Your muscles stay the same size over time because your body constantly builds and breaks them down. Eating tips the balance toward building, while not eating tips it toward breaking down — and over time, these ups and downs balance out.

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Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Physiologic and molecular bases of muscle hypertrophy and atrophy: impact of resistance exercise on human skeletal muscle (protein and exercise dose effects).

Narrative Review

2009 Jun

The study shows that eating helps build muscle by making the body produce more muscle protein than it breaks down, while fasting does the opposite, which supports the idea that muscle stays stable over time by balancing these two phases.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

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According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Physiologic and molecular bases of muscle hypertrophy and atrophy: impact of resistance exercise on human skeletal muscle (protein and exercise dose effects).

Score: 1

DOI: 10.1139/H09-042

Similar Assertions

As we get older or if we're inactive or sick, our muscles don't build new protein as well after eating — and that's a big reason why we lose muscle, not because of changes in how our muscles work when we're not eating.

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