Protein intake guide

[guthixfed]

This is a good read I found kinda interesting read more at Protein 101: How Much Do You Need & Best Sources of Protein | StrongLifts.com



What do you need protein for? How much protein do you need? Are high protein intakes safe for your kidneys? What are the best sources of protein? This post will answer any question you might have about protein.


Why Do You Need Protein? Proteins are building blocks. Muscle, skin, hair, ??? They???re all made of protein. Benefits of reaching your daily protein needs:

Build Muscle. Since you need protein to build muscle, eating enough protein will ensure your body has what it needs to build new one.
Maintain Muscle. Getting your body the protein it needs will improve muscle recovery and prevent muscle breakdown from exercising.
Fat Loss. Protein has the highest thermic effect: your body burns more calories digesting proteins than carbs or fat. Protein also satiates: you feel full longer after eating a protein-rich meal. Both help fat loss.

How Much Protein Do You Need? The United States RDA is 0.8g/kg or 0.4g/lbs. This is 80g protein per day if you weigh 200lbs. But this recommendation is based on studies done on average, sedentary people.

The minimum if you train hard is 1g protein per pound of body-weight per day. That???s 200g daily protein if you weigh 200lbs. You???ll reach this amount easily by eating a whole protein source with each meal.


Protein Myths. Here???s some urban legend on protein that you???ll hear in gyms and probably also from friends, colleagues & crabs.

Protein Is Bad for Your Kidneys. There???s no data suggesting that high protein intakes cause the onset of kidney dysfunctions in healthy adults. There aren???t even correlational studies. Try to find them.
Protein Causes Weight Gain. Increasing your protein intake or drinking whey shakes won???t make you gain weight unless you increase your daily calorie intake. Read how to gain weight for skinny guys.
You Can Digest Max 30g Protein/Meal. Your body can digest & absorb pretty much anything you give it. Read the post how much protein can you absorb per meal for more info.

 

[SuperLift]

Interesting. I personally take in about 300-350g protein per day. I weigh 220

 

[lee111s]

Interesting. I personally take in about 300-350g protein per day. I weigh 220

I have the same philosophy. Rather take in slightly too much protein than not enough!

 

[ThreeGigs]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here.

Minimum of 1 gram per pound? That amount is actually more than any scientific study I've read has come up with. The most I've seen is 1.8 grams per kilogram (of lean body mass). Above that, no additional benefits in protein synthesis were seen. 1 gram per pound is 2.2 grams per kilo.

Protein doesn't cause kidney disease. HOWEVER, if a person has renal insufficiency (fancy name for kidney disease), then too much protein can lead to excess urea in the blood which the weak kidneys can't filter properly. If you have healthy kidneys, no problem, because THE BODY CAN'T ABSORB PROTEIN FAST ENOUGH to push blood urea past what healthy kidneys can handle. The problem is that about 1 out of every 6 people suffer from renal insufficiency. And there are generally no symptoms of insufficiency until a person has lost 60% of capacity. Those people are why the ever present "watch your kidneys!" advice always pops up.

I posted elsewhere about the 30 gram myth, and I believe there might be a grain of truth to it. But judge for yourself by finding the answers to these questions:
1) Whey is said to be one of the 'fastest' proteins. How many grams per hour does the body absorb?
2) How many hours are there in a day?
3) What part of the intestine absorbs protein, and how long is it?
4) How long does food spend in that part of the intestine before passing through (e.g. how much time does the body have to absorb protein before it's out of the absorption zone?)

And I certainly hope that protein helps us gain weight, otherwise why the heck are we all eating/drinking so much of it? (grin)

 

[Built]

Sorry, but protein doesn't help you gain weight, any more than carbs help you gain weight or fats help you gain weight. Protein's just calories, and calories in, calories out

Protein can help you lose weight though - protein is very satiating. It's easier to feel full on fewer calories if you eat a lot of protein. I take advantage of this while cutting. BTW, each of my three daily meals contains 60-80g of protein, and I weigh 143 lbs.

 

[phaedo]

Protein can help you lose weight though - protein is very satiating. It's easier to feel full on fewer calories if you eat a lot of protein.

See, I find the opposite - although just having had a look at the amount of carbs in some things seems to me that carbs are pound for pound more calorie dense - I was going to say a ham sandwich is more filling to me that just the ham in weight alone. Which is true. A sandwich of 160 grams in total (100 grams ham, 60 grams bread) would fill me up probably about the same as if I had 300 grams of ham on its own. But - now having read the carb content of the loaf of bread, 2 slices/60 grams of bread has close to 30 grams of carbs in it, whereas the 100 grams of ham has what, 15 grams roughly of protein? So to actually get the same amount of calories out of the two different types of things means eating a helluva lot more in actual weight of protein than is necessary in carbs. Very frustrating now I have actually had a sit down and compared the two sources.

 

[Marat]

See, I find the opposite - although just having had a look at the amount of carbs in some things seems to me that carbs are pound for pound more calorie dense - I was going to say a ham sandwich is more filling to me that just the ham in weight alone. Which is true. A sandwich of 160 grams in total (100 grams ham, 60 grams bread) would fill me up probably about the same as if I had 300 grams of ham on its own. But - now having read the carb content of the loaf of bread, 2 slices/60 grams of bread has close to 30 grams of carbs in it, whereas the 100 grams of ham has what, 15 grams roughly of protein? So to actually get the same amount of calories out of the two different types of things means eating a helluva lot more in actual weight of protein than is necessary in carbs. Very frustrating now I have actually had a sit down and compared the two sources.

I feel like you changed your opinion in the time between starting the paragraph and finishing it. Yes? If so, fascinating.

 

[phaedo]

I feel like you changed your opinion in the time between starting the paragraph and finishing it. Yes? If so, fascinating.

Yes and no - in absolute serving sizes, I feel more satisfied if eating carbs. However, I had a look at the breakdown of the macros of a loaf of bread and realised why I feel that way - I was equating serving size with the macros too much - no doubt because of the whole same number of calories to a gram of protein or carbs thing.
Edit to add: What I was probably getting at, is if I were to just eat half a kilo of chicken breast, I would probably still feel hungry - whereas if I only cooked 150 grams of chicken but threw another 150 grams of rice into the mix, I would feel full enough - hence the feeling that protein just doesn't fill me up the same as carbs.

 

[guthixfed]

Maybe carbs help you gain more then protein because although protein is accentual carbs enable you to actually have then energy to have the amazing lifts that make protein super important I dunno but i make sure I get 300-500 carbs a day

 

[sosc]

I posted elsewhere about the 30 gram myth, and I believe there might be a grain of truth to it. But judge for yourself by finding the answers to these questions:
1) Whey is said to be one of the 'fastest' proteins. How many grams per hour does the body absorb?
2) How many hours are there in a day?
3) What part of the intestine absorbs protein, and how long is it?
4) How long does food spend in that part of the intestine before passing through (e.g. how much time does the body have to absorb protein before it's out of the absorption zone?)

And I certainly hope that protein helps us gain weight, otherwise why the heck are we all eating/drinking so much of it? (grin)

You bring up some interesting points.

I happen to believe in the 30 gram protein myth as well, but believe
it has numerous weaknesses. It is missing:

(1) A way to integrate the weight of a person
(2) The ability to factor the intensity and breadth of a workout
(3) Considerations for liquids versus solid foods

Hopefully more studies will be done that can answer this question
beyond a reasonable doubt instead of only providing a static value.
An optimal amount should certainly exist.

 

[ThreeGigs]

Sorry, but protein doesn't help you gain weight, any more than carbs help you gain weight or fats help you gain weight. Protein's just calories, and calories in, calories out

I stuck the '(grin)' after that sentence on purpose, because I think most everyone here wants to gain muscle mass, i.e. weight. Too many people say "weight" when I think they really want to say "fat". Marketing people know the difference between 'weight' and 'fat', and they rarely use the word fat. But yeah, protein alone without stimulus in the form of exercise won't cause weight gain, our bodies simply cannot absorb enough of it to supply our energy needs.

 

[Built]

I stuck the '(grin)' after that sentence on purpose, because I think most everyone here wants to gain muscle mass, i.e. weight. Too many people say "weight" when I think they really want to say "fat". Marketing people know the difference between 'weight' and 'fat', and they rarely use the word fat. But yeah, protein alone without stimulus in the form of exercise won't cause weight gain, our bodies simply cannot absorb enough of it to supply our energy needs.

No, that's not what I meant. Most of us here can probably gain plenty of muscle (and weight) without increasing our protein intake.

 

[pebble]

The minimum if you train hard is 1g protein per pound of body-weight per day. That’s 200g daily protein if you weigh 200lbs. You’ll reach this amount easily by eating a whole protein source with each meal.

Sounds like your spooting off some bro science bud. Studies have indicated that a person NEW to resistance training requires no more than 1.76 g/kg to maintain a postive nitrogen balance, thus allowing for maximum protein synthesis.*

Whats important to note in the above paragraph, is that it refers to a new trainee which means that they are not used to the stimulus and stress and therefore cause more muscle damage (normally to the sarcolemma (muscle cell wall)). This means that their protein requirement is higher than an individual that is an intermediate. They still have stimulus that cause stress and results in adaptation, but it is not as significant. Therefore new trainees require more protein than an intermediate or advanced. This suggests that the most protein any person should need per day even if training is 1.76g/kg of body weight.

Protein Myths. Here’s some urban legend on protein that you’ll hear in gyms and probably also from friends, colleagues & crabs.

You Can Digest Max 30g Protein/Meal. Your body can digest & absorb pretty much anything you give it. Read the post how much protein can you absorb per meal for more info.

Dude, it's not about how much you can absorb. It's about what results in the highest level of protein synthesis. The rest is just being used for gluconeogenesis and excreted. Is it really worth having your intestines absorb $1 worth of whey to find out your kidney's excreted $.050 a few hours later after not having a need for it?

It has been shown that 20g of protein exhibits the exact same protein synthesis response as up to 40g. # So you should only take in 20g of whey at a time for the reason stated above.


By the way both studies referenced below where conducted on populations that are being discussed here - trained males.


* http://www.purdue.edu/swo/healthsho...htGain/ProteinReqAndSupplInStrengthSports.pdf

# Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men

 

[Built]

I, personally, load up on protein because it's easier to feel "fed" on lower calories - it helps me keep my weight under control. Beyond this, I'm keenly aware that barring control of my own overactive appetite, I have no physiologic need for so much protein.

I honestly think there would be a LOT fewer so-called "hardgainers" if said individuals ditched the protein shakes and just ate more carbs and especially, more fat. Way less stomach-distention.