How much protein?

[johnathan1995]

Can someone tell me how much protein should I take?i know this sounds a little silly but recently I read two articles saying that a gram and more of protein per pound of body weight is too much but I've been consuming around 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.have I been taking too much?

 

[fauzool]

if ur bulking u only need 1 per lb doesnt hurt to go more how ever. if your cutting you need more protein than bulking.

 

[Celorza]

essential levels of protein for a bulk are 1 to 1.25g per LB of BW , so as to leave space for more important calories like Fat and Carbs which are basic for a bulk

 

[Natestreo]

When I have bulked in the past I make sure to get 1-1.5g per lb bodyweight. And as Celorza said... Make sure to get enough carbs and fats.

If you have trouble consuming enough calories then consider getting closer to 1g per lb bodyweight so as to save some room as celorza said.

If you don't have that problem, shoot for 1.5g per lb

 

[StickmanLee]

1 gram of protein per lb you weigh. It's a good benchmark.

Don't think there's any scientific research to prove these amounts tho, more down to trail and error of bodybuilders over the decades

 

[Celorza]

1 gram of protein per lb you weigh. It's a good benchmark.

Don't think there's any scientific research to prove these amounts tho, more down to trail and error of bodybuilders over the decades

Come again?

http://www.jacn.org/content/19/suppl_5/513S.full

That's even a bit lower than 1g per lb of BW , which presents no problem. I for a fact know people here who even do .7 or .8g of protein per LB of BW and focus on healthy fats and complex carbs for the rest of their kCalorie needs of the day and have fantastic bulking results...

 

[StickmanLee]

I think you mean same as me?...

I'm 177 pounds so a good target would be 177 grams daily.

People will say a lot higher too, which would be beneficial if you were on as or ph.

Personally I get as much from natural foods and different sources.

Supps only supersede natural food due to fast digestion rate/convenience. Poss less fat.

 

[Celorza]

I think you mean same as me?...

I'm 177 pounds so a good target would be 177 grams daily.

People will say a lot higher too, which would be beneficial if you were on as or ph.

Personally I get as much from natural foods and different sources.

Supps only supersede natural food due to fast digestion rate/convenience. Poss less fat.

Hm I respect the educated 3rd sentence, and the good habits of sentence number 4. I much rather rely on my own whole foods rather than supplements and well, what can I say, I stay off PH/DS or AAS in general. Reps for a good member from the UK in this forum

 

[StickmanLee]

An interesting point about different situations in that article.

It does really depend on so many other factors.

For example: your bodies always in survival mode, so once you smashed the gym and your bodies up in arms you feed it 40g whey protein

Because you've depleted your glycogen stores etc etc the last thing really on your bodies mind Is wow here's some protein let's build some muscle. It will process your whey protein through gluconiogenesis to replace these stores and maybe what's left will go on rebuilding muscle fibers.

So if all you take post workout is protein you mite be falling short on the figures you think your ingesting.

 

[howwedo107]

Come again?

http://www.jacn.org/content/19/suppl_5/513S.full

That's even a bit lower than 1g per lb of BW , which presents no problem. I for a fact know people here who even do .7 or .8g of protein per LB of BW and focus on healthy fats and complex carbs for the rest of their kCalorie needs of the day and have fantastic bulking results...

When I cut sometimes I only get in .7 or 8 grams of protein per body weight and I see no muscle loss on a cut so I agree with Celly and when bulking if your getting 3.5k calories a day in its hard to not get at least 150-200 grams of protein by just eating anything period without sitting there worrying about how much protein you have to get....almost any real food (non processed) has some protein in it anyway...for example I have 6g of protein in half of one of my wheat English muffins.

 

[Celorza]

An interesting point about different situations in that article.

It does really depend on so many other factors.

For example: your bodies always in survival mode, so once you smashed the gym and your bodies up in arms you feed it 40g whey protein

Because you've depleted your glycogen stores etc etc the last thing really on your bodies mind Is wow here's some protein let's build some muscle. It will process your whey protein through gluconiogenesis to replace these stores and maybe what's left will go on rebuilding muscle fibers.

So if all you take post workout is protein you mite be falling short on the figures you think your ingesting.

I has been highly proven that the immediate post workout protein absorption is HIGHLY overplayed. I rather look at it as a construction building. Weather you bring the blocks (macros) to the workers right after they have been shocked awake with a hard banging coffee (workout) and have them try their best at building a whole Empire State replica in 30 minutes, their results will fall short upon the constant supply of higher quality and denser blocks (whole foods) at certain better working hours of the day (relate to higher insulin sensitivity timing) with the same workers. Alas for me Intermittent Fasting has proven to be a more relaxed way to look at my diet and macros while still achieving my goals. The thing to remember is this is a lifestyle that takes ages, decades, and long standing commitment .

 

[Celorza]

When I cut sometimes I only get in .7 or 8 grams of protein per body weight and I see no muscle loss on a cut so I agree with Celly and when bulking if your getting 3.5k calories a day in its hard to not get at least 150-200 grams of protein by just eating anything period without sitting there worrying about how much protein you have to get....almost any real food (non processed) has some protein in it anyway...for example I have 6g of protein in half of one of my wheat English muffins.

This is a true point, but I usually don't count TRACE protein in meals that usually have a heavier caloric weight in Carb and Fat macro nutrient aspects. For example I tend to NOT count the carbs or protein in Natural Peanut Butter and mainly focus on hitting the 140g of protein mark (example) with whole foods centered around protein , any trace extra protein I get a day doesn't matter really, unless I am cutting, well then I'll be real meticulous about every single macro. But as long as I get all my kCals on a bulk, keep the essential levels for each macro met (fat and protein wise) and I get as many carbs needed (no problem if over 450 or 500g lol) I'll be bulking happily like right now haha.

 

[EasyEJL]

science shows elite level athletes maintain muscle mass with no loss at somewhere from .6-.8g/lb. So for a 200lb athlete somewhere between 120-160g will definitely maintain lean mass. A pound of muscle has about 160g of protein in it. On a natural bulk, you can't synthesize more than a half pound of actual muscle tissue a week - so you need an extra 80g of protein over the span of the week... or a little over 10g a day.

Going higher doesn't hurt, your body will use gluconeogenesis and more or less treat the protein as if it was complex carbs instead, creating glucose from them. Theres some vague math based solution that says at a certain level of high protein consupmption you'll strain kidneys by overstressing them beyond what the protein clearance rate per hour is, but there has never been any actual evidence of it happening. Even that was at levels well above 2g/lb.

 

[Royd The Noyd]

science shows elite level athletes maintain muscle mass with no loss at somewhere from .6-.8g/lb. So for a 200lb athlete somewhere between 120-160g will definitely maintain lean mass. A pound of muscle has about 160g of protein in it. On a natural bulk, you can't synthesize more than a half pound of actual muscle tissue a week - so you need an extra 80g of protein over the span of the week... or a little over 10g a day.

Going higher doesn't hurt, your body will use gluconeogenesis and more or less treat the protein as if it was complex carbs instead, creating glucose from them. Theres some vague math based solution that says at a certain level of high protein consupmption you'll strain kidneys by overstressing them beyond what the protein clearance rate per hour is, but there has never been any actual evidence of it happening. Even that was at levels well above 2g/lb.

That New hydrolysate study discusses the kidney thing and agrees.

Also for OP:

http://www.advancedmusclesciencelab.com/2012/05/optimal-protein-intake.html

 

[superbeast668]

science shows elite level athletes maintain muscle mass with no loss at somewhere from .6-.8g/lb. So for a 200lb athlete somewhere between 120-160g will definitely maintain lean mass. A pound of muscle has about 160g of protein in it. On a natural bulk, you can't synthesize more than a half pound of actual muscle tissue a week - so you need an extra 80g of protein over the span of the week... or a little over 10g a day.

Going higher doesn't hurt, your body will use gluconeogenesis and more or less treat the protein as if it was complex carbs instead, creating glucose from them. Theres some vague math based solution that says at a certain level of high protein consupmption you'll strain kidneys by overstressing them beyond what the protein clearance rate per hour is, but there has never been any actual evidence of it happening. Even that was at levels well above 2g/lb.

I've seen a lot of conflicting evidence towards the kidney strain from too much protein. some say yes some say no.

OP, as far as macro intake, you've posted this in bulk so i'm assuming thats your goal. cant fail with 1,2,3. 1g/lb protien, 2g/lb carbs, .3g/lb fats. you can adjust all 3 if need be a little, like .8g/lb 1.5g/lb blah blah blah. just shoot for around those numbers. the only part of that i dont follow is the carbs, im closer to 1.4g/lb because i store a ton of fat when i go that high on carbohydrates (if i followed 2g/lb i'd be eating 450 or so carbs) I've personally managed to recomp very nicely off of that diet, burning up fat and gaining good solid muscle mass. its a simple approach and an easy way to figure out how much of what you need to eat.

 

[johnathan1995]

Thanks very much guys.loads of new information and help to me here.i guess I can shoot around 1gram to 1.2 then considering I usually have a very high carb diet.thanks!

 

[Jiigzz]

Studies are always changing in regards to nutrition. Many studies I read pre 2009 stated that post workout was essential to make the most out of the workout. However i'm now reading studies that say that as long as you hit macro goals, then it doesnt really matter when you get them in, except if your exercising multiple times throughout the day and need as much time as possible to replenish glycogen stores (or at least partially replenish).
I shoot for 1.6-1.8g/KG/BW (as i used the metric system) and will rarely ever go above 1.9g/KG/BW as I do a lot of fitness training and excess protein makes you pee heaps (gotta get rid of that urea somehow), and I need that water so I dont get dehydrated (hard to replace fluids while running).
Another important note is that once protein requirements are met, your body will simply break down protein via a process known as deamination in which the amino group (the amino acids) are split from the carbon group and converted into ammonia, the body then converts the ammonia into Urea and you literally pee it out.
Or, for some specific amino acids, this process will instead convert them into glucose and either stored as fat or used as fuel.

 

[superbeast668]

Studies are always changing in regards to nutrition. Many studies I read pre 2009 stated that post workout was essential to make the most out of the workout. However i'm now reading studies that say that as long as you hit macro goals, then it doesnt really matter when you get them in, except if your exercising multiple times throughout the day and need as much time as possible to replenish glycogen stores (or at least partially replenish).
I shoot for 1.6-1.8g/KG/BW (as i used the metric system) and will rarely ever go above 1.9g/KG/BW as I do a lot of fitness training and excess protein makes you pee heaps (gotta get rid of that urea somehow), and I need that water so I dont get dehydrated (hard to replace fluids while running).
Another important note is that once protein requirements are met, your body will simply break down protein via a process known as deamination in which the amino group (the amino acids) are split from the carbon group and converted into ammonia, the body then converts the ammonia into Urea and you literally pee it out.
Or, for some specific amino acids, this process will instead convert them into glucose and either stored as fat or used as fuel.

Thats great info bro. Thanks for that. Reps when im on a computer.

 

[AaronJP1]

Agree with EJ.
I take I'm about 120-150g of protein a day. I've been ok doing that. You guys have to remember it's your lean body mass #1 & you can also lower the number to .6-.8
I don't always have a post work out protein weather it's a shake or meal, but sometime shortly in a 2 hour window I have something. Tried both ways I think and have not seen much difference. Although I will say I think I may personally stick to a shake post w/o in the future.