The Best Muscle-Building Breakfast

Fuel Your Workouts, Make Gains, and Get Ripped

by T Nation | 11/24/17

Tags: 
 Diet Strategy
 Bodybuilding

The Question

What's the very best muscle-building breakfast?

Chris Shugart – T Nation CCO

It depends on when you train, but for most lifters it's hard to beat oatmeal and
protein powder.

First things first: Yes, lifters and athletes need to eat breakfast. And yes, even
if their main goal at the time is fat loss. In fact, especially if the goal is fat loss
or staying lean. Study after study is reinforcing what Mom and common sense
have been telling us for years: breakfast is crucial.

Breakfast eaters tend to stay in better dietary control throughout the day
compared to breakfast skippers, who tend to get fatter over time. Studies back
this up. This is partly due to the fact that skippers often overeat at night, and
partly due to the sensitivity of muscle vs. fat tissue, which changes over the
course of the day. In fact, even if daily calories are kept the same, breakfast
eaters tend to lose more fat than breakfast skippers / late-night eaters.

In a nutshell, that means that a big breakfast (especially one that contains a
mountain of protein) is less likely to be converted and stored as body fat, while
big nighttime meals are more easily stored as fat. So, breakfast is that time of
the day when you can and should eat a big honkin' meal with 40 or 50 grams
of protein, plenty of good carbs, and a little healthful fat.

Now, what should you eat? If your goal is muscle gain and high-performance
training, it's hard to beat the nutrition and convenience of oatmeal and protein
powder. Here's my favorite:

Mix cold old-fashioned oats (soaked overnight in water or almond milk) with
two scoops of Metabolic Drive® Protein. Toss a handful of raw nuts on top
and a handful of berries. Fast and delicious.
Cooked oatmeal is good too and plain old-fashioned oats microwave just fine.
There's no need to buy those prepackaged, sweetened baggies of quick oats
or spend five bucks at Starbucks on a 10-year-old girl serving of low-protein,
high-sugar mush.

Oh, you just don't like oatmeal? Try hot rice cereal.

Now, what about early morning lifters? Yeah, you may not feel comfortable
with a big meal in your belly during training. But since fasted lifting is like
pissing from your back porch in high wind, you need to fuel up.

An easy solution is a Finibar and a serving of Mag-10®. You'll be ready to

bang plates without being stuffed. Eat your big-ass bowl of oats and protein
after training. – Chris Shugart

Amit Sapir – IFBB Pro, World Record Holder Powerlifter

 All the foods! Well, mostly.

My staple breakfast has been consistent for the last 5 years:

 12 egg whites
 1 scoop Metabolic Drive® Protein
 1-1.5 cups of quick oats (depending where I am in my dieting)
 1-2 tbsp almond butter (or similar nut butter)
 100g berries
 1 serving Superfood
 3 caps Flameout®
 1000mg Curcumin

I also add honey or a banana if I require more calories and am lean enough to
handle the sugars.

For building muscle you need all the food groups and this breakfast covers all
your bases: complex carbs and fiber, two kinds of protein, two kinds of healthy
fats, some vitamins, and a small amount of sugar to get into your system right
away to trigger a small insulin spike.

I blend all of this together with the egg whites as the liquid base and throw in
calorie-free items to make it tasty like Splenda, spices, vanilla extract, cocoa
etc. It's a fully balanced, tasty breakfast! – Amit Sapir

Tony Gentilcore – CSCS, Strength Coach and Performance

Expert

Whole eggs, oatmeal and plenty of overall calories.

I've worked with my fair share of guys trying to put on weight. Inevitably, the
following conversation will transpire:

 Guy: "Tony, I can't seem to put on any weight."

 Me: "Oh, really?"
 Guy: "Yeah, I eat ALL freakin' day and the scale doesn't budge. I can't
possibly eat more."
 Me: "What did you have for breakfast this morning?"

Crickets chirping
 Me: "Ah-HA! I knew it."

Listen, I'm not going to say something here like "breakfast is the most
important meal of the day" or "if you don't eat breakfast your metabolism is
going collapse." All else being equal, breakfast or not, the bigger factor at play
here is total calories over a 24-hour period.

That said, if putting on weight/muscle is a goal and you're not even willing to
do something as simple as get your ass out of bed to eat a waffle (or seven),
then there's not much I can do for you.

My muscle-building breakfast of choice is:

 5-egg omelet with spinach and cheese. That's whole eggs. None of this
taking the yolks out of the equation nonsense. Be a man, eat the yolks.
 1 cup of oatmeal with some granola, blueberries, and one scoop
of Metabolic Drive® Protein.
It's almost always my largest meal of the day, chockfull of protein,
carbohydrates, and fat – all the things the body needs (calories) to make
muscle. Weird, right? – Tony Gentilcore

Christian Thibaudeau – Strength Coach

It's dependant on your insulin sensitivity, as well as other factors like training
time and your last meal from the day before.

Two of the most muscular guys I know eat a lot of food and overall carbs at
breakfast. An IFBB pro friend of mine has two bagels along with his eggs in
 the morning. A strongman friend of mine must have 2500 calories at breakfast
and it includes about 300 grams of carbs from oatmeal!

Personally, if I eat that I will fall into an insulin-induced coma! Not to mention
that I train very early in the morning, so eating that much food would make it
impossible for me to have a decent workout.

The most important thing is to have a source of rapidly absorbed protein in

there. Eggs (if you tolerate them) are likely the best choice. And you need
some yolks to maximize growth and overall health. If someone is trying to gain
maximum muscle, they might go with 3-5 whole eggs. And if they're leaning
out maybe one whole egg along with 6-8 egg whites.

Since I train really early in the morning (I wake up 4:30 AM and train around
6:30), I want something easy to digest. I also don't take in carbs because I'll
have carbs in my workout drink (Plazma™). Also, I have carbs in my last meal
of the evening to help me relax and shut my brain off, so my glycogen stores
aren't empty in the morning.

So what I like to do is make a protein pancake:

 2 whole eggs
 2-3 egg whites
 1 scoop Metabolic Drive® Protein
 Cinnamon (about 5g)

I also drink 12.5g of sodium bicarbonate and will have a small amount of
veggies just to lower the acid load of the meal. Easy to make, easy to digest,
plenty of protein, and the cinnamon helps with insulin sensitivity. If I were not
training as early I'd add almonds for more sustained energy.
I did the "meat and nuts" breakfast for a while and would still do it if I trained
later, but digesting that takes too long for someone who trains early. –
Christian Thibaudeau

Mark Dugdale – IFBB Pro Bodybuilder

Since I train early, my "breakfast" is Plazma™.

Wired to produce results in the gym AND in business means my alarm goes
off at 4:30 AM. By 5:30 I'm moving iron for at least 60-90 minutes before
showering and heading to the office.

The whole idea of breakfast conjures up visions of a guy wrapped in his

morning robe enjoying a lavish spread of organic meat, eggs, hash browns
and vegetables sprinkled with herbs whilst sipping English breakfast tea,
listening to the birds chirp and watching the sun rise. Maybe when I retire.
The best muscle-building breakfast for me is a sweaty assault on the iron
while pounding Plazma™, a pre and intra-workout nutrition formula. Plazma
affords me the opportunity to train with intensity while my competition sleeps.
Lately, due to an egg sensitivity, I completely shifted traditional breakfast post-
workout to Finibars and coffee. Seriously, the chocolate Finibar paired with
black coffee, a dash of lactose-free whole milk and stevia is the best part of
my day!
Two Finibars provide 30 grams of protein and 80 grams of carbs. This
constitutes the best muscle-building breakfast for those like me who wake up
and go full throttle seeking another opportunity to make progress. – Mark
Dugdale

TC Luoma – T Nation Editor

Cured meat from even-toed ungulates, bird ovum, fermented dough, and the
leaves of camellia sinensis steeped in hot water.
 Okay, I'm being cute here, but if I answered "bacon and eggs with toast and a
cuppa' Joe," you'd think it so ordinary, so pedestrian, so uninformed, that you
might have just read the description and moved on to the next answer, writing
me off as a nitwit in the process.

I get it, but while my breakfast order is virtually the same one your 90-year-old
nana and papa still gum down today, despite reading in the big city
newspaper that their food choices were sure to drastically shorten their lives,
it's a perfectly healthy breakfast – when done right – and an exceptional
bodybuilding breakfast.

Let me make my case:

1. Eggs. Lots of protein. No argument there, right? But consider also that

eggs contain cholesterol, which is a precursor to testosterone production.
They also contain vitamin D, B12, selenium, riboflavin, and big squawking
amounts of leucine, which plays a monumental role in protein synthesis.
2. Bacon. While it's often portrayed as the poster boy for bad eating, bacon
is actually one of the healthiest foods. It's of course a protein source, but its
nutrient density is almost unparalleled and its fat is benign, if not downright
healthful. Nearly 50% of the "grease" it floats in as you cook it is oleic acid,
which is the same stuff we worship in olive oil. The rest of the fat is mostly
stearic acid, which is, yes, a saturated fat, but the body converts most of it
into, again, oleic acid.

And both bacon and eggs contain relatively large amounts of arachidonic acid,
which, while pro-inflammatory in some instances, plays an important role in
testicular production of testosterone.
3. Toast. Not just any toast, but sourdough toast. Sourdough is the
sauerkraut of breads. It's made by exposing the dough to millions of
lactobacilli, which produces an incredibly complex bread with tons of nutrients.
Furthermore, the fermentation process has broken down any gluten it
contains, which should placate the anti-gluten people. It also contains almost
no phytic acid, thereby allowing your gut to absorb most of its nutrients.

Lastly, the fermentation process has changed the molecular structure of the
bread, thereby lowering its glycemic index and improving your glucose
metabolism in general. Toasting it accentuates these changes. Top it off with
a tablespoon of grass-fed butter, which contains lots of body-building and fat-
burning conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
4. Green tea. Truth be told, I wouldn't bellyache if you had coffee – which
has plenty of healthy attributes – but green tea is particularly suited to
bodybuilders because it burns fat. It also gives a buzz similar to coffee, but
with less of the anxiety-producing effects.
Additional notes:

So yeah, while the age-old bacon, eggs, toast, and a cup of coffee/tea
breakfast is an American cliche, it's also a breakfast choice that makes a
whole lot of sense, especially for the athlete or bodybuilder. Here are some
things to keep mind:

 Have 4 to 5 eggs (since each egg contains only about 6 grams of

protein).
 Have at least 2 to 3 slices of bacon (each contains roughly 3 grams of
protein).
 Make sure the bacon is "pastured" or grass-fed.
 Put grass-fed butter on your toasted sourdough. Kerrygold's pure Irish
butter appears to be the best.
 Steep your green tea leaves in hot water for at least 5 minutes. Take it
withfish oil to enhance the fat-burning effect. – TC Luoma

Lonnie Lowery, PhD – Exercise Physiologist and Nutritionist

To me, the best muscle-building breakfast is whey and berry oatmeal.

The leucine-rich whey is anabolic, the soluble fiber from the oats prevents
abrupt blood sugar swings, and berries are the phenol-rich, antioxidant
superstars of nature.

Fortunately, home preparation methods don't harm – and probably enhance –

the benefits of blueberries. According to a recent paper by Gao and
colleagues (Food Sci Nutr. 2017): "Microwaved blueberries had greater level
of extractable malvidin-3-O-glucoside or cyanidin-3-O-glucoside than its
counterpart" and "microwaving significantly increased the availability of total
phenolic contents in blueberry extracts." Sweet.

But my interest is more than just scientific. I first heard of blueberry oats from
bodybuilding legend Paul DeMayo, who craved it like a treat when dieting.
Years later, during geekier travels, I learned from professor after professor at
a conference in Oxford that each of them made blueberries or mixed berries a
daily part of their routine. Hearing valuable things from the horses' mouths
carries weight with me, too. I've eaten oats and berries with a scoop of whey
several times per week for 30 years.

There's one last attraction of whey and berry oatmeal for me: preparation
speed. Often, I'll boil my oats on the stovetop rather than nuking them. Now,
anyone who's waited for oatmeal to cool in the morning knows it takes forever.
It holds its temperature so well they should insulate houses with the stuff.
However, add a half-cup frozen berries to that thermonuclear bowl of oats and
a titanic struggle ensues – one in which both come to perfectly edible
temperature and tenderness within two minutes. I add the scoop of whey (20-
25 gram) after the temperature comes down, to prevent any weird cooking or
clumping.

So there's my favorite muscle-building breakfast. It's both meathead and

egghead approved. It provides long-acting energy to train and go about the
day, it stimulates muscle protein synthesis, and it brings you enough
antioxidants to live to be 100... or at least combat free radical damage from
time and training. – Lonnie Lowery, PhD

Mike T. Nelson, PhD – Metabolism and Fitness Expert

An omelet with veggies.

Use a minimum of 4 eggs to get in about 30 grams of high quality protein with
enough leucine to spike muscle protein synthesis. Add in your favorite colored
veggies to get in a wide variety of different phytonutrients: tomatoes, spinach,
mushrooms, red onions, and garlic.

Here is a tip: Cut up the garlic small and let it sit exposed to the air for 10-15
minutes to increase the beneficial compounds that are both antibacterial and
antiviral to boost your immune system. – Mike T. Nelson, PhD

Chris Colucci – T Nation Forum Director

Meat and veggies, with a twist.

The best breakfast for lifters (and non-lifters, actually) is a slight twist on the
classic "meat and veggies" meal. Pairing animal protein with preferably-green
vegetables delivers high-quality protein, healthy fats, a good hit of under-
appreciated and overlooked fiber, and some of those vitamins and minerals
you're supposed to pay attention to.

But since most people don't have time for steak and broccoli or a salad with
grilled chicken first thing in the morning, two big handfuls of green vegetables
thrown into three or four whole eggs can make a pretty filling, relatively quick,
and super-nutritious all-purpose breakfast.

In just a few minutes, you end up with around 30 grams of protein, 300 or so
calories, and the knowledge that you started the day off with more vegetables
in one meal than your co-workers ate last week.

Trying to gain size? Add an extra egg or two and throw in some pre-cooked
rice. Trying to drop fat? Use even more vegetables and swap out one whole
egg for a generous pour of some liquid egg whites.
Frozen vegetables are super-convenient to use in a good ol' scramble. Heat
some oil or butter in a pan, add your power-packed vegetables like spinach or
a broccoli/cauliflower mix, let them cook for about two minutes, then add all
the eggs. Give it all a stir or flip after a minute or so and cook it all through,
then go tackle your day. – Chris Colucci