Your Thoughts on Protein?

Diet and Nutrition
1

Whats up! This is my first post on this forum, I have read much of the posts and must say that this is the place to be. There are some very educated people, and I def. respect the wealth of knowledge people share in here.

I am 25 yrs old and have been lifting since I was 16, with pretty much success. I also am a certified personal trainer through the National Stregth and conditioning association. I spend much of my free time when I am not working or lifting, reading and researching, it is my true passion, so I am by no means a beginner.

I wanted to get your opinions on a debated topic in the bodybuilding community, HOW MUCH PROTEIN?

Now I am all about consuming lean meat, and some protein supplements thrown in the mix here and there. However, my question is this. I am 190 lbs. I started out very thin, and I truly believe without weight lifting and bodybuilding effecting my life the way it has, I would be 150 lbs and a scrawny terd right about now! Needless to say, I have had to eat my ass off over the years to pack on muscle.

But I sometimes feel concerned about the amount of protein I eat. My theory is this. Figure out how many calories you need to gain, then among those calories, divide them up according to your proper nutrient breakdown. For me, when I am bulking, I find much of my success using 40/35/25 mix of C/P/F.

However, I eat around 4000 calories when I am bulking. 35% of these calories are coming from Protein, which is 1400 calories. As we all know, there are 4 calories per gram of protein, so when I am bulking, I am consuming roughly 350 grams of protein each day!

You will hear hundreds of different suggestions, but it seems the most sensible is 1 gram per lb of bodyweight. What are your thoughts? Is my nutrition plan flawed or am I setting my body up for disaster by eating too much protein?

I feel like I am locked into it, because if I were to drop my Protein intake so it were 1 gram per lb of body weight, that would mean that only about 20% of my calories would have to come from protein, and I would be affraid to divide the remaining 80% up among carbs and fats.

Look forward to hearing from you and thanks in advance!

2

Well, you can eat lots of protein, eat more calories, but have the protein and carbs in the morning, and protein/fats in the evening, and that will help.

There are lots of good articles on here discussing these issues already.

There was a recent one on “clean bulking” or something, just last week I think.

Here are a couple.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=781428

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1089266

3

350 is just a bit less than 2 grams per pound. Minus body fat and it would be just over 2 grams per pound. (depending on the amount of course, but still, close.)

That doesn’t seem too bad.

How is it working for you?

Are you noticing some ill effects?

4

No ill effects and I know how to clean bulk. I am just over 190 and 8% bodyfat. I have noticed a lot of success with it, so have no reasons to complain.

It is merely a concern I have with the amount of protein. I feel great!

5

Hmmm, I am unfamiliar with posting on this forum, but I replied and it does not seem to work. Let me try again.

I know how to clean bulk and I have had a lot of success so far. I started weight training at 145lbs and I am 190ish to date at roughly 8% bodyfat.

I feel great and all, the post was simply regarding a general concern about too much protein. Since I first posted, I have read through some more posts on here, and seen people consuming 400+ grams of P, so I don’t feel “out of the ordinary.”

Thanks for your thoughts!

6

Howdy,

Side note: Your post doesnt immediately show up, it usually takes a few mins.

It seems like your question centers around wondering if taking in the amount of protein you are is unhealthy.

The short answer to that is no. There is no study concluding that individuals with healthy kidneys are in any danger by large amounts of protein intake.

The common idea lately is to keep protein intake constant, and adjust your other macros to suit cutting or bulking. For me personally, I eat roughly 1.5g/lb of protein on a daily basis. If Im trying to lean out I start adjusting the level/timing of my carbohydrate intake.

Check out the protein roundtable. Any question you probably have will be answered in there…

Hit the search function on the articles and just type in “Protein” and you are on your way to knowing everything there is to know…then some

JB

7

Thanks very much for the info!

8

[quote]EnTransit wrote:

The short answer to that is no. There is no study concluding that individuals with healthy kidneys are in any danger by large amounts of protein intake.

The common idea lately is to keep protein intake constant, and adjust your other macros to suit cutting or bulking. For me personally, I eat roughly 1.5g/lb of protein on a daily basis. If Im trying to lean out I start adjusting the level/timing of my carbohydrate intake
[/quote]
Good advice. I keep my protein intake constant too, and vary my fat and carbs only for leaning out or building.
Besides, not all protein sources are from complete proteins, I know people who only count the complete protein sources. (uncomplete are things like grains, veggies, nuts etc… but combining them can make them complete, so to me it’s a little to complicated and necessary to do it).

I had some blood test for my kidney a few weeks ago (for other reasons) and everything was perfectly fine. It’s a myth, if you have good kidneys to start with it’s no problem.

9

Well either its working well or your just throwing money down the drain, one or the other. If you want to still bulk, I have heard you eat 1 g per pound of the bodyweight you wish to achieve. I personally think 350 g is overdoing it, and I am not saying it will have ill effects but why take 350 g a day if your body only utilizes 200 or less?

To find out I would suggest dropping your Protein to about 200-275 g a day and see if you notice any difference in one week and take it from there. If you dont find a difference you save a few bucks that you can spend elsewhere by buying possibly some other supps or using it for wtv you want.

10

I only count my complete sources of protein. The only reason my intake is so high is simply b/c I have kept my nutrient ratios constant as I added more and more calories to find the optimum surplus for bulking for me. I guess I have to decide if I want to reduce my protein intake and increase my carbs.

Maybe I will experiment. Thanks

11

[quote]EnTransit wrote:
Howdy,
The short answer to that is no. There is no study concluding that individuals with healthy kidneys are in any danger by large amounts of protein intake

JB

[/quote]

And there is no research proving that you need a huge amount of protein to grow. There are many experts that say that strength trainers need only slightly more protein than those that don’t. Interesting to mention that i’ve seen articles that state that non newbies need even LESS protein. Overall, the 1g/lb thing – I think you would be safe if that is per LEAN lbs body mass. Consuming 200-300 grams per day is major excess in my opinion and the first priority should always be more calories.

12

The idea behind excessive protein intakes (ie 1g/lb and up) is that this is the preferred source of Calories. It not only takes more energy to digest, but is also less likely to be stored as fat.

I spend an entire chapter devoted to this topic in the Anabolic Index Optimized Nutrition Manual (including tricks to increase protein requirement through increased anabolism), but I don’t want to give away all of the secrets here. :wink:

13

[quote]David Barr wrote:
The idea behind excessive protein intakes (ie 1g/lb and up) is that this is the preferred source of Calories. It not only takes more energy to digest, but is also less likely to be stored as fat.

I spend an entire chapter devoted to this topic in the Anabolic Index Optimized Nutrition Manual (including tricks to increase protein requirement through increased anabolism), but I don’t want to give away all of the secrets here. ;)[/quote]

That’s not fair…we want secrets! :slight_smile:

You claim that protein is less likely to be stored as fat? If there is an excess, would it not be just as likely to be stored as fat as any other macro?

It’s the preferred source of calories? I thought that fat was preferred first?