How Much Protein Do I Need?
I’ll bet you’ve seen all the protein shakes, powders and bars on the market, but I’ll bet you’ve wondered “how much protein do I need?”
As always, the answer isn’t as simple as a single number. You know the theme by now: “it depends.”
It depends on a lot of things like:
- Your goals. Losing fat and gaining muscle would require different amounts of protein.
- How large you are. Larger people require more of every nutrient.
- What type of exercise you do. Endurance training requires a different amount of protein than strength training, which requires a different amount of protein than flexibility training.
- What is your medical history. Some medical conditions require higher amounts of protein, while others require lower amounts of protein.
- What else are you eating? If you’re restricting any other nutrients (like carbohydrates or fats), that will affect how much protein you require.
These are the main considerations in how much protein you should eat. I obviously won’t delve into every aspect, but I’ll give you enough to get you started.
Original Source: Here
Are You Trying to Build Muscle?
In bodybuilding circles, protein is king. You hear recommendations as high as 1-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. So if you’re a 150 pound person, you’d require 150-300 grams of protein. To give you an idea of how much that is, think about it this way: a medium chicken breast has about 30 grams of protein. How many chicken breasts will you need to get up to the levels recommended? Way too many.
Needless to say, I don’t agree with those recommendations. There are a couple of major reasons:
- Protein is very filling. So you want to eat less. Not ideal if you’re trying to gain muscle.
- You burn a lot of calories digesting protein. If you’re trying to gain muscle, this isn’t ideal.
The single most important factor in muscle gain is how many total calories you eat.
So in my experience, if you’re a person who wants to gain muscle, but is more prone to fat gain, eat more protein. As high as 20% of your daily calories (remember to account for the protein in veggies, fruits, starches, dairy and nuts… it’s not just meat, fish and seafood). If you want specific numbers, it would look like this: if you’re eating 3000 calories per day, you need about 600 calories or 150 grams (1 gram of protein has 4 calories) to come from protein.
However, if you’re a beanpole, and have a very hard time gaining muscle, and your fat stores are minimal, you need less protein and more carbohydrates to gain muscle. If that’s you, I’d opt for protein making up about 10% of your daily calories, with the majority of calories (50-65%) coming from carbohydrates, and the rest from fat.
Are You Trying to Lose Fat?
What makes very large amounts of protein disadvantageous for muscle growth makes it fairly advantageous for fat loss.
Remember, you’re not trying to lose weight, you’re trying to lose fat. You want to retain your muscle.
If you’re trying to lose fat, you may consider raising protein to as much as 30% of your daily calories. So if you’re eating 2000 calories a day, you’d get 600 of your calories (or 150 grams) from protein.
I should note though that everything here is theoretical. When we work with clients, we don’t advise counting calories or grams (at least not in the long term). We recommend instead to count servings. We prefer working with small numbers.
If you’re confused by all of this, but want to figure out how to eat and exercise for your unique goals, and for your unique condition, fill out this form for a personalized Dream Body MAP Session.
Quick Summary
- If trying to gain muscle, protein should only be 10-20% of your daily calories
- If trying to lose fat, protein can be as high as 30% of your daily calories
- It’s better to count servings than calories and grams
