If you’re anything into fitness, you already know the importance of protein. Regardless if you’re trying to lose weight or especially trying to build muscle, protein is the key. You most likely heard it numerous times – increase your intake to enhance your physique and/or performance. If your body does not get enough of it, it’s not only that you are wasting your fitness efforts and unlikely to see any results, but even your health can be compromised.
In short, we need to eat protein to stay healthy, but we need even more of it for body composition. Then again, regardless if you want to gain muscle, lose weight (burn fat), or both. Having said that, it is pretty obvious that many people wonder “How much protein should I eat per day?”. Now, that’s when it gets interesting because everyone has different opinions about the proper daily intake.
For example, if you look at official nutritional organizations, then daily protein intake is fairly modest. But if you talk with a gym rat, you’re likely going to get an answer much higher than what the official nutritional organizations are saying. So, whether you’re trying to be healthy, get stacked, or cut fat, you may want to know how many grams of protein to consume a day. This article is all about it.
How Much Protein Should I Eat A Day?
Analyzing the statistics from DRI (Dietary Reference Intake), it is recommended to consume about 0.36 grams of protein per pound (which is about 0.8 grams per kilogram) of body weight. This means that if you’re a 150 lbs (70 kg) man with a sedentary life, then you would do well enough by consuming as little as 56 grams per day.
However, it is important to understand that this daily protein intake is somewhat the bare minimum to simply ensure you’re not endangering your health because of protein insufficiency. It is important to understand that to determine how many grams of protein per day you need to consume, there are different factors to consider. Those factors include:
- Age
- Physique goals
- Overall health
- Activity level
- Muscle mass vs fat mass ratio
For example, the more active you are, the more you need. The more muscle mass you have, the more protein you need. The more muscle you want to grow, then again, the more you need.
Why is Protein So Important?
Protein is considered the main building block of the body. Whether we’re talking about making muscles, tendons, organs, skin, or else – protein is vital. It serves a lot of important functions. When we have greater knowledge and understanding of how important protein actually is, then we may take the engagement of increasing the intake more seriously, managing to actually increase it. Which will also usually offer other crucial vitamins and minerals as we do.
Protein consists of smaller molecules, called amino acids. These proteins link together, resembling the beads on a string. These links form long chains, and then fold into complex shapes, creating what we need in our bodies to grow. The human body can produce some of these important amino acids, however, others should be obtained from foods – they are known as essential amino acids.
Generally, our muscles are mostly made from protein. Therefore, you need it to simply retain the current muscle mass. But if you want to grow even more muscle, you’ll need even more of it. Not only that but it is important for building and repairing both muscles and bones. It is also important to make hormones and enzymes. Moreover, the body can use it as an energy source. Eating more protein will reduce your appetite and hunger levels because it makes you more sated and full eating a high protein foodstuff.
How to get your daily protein intake?
Usually, most people are looking to animal protein when searching to up their intake. Not only do proteins from animals provide all essential amino acids, but they are also higher in this macronutrient than vegetarian foods. That is somewhat obvious considering that animal tissues are similar to ours.
In short, the highest protein amounts are found in animal foods such as various meat types, fish, dairy, and eggs. If you’re eating enough of these foods, then you’re likely hitting your daily intake. Nonetheless, a plant based eater following a vegetarian diet may find it harder to hit the right amount of protein. It is not to say that it is impossible, just a bit trickier.
Daily protein intake for vegans
A lot of bodybuilders tend to increase their daily intake by using protein powder. Protein supplements are a powerful option to increase it because these supplements contain 80-95% of raw protein. Nonetheless, others are simply looking for food to hit their protein goals. As long as you do get your daily protein needs from foods alone, then you do not need the powder at all.
So, if you’re a vegetarian following a plant-based diet, getting enough of it in your diet can be a bit harder. For this reason, I recommend you check the list of foods that are full of this essential macronutrient and make sure you eat enough of them to meet your daily needs.
- Seitan
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Edamame
- Lentils
- Chickpeas (and most other beans)
- Nutritional yeast
- Green peas
- Hempseed
- Spelt and teff
Supports Weight Loss and Prevents Fat Gains
Considering that muscles are mostly made of protein, it is obvious that you need to eat plenty of it not just to keep current lean muscle tissues, but to grow new ones. Nonetheless, if you are trying to burn fat, cut calories, and lose weight, this macronutrient is just as important. It has a crucial role in helping anyone searching to lose weight.
So, you may be shocked, but increasing the amount of foods you eat can support weight loss and prevent fat gain. How? Well, to lose weight, we need to consume fewer calories than we burn. I guess everyone knows that.
So, how does eating more support weight loss? By increasing the amount of protein, according to research, you’re boosting your metabolic rate, helping increase the calorie burn. Besides, it will reduce your appetite and will curb those urges to snack. So, the next time you open the fridge at night, it is likely because you haven’t met your daily needs.
So, it will help you feel fuller and you’re going to feel sated for longer. Protein reduces appetite, so you’re likely to eat fewer calories. Not to mention that foods packed with protein usually offer significantly fewer calories than foods packed with fat or sugar. Based on all of this, you’re losing weight.
Compared to fat, protein has fewer calories per gram (9 vs 4 calories, accordingly). Comparing it to carbohydrates or fat is also going to help you feel fuller for longer (according to research). Studies prove that by increasing its intake, you’re likely going to eat fewer snacks throughout the day. It decreases the cravings of late-night snacks by 50%! If you are cutting fat and preserving lean muscle mass, a high-protein diet is what you need.
Moreover…
- Not only does it support lean muscle growth and fat burning, but it also prevents fat (weight) gains. A study indicates that only a slight increase reduces the amount of fat that participants regain after weight loss by a whopping 50%! Hitting the daily protein goals is very important for all these reasons.
Helps Gain Muscle and Strength
As said, our muscles are predominantly made of protein and this fact alone should make you understand how important it is for your muscle and strength gaining goals. Similar to most other body tissues, the muscles are also adaptable. They can be constantly broken down and rebuilt. So, as long as you want to gain more muscle mass, your body must synthesize more muscle protein than it breaks down.
It is obvious that you need a positive protein balance in your body. This is also referred to as a “nitrogen balance” because protein is high in nitrogen. That’s why those who want to get stacked should have a combination of exercise and a high daily intake of this macronutrient. They also need rest because muscles are rebuilt during the rest periods.
This also explains why you’re maintaining muscle mass during a cut. Enough of it prevents muscle loss, but if you’re not supplying your body with enough of it, it is in a negative nitrogen balance so you start losing lean muscle tissues.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass, the daily grams of protein intake remains approximately the same. It is usually stated in kilograms or pounds of body weight per day.
Having that said, if you want to gain muscle, a common recommendation is:
- 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day (about 2.2 grams per kilogram)
- If you’re a 150 lbs man (70 kg), who wants to gain muscle, you’ll need around 150 grams a day
- Keep in mind that protein contains 4 calories. This means that you’ll get 600 calories per day from this macronutrient alone, the rest comes from carbohydrates and fats.
Additionally…
As said, protein isn’t only important for weight loss, maintaining and building muscle mass, but also simply to be healthy because your body, organs, hormonal system, and so on rely on it. It means you need at least 0.35 grams per pound of body weight per day. For this reason, there are circumstances when you need to increase your intake even if you’re not aiming to maintain or grow muscle or lose weight. That is when you’re highly physically active.
Whether you have a physically demanding job or love to run, swim, walk a lot frequently, or do any other type of exercise, you do need to increase your protein intake. Lots may wonder: “How much protein do I need then?”
Well, studies suggest that endurance athletes will require higher amounts than people with a sedentary lifestyle, yet they may not need as high amounts as those who are trying to gain lean muscle. They will need anywhere between 0.5 to 0.65 grams per pound of body weight per day.
Additionally, older adults may also need to increase their intake to about 0.5 grams per day. Generally, they will need about 50% higher than their DRI. That is because osteoporosis and sarcopenia are both very common concerns among older adults. By increasing the protein intake, it will prevent this. It will also prevent other health conditions, including lean muscle loss, fat gains, high blood pressure, diabetes, and so on.
Are there any side effects of high protein intake?
Pretty much as anything in this world, having too much protein can lead to some issues. Some are blaming too high protein diets for causing kidney damage. However, this statement comes from the fact that people with preexisting kidney concerns may indeed experience worsened kidney conditions by consuming too much of it. That’s why protein restriction may be beneficial for people with preexisting kidney issues. Yet, people with healthy kidneys, according to research, will not experience any issues. In fact, it can potentially lower blood pressure, and fight against diabetes (both risk factors for kidney disease), as well as osteoporosis.
- Instead, too large intake of protein side effects can include dehydration, fatigue, bad breath, digestive issues, constipation, or diarrhea.
Best Protein Sources
Some of the best sources of protein include:
- Various meats (chicken, turkey, beef, pork are all high in protein)
- Fish (lots of fishes are packed with protein such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, and others)
- Eggs
- Dairy products
Those who are following a plant based diet will get their protein from other food sources. Even if you’re a meat eater, you should still check them out. They include:
- Seitan
- Lentils
- Nuts
- Quinoa
- Chickpeas and beans
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Edamame
In case you know that your diet lacks protein, I highly recommend tracking your macro goals and ensuring that you’re eating these foods to meet your daily needs.
Explaining Nutritional Science
It is important to understand that the number of grams of food that contains it is not the same as grams of protein in that food. For example, eggs contain about 13 grams of protein per 100 grams. Considering that one egg weighs around 50 grams, it means that you’re going to get about 6-7 grams of protein from that egg. Chicken breast, for example, contains 32 grams of protein per 100 grams. Eating 200 grams of chicken breast will provide you with roughly 64 grams of protein.
Keep in mind that one gram of protein contains 4 calories. But when you eat eggs, for example, they contain protein (13 grams), carbohydrates (1.1 grams), and fats (11 grams) per 100 grams. Fats and carbs contain 9 and 4 calories accordingly. This means that per 100 grams of eggs, you’ll get roughly 155 calories (13 grams of protein x 4 calories with 1 gram of carbs x 4 calories with 11 grams of fat x 9 calories = 155 calories).
How Much Protein Should You Eat Per Day? Conclusion
If you’re at a healthy weight, do not exercise regularly, and do not lift weight, you should aim for about 0.35 to 0.6 grams per pound of body weight per day.
If you’re physically active, you should aim for about 0.5 to 0.7 grams per pound of body weight per day. About the same amount you should aim for if you’re an older adult trying to stay healthy.
If you want to lose weight, burn fat, and/or preserve lean muscle mass while you’re on a diet and lift weights regularly, you should aim for no less than 0.6 grams per pound of body weight per day, up to about 1 gram per pound of body weight a day.
Lastly, if you’re trying to gain muscle mass, you obviously should lift heavy and you must aim for no less than 0.8 grams per pound of body weight a day. Usually, you may increase up to about 1.5 grams per pound of body weight a day.
But what does it all mean? How much protein per day exactly?
Well, if you’re a 150 pound man, you need anywhere between 53 grams per day, up to about 225 grams per day. As you can see, the difference is huge. It depends very much on your goals, activity level, age, and so on.
Moreover, considering that you’re unlikely to experience potential side effects of a high protein diet because you truly need lots of protein to experience them, (and that’s especially true if you’re working out intensively), I would recommend consuming more protein over less.
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