Top shelf stuff mate, i think its awesome how you show both sides, just shows how important timing is during rest periods. in terms of how much protein i would normally take, well i would simply put that down to two things, age and weight, me personally… about 30 grams per meal is okay i guess?
Research is good and research is bad.
Research is good because it can teach us a LOT.
Research is bad because most people don’t understand how to take the results of a study and analyze beyond the study to see how it fits in the big picture.
Fortunately, I will help do both with regards to the below study.
So, a team of researchers sought out to discover some stuff about protein:
J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 Sep;109(9):1582-6.
A moderate serving of high-quality protein maximally stimulates skeletal muscle protein synthesis in young and elderly subjects.
Basically, they wanted to see if a 90 gram serving of protein (about the equivalent of 12 oz of grilled chicken breast) would elicit a greater muscle building response when compared to a 30 gram serving (approximately 4 oz of grilled chicken, beef, etc).
The answer: No.
The conclusion: Your body can utilize approximately 30 grams of protein for muscle building purposes at a time. Elite athletes and bodybuilders, perhaps a bit more.
So, does this mean that you should only eat 30 grams of protein per meal regardless of your calorie needs?
No.
There are other factors that should be considered when determining your protein intake, independent of how much of that protein is able to fuel the muscle building process.
What we can, however, learn from this study is a very general rule:
It’s best to spread your protein intake out throughout the day, ala 6 meals with smaller protein portions than 3 meals with larger portions, because yes, there seems to be an upper limit to the amount of protein that the body can use toward rebuilding or building muscle at any one time.
Now, that number could certainly change based on whether the group was participating in regular, intense resistance training — I’m betting the amount would go up. Perhaps 40 grams on average…maybe more.
Either way, you’re probably going to get better results by splitting it up over the course of the day.
Later this week, I’ll be back to answer the question “How much protein do I actually need anyway?”
And I think you’ll be surprised by the answer.
If you’d like to see that article, do two things for me:
1) Hit the Facebook “Like” button below, then…
2) Leave a comment in the comments section
At least 100 comments and I’ll be back later in the week with the “How much protein do I really need?” article.
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
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143 comments - add yours
Hey Joe! I have not been such a fan of protien shakes but they do definately raise the energy levels. Can you specifically talk about protien shakes as well? I have a very busy schedule and sometimes I feel that the protien shake is a must-do post workout. Is it better before or after workout?
Hi Joel, I think this sort of thing only serves to confuse people, like u said this wasn’t in people who were working out….obviously when u go to the gym and hit the weights u r breaking the muscle down and increasing the bodys demands for protein for up to and maybe more than 72hrs, but especially the golden hr afterward. I have seen recommendations from bodybuilders who consume 100gms straight after they’re workout.
I believe each individual has different needs and also different capabilities to utilize varying amounts of protein and to generalise 30 – 40 is a BIG MISTAKE!!!
Age, gender, lean mass and level of activity NEED to be considered, not to mention variances in genetics lol… A 19yr male, 210lb bodybuilder who is training intensely 5days per wk with 3 HIIT sessions will have higher needs and also better digestive system and hormones, etc etc than say a 70yr old woman who weighs 120lbs and is sedentary.
I have to say this was the worst blog from u to date…I really like the stuff u have done before but this is poor in my opinion to try to put a figure on protein assimilation to suit ALL when as u know everyone is INDIVIDUAL.
This is one of the most difficult areas I find with a nutritional diet and just exactly how much protein should I eat in a day. I do not like counting calories or measuring amounts so a” rule of thumb” measure is required. Also, not only the amount of protein for training days but also non- training days. Eg. should I be eating the same amount or lower?
hey Joel 0 i really like that you continue to share research findings and get real knowledge out there instead of just passing along old wives tales (or should that be young buff stories?) Great job!
Isn’t the missing piece to this though the rate of digestion – our bodies will not waste energy. If amino’s are not needed in the blood stream doesn’t digestion alter such that the food is digested more slowly and thus the protein released when needed.
Therefore no requirement to split protein intake. Out digestive processes take care if it.
This is something I really needed to know…
Thanks
Sorry, Joel, but I’d have to disagree with you on 2 counts.
1) The best way is not to eat your protein with 6 small meals a day. Your body must be able to metabolize protein or it’ll just be excreted from your body. The amino part of the protein molecule will be cleaved off and the resultant carbon chain is the exact carbohydrates that many bodybuildera deride. So, eating an excess of anything is bad for you. That should’ve been a point you raised in your article – that you should not over-eat on anything, whether it be carbs, proteins or fats.
2) The very idea of eating small meals a day brings shudders to
my spine. It’s certainly not the beat way to eat, though you may find it the most effective. Many different methods can be used: IF, caloric restriction, eating clean whole foods, small meals a day, your cheat your way thin low carb weekdays with high carb weekends method, Martin Berkhan’s leangains method…
We all have our different preferences and while you feel the 5-6 meals with low carb with a cheat day is the most effective, I feel that Martin Berkhan’s leangains is the most effective. Protein metabolism cannot be determined just by this study. If anything, after reading the entire research paper, the thing that I’ve found to be the most important is that protein is overrated and overhyped. High protein diets are as bad as high sugar diets if not manipulated carefully. A balance is what must be struck.
love the info…keep it coming!
I have long subscribed to the notion that to build muscle we need to eat protein all the time. I think this will be proven a fallacy, much like the NO FAT notion of the 1990s. I am seeing more and more vegetarian & vegan strength trainers & bodybuilders that have strength and size that before few would have thought possible without huge protein servings. I was a vegetarian before so no one attack me for thinking vegetarians & vegans don’t eat protein but anyone not eating animal source proteins can’t consume as much protein as someone who is. There’s only so much food you can eat.
Well, I have been doing Cheat your way Thin, and so far, am pretty impressed! I can’t wait to see what else Joel has to say!
I have been wondering how much protein I should be taking in and what amount is actually being used, keep the great info coming. Thanks
Yes I would like to know more about protein. Sents I have days when I eat a lot.
Interesting article. I’d definitely like to see the follow-up as I’ve been told numerous times to eat a gram of protein per pound of weight you’d like to be. For me that is 160 grams a day throughout.
I think any person who trains with good intensity would have no problem digesting 40g per meal or even 50g.
I know when i do Squat , Bench , Deadlift in one workout i can eat a lot more and my metabolism is crazy for 1.5 days. So digestion will increase.
One of the things i think is important is to look at the quality of the protein.
You can eat PORK/BEEF/CHICKEN but it has 68% protein synthesis which means out of every 100g eaten your body only takes in 68g.
But FISH has 78% and EGGS have 88% protein synthesis so it may not be only HOW MUCH PROTEIN to eat per meal but FROM WHAT SOURCES so that more of it will stay in the body and less in the toilet.
Ivan out
100 g chickenbreast equals 20 g protein. Therefore, to gain 1 kg of muscle you have accumulate ~200 g additional protein.
For example, if you want to gain 1 kg of muscle within 2 months (60 days), you could add 200 / 60 = ~3 g (!) protein to your daily protein need. You don’t need expensive loads of protein.
I would like to see the answer to this question.
there are hydrolized proteins out there which usually contain more than 30 grams of protein.. so is it useless to consume them? therefore we can get some cheaper products which have 28 grams of protein? there is no point of getting these expensive hydrolized proteins???
How does this article affect the xtreme fat loss program in terms of protein requirements? Or is the protein listed in that program more than just the muscle building purposes?
Hey Joel,
Good to know that an excess of protein leads nowhere. I tend to eat probably more protein from lean meat sources than I should…
One question, everybody seems to be worried about the Cheat Day in your XFLD program but I’m actually more worried about the Fast Day. I’m thinking about starting the program soon, but my experience with fast days in the past is that I felt terrible, unable to focus, feeling weak and with a huge feeling of hunger…I’m worried whether this will happen again with your program.
Thanks.
Hi, Joel,
I don’t know if you’ll get 100 posts here, but i would really like to know the answer to that. I would also like to read some research about fasting and fat loss. Can you point some to me?
Thank you.
Finally, someone has hopefully set this straight. Hopefully others will be able to corroborate their findings and we can finally draw some conclusions about how to better feed our bodies. What age groups did they look at specifically? How did they measure how much protein was used after the meal? Where they looking at specific types of protein (meat vs dairy)? Did it make a difference? Has any other group done a similar experiment?
Thanks, from one reader of Scientific Paper to another.
I’m ready….
I’ve been wondering about this. Thanks for addressing it!
Is 30 g protein for a man? (I’m assuming the study wasn’t for a 120# lady.).
Will the extra protein in each meal be stored as fat?
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...