by Chris Shugart
Fight the Protein Police
Follow the average protein guidelines of the so-called experts and you'll look average: overweight and under-muscled. Forget that. Do this instead.
The average person is pretty below average these days. About 74% of US adults are overweight or obese. It's perfectly normal to be over-fat and under-muscled. Given that, your goal is to be abnormal: lean, strong, and metabolically atypical.
There's a word for people who battle the norms: rebels. In the world of metabolic health, being a rebel is a good thing. One of the best rebellious behaviors? Fighting the power by eating more protein than the "average" person. Here's why and how much to shoot for. But first, a quick rant.
Malice or Incompetence?
We can't get too upset at regular folks. They've been misinformed and even lied to. Maybe my tinfoil hat is too tight, but it seems like the protein guidelines set forth by various government agencies and doctor groups aren't designed to keep you healthy. Whether their goal is a docile population, or they just want to sell more pharmaceuticals, recommending a low-protein diet is a good scheme.
Conspiracy theories aside, these official guidelines simply don't work well and must be dismantled and rebuilt based on new science. Trash the low-protein recommendations, stop pushing neutered plant proteins, and quit scaring people away from meat, eggs, and milk-derived proteins.
The Three Guidelines of Protein Intake
Let's look at the typical (terrible) recommendations, then some up-to-date suggestions for above-average people and true rebels:
1. Typical Proteins Guidelines
If we look at the protein recommendations from various official sources (the government, Harvard Health, WebMD, the CDC, the World Health Organization, etc.) we'd see that the average recommendation for adults is roughly 50 grams per day for men, usually a little less for women.
That often comes with admonitions about exceeding this measly amount. The protein police toss in a few scare tactics, usually warnings against the dangers of animal products. But the "protein is bad for your kidneys" myth has been long debunked. And the push toward plant proteins is rife with bias, financial incentives, and ignorance of new protein science.
But let's give these organizations a tiny break. Fifty grams a day is just enough to facilitate wound healing, prevent severe edema, stave off kwashiorkor disease, and keep your immune system moderately functional. Fifty grams will keep you alive.
But if you take these standards to heart, you'll be hungry. Fifty grams isn't enough to meet your body's minimum protein threshold. Based on studies, the average person needs between 85 and 138 grams per day before various bodily mechanisms quell the hunger signal. At 50 grams per day, you can also expect to learn a new word from your doctor: sarcopenia. And building muscle? Forget about it.
2. Better Protein Guidelines
Some longevity organizations have bumped their recommendations to .5 grams per pound of body weight, an improvement for the sedentary population. However, the standard recommendation for lifters is to consume about .8 grams of protein per pound daily. So, a 180-pound man would shoot for 144 grams and a 130-pound woman would aim for 104 grams.
This is the amount of daily protein needed to support muscle protein synthesis, the process by which the body repairs and builds muscle. It's a solid recommendation for everyone, whether or not they lift weights.
If the average person adopted that guideline, they'd easily meet the body's protein threshold, rein in cravings, prevent most age-related muscle loss, and lose body fat by displacing the easier-to-store macronutrients (carbs and fats).
3. The Rebel's Guidelines
Eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Consuming more than 0.8 g/lb probably won't help you build muscle faster, but it has other benefits.
For example, it's thermogenic. Consuming 1 g/lb usually translates to eating more protein in every meal. The old-school recommendation was to consume only 32 grams of protein per sitting and just eat frequently. Some even worried that more than 32 grams would "turn to fat." Actually, it does the opposite: it revs up your metabolic rate. In one study, the thermic effect of eating 50 grams in a meal was 34% higher than eating 30 grams. Smart-guy types call this diet-induced thermogenesis.
So, what's the best way to consume that much protein? First, spread intake out over the day. In short, don't eat a low-protein breakfast, and certainly don't skip it.
In one study, a group of lifters ate a whopping 1.3 grams of protein per pound. However, half the group consumed an imbalanced diet (a low-protein breakfast) and the other half spread their protein intake more evenly by eating a high-protein breakfast. The latter lifters put on over 40% more muscle than the low-protein breakfast group in 12 weeks.
The Rebel's Summary
- Consume 1 g/lb BW daily. If you're very overweight, choose a realistic, healthy goal weight and shoot for that many grams of protein.
- Don't worry about getting 50 grams or more in one meal.
- Spread intake out: eat a high-protein breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Make up the rest with snacks. (Try these homemade protein bars.)
If that seems daunting, do what they do in successful studies: add a protein shake or two. Each two-scoop shake made with MD Protein (Buy at Amazon) contains 44 grams of whey and micellar casein: the most effective blend for muscle-building, satiety, and metabolic health.
