Protein Intake Amounts and When

[1longdong]

Age 34
6’1”
200lbs
Bench 305
Squat 300
Dead 350

I have been lifting for about 12 years but have never really kept up with my protein intake. I assumed I was always getting more than I needed for growth. Now that I have actually started tracking it I see that I have never been close to 300 grams which is what I need. Has anyone actually taken in 1.5x your body weight in protein? And if so, can you testify that it actually made a difference? I’d like to hear from someone what I should expect to see now that I’m getting that amount of protein each day. (I’m only on day 3 of doing this)

 

[RottenWillow]

Age 34
6’1”
200lbs
Bench 305
Squat 300
Dead 350

I have been lifting for about 12 years but have never really kept up with my protein intake. I assumed I was always getting more than I needed for growth. Now that I have actually started tracking it I see that I have never been close to 300 grams which is what I need. Has anyone actually taken in 1.5x your body weight in protein? And if so, can you testify that it actually made a difference? I’d like to hear from someone what I should expect to see now that I’m getting that amount of protein each day. (I’m only on day 3 of doing this)

Protein quality and timing are both more important than total grams per day, so the amount you need is heavily determined by the amino profile of what you're getting.

Since I only consume very high quality protein I've found I achieve optimal growth rate by getting 1g per pound of lbm. More than that does not make a difference for me. I do not count incomplete protein sources like wheat proteins (gluten) or beans as protein. If it's not whey isolate, eggs or meat it doesn't get counted.

 

[shibs]

I get a good amount of protein.. the tricky part is getting all those dang carbs when bulking :\

 

[wiley79]

I keep a shaker cup in the truck with 2 scoops of whey in it, with about 5 grams of raw taurine just waiting for cool water as soon as I exit the gym. I read that the 30min after a workout is crucial, every since I started this, gains and bulk have been off the chart. But what works for one may not work for another. I recommend to try it for a couple weeks though.

 

[XMAN.]

Protein quality and timing are both more important than total grams per day, so the amount you need is heavily determined by the amino profile of what you're getting.

Since I only consume very high quality protein I've found I achieve optimal growth rate by getting 1g per pound of lbm. More than that does not make a difference for me. I do not count incomplete protein sources like wheat proteins (gluten) or beans as protein. If it's not whey isolate, eggs or meat it doesn't get counted.

agree with the amount and the sources , but u only want to increase that to 1.5 or even 2g per lbs of lbm when ur cycling, and always divide them to at least 6 meals and snacks (or shakes) duringthe day.

 

[XMAN.]

Protein quality and timing are both more important than total grams per day, so the amount you need is heavily determined by the amino profile of what you're getting.

Since I only consume very high quality protein I've found I achieve optimal growth rate by getting 1g per pound of lbm. More than that does not make a difference for me. I do not count incomplete protein sources like wheat proteins (gluten) or beans as protein. If it's not whey isolate, eggs or meat it doesn't get counted.

agree with the amount and the sources , but u only want to increase that to 1.5 or even 2g per lbs of lbm when ur cycling, and always divide them to at least 6 meals and snacks (or shakes) during the day.

 

[XMAN.]

Protein quality and timing are both more important than total grams per day, so the amount you need is heavily determined by the amino profile of what you're getting.

Since I only consume very high quality protein I've found I achieve optimal growth rate by getting 1g per pound of lbm. More than that does not make a difference for me. I do not count incomplete protein sources like wheat proteins (gluten) or beans as protein. If it's not whey isolate, eggs or meat it doesn't get counted.

agree with the amount and the sources , but u only want to increase that to 1.5 or even 2g per lbs of lbm when ur cycling, and always divide them to at least 6 meals and snacks (or shakes) duringt he day.

 

[shibs]

I keep a shaker cup in the truck with 2 scoops of whey in it, with about 5 grams of raw taurine just waiting for cool water as soon as I exit the gym. I read that the 30min after a workout is crucial, every since I started this, gains and bulk have been off the chart. But what works for one may not work for another. I recommend to try it for a couple weeks though.

It's actually been scientifically proven that taking your protein before your workout gives you the best results. It makes sense if you think about it.. the protein will enter your bloodstream and while you're working out your muscles are gorging on the blood even more so than if you would be resting after your workout. You pump more blood and deliver more nutrients to your muscles when you're working out.

 

[RottenWillow]

protein intake is overrated and one of the biggest load of bullshits in bodybuilding

if ur natural 1 gram per pound of bodyweight is all you need IF THAT, any more and its metabalised

the whole idea of spreading protein intake is another rumour, there are studies to prove there was NO increase in protein synthesism or difference in synthesism for people who spread there protein intake over 4 to 8 meals

its also show any meal or protien intake within 3 hours prior to a workout has no significant difference in strength and performance in strength, hence why whey protein shakes before a workout are almost useless

HOWEVER all these factors are for a natural individual, if your juicing or enhanced these factors would be influenced and i can advocate that 1.5 grams of protein intake would be suitable or could be beneficial, stack it with high carbs for building muscle, or low carbs to help preserve muscle

from personal experience i have had no improvement using more then 1.5 grams per pound body weight, if i need more calories i add carb and fat since they both are more anabolic and beneficial for the body then more protein

But do you know anyone who has ever tested that broscience? If you consider the effect that anabolic steroids have on the body, a different scenario is implied.


Because your nitrogen retention ability (and thereby muscle protein synthesis) goes WAY the hell up on gear, you could make significantly more rapid gains without increasing protein quantity at all. This assumes of course that your natty intake of protein was sufficient.

 

[stevesmi]

protein intake is overrated and one of the biggest load of bullshits in bodybuilding

if ur natural 1 gram per pound of bodyweight is all you need IF THAT, any more and its metabalised

the whole idea of spreading protein intake is another rumour, there are studies to prove there was NO increase in protein synthesism or difference in synthesism for people who spread there protein intake over 4 to 8 meals

its also show any meal or protien intake within 3 hours prior to a workout has no significant difference in strength and performance in strength, hence why whey protein shakes before a workout are almost useless

HOWEVER all these factors are for a natural individual, if your juicing or enhanced these factors would be influenced and i can advocate that 1.5 grams of protein intake would be suitable or could be beneficial, stack it with high carbs for building muscle, or low carbs to help preserve muscle

from personal expereince i have had no improvement using more then 1.5 grams per pound bodyweight, if i need more calories i add carb and fat since they both are more anabolic and beneficial for the body then more protein

I agree with your post. I honestly got way better gains worried about eating every 2 hours WHOLE FOODS. and not just downing protein shakes and bars all day. this whole counting protein is probably just years of whey companies putting out that info in magazines and misleading people.

I will quote a poster on here who was on the radio Ross "I only eat whole foods, I dont eat whey, it makes you sh** every hour and the body doesn't understand what it is" also he advocates brown rice and sweet potatoes as a staple of his meals.. the guy knows his stuff and is ahead of the times.

bottom line is make sure you keep your body anabolic and NOT catabolic.. avoid catabolism. avoid alcohol, caffeine, stress, poor sleep, crappy food (processed junk), which includes soy (which spikes estrogen) and sugars. that is the best way to build muscle.

to the OP, i promise you if you do that you will grow muscle better then just drinking 300 grams of whey a day. we didn't evolve on whey shakes, we evolved eating real foods. and obviously working out properly and allowing your muscles to recover, after all they grow when they are recovering, not while you are at the gym as Dorian Yates always says. so make sure you get plenty of rest!

no idea if that is broscience but that is what I've figured out very quickly.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I whole heartedly agree with you thatbloke and stevesmi.

It's about fucking time people realized this shit is all marketing propoganda.

I'm natural atm and I easily get 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and I work an extremely physical job plus workout 3x a week and I still fart all the time. It's undigested protein.

When I was on 500mg test I could eat every thing in sight and down 75grams of protein shakes and rarely fart. This supports the belief that aas rapidly increases protein utilization.

I agree that eating whole foods is superior to whey shakes by a large margin. I personally drink ALOT of milk. I also try to eat tuna every day and I eat alot of eggs. All 3 are excellent sources of real protein and for me I have no trouble taking in large amounts of any of them.

I used to drink 3 whey shakes a day. I'm down to 2 and looking for ways to cut that down to 1 while natural. If I was on I would probably drink 2-3 each day just to spike my protein up in addition to the food moreso than now.

From my own experience I've come to learn the power of carbs and fats in relation to gaining size and muscle. Both are easy to consume in large quantities and both are what is really responsible for creating the anabolic environment. You could eat 400grams protein a day, but if you need 4500 to grow, but only take in 3000 then you aren't taking in enough carbs and fats. Fats are beneficial to the joints and hormones and carbs supply energy and fill the muscles full of glycogen. Both are very important.

As a decent example of just how important they are incomparison to protein I'll use myself as an example. Last time I was on cycle using 500mg test ew I ran really low on funds for a week and completely ran out of protein powder. I'm kind of embarrassed to say that for a week I basically lived off cheese sandwiches, pb+j sandwiches and milk. That's literally all I ate. I would eat around 2 of each kind of sandwich each day always with a large glass of milk. Generally around 5 sandwiches every day.

I did this for a week. I know I wasn't getting 1 gram protein per pound of bodyweight. I was getting "adequate" protein. Probably around 150grams per day. What I was getting plenty of was carbs and fats.

At the end of the week I had actually gained 2 pounds and felt strong as ever in the gym despite being under supposedly optimal protein intake levels, while "on" for that matter because my carb and fat intake was plenty high.

At least that's my take on it.

 

[stevesmi]

if you ask guys in their young 20's it seems they all swear by protein shakes. i think they got it brainwashed in their head seeing pics of their heroe's holding shakes by X company... its all just a scam. all the same crap ingredients with sugar sold at GNC as 'protein shake' ... thanks to the internet and sites like this more and more lifters/bodybuilders are figuring this out and outing these BS companies.

needto put out a very good article on how companies like pepsi are taking over this industry and the whey that is used is the cheapest cheese (basically the leftover garbage).. so next time u down a whey shake just imagine you are eating cheap processed cheese. u know that powdery crap used in mac and cheese? its like that, but they add chocolate flavoring to it.. lol.

dont take my word for it though, everyone should do their own research. i know with me I got much better gains on real food vs. whey shakes.

 

[ExtraMile]

Im cutting, I have weighed between 209 and 175 while doing this so far and I eat between 200 and 300 grams of quality protein each day (I would say 240 would be a good average). Im eating 4 meals a day for the most part. Each meal I get 40-70g of protein from (usually ~50g). I dont seem to have lost any noticeable amount of muscle mass while doing this...

and yes Im natural.

but then other guys like CEO will talk about getting 500g of protein per day, and drinking shakes with 100g of protein in between meals. Then you get the big pro BBers and PLers who eat upwards of 600g per day, I have even heard of guys eating 900-1000g lol

 

[Acesopro]

The only time I time my protein is post workout. I make sure to take 50g with 5g of creatine asap. I get in about 260g protein a day from eggs, meat, and whey.