Protein - much much do I need?

I have talked to a lot of people who think that simply adding protein to your diet will make you thinner.  This is sort of true but I think it ends up being an excuse for most people to just eat more protein and in turn, more calories.

I’m going to write about a couple studies to help us guide our eating habits.  This applies if you’re sedentary (couch potato – which nobody is who watches thedailyfit) or active (which you all must be, by default, since you partake of the sweet nectar of my wisdom.  Please don’t laugh too hard.)

Too little protein will result in loss of muscle mass, even if you consume enough calories.  If you diet (by simply cutting calories) and don’t keep your protein levels up, you’ll lose both fat and muscle.  When you lose muscle mass and your metabolism slows.  Slower metabolism means more fat when you go back to eating like you used to.  Suddenly, you have more fat than when you started.  Sound familiar?

Too much protein will cause something called Lucien oxidation – nutrient overload.  This is a sign your kidneys and liver are straining to keep up with the excess protein.  Excess protein is converted to glucose.  In the end, it’s the same thing as eating sugar.  That is not helpful to the diet or the health.

So how do we calculate what we need?  Ok – get ready for a little math, get a calculator.

Take your body weight and divide it by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms.  For me this would be 165/2.2 = 75Kg

Then multiply that number times .7 (for non active people) and 1.3 or 1.4 for people who perform strength training exercise (like we do at thedailyfit).  The number you get is the number of grams of protein you need per day.  I’m going to pretend that I need the most so that would be 75 x 1.4 = 105 grams per day.  Spread it out over your meals.  These studies did not have a specific protocol for how to consume protein, just daily totals.

In my opinion, for best muscle building, eat larger meals instead of spreading out your protein throughout the day with snacks.  The concept of consuming more tiny meals does not induce what's called protein synthesis (actual building of muscle fibers).  Scientists observed in even elderly women that consuming 80% of their total daily protein in one meal had better nitrogen retention (fancy word for keeping your lean muscle) than women who consumed the same amount of protein spread evenly through four meals.

It’s a delicate balance.  I’m just trying to give you some guidelines so you can check yourself as you go along.  Protein is a pretty big deal for getting and keeping your lean muscle tissue.  Too much and you’ll gain weight, too little and you’ll slow your metabolism (and gain weight).  Keep your eye on it.

Getting Strong Together,

Brian