How Many Eggs Can I Eat A Day Bodybuilding?

Wow, eggs have been incredibly controversial. I grew up in a time where ads on TV would say ‘Eggs are actually good for you!’ because for a long time the medical experts claimed they were horrible for you. And new research came out showing they’re actually a superfood!

But, when it comes to bodybuilding, there is NO SECRET that eggs are one of the BEST foods you can eat for gaining muscle. So, how many eggs can I eat a day when bodybuilding?

If you don’t have time to read the whole article, here’s what you need to know: You can eat a ton of eggs every day when bodybuilding, and some bodybuilding programs even recommend eating 12 eggs a day! But, for the most efficient results, it is best to eat 3-4 eggs a day when bodybuilding. However, eating 6 eggs causes a protein to activate supercharging your muscle growth!

Now, let’s cover how we reached those numbers and why exactly the egg is so powerful.

Photo by Lukas from Pexels, How Many Eggs Can I Eat Bodybuilding?
Photo by Lukas from Pexels, How Many Eggs Can I Eat Bodybuilding?

You Can’t Really Eat Too Many Eggs

Most people are worried that they are eating too many eggs everyday, but don’t worry.

If you’re a bodybuilder, your body needs a ton of protein and tons of different nutrients to recover after your brutal workouts. Eggs luckily, provide this.

In fact, eggs have a special protein in them, leucine, which kickstarts your muscle-building process (But, we will cover that more on that later).

But, many people are worried (and rightfully so) that they may suffer health complications from eating too many eggs.

According to Harvard Medical School, research has shown that even eating 7 eggs a week has no impact on your health.

Furthermore, according to the Cleaveland Clinic and Julia Zumpano, “If you have heart disease or high cholesterol, be cautious about the number of egg yolks you consume”, furthermore, “A red flag is there only for people with heart disease risk factors”.

Registered Dietician Zumpano is trying to say that unless your doctor has told you that you’re at a risk for heart disease or high cholesterol, there just isn’t really a problem with eating eggs and you’re safe.

But What If I Do Have High Cholesterol or Heart Diease? – Try Egg Whites (They’re GREAT For You!)

In that same article, Zumpano states, “research indicates that total saturated fat contributes more to LDL (bad) cholesterol than dietary cholesterol”.

So, ultimtely, it’s not really just eggs that are going to do it. You’ll need to avoid foods with any saturated fats.

However, you’re still in luck. Zumpano points out excellently that egg whites are cholesterol and saturated fat-free.

Egg whites are just eggs without the yolk. And they’re just as cheap as normal eggs!

In fact, Rich Piana (one of the biggest bodybuilders of all time), used to tell all of his fans to make these massive protein shakes in the morning by pouring nearly half of the carton of egg whites into your shake!

Egg Whites Contain Tons of Critical Proteins to Muscle Growth

While many people advocate eating the egg yolk if possible due to the cholesterol potentially benefitting some weight lifters, the egg whites still contain over 30 critical proteins to muscle growth!

Well, Tommy, what am I missing in the egg yolk then?

Don’t fear. The egg yolk only is really giving you vitamins/nutrients like Zinc, Vitamin D, etc. While these are great nutrients to get from the egg, they can easily be replaced by taking a simple multivitamin every day.

But it’s not that easy to replace the 30 different critical proteins in egg whites that will supercharge your muscle growth. So, if you’re eating eggs for bodybuilding, the egg whites are really all you need.

But, how many eggs can I eat when bodybuilding? How many of these egg whites is too much?

Tommy, How Many Eggs Can I Eat a Day When Bodybuilding?

Well, when it comes down to it. Most people will recommend just eating 3-5 eggs a day, or whatever you’re comfortable with.

That’s really not even a lot. A small omelet generally consists of 3 eggs. And here’s the nutrition on that:

  • Calories: 210
  • Protein: 18g
  • Fat: 13.5g
  • Carbs: 2g

Luckily, eggs are cheap. So going through a lot of these won’t cause a hole in your money.

But if you actually look at it, the total volume of 3 eggs is pretty small, so it’s not even that hard to eat.

However, don’t fret. 3-5 eggs will give you tons of irreplaceable nutrients, a lot of protein, and will keep your wallet happy.

Now that’s the simple answer if you’re just looking for a number to eat everyday for breakfast. That’s what I personally did, had three eggs with some pre cooked bacon bits tossed in every morning.

But, there’s actually a special number you could hit if you want to really supercharge your muscle growth…

Why 6 Eggs is The “Special” Number To Supercharge Your Muscle Growth

There’s this special protein that every bodybuilder obsesses over.

It’s called Leucine. When you consume at least 2.5g of Leucine, your body starts what is called “Muscle Protein Synthesis”.

Now, leucine isn’t ONLY found in eggs. It’s found in many types of meat. That’s why earlier I recommended eating three eggs because you can have something else like chicken on your plate and still activate the muscle protein synthesis without only ever eating one food in your life.

Regardless, each egg roughly has .45 grams of leucine in it. This means once you eat 6 eggs, usually muscle protein synthesis will be activated.

I’m sure you can kind of guess by the name- but what exactly is muscle protein synthesis?

What is Muscle Protein Synthesis?

Muscle Protein Syntehsis is your body repairing muscle after it has been destroyed.

When you workout, you destroy your muscles and break them down. This is called Muscle Protein Breakdown.

If your body has muscle protein synthesis active more than muscle protein breakdown is active, you will successfully grow muscle.

That’s where that quote comes from, “you don’t grow muscle in the gym, you grow it outside of the gym”. You can activate muscle protein synthesis in tons of different ways, but I personally recommend reading this article if you’re interested in that stuff, Nutrition Tactics covered it better than I ever could.

The takeaway? Having 2.5+ g of Leucine will activate this. You can use this by eating 6 eggs after your workout and making sure your body goes into that muscle-building state. Pretty neat, huh?

Building The Monolith, The Program That Requires 12 Eggs a Day.

Building the monolith is one of the hardest programs in bodybuilding. And for good reason, it provides incredible results and even the most experienced bodybuilders are scared of it.

It’s harder than Smolov’s Squat Program or even the Smolov Bench Program.

This is where many people started the 10 whole eggs a day bodybuilding trend.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to try and do, but I’ve never got around to it. But, I’m planning on doing it shortly.

This program will require you to do nearly 35 sets of squats, then 35 sets of overhead press daily, etc yada yada you get the idea. This program is only for the tough.

But what makes this program so successful other than it’s incredibly rigorous training scheme?

The incredible diet scheme. The diet requires you eat a ton of calories (usually above 4,000) and you are required to eat 12 eggs every day with 1.5 lbs of beef. Wow.

This program is tried and tested by many people, and many people attribute the success of the program to the incredible diet scheme proposed by Jim Wendler.

Your Body Might Not Handle That Many Eggs

As much as I love to advocate 6 eggs a day, I don’t think most people can actually handle it.

Not health-wise, people aren’t usually dying from eating eggs. But, a lot of people tend to get sick of eating the same food over and over again.

Especially when it comes to a food like eggs that can be fairly rough on somebody’s digestive tract.

Even when I was eating 4-6 eggs a day in my first bodybuilding prime, I was only able to maintain it for 5 months before I wasn’t able to even touch eggs for another 8 months.

This is a recorded phenomenon for any food, but particularly many bodybuilders report it with eggs and dairy products.

Not gonna lie, it was a weird time for me when I couldn’t even eat ice cream because I had eaten it daily to put on muscle. But, it does happen.

So I’m just telling you, don’t overthink it too much. Have a few eggs as you see fit, and your health probably won’t suffer, as eggs are actually pretty good for you.

Conclusion of How Many Eggs Can I Eat A Day Bodybuilding?

Well, really, you can eat as many as you want. Don’t be excessive and try to eat 50 eggs or something, everything in moderation of course.

But eating 3-5 eggs a day is something most bodybuilders regularly do without any health problems. The only reason you should avoid eggs is if you have a risk for heart disease or high cholesterol, and furthermore, you can replace those with egg whites instead!

And even then, some programs call for 12 eggs, and 6 eggs can instantly jumpstart your muscle building process. So really, you’re good no matter what route you take.

But if you ever feel sick or whatever, just lay off the eggs. There’s other foods out there!

5 thoughts on “How Many Eggs Can I Eat A Day Bodybuilding?”

  1. I was looking at possibly doing a 16 egg, 1 medium onion, 10 stalks of celery, and 6 carrots for a total of 1500 calories a day. scrambling and baking it to avoid cooking fats. Would that be harmful? I saw where one guy who had high cholestorol did this on a 2000 calorie diet cooking with oils, he did lose 1.5 inches on his waist but his cholesterol went up. I am thinking the cooking oil was the culprit not the eggs.
    What do you think?

    Reply
    • Hey Mr.Brown!

      Thanks for writing in. Predisclosure, always check with a medical professional before starting any diet advice, and this is not medical advice.

      Looking at your list here, there’s a lot to unpack. I think a few years ago there was that big medical dilemma where people said that eggs increased cholesterol, but I think right now the current consensus is that eggs actually LOWER cholesterol.

      Again, I could be wrong- but I agree with your thinking. If anything was increasing his cholesterol, it was most certainly the cooking oil, NOT the eggs. Cooking oil is a well known cholesterol increasing food, that can actually increase cholesterol drastically and create serious health defects. That oil is one of the reasons that fast food can become so dangerous to eat at.

      Personally, if I were you, I would diversify the meat a little more. Chicken breast is a great food that gives low calorie per ounce, so you wouldn’t get sick of eating eggs all day. I wrote an article called How Many Eggs Can I Eat a Day When Bodybuilding? where I tried to cover this more in-depth and cover the health risks associated with eating eggs and not eating eggs. Personally, I try to stay away from more than 3 eggs a day, but many of my bodybuilding friends can go for 10-12.

      Regardless, I think you have a good idea with the diet. The celery and carrots are good for your health, fiber, and are healthy. I just recommend you diversify the meat more for your own taste.

      Please write in if you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to email me at tommy [at] vekhayn.com!

      Please have a great rest of your day,
      Tommy

      Reply
  2. Great article. I’m finding nutrition the hardest part in making gains. Eggs are quick, easy and nutritious. From now on I’m, I’m going to have 4 eggs a day + other protein sources to ensure that my body is adequately prepared to grow.

    Reply
    • Thanks for writing in Adeel,

      I appreciate your compliment on the article.

      You’re right. Nutrition is quite the hardest part of this whole bodybuilding thing. I always thought the part of going to the gym for a few hours everyday would be the hard part, but I learned the hard way. I’d recommend watching some simple YouTube videos on how to make big healthy protein meals that take little time using things like a CrockPot or George Foreman plug in grill. You can buy these for $10-20 at the grocery store and they are so simple to use. You can toss a pound of chicken with a ton of spices, vegetables, et cetera in the crockpot before you leave for work/school and come home with a fully cooked meal that’s thousands of calories and 100+g of protein.

      I love personally slamming a pound of ground beef into a pan on the stove when I get back from the gym. Then, I combine it in a bowl with doritos (yes, doritos lol) and shredded cheese. It’s like a mini-taco, but it’s around 115g of protein, 2,000 calories, super delicious, super cheap to make, takes only 10-15 minutes to make, and will fill you right up and get those macros done.

      In your case, you might want to buy a dedicated egg cooker. I’ve seen some bodybuilders who religiously eat their homemade ‘Sasuage Egg McMuffins’ every morning before the gym. It’s delicious, healthy, and a ton of calories and protein. It may be something you want to look into!

      Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with on your journey,
      Please have a great rest of your day Adeel.

      Reply

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