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HOW MUCH PROTEIN WE NEED
🕑 Added 2024-06-14 21:57:30 +0000 UTCHey, folks. Today and in the next sports issue, we’ll talk about protein. And we won’t just study theoretical inferences, but develop practical recommendations useful for muscle building and development of muscle strength. I’ve planned to deal with two important issues. Today we’re going to talk about HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO WE NEED FOR MUSCLE GROWTH. Both during the day and for a one-time intake. And in the next issue we’re going to look into the subject of WHICH PROTEIN IS REQUIRED FOR MUSCLE GROWTH. The topics are very important because they are closely related to your economic capabilities. After all, it is no secret that they are all different: someone can afford more, someone less. Therefore, questions of quantity and protein source are very important. We’ll start with the QUANTITY..HOW MUCH PROTEIN YOU NEED PER DAYAt first thought, it seems to be a very simple question. You have probably heard a million times that it is enough to multiply your weight in kilograms by 2 (i.e. the need of an athlete = 2 grams of protein for each kilogram of his weight). They write about it in magazines so often that most bodybuilders have unconditionally believed it. Moreover, they often write in the same magazines that 2 grams per kg of weight is too little if you are a really cool bodybuilder or an experienced steroids consumer. The explanation is always simple - bodybuilders’ needs for protein are high, so you should use at least 2 grams per kg of weight.Only that the issue of daily protein need is not as simple and unambiguous as it may seem. For example, official medical regulations are quite different. The World Health Organization recommends 0.75 grams of protein per kg, while national regulatory bodies recommend 60 to 120 grams per day for adult men. Moreover, if the dose is increased to 3 grams per kg, according to physicians, it may cause health problems (overloading the liver, kidneys and other body systems).But let’s say it’s all lies about harm to health, because hundreds of thousands of bodybuilders around the world use an increased dose of protein at 300-500 g/day and for some reason do not die like flies. And their liver won’t fail despite the fact that many people also use steroids. In other words, there is probably no significant harm to health. But is there any benefit to having so much protein? It is important to understand this because protein supplements, and just high-quality protein nutrition in general, are the most expensive things in the food basket. Is it all worth the money we spend on so much protein?HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO WE NEED TO GROW 1 KG OF MUSCLELet’s think about it as amateurs. So, how much protein is there in our muscles? On average, 12-20 grams per 100 grams of weight. In other words, only 20% of our muscles are made up of protein. All the rest is mainly WATER + FAT + minimum dry residue.Why did I write that? Because to build more meat (for example, an extra centimeter on your biceps) formally you don’t need so much protein: only 200 grams for one kilogram of muscles. And not per day, but in general! I mean, that’s the total amount... Suppose you eat only 1 gram of protein per day (not per kilogram of weight, but for the whole body...i.e. consider that the protein is not in the diet), then you will get 365 grams of protein in a year. Accordingly, we multiply this amount BY 5 (20%X5=100%) and get 1,825 gr. That is, only 1 gram of protein per day is enough to gain 1.5-2 kg of meat per year. Accordingly, if you eat at least 10 grams of protein per day (in general, not per each kg), it is theoretically enough to grow 18 kg of meat per year. Well, 100 GRAMM = 180 KG of muscle a year!Of course it makes no sense. Of course, this amount will not be enough to gain even one kg of muscle, because we do not take into account the other needs of our body in protein (all organs and almost all processes in our body, not just the growth of your muscles, require protein). Therefore, 1 gram or even 10 grams of protein per day is too little not only for muscle growth, but even for normal life activity. This will instantly raise the level of bad cholesterol and lower the level of good cholesterol to a minimum, because when there’s lack of protein the body will start to save on generation of good containers (good cholesterol), and will start to generate large containers from less protein (bad cholesterol), which will occlude the vessels. In fact, this is what scientists observed in all the prisoners of the concentration camps. Conclusion: protein is important for many systems and organs of our body, so its amount should be significantly higher than 1-10 grams per kg of body weight.However, this amateur calculation is not as funny as it may seem at first sight because it shows the REAL need for protein for muscle growth when all other body needs are met.
We know how much protein the body of an average person (not athlete) needs. Not exactly, of course, but most medical organizations in the world claim that an average person only needs 1 g per kg of body weight every day. Someone says a little more, someone a little less. Some people may have more challenging jobs and lifestyles, some may have easier. Someone’s body is younger, someone’s body is older, etc. But on average it is recommended to consume about 1 gram of protein per each kg of body weight per day! Obviously, this is the starting point to which we should add the needs for our muscles, if we want to build them... Does that make sense? Yes, it does.And our amateur calculations about how much protein we need to build 1.5-2 kg of new muscles are very relevant. In fact, not too much. Only 10 extra grams of protein per day (in total, not for each kg) gives you the necessary surplus to build 1-2 kg of muscle per month. Let me remind you that + 1 g/day = 365 g of protein/year = 1825 g of meat/year. Accordingly, 10 extra grams of protein each day gives you the amount you need to build 18 kg of meat per year or 1.5 kg per month!Let’s get to the numbers. Okay, let’s say a man weighs 80 kg. If he is a bodybuilder, he is recommended to consume 2 grams for each kg, i.e.. 160 g. protein per day (80X2=160). If he is NOT a bodybuilder, then most often he is recommended to consume only 1 gram per kg, ie. 80 g. protein per day... Bodybuilder consumes TWO TIMES more protein than an average person! In our example, a person must eat additional 80 grams of protein, if he wants to build muscle. But we found out that the purely mathematical addition to the basic amount of only 10 grams of protein daily is enough to build 1.5 kg of muscle per month. You have to agree that 10 grams of protein is not 80 grams of protein at all. The former will cost much cheaper than the latter.Okay. It is quite possible that training with weights creates some additional need for protein not only to create new muscles, but also for all other systems of the body. But you don’t have two hearts or three livers, you didn’t turn into a creature from another galaxy after you started training. Therefore, these additional needs cannot be fundamentally different from normal needs of systems and organs. Personally, I can assume that they will increase by a maximum of 1.5 times, due to the possible acceleration of metabolism after workout. Well, what do we get? We have three things to put together:BASIC protein need of the body (systems and organs) = 1 g/kg (per day)
STRUCTURAL protein need to build NEW MUSCLES = 10 g/body (per day)
ADDITIONAL need of the body due to new muscles and workouts (basic need X 1.5)
Well, what do we get? We get approximately 1.6 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day!!! This amount of protein is likely to be more than enough physiologically to grow a couple kilos of muscles in a month. Well, let’s say you’re a fanatical bodybuilder who can build up 3-5 kg of muscle per month, then you can raise the bar to the usual 2 grams of protein/ per kg of body weight and this will be more than enough in terms of your body needs.WHY IS THERE A LACK OF PROTEINBut wait a minute. Why then so few people can grow eating 1.5 grams of protein, and those who eat 2 or even 3 grams per kg usually better cope with muscle growth?
And that’s where the fun starts, folks. It's all about the fact that PROTEIN IS ABSORBED WITH DIFFERENT EFFICIENCY. One person absorbs 100% protein, while the other does not absorb even 50%. So it turns out that if these two people ate 200 grams of protein today, the former really used 200 grams of protein, and the latter has only used 100 grams and his body did not get sufficient protein for successful growth. So what does absorption of protein from your diet depend on? There are so many reasons. I will now list the main ones so that we could define the rules of protein consumption.REASONS:TOO MUCH PROTEIN IN YOUR DIET. At first glance, it seems crazy. In theory, the more protein we get, the less deficit there should be. The only thing is that our body self-regulates many things related to surplus and lack of substances. That’s why THE MORE PROTEIN IN THE DIET, THE WORSE ABSORPTION! Because there’s surplus.Accordingly, the less protein in the diet, the better it can be absorbed. Because there’s a deficit. And it makes sense: the body helps itself when it is necessary and restrains itself when it is not necessary.Therefore, it is likely that if you eat 300-500 grams of protein every day, you only spend for your toilet. The strong ammonia smell of urine when you go to the toilet is the proof. The body simply filters and removes unnecessary excess nutrients.The definition of “absorption” is very approximate for all nutrients and protein in particular. The matter is that almost all nutrients pass through your digestive tract where they are broken down and enter the system. I mean, they were technically “absorbed”. But further on, depending on the need, these nutrients are either beneficial or not, and the latter are removed from the body (go down the toilet). Don’t take things too literally when you hear the phrase “not absorbed”. The point is that in high doses, protein is simply useless and is removed from the body.TOO LITTLE CARBOHYDRATES IN YOUR DIET. The next important reason adversely affects absorption of protein. Numerous experiments have proven that PROTEIN IS BETTER ABSORBED WITH CARBOHYDRATES since it is more efficient as protein does not need to be used as energy, but only as a building material for which it was originally consumed.In addition, when proteins are consumed with carbohydrates, this leads to a large release of INSULIN (insulin is more “friendly” with carbohydrates than with proteins). What does that mean? Transportation of any nutrients (both carbohydrates and proteins) is faster, because INSULIN is TRANSPORT HORMONE of nutrients of our body. That’s why the more carbohydrates in your diet, the less protein you need because it’s better and faster to digest.Well, what about the extra fat we get from excess carbohydrates in our diet? Indeed, the best diets are low carbohydrate diets where there is more protein and less carbs. And that lowers the effectiveness of the protein. But we have to do it if we want to get rid of the fat in our bodies. We sacrifice money and protein absorption for a drier physique. In such situations we are not talking about muscle mass growth, which requires effective protein absorption. In such situations we are talking about fat burning, where protein absorption is not important for muscle growth because protein is not used for its purpose (to build muscles), but as an energy source (as an alternative to carbohydrates). It’s good to reduce the amount of carbohydrates when cutting weight. It’s bad when you gain mass because it will reduce protein absorption efficiency.TOO MUCH PROTEIN IN YOUR MEAL. The next reason that reduces the efficiency of consumed protein. Most often you hear that a single serving of protein should be 30 gr. That’s not exactly true, because the need for protein can change in our body. For example, if you were on a low-protein diet for half a year, then 50-60 grams of protein will be absorbed easily. However, this is an exception... LARGE SERVINGS OF PROTEIN (30-50 G) WILL NOT BE ABSORBED MOST OFTEN.Because THE LESS SERVING OF PROTEIN, THE BETTER ABSORPTION! Simply because our body regulates “surplus-deficit” in terms of its benefits. That is, when protein is in deficit it is valued by our body more.That’s why THE BEST PROTEIN DOSE IS 10-20 GRAMS PER SERVING. There are more accurate numbers. Experiments on athletes show 100-200 mg of protein per kg body weight. I’ve just rounded them up to make them clearer. The recommended dose of 30 grams is likely to be TWICE as high as the one effectively absorbed.We can draw another conclusion from this: MORE FREQUENT DOSES OF PROTEIN ARE BETTER because they reduce the amount of protein per serving. In fact, if your goal is to gain muscle mass, you should eat protein as often as possible during the day and in as small portions as possible. For example, if your weight is 80 kg, you need 160 grams of protein. Ideally divide this number into 10 servings of 16 grams. Some servings can be in the form of full meals (together with solid carbohydrates), and some servings can be like instant snacks (for example, drinking a half glass or a full glass of protein will take 30 seconds).“BAD” SOURCES OF PROTEIN. We’ll talk about the next reason in detail in the next issue. Now just keep in mind that ANIMAL PROTEINS (meat, fish, eggs, poultry) are THE BEST FOR MUSCLES because they have a more balanced amino acid profile and are therefore better for our body. That’s why all serious nutritionists unanimously tell about the need for animal sources of protein, rather than vegetable sources. If, of course, your goal is muscle.By the way, BOILED SOURCES OF PROTEINS (soup, stews, etc.) are a better choice than the fried ones, because the amino acid profile is better preserved. We’ll talk more about that in the next issue. Now you must understand that it’s one thing to eat 100 grams of protein from meat, fish and eggs and it’s quite another thing to eat 100 grams of protein from beans and grains. The former will be absorbed instantly and will be very useful, while the latter will be partially absorbed and the benefit will be questionable.
