Help me understand protein use! (Turmoil!)

[joshlete]

Hi. I am M53 and weight lifting to increase muscle mass in order not to have a crappy old age falling off toilets n' srtuff when I'm 80.

I've just been reading this and other similar stuff about protein use and synthesis and the apparent fact that you can't use more than a certain amount of protein per meal:

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-018-0215-1

"... therefore a relatively simple and elegant solution to consume protein at a target intake of 0.4 g/kg/meal across a minimum of four meals in order to reach a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day – if indeed the primary goal is to build muscle"

OK fine. But what I don't get is how this works in terms of metabolising the meal protein over time. Is is like you have a conveyor belt of a fixed length, and your body picking protein molecules off that belt at a fixed rate so that if you dump a big pile of protein on the conveyor most of it might simply fall off the end before it can all be picked off?

If so, doesn't that mean that if I eat a lot of protein at each meal I might end up getting LESS protein than if I ate a smaller amount per meal?

Turmoil! Is this why I'm still skinny?

 

[levit7]

@joshlete just put the protein in your mouth dude. your body will sort the rest out.

 

[joshlete]

@levit7 OK will do.

 

[osina]

@levit7 Seriously. It’s not that deep. Just eat the food and lift the weights.

 

[%ED%8F%B4%EB%9D%BC%EA%B9%80]

@levit7 This is the way

 

[joshuasamuelquiroz]

@joshlete The protein-limit-per-meal thing is hugely exaggerated. It it were a fact, then folks who do intermittent fasting wouldn't get enough protein, but they typically do. Hell, I know guys your age who eat one meal per day. The protein limit discussion is in the same ballpark as worrying over taking whey or creatine before bed. Is there some small difference, some edge that an advanced lifter might eke out? Maybe, probably. Is there enough difference to get bent our of shape about it? Nah. Like other commenters said, just eat the protein.

 

[joshlete]

@joshuasamuelquiroz OK. But source?

 

[joshuasamuelquiroz]

@joshlete Part of it is just common sense: there are plenty of people who do intermittent fasting and lift with high protein diets. They couldn't maintain or gain lean mass if the protein per meal cap were really a hard rule, could they.

Jeff Nippard also mentions it in one of his videos

 

[renatusfueritexaqua]

@joshlete If you just consume over the day, you'll have good protein for overall health and muscle mass.

To maximize muscle protein synthesis you should get your protein in spikes, spaced about 4 hours apart.

For younger folks, 30gr is about the most you can make use of per spike. Older folks need close to 40gr to get the same effect.

Personally I believe spacing it out in spikes IS worth doing, esp if you are trying to maximize lean muscle growth. Between age 51 and 52 I put on 20lbs without having to open my belt. I put on some fat but still had a visible 6pack.

I was doing 4 spikes of approx 40 grams per, 160gr or so per day.