Everyone knows the importance of protein, especially when it comes to trying to build muscle. Our muscles are mostly made up of protein, so it is no wonder that if you want to grow muscle, you need more of it. If your body does not get enough protein, it is not only your body composition that can take a hit but your health too. Without enough of it, all your fitness efforts are going to waste.
So, having this said, it is quite obvious that everyone who wants to build muscle wonders: “How much protein should I eat?”. In the end, there’s not an exact answer when it comes to daily intake.
For example, if you’re looking at official nutritional organizations, daily protein intake is really modest. However, if you want to grow huge muscles and cut fat, you will need significantly more protein than those stated by the official nutritional organizations.
How much protein should I eat?
If you look at the DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) from the official nutritional organizations I earlier mentioned, you need to consume about 0.36 grams per pound of body weight a day. That would be about 0.8 g per kg of body weight a day. What is the amount of daily protein intake then? About 56 grams a day for an average sedentary man.
Nonetheless, this daily intake is considered to be the bare minimum, especially among those who want to grow muscle. In fact, it may not be even enough. Generally, when it comes to how many grams of protein a day you need, there are different factors that you should consider. These factors include:
- Age
- Physique goals
- Gender
- Overall health
- Activity level
- Muscle to fat ratio
For example, if you’re a man who strength trains at least 3 times a week and wants to grow muscle, you would need to double that amount of protein. In fact, many recommend even more than that. This means that you should aim to get 0.7-1 gram a day per pound of body weight (1.6-2 g/day/kg/day). This means that the same man would need 140 g of protein a day, instead of 56 grams. The difference, as you can see, is huge. 
Why is Protein So Important?
Protein is crucial not only to build muscle, but it is vital to stay healthy. It is essential for a lot of body processes. It is the main building block of the body. The body uses protein to make and repair muscles, tendons, organs, or skin. It is important for hormone production, anti-inflammatory processes, muscle growth, and numerous other important functions.
It is important to learn about at least a few of them because by having a greater understanding of how important protein is, we tend to increase our daily intake which brings all those benefits. Not only that but when we increase the amount of protein we consume, we tend to increase it among other crucial vitamins and minerals.
The protein helps with all these benefits as they consist of smaller molecules which you may have heard about as amino acids. These proteins link together similar to the beads on a string. Then, these links will form long protein chains, and then they start creating complex shapes. Therefore, protein is important thanks to the amino acids it provides. The body can produce some of those important amino acids. Nonetheless, there are others that you can obtain only through food rich in protein. These are popular as essential amino acids.
Overall, protein is essential with a lot of benefits. Some of the most notable benefits include: helping the body create antibodies to deal with illnesses and infections. Helps your bloodstream carry oxygen throughout your body. Increases energy. Manages diabetes and balances blood sugar. Improves muscle growth (when coupled with strength training workouts). Increases satiety and feelings of fullness (which aids fat loss).
How can we get our daily protein intake?
Generally, a protein supplement is a great option for bodybuilders to meet their daily needs. Nonetheless, many still look to food to achieve their daily protein goals and that’s what I would recommend too. That’s because taking protein from foods, rather than supplements, will provide you with numerous other important micro and macro elements that supplements do not provide.
- When it comes to protein and muscle growth, we tend to look to animal protein. That’s because it provides all essential amino acids and they are easier to absorb by our bodies. It is something pretty obvious considering that animal tissues are similar to ours.
Still, it is not only the tissue itself necessarily, such as meat and fish. You can also find great sources of protein in eggs and dairy. Those people who tend to eat plenty of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy are very likely to hit their daily needs.
Nonetheless, if you’re a plant-based eater or if you follow a vegetarian diet, it can be a bit harder to hit the right amount of protein. It is not to say that it is impossible, because there are a lot of vegetarian athletes. It is just harder.
Daily protein intake for vegans
There are protein supplements for vegans (plant-based protein supplements) which help boost the protein intake needs. But even so, there are still lots of vegans trying to build muscle by eating their protein, instead of taking it from supplements.
The problem is that plant-based foods tend to provide less protein per 100 grams. Moreover, they are not as easily digested as animal based proteins. Lastly, animal proteins are known as complete proteins, which means that they contain all nine essential amino acids. There are a few plant proteins such as peas and soybeans that are also complete protein sources, most plant foods are considered incomplete proteins. Therefore, you will need to learn about each of them and combine them, to ensure you get all of them. This basically means that since plant foods contain different amounts of different amino acids, it takes a bit more effort to take all the essential amino acids on an exclusively plant-based diet.
If you’re a plant-based (or vegetarian) bodybuilder, here’s a list of some foods that are packed with protein (among many others): seitan, lentils, tofu, tempeh, edamame, spelt and teff, green peas as well as almost all seeds and nuts.
Weight Loss and Fat Gain Prevention
Protein is the building block of muscle, but it also plays a crucial role when it comes to cutting fat and losing weight. You should know by now that if you want to lose weight and burn fat, you need to consume fewer calories than you’re burning on a daily basis.
Well, research suggests that this macronutrient can boost metabolic rate, which means that your body is going to increase the amount of calories it burns a day. Combine it with the fact that it can reduce your appetite, as protein can curb the urges to snack help you eat less each meal, and keep you fuller for longer.
Not only that, but our bodies are burning calories when digesting food. Studies prove that the body tends to burn most calories when digesting protein, rather than fat or carbohydrates. Additionally, studies prove that out o is the least likely to be stored in the body as fat.
Having all of this said, and especially its importance in helping you feel full, hitting your daily intake is extremely important for weight loss. It will reduce your appetite, therefore you will eat fewer calories, thus you lose weight and burn fat, among all other benefits. Protein will keep you fuller for longer. Therefore, it will reduce the desire to snack by 50%!
Studies also prove that a slight increase (from 15% to 18% of total daily calories) reduces the amount of fat that participants regain after weight loss by 50%. However, athletes tend to have higher protein intakes from total daily calories (25-40%). Having this said, those who want to cut fat and preserve muscle mass must focus on a high protein diet.
Muscle and Strength Gains
I guess it becomes pretty simple to understand how increasing your intake will help gain more muscle and strength when you find out that your muscles are predominantly made of protein. You just can’t grow muscle without it, because the muscles do not have enough of the necessary material to build bigger.
Similar to most body tissues, the muscles are pretty adaptable. They are constantly broken down and rebuilt. Especially when going to the gym, where you tend to cause micro-tears in muscles when lifting weights. So, if you go to the gym, you want to gain muscle and strength. Similar to how you need to eat more to gain weight, you need to ensure that your body synthesizes more protein than it breaks down. In other words, your body needs to stay in a positive balance, which is popular as “nitrogen balance”, because protein is high in nitrogen.
That’s why people who want to gain muscle and strength will need a combination of regular exercise and higher daily protein intake (and then rest, so muscles have time) to build strength (and grow bigger).
It also means that when you’re cutting, increasing your daily protein intake will prevent muscle loss. Generally, a common recommendation to gain muscle (which doesn’t change much if you’re cutting) is 1 gram of it per pound of body weight a day. Which is 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight a day.
I’m not an athlete, should I increase my intake?
Of course. Protein is not important only for weight loss and maintaining muscle mass, cutting and bulking, with overall body recomposition. There are numerous other circumstances that can require you to increase intake. For example, if you’re physically active, such as having a physically demanding job or you run, swim, or walk frequently (doing any type of activity), you will also need to increase your protein intake. You will need to aim for about 0.5 to 0.65 grams per pound of body weight according to research.
Besides, studies suggest that older adults will also be required to increase their protein intake. That’s because it will help prevent osteoporosis, and sarcopenia, and help slow down the loss of muscle mass and strength associated with aging. Older adults with inadequate intake increase the risk of muscle wastage, frailty, and mortality through falls.
Lastly, infants and children require more of this macronutrient proportional to their body weight than fully grown adults. That’s because of the simple fact that protein is the building block of our body. Infants and children use protein to grow.
Potential Side Effects
Protein side effects seem to be real only if you use extremely large amounts of it for very long periods (and/or you have underlying health conditions). Generally, a high protein diet can actually help lower blood pressure and help fight back against diabetes. These are both risk factors for kidney disease. I mention that because some believe that high protein diets can negatively affect your kidneys.
Still, consuming more protein than the body needs may cause symptoms like intestinal discomfort, dehydration, nausea, fatigue, headaches, and a few others. Chronic protein overconsumption, on the other hand, may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, blood vessel disorders, and liver and kidney issues. However, that’s only likely to occur if you over consume them for a very long period and in very high doses.
Explaining “grams of it”
Please beware that when talking about “grams of protein” we are referring to the number of grams you should be consuming of this macronutrient. This is NOT the same as measuring the number of grams of food that contains protein, such as meat or eggs.
For example, 100 grams of chicken breast contains 31 grams. This means that if you eat 100 grams of chicken breast, you consume 31 grams of protein. One egg, for example, varies between 50 and 80 grams. Eggs contain 13 grams of this essential macro per 100 mg. If you eat one egg that is 50 mg, then you get around 6 grams of protein.
How Much Protein Should I Eat? Conclusion
- In the end, if you’re at a healthy weight, and you do not regularly exercise and do not lift weight, then 0.35-0.5 grams per pound of body weight a day is enough.
- If you want to grow muscle and cut fat, then you would need to aim for anywhere between 0.6 to 1 grams per pound of body weight a day.
- Older people, infants, children, and those who have a pretty active lifestyle should aim for about 0.5-0.65 grams per pound of body weight a day.
This means that the same person who weighs 150 lbs can eat anywhere between 52 to 150 grams of protein a day, depending on various factors, mainly weekly physical activity, and goals. Overall, considering that you need to over consume protein in large quantities it could cause side effects, yet high protein diets usually come with a lot of health and physical benefits, so you’re better off consuming more than less.
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