not need sweets. If you are an ectomorph and are experiencing problems with weight gain, then in some cases, you can’t do without sweets. That is why the gainer is considered one of the top supplements for weight gain. It just contains many carbohydrates in its composition. It happens that a guy does not eat enough “carbs” and can not dial. I started drinking a gainer, and the weight popped (along with strength indicators).
In general, if there are not enough carbohydrates, then milk with gingerbread is your choice. You can also compensate with fruits (bananas, for example). At the same time, it is essential to ensure that glucose is synthesized into glycogen and not into fat. If the muscles grow, the working weights grow, and at the same time, you either do not visually add fat at all, or add it very moderately, then everything is fine. If the weight is growing, but the working weights are still in place, and the muscle volumes are also there, and at the same time, you are covered with a layer of fat, then the sweet things need to be removed. Its overabundance will not give anything but excess fat.
A lack of carbohydrates or an overabundance
It is difficult to say which is worse: a lack of carbohydrates or an overabundance. From the point of view of health, it is obvious that an overload is worse. From the point of view of the result in strength and volume, I think the shortage is more terrible. That’s why many guys overdo it with carbohydrates and gain a little more fat than planned. In fact, I don’t see anything terrible in this. Excess fat easily goes away on cutting in a couple of months. But already, “there is something to cut.”
In general, if you feel that there are not enough carbohydrates, then at the very beginning, try to increase the caloric content at the expense of complex ones (porridge, cereals). Then – at the expense of high-calorie fruits (bananas). And last but not least – at the expense of sweets. Gingerbread or cookies will work well.
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