So 0.5 per lb would work if every thing else is right ?what about carbs and fat?
Recently, the protein requirement for resistance training has been raised to 0.735 grams per pound of body weight. Carbs and fats would vary depending on the activity levels and goals.
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Would that be 0.735 per total body weight…or lean body weight ( or the weight you want to be)?
It’s your day-to-day, average body weight in pounds.
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After is difficult to get a low protein rate, if u are gaining mass, If u eats a lot and variety u get easily 1.5 g od protein.
I don’t know but, all of peoples have different assimilation no ? And proteins from the meet are not assimilated than protein from vegetables and so on ?
The best is just to try low proteins and look if is enough or not, we what all u says, i will reduce the g of protein in my diet
Gironda’s steak and eggs diet. His go to for cutting his clients
Hello Dr. Darden,
Where does that estimate of daily protein requirements comes from? Any references?
Best Regards
Protein requirements, find this reference:
Robert W. Morton, et al. “A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults,” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2017, July 11th.
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Thank you for the reference Dr.
I remember that a few months ago in another thread you told me that “All the new studies do not supersede my personal research that I did for more than a year at Florida State University during 1970.”
Do you think this systematic review and meta-analysis is of high enough quality that it should make us rethink our protein intake requirements?
Best regards and thanks for your answers.
Ignacio
I’m around 2/3 gram per pound of bodyweight, so pretty close to that recommendation. However, it’s been apparent that the recommended amount has been climbing for years getting closer to that old guideline of “one gram per pound of bodyweight”.
This is Figure 5 of the Morton paper that Dr. Darden referenced, where the 1.6g/kg/day or 0.735g/lbs/day estimation comes from.
Note that the authors use Fat-Free Mass, measured by DEXA, as the independent variable.
Quoting from another paper:
" Research is plagued with investigators referring to total lean mass as an indication of muscle mass, again highlighting overlooked tissues contributing to the total lean mass that actually have a very active protein metabolism, such as those in the trunk regions. Instead of total lean mass, we need to encourage the reporting of appendicular lean mass as a primary outcome, which is more likely to represent functional muscle tissue that changes with resistance training. Some less explored aspects of the whole-body protein metabolism equation have been overlooked in this context, specifically protein metabolism of the visceral tissues. Because of the invasiveness and challenges of studies examining nonmuscle organ protein metabolism, we only have limited information regarding protein metabolism of these vital organs and none in the context of exercise training and high-protein diets in humans. Although rarely reported, when looking at changes in total lean mass after resistance exercise training and protein supplementation, over half the increases of total lean mass are regularly a result of increased lean mass in the trunk, where these tissues reside. Because high protein intakes alone increase trunk lean mass as a reflection of increased visceral organ size, it seems that our field needs to further investigate these overlooked tissues. We may possibly consider that protein intakes of long duration above 1.6 g·kg−1·d−1 may serve to promote visceral organ hypertrophy."
Since they were using FFM in the Morton paper, maybe 1.6 g / kg / day is also an over exaggerated estimate of the amount of protein needed to optimize skeletal muscle hypertrophy.
Just a thought.
Have a great day everyone!
Right now, I am about 10 lbs heavier than I want to be. My goal weight is about 160-LBS, which equates to 117.6 GM of protein, or 470 calories per day of protein.
Since I appear to be weight stable with about 2300 calories per day, that amounts to about 20% of calories from protein. That is right in line with what Simpson and Raubenheimer, who came up with the protein leverage hypothesis, recommend for protein intake.
I think some people are getting more protein than they realize because certain foods that are largely fat or carb-based also have protein. I eat grains, oats, nuts, seeds, etc. which have their share of protein…even before I start counting animal-based foods I eat such as dairy, eggs, chicken, etc.
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I think many people believe if they took steroids they would be the guy hitting that 400 kg deadlift LOL. Most probably wouldn’t hit 300 kg. To discount what they are doing because of steroids is fallacious.
I don’t think it really needs to be this complicated. It seems the guys that have been successful for the last 50 years have eaten on the low end a gram of protein for each lb of lean mass (perhaps slightly lower than this), and many eat more (300+ grams of protein). Try to be somewhere between those and you are likely going to be good.
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who eat only 1g of protein by kilo and the training is still good ?
I’ve made great progress eating about 100-140 grams of protein a day at a body weight of about 138 pounds when I started to 185 pounds now 12.5 years later. Sometimes I have less protein than that, I focus more on calories.
What’s everyone’s obsession with seeing who can eat the least protein? HIT forums are the only place I frequent where that’s an achievement to hang your hat on. As Dr. Darden said ~.8g to 1g per pound has been found to be consistently optimal in strict scientific studies for optimal performance and muscle gains. I don’t see the need to cite your individual results eating less. The science is what it is.
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I’m just saying I think people are putting too much thought into it. The amount is pretty irrelevant, with calories being more important. I don’t try to not eat that much, it really just works out that way, and fits about into the .735 grams per pound of body weight. If you don’t like the discussion, don’t participate.
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Protein is the most expensive macro nutrient. It is also requires more lifestyle changes to eat most very high protein diets. Without much effort, I can eat between 150 mg - 200 mg protein without overeating. Much over that, and I am overeating, or being anal with my diet trying to get in low fat protein sources.
I think this is where having a discussion on what is needed is important. Understanding that going very high isn’t necessarily going to hurt, but is going to be more difficult on the wallet and the lifestyle. If one understands the minimum to optimize results they can do the least amount of changes (least effort) and get the same results. IMO that is a win.
I’ve put away 250-350g in the space of a few hours when on a carnivore, one meal a day type strategy. Never quite understood the “Oh, I just can’t get enough protein in” nonsense you hear.
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