Protein Intake – How much do you need?

One of the most frequently and passionately debated points of nutritional theory is how much protein is enough, and how much is too much?

Athletes and bodybuilders have long depended on protein-rich diets to deliver the nutrients they need, especially from meat and dairy sources. About 20 years ago, as the low-fat, high carbohydrate diets of the 80s started to fall in popularity, a new craze emerged, the high-protein, high-fat, low carbohydrate diet. Protein supplementation was no longer just for the gym rat, but for everyone concerned with their health and appearance.

Today, many people use protein powders in their daily meals, with many different goals in mind. For brevity’s sake, I will divide them into two general groups for this discussion. The first group, concerned with general fitness and well-being, is your everyday active individual. Lean protein is a key component of any balanced diet, whether the goal is weight loss or maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. The second group is made up of competitive athletes and bodybuilders who seek to dramatically increase their lean body mass. For these individuals, significantly higher amounts of protein are needed to support their efforts in the gym.

Let’s begin with the general healthy, active person: what is a good guideline for an optimal range of protein needed per day, and what sources are the most beneficial? To start, any recommendation should be adjusted according to your height, weight, and activity level. Consulting with a nutritionist will allow you to establish a reliable estimate of your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the amount of calories you burn each day. Once your BMR is established, you can calculate your needs for proteins, carbs and fats proportionately.

Reputable institutions differ somewhat on their recommendations for protein consumption. The Mayo Clinic recommends that you get 10-35% of your daily calories from protein, and prioritizes plant sources, such as beans and lentils, followed by fish at least twice a week. The US Department of Agriculture, who issues the US Dietary Reference Intake, does not make a percentile recommendation, but gives a daily portion recommendation based on age and sex. They advocate using a variety of protein sources but emphasize at least 2 portions of fish per week. Their rule of thumb, widely used as a starting point by nutritionists and dietitians, is that protein intake should equal 0.8g per kilogram of bodyweight for sedentary individuals. The American Dietetic Association describes two levels of protein consumption: typical – where protein comprises 10-15% of caloric intake, and high protein – where protein accounts for 25-35%.

So where is the sweet spot? Which of these recommendations is right? Using myself as an example, let’s see where they fall. Keep in mind that I am a 6’1”, 200-pound, 31 year old man with a BMR of 3100 calories per day.

Mayo Clinic: 77-271g (10-35% of calories)
USDA: 73 (0.8 x kg bodyweight)
ADA: 77-116g(typical, 10-15%), 193-271g(high, 25-35%)

In my mind, the best way to approach these recommendations is to select a spot on the range that matches your current conditions. For example, the bottom end of the ADA and Mayo Clinic ranges of 10% is for sedentary individuals. If you are engaging in any significant exercise, this minimum amount will not be sufficient to recover after training. If the bottom end of the 10-35% range is for someone who doesn’t exercise, and the top end is for a competitive athlete training two hours a day, consider your activity level and proceed accordingly. Here is a guideline to get you started:

0 minutes of exercise per day: 10-15% protein
30 minutes of exercise per day: 15-20% protein
60 minutes of exercise per day: 20-25% protein
90 minutes of exercise per day: 25-30% protein
120 minutes of exercise per day: 30-35% protein

Working from this guideline, knowing my BMR of 3100, and knowing that I average an hour of exercise a day, I can maintain my current lean body mass with around 620 calories, or 155 grams of protein a day, as 20% of my daily caloric intake. (1 gram of protein or 1 gram of carbohydrate is equal to 4 calories, and 1 gram of fat is 9.) Note that this is more than twice the basic recommendation of the RDA, but does not even qualify as a high-protein diet according to ADA standards! A dietitian or nutritionist can help you set a more precise daily allowance, but the guidelines above will provide healthy, active individuals with a good benchmark for maintenance.

Now on to group number two, who are trying to build muscle. The guidelines set for the first group will work well as minimums for individuals primarily concerned with building muscle. The point of difference is that dedicated athletes in training typically eat much more often to keep up with the demands on their body than the average active individual. Additionally, a weightlifter that is training with very high intensity and performing repetitions to failure for an hour will burn far more calories and cause more stress to muscle tissue than a runner or yoga practitioner who exercises for the same amount of time. With this in mind, any high-intensity athlete should shoot for the upper end of the recommended ranges mentioned above, at least 25% of caloric intake.

As before, there is some variance in guidelines from reputable sources on protein consumption ranges for athletes. Columbia University Health Services advises between 1.5-2.0grams of protein per kg of bodyweight for “intense athletes”. The American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and American College of Sports Medicine released a position statement in 2009 advising between 1.2 and 1.7g per kg for athletes. Bodybuilding.com recommends a range between 1-1.6g per pound of bodyweight, with a general recommendation of 1.5. Let’s see how these recommendations would look for me if my goal was to build muscle:

Top end of USDA and Mayo Ranges (35%): 271g
Columbia: 136 – 181g
ADA – DoC – ACSM: 109-154
Bodybuilding.com: 200 – 320g, 300g default

These ranges are much more varied than those of the previous group, but there are a couple of ways to hone them to be useful. The body can typically only process around 30-35 grams of protein effectively in one sitting. However, as an athlete consumes a high-protein diet, that baseline can increase over the years to be as high as 60-70 grams in a single meal. Keeping this in mind, if you are eating six times a day, and are new to bodybuilding, you can use this information to estimate that six meals times 30 grams of protein will put you at about 180 grams of protein a day. A seasoned career bodybuilder eating every 2.5 hours with one meal in the middle of the night could conceivably consume as much as 9 70-gram servings, for a whopping daily total of 630 grams. Keep in mind that scholarly medical literature contains virtually no information about individuals training under these types of conditions.

For the individual concerned with gaining muscle, you should focus on how many times a day you can eat, start with a baseline of 30 grams of quality protein at each meal, and see where that lands you with respect to the ranges above. As you can see, eating 30 grams of protein three meals a day barely scratches the surface of the bottom end of the recommended ranges. Shoot for a minimum of five meals, or as many as 8 if you have the discipline! 8 30-gram servings will in most cases still be well within the high end of mainstream ranges. For me, eating 6 meals of 30 grams each would place me at 180 grams for the day, right at the top of the Columbia range and right under the minimum from Bodybuilding.com. If I upped it to 40 grams, I’d land at 240, which would be 31% of my daily caloric intake. For me, six meals is a manageable number, and 240 is a high protein diet that is still well within a healthy range. Remember that as you continue to add lean muscle to your frame, your BMR will increase, and so will your protein needs.

Rules of thumb for gaining muscle:
1. Eat a small meal containing protein every 2 to 3 hours.
2. Consume serving sizes of protein following your body’s experience at metabolizing them.
a. Beginning gainers (0-1 years training): 30-40g per serving
b. Intermediate gainers (2-3 years training): 40-50g per serving
c. Advanced gainers (3+ years training): 50+g per serving
3. Get your protein from a variety of sources.
4. Use a fast-absorbing protein like whey-isolate post-workout.
5. Use protein blends (containing different proteins absorbing at different rates for a time-release effect) in intra-meal shakes or in meal replacements.
6. Be sure to drink plenty of water to protect kidney function when eating a high-protein diet.

To learn more about the different types of protein and when to eat them, tune in next week!

Until next time-
Whit