Does Eating More = Muscle Growth?

The words that you will hear from me time and time again in regards to weight loss/gain are calories in and calories out. To lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume, and to gain weight you must consume more calories than you burn. Simple enough. Where the issue lies in this fact though is the tendency to think that more is better. In this case specifically, does eating more calories to gain weight automatically mean you will exponentially increase muscle growth as well.

The answer is simply put– You cannot over feed yourself into developing more muscles. The key word here is over feed. Watching your favorite strongman competitor or bodybuilder’s “What I eat in a Day” vlogs are by no means a guide for you to follow. Why? Because one, these men and women are genetically in the top 0.1%, and two, these men and women are more times than not using an abundance of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) that offset and optimize practices that wouldn't work for the average person.

In a study analyzing the effect of nutritional intervention on body composition in elite athletes (Garthe et al. 2013), it is clearly shown that strength training and a calorie surplus are the two most important factors when it comes to gaining lean muscle tissue. However, it also shows that more is not better. In this study, 47 athletes participated in a 8-12 week weight-gain period where strength training and positive energy intake was highlighted. However, one group ate in a large caloric surplus while the other ate in a small caloric surplus. Both groups saw an increase in lean muscle tissue, but the group that ate in a large caloric surplus saw a largely significant increase in body fat.

Another study (Valentin Petrescu-Mag et al. 2024) confirmed that an excessive calorie surplus can lead to excess fat accumulation and negative effects on hormones and protein synthesis, the process in which cells create proteins, the building and blocks of life.

Nutrition is known to have a permissive role when it comes to muscle growth. Your diet doesn't cause your muscles to grow, it permits it to occur. Training grows muscles, nutrition provides the correct material to build effectively. In the end, a calorie surplus of 5-10% is most optimal for muscle growth, which many would define as a “lean bulk”.