HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD YOU EAT PER DAY?
If you google this question, you will see a bunch of articles and a bunch of questions from people asking the same thing. If you search on Reddit, you’ll find a lot of questions and answers as well. We are going to contribute to that today, but I’m going to provide an answer to the age-old question…how much protein should I eat per day? Here we go!
Don’t like reading? Here are the main points…
MAIN POINTS
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2g per pound of bodyweight can work with people who don’t gain weight easily.
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1g per pound works for those that track macros and adjust calories effectively.
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Enhanced athletes can benefit from increased protein intake of 2g per pound of bodyweight or more.
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Your training program and overall caloric expenditure matters when deciding how much protein you need.
Still confused or want to learn more? Keep reading…
There has been a debate on this subject for a while now. Some people claim that you need at least 2g of protein per pound of bodyweight to grow. Some people say that 2g is based off of lean body weight. I’ve seen recommendations that you need only 1g per pound of bodyweight…or less. Others say that natural people need less than enhanced weight lifters. The truth…they are all correct.
Let’s address the 2g per pound of bodyweight recommendation first. I’ll agree that this is a great number to target if you are trying to grow. Let’s say you weigh 175lbs then this would mean that you are targeting 350g of protein per day. That’s a lot of protein and I can confidently say that you’ll get sufficient amino acids with this quantity, and the “leftover” protein will be converted to glucose and stored as muscle glycogen or body fat. If you’re naturally skinny, and don’t gain weight easily, then you should make this a target. If you put on fat easily then you may not need as much, so you should only attempt this if you’re tracking the other macros and calories alongside it. Some claim this is hard on the kidneys but I have not found any proof to support that. Just because protein in the urine is in indication of kidney disease, does not mean that protein is the cause of kidney disease. Correlation does not imply causation…remember that and you’ll go far in the fitness industry.
Some argue that 2g per pound should be based off of lean body mass. This is a good argument because we are talking about protein in relation to repairing/building muscle tissue. It makes sense to focus on providing protein for the amount of lean muscle that you have. This is a great recommendation for those of you with higher levels of body fat that you want to lose. After all, you’re not eating protein to rebuild your body fat, right? You’re eating to build your muscles and hope that your body will consume your body fat for fuel and make it shrink. So, it would make sense to eat protein quantities based on lean body mass. You can find your lean body mass and then multiply the 2g per pound of lean body mass instead of overall bodyweight. Again, if you don’t gain weight easily then you don’t need to worry about this as you likely need the extra protein and calories to grow. If you do gain weight easily, then working off of lean body mass to calculate your protein needs might be a good idea!
We’ve learned more recently that we don’t need as much protein as we initially thought. This is true for natural lifters. If you get at least 1g per pound of bodyweight, and then focus on carbs and fats to make sure you are in a caloric surplus, then you’ll likely add as much muscle as the person eating 2g per pound of bodyweight and eating less carbs and fats (assuming calories are the same). In the end, calories are king and if you have two people eating the same quantity of calories…but one eats more protein than the other, as long as both are eating a “sufficient” amount of protein to repair muscle tissue then the results will likely be very similar. What does this mean? It means you shouldn’t stress about protein intake as long as you get around 1g per pound of bodyweight, and then focus on getting enough calories to grow on top of that. The 2g recommendations are better reserved for people who aren’t tracking the details of their diet and/or can’t seem to gain weight to save their life! You have to decide which person you are…and the lower protein recommendation will likely only work for the person who is on top of the rest of their diet. If you’re going to be lazy with your diet…don’t be laze with your protein intake.
However, all of this gets thrown out of the window if you use performance enhancing drugs. These people are placing their body in a state to build muscle easier than a natural person and they can make use of the extra protein because the performance enhancing drugs in their system is making their body act differently than a normal person. If this is you then I think a 1.5-2g per pound of bodyweight target is ideal since you’ll be able to utilize the increased flow of amino acids from the additional protein that you are consuming.
What are the factors that affect protein intake?
I’ve addressed that “hard gainers” are likely best shooting for 2g per pound of bodyweight. I’ve addressed that those with fat to lose should focus on that 2g being applied to lean body mass. Remember, the weight of your lean body mass is different than your overall bodyweight. I’ve talked about how you can still add muscle with 1g or less per pound of bodyweight as long as you’re on top of the rest of your diet. Lastly, it makes sense that an enhanced person can make use of the 1.5g-2g per pound range. What I haven’t talked about is the type of exercise that you do. If you’re on an intense program that burns a lot of calories and requires a lot of recovery, then you’ll need to adjust calories accordingly. If you are increasing calories to handle the workload of a hard program then you will likely benefit from an increased protein intake to help hit those calories. It’s a pretty simple theory, the more calories that you need to eat…the more protein that you need to eat as well.
I hope that helps you make sense of how much protein you should consume. Current knowledge tells us we don’t need that “2g protein per pound of bodyweight” that was preached forever in the bodybuilding community. While I agree, I also think there are still people who can benefit from targeting that goal. I remember being young, not focusing on my diet as much as I should, and making crazy progress once I focused on increasing my daily protein intake. If you’re on top of your diet, tracking macros, and adjusting calories…then around the 1g per pound of bodyweight is likely going to work well for you. If you’re not…then I highly suggest you level up your protein intake. Either way, if you land somewhere between 1-2g protein per pound of bodyweight then you’re likely getting enough protein. If you do this then just make sure you’re getting enough carbs and fats to reach your caloric goals and enjoy making progress. It really is that simple.
