The Power of Protein – What Amount is Ideal to Maximize Muscle Gains?

How much protein do I need each day to see results? How much protein is too much? And how many grams of protein can my body assimilate in each meal?

“The only way you’ll build muscle is by eating enough complete protein every day. Just getting calories isn’t enough. If you don’t eat a protein-rich meal within 60 to 90 minutes after your workout, you’re essentially wasting your time.” you spent working out your muscles in the gym. Personally, I try to get at least 350-400 grams of protein per day in the off-season, at a body weight of around 235 pounds.” – Jason Arntz, IFBB professional bodybuilder.

“One should follow a high-protein, moderate-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. A good rule of thumb would be to get about 50% of your calories from protein, 40% from carbohydrates, and 10% from fat. This It will allow you to gain quality muscle while staying fairly lean.” – Chad Nicholls, professional sports nutritionist.

This is just a template; Everyone’s genetic makeup and metabolism are different. You should tailor these percentages to fit your specific needs. For example, if you gain weight easily, you may need to reduce your carbohydrate intake; if you stay very thin, you may need to increase your carbohydrate intake.

“The guidelines we generally use are 0.67-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. That amount does not guarantee results; it guarantees that you are meeting your protein requirement. Results are based on your genetics and training program. ” – Kritin Reimers, Ph.D., RD, is director of nutrition and health at Conagra Brands.

More than the amount of protein, an important consideration is the quality of the protein in your food. The highest quality protein is found in animal sources such as eggs, beef, and milk. That recommendation above assumes that two-thirds comes from a high-quality protein. If you get much of your protein from breads and pastas, you’ll probably need more than 1 gram per pound per day.

To answer the second question, some believe that high protein intake stresses the kidneys, causes the body to lose calcium, and dehydrates you. Let’s address each of those concerns. First of all, kidney stress applies to people who have a history of kidney disease; for healthy people, it’s probably not a problem. Second, increased protein intake increases urinary calcium excretion, but the body adapts by increasing absorption of calcium from food. Third, there is some mandatory urine loss, but most healthy athletes will drink enough fluids.

Keep in mind that focusing solely on one nutrient in a diet is not healthy. If you’re following an almost exclusively protein diet, you can bet you’re missing out on key nutrients. If you maintain a balance between carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and don’t overeat in terms of total calories, your protein intake won’t be excessive.

To address the third question, I don’t buy the idea that your body can assimilate so many grams of protein per meal, whether it’s 30 or whatever. That notion assumes that it doesn’t matter if I weigh 300 pounds or 120 pounds, and it doesn’t matter if I just got up from watching TV. There is no sacrificial basis for those limits.

What happens is this: your body has a store of amino acids that it continually replenishes; as the proteins you eat are broken down, some will go into that pool while others can be used for energy. If you get enough protein, your body will assimilate what it can and either burn the rest for energy or store it as fat. Of course, not consuming all your protein at once makes sense; instead, break it up into 3-4 meals per day. This should happen normally unless you are taking extreme measures not to do so.

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