Eggs are an excellent source of high-quality protein and incorporating them into your daily diet is a great idea if you’re bulking. They are also high in fat so pairing them with food sources that offer lean protein is advisable. This article discusses how eggs can help you to gain muscle along with the benefits they offer to bodybuilders. So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Eggs Nutritional Profile
Eggs are one of the most popular and nutritious foods around the globe. After all, it turns into a baby chicken, which also means that it offers all types of essential nutrients. A single boiled egg comes with the following nutritional profile.
- Calories: 155
- Protein: 13 grams
- Carbs: 1.1 grams
- Total Fat: 11 grams
- Cholesterol: 373 milligrams
- Vitamin B6: 5 percent of DRV (Daily Reference Value)
- Vitamin D: 21 percent of DRV
- Cobalamin (Vitamin B12): 18 percent of DRV
- Magnesium: 2 percent of DRV
- Iron: 6 percent of DRV
Eggs are pretty much complete food as they offer a little bit of every type of nutrient your body needs for bulking. While they offer carbs in a very low amount, they offer protein to support your muscles. You can also opt for omega-3 enriched or pastured eggs that are even healthier. They come with a higher amount of vitamin E and A and omega-3 fatty acids.
Eggs and Bulking
Eggs are great for muscle building and you can eat them before and after your workout sessions.
Eating Eggs Before Workout
Ideally, you should eat food that is high in carbs before your workout session such as bagels. It’ll provide your body with the energy to perform weight lifting. Eggs are low in carbs and high in protein and fats that’s why they don’t make for the best food that you can eat before workouts.
Both protein and fat can slow down your digestion and your body won’t be able to convert carbs into energy. Resultantly, you’ll face decreased training performance. But you can still eat them one to two hours before performing the exercise. It’ll provide your body with enough time to produce the energy you need for your workout.
Additionally, you’ll also need to make sure that you don’t eat more than two eggs as your pre-workout meal shouldn’t contain more than 15 to 20 percent of the total calories of your meal. Not to mention, you should also avoid pairing eggs with other foods that contain added fat.
Eating Eggs After Workout
It’s important for bodybuilders, especially those who are bulking, to eat food that is high in carbs and protein after a workout. It’ll help your body to replenish the energy it needs for quick recovery. You can positively impact the process of rebuilding and repairing muscles by eating protein-rich food within one to two hours after a workout.
Eggs are loaded with protein content and you can pair them with a food rich in carbs to make an incredible post-workout meal. Bear in mind that your post-workout meal shouldn’t contain more fat than 20 to 25 percent of the total calories of your meal. It means you can eat two to three eggs as a post-workout snack.
Why Eating Six Eggs a Day is Considered Ideal?
There is a special type of protein, called leucine, that plays a key role in muscle protein synthesis. It’s the process of repairing and rebuilding muscles after performing an intense workout.
Your muscles go through the “muscle protein breakdown” process when you perform the exercise. The goal is to make sure that the active muscle protein synthesis is more than the muscle protein breakdown in your body. This way, you’ll successfully grow muscles.
The muscle protein synthesis starts when your body has at least 2.5 grams of leucine. This protein is found in eggs and many other foods including meat. Each egg contains about 0.45 grams of leucine.
Eating six eggs means that you’ll consume more than 2.5 grams of this protein and the process of muscle protein synthesis will start. That’s why eating six eggs a day is considered ideal.
However, eating this many eggs will increase your fat intake and you’ll need to manage your other meals accordingly.
Benefits of Eating Eggs for Bulking
The main goals of a bodybuilder are to lose fat and build muscles to optimize their physique. The following are some benefits of eating eggs that are aligned with these goals.
Eggs Offer High-Quality Protein
Your body needs a sufficient amount of protein to start the muscle-building and repairing process. Other than high amounts of protein, it’s also important to make sure that you’re getting it from high-quality sources that also offer amino acids.
Eggs meet these requirements with flying colors and make for a great source of protein for people who are bulking. They’re also affordable and portable and you can use them to prepare delicious and healthy snacks on the go. This food is also an excellent source of protein for people who can’t or don’t like to eat meat.
Rich in Choline
Choline is one of the most important nutrients that ensure better training performance and it’s naturally found in eggs in a high amount. This substance also improves the communication between muscles and the brain and the conversion of fat in the liver to produce energy.
The human body can’t produce choline in a sufficient amount and you need to consume it through different food sources. If your bloodstream contains less than the recommended amount of choline, it’ll decrease your training performance and you’ll feel fatigued for a long period of time.
Eating just a couple of eggs will provide your body with about 300 milligrams of choline and it’s more than 50 percent of the daily reference value. Thus, you can incorporate eggs in your daily meals to make sure that you perform optimally during workouts.
Loaded with Vitamins and Minerals
Eggs are loaded with vitamins and minerals such as folic acid, riboflavin, vitamins B12, K, E, and A. They also offer amino acids and essential minerals such as zinc and calcium that promote muscle recovery and make your bones strong. These nutrients can also fight inflammation and improve your overall health.
Related: Are Bananas good for Bulking?
Cons of Eating Eggs for Bulking
Along with their amazing benefits, there are also some downsides of eating eggs as well that you need to keep in mind.
Unsound Protein to Fat Ratio
While eggs offer high-quality protein essential for bodybuilders, it doesn’t offer a recommended ratio of protein to fat. The fat content in this food is significantly high, which means you can easily consume more than the required number of daily calories. Resultantly, you’ll start gaining fat. Tamales also contain a lot of fat.
The ratio of protein to fat should be 5:1 if you want to optimize your body composition. It means you should consume five grams of protein with every one gram of fat. However, that’s not the case with eggs as they offer 9 grams of fat for every 11 grams of protein and it’s equal to a 5:4 protein to fat ratio.
In order to manage this unsound ratio, you can focus on sources of food like chicken that offer lean protein. Another great strategy is to skip egg yolks to minimize your fat consumption. That’s because the fats are present entirely within the yolk.
Can be Difficult to Digest
Eggs are associated with food intolerances. It means you can experience some symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, and gas after eating them. Suffering from any of these symptoms will keep you from performing optimally during a workout session.
Not all people suffer from these problems but they can occur. If you’re not sure, consider starting with one or two eggs a day and increasing the number gradually. As discussed earlier, eating this food is more beneficial after exercising so you can also exclude it from your pre-workout meals.
FAQs
How Many Eggs Should You Eat for Bulking?
You can eat up to six eggs a day for bulking. If you’re eating them whole, make sure that you don’t consume more than two before or after workouts to minimize your fat intake. You can also focus on eating only the egg whites for the same purpose.
How Many Eggs Do Bodybuilders Eat per Day?
Most bodybuilders eat half to one cup of egg whites per day, which is equal to four to seven egg whites. If you’re just starting out, consider eating one to two eggs a day and then increase their number gradually to avoid symptoms of food intolerance.
Final Words
While you can eat as many eggs as you want, eating them in moderation, just like any other food, is recommended. Experienced bodybuilders can eat up to seven or even more eggs without facing any health problems.
If you have a risk of high cholesterol or heart disease, you should avoid eating this food. We hope this guide will help you understand whether or not you should include eggs in your diet plan if you’re bulking.