Wait. It’s not as simple as that though. Unfortunately, muscle protein synthesis has something that likes to wait in the wings to cause trouble and that’s muscle protein breakdown. This can counteract your efforts.

When the two forces are well balanced and you’re exercising normally and eating to maintain body weight you won’t gain or lose muscle. If you have a positive protein balance any surplus can go straight to your muscle cells. However, if you’re in negative protein balance muscle protein synthesis gets the upper hand and you’ll lose muscle. This is often referred to as being anabolic. It’s when you lose your gains and it’s not ideal.