Hmmm, too much or too little?
I was searching for information on protein requirements and this forum was picked up by Google. I read some of the responses and I felt the need to post my own opinion. I'm telling you guys this so that you know I'm new. Anyway, here I go...
I'm going to stick to Mike's original intent in his question (in my own words): Is a high amount of protein needed for bodybuilders? Can scientific studies be shown to back it up?
Well, unfortunately I can't back up what I'm saying with studies at the moment because I'm having a hard time finding official and crediable ones that are avaiable online (most of the ones I know of are in medical journals sitting on my desk). That's originally what I was looking for, an E-Format study on this subject.
However, I can give you my opinion and thoughts on sufficient protein intake.
To put it simply, you can probably get away with eating a low amount of protein, but your gains will be a lot slower. You also tread a fine line between "too little" and a "low" amount of protein. It's just easier and more effective to eat a large amount of protein to provide enough free ammino chains for your muscles to regenerate. Too little protein IN MY OPINION is anything less then .8g/lb. of body weight. I personally try to get 1.5g/lb. HOWEVER, THAT IS ONLY ME. (Sorry for the caps, but I have to stress that it's what *I* do, don't take it as my advice for everyone). The danger with eating too little protein in terms of bodybuilding is simply that your muscles can atrophy. What happens when you train for hypertrophy is that the myfibers strands in your muscles are torn and strained, this most people know. Following that, your immune system sends in bodies that eat away and break down the torn fibers. After they are done, a local hormone stimulates the muscle building bodies to come in and synthesize free ammino chains to build the fibers back up, and they are built back up stronger and bigger then their previous state. However, if there aren't adequate free ammo chains available, then your muscles can't easily be rebuilt. If this is done to the extreme, then the result will lead to muscular atrophy. Hence, you need to take in at least a minimum amount of protein to prevent this. As I said, I personally believe .8g/lb. of body weight is a minimum.
On the other end of the scale is a large amount of protein. A large amount of protein in my view is anything above 1.1g/lb. of body weight. In this case, your muscles have more then enough protein to use in the process of rebuilding myofibers. It's also my belief that chances are, your body prefers to burn off the excess protein rather then store it as fat (although I don't have a lot of scientific explaintion to back this up at the moment, what I know about the way your body keeps up glucose levels leads me to believe so). One of the biggest concerns is how much stress your kidneys can take in the catabolism process of protein for energy. Your kidneys are responsible for filtering out any harmful toxins that result from this process. So the question becomes: How much protein can your kidneys and your liver take? Well, my current belief is that if you don't have any kind of pre-existing kidney or liver conditions, and you maintain a healthy carb/fat balance, then you should be ok. If you have conditions that effect your liver or kidneys, then it's a different story (or if you have genetics that predispose you to develop problems with those organs). As any level of intelligence will tell you, consult your physician on this matter. He/She will know a lot more then most of us.
So to summarize: Too little protein can lead to muscular atrophy. Too much protein can strain your kidneys and liver. The primary goal should be to provide your muscles with enough protein to rebuild, and to maintain the whole diet and keep it balanced, which means watch carbs and fat. This is my own opinion based on the facts that I've read, my own experience, and the experience of others. I could be wrong, but I am willing to back what I just said as a result of myself. I'm no doctor, so don't take what I said that way, please.
On a side note, I'd like to say that I find most people in the bodybuilding/weight lifting area to be revolting. I'm not stereotyping EVERYONE, but I am summarizing a the group of people I've met. A large majority of them turn out to be morons that can't respect anyone else's viewpoints at all. I don't know if it's the constant need to feed their own egos, or if it's the testesterone running through their veins, but bodybuilding seems to attract a lot of idiots and morons. For some reason, everyone thinks they know everything. Some of the responses I read in this thread almost made me puke with digust.
I'll also add my own stats, so people don't get into a "Yeah? Well this guy is probably a fatass sitting around doing nothing."
My Stats:
Age - 21
Height - 5'10"
Weight - 160 lbs.
Body Fat % - 7%
Daily Diet:
Proteins - 225g to 275g
Carbohydrates - 450g to 500g
Fats - 60g to 75g
On my closing note, my goals: 180 lbs. @ 6%-7% body fat
