WHAT’S THE OPTIMUM DAILY PROTEIN INTAKE? I have this conversation almost daily with clients and colleagues, how much protein should I eat? A lot of people seem to think that the more protein you eat the bigger your muscles will get or the leaner you will become. Unfortunately is not as easy as that. When on a high protein diet there are many factors to be taken into account before deciding how much is too much. It is important to know how much it is that your body needs in terms of daily calories intake and that is calculated based on your own body composition. Then you need to ask yourself what it is that you want to achieve by going on a high protein diet i.e. weight (fat) loss, weight (muscle) gain, endurance, all of the above? The other question is about time and when is the optimal time to ingest protein for instance, from a protein shake i.e. when is your body more likely to absorb it and how fast? The ratio between the other two important macronutrients, carbs and fats is a factor of the utmost importance, neglect to calculate the right ratio and you can easily over or under eat. Finally how much per day, how much per meal and spread over how many meals? Before answering all of these questions, let’s have a simple yet important biology lesson. Long terms studies have shown that a low intake of protein (less than 1 gr per lean kg of weight) results in negative nitrogen balance. Nitrogen balance is a measure of protein metabolism. A negative nitrogen balance indicates that the protein needs of the body are not being met and protein is being scavenged from tissue elsewhere in the body. This may lead to reduced gains in muscle mass and strength. Now, long term studies also indicate that protein intakes above 2.62 grams per kg of lean bodyweight provides no additional benefit in terms of nitrogen balance and increased the risk of renal overload and dehydration. Moreover any extra protein calories (beyond what you are expending per day) are stored as fat, not muscle even when on a low carbs diet, this is because the body can convert excess protein into glucose and then into fat. So, if you are on a high protein, high carbs diet you will end up storing fat, if you are on a high protein, low carbs diet unless is properly calculated, you will end up storing fat. Another not very good side effect of a too high protein intake is a DECREASE in overall performance from the appetite suppressing effects of a high protein diet and disturbed sleeping patterns both not very good if you are trying to grow muscles and get leaner! It’s personal choice, but even when I am on a no carbs day cycle or on straight keto I don’t ingest more than 2gr of protein per lean kg, preferring to increase fats (saturated too!) and keep carbs in check. I would prefer to take my first meal of the day (breakfast) almost all as protein of the best BV (biological value) i.e. eggs or good quality whey isolate as the body at that point is starving of protein and will therefore have maximum absorption of it. Just to give the practical example of how I gauge it, my off-season weight is 62Kg and my body fat never goes above 12% so I reckon that my lean weight is around 55kg. Multiply this by 2.2 and the amount of protein I ingest in a given day is 121gr. which I spread over 5 meals. I work out how much carbs and fats I need in the same way and if I want to get leaner (burn adipose fat) I play with the amount of carbs and the overall daily calories in vs. calories out. ALESSANDRA TUMOLO WWW.TTLCTRL.CO.UK
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:12:13 +0000
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