Should I eat 60g of protein or 259g?

[shiningstar89]

@nowhereman Following nothing apart from my own experience, I’m 32, 6ft 2” and I’m around 105kg. I have anything between 80-120g of protein, rarely more and I am making consistently good gains and progress in the gym.

Not to say I wouldn’t make better progress if I had a higher protein intake, but you definitely don’t HAVE to have the protein intake that a lot of people claim you do.

 

[mybridges]

@shiningstar89 You don’t have to, but you’re just leaving gains on the table when you do so.

I used to lift with a guy who was vegan. He lived mainly off soy and lentils. We started off similarly - skinny fat 150 lb kids - but he plateau’d entirely about 6 months in. He started eating chicken again after some time and broke through it immediately.

 

[shiningstar89]

@mybridges I’ve been working out for around 2 years and haven’t plateaued (yet). I completely agree with what you’re saying though, my recovery times and overall gains might be less than if I increased my protein intake.

 

[kazane]

@nowhereman 1.6g per kg of body weight is the correct target for someone who is actively training and seeking to build muscle.

Which translates to roughly 0.8g/lb (0.73g/lb, to be more precise) when converted to freedom units.

More than this amount is not necessarily harmful, but it also serves little to no benefit according to the best research that’s out there. The caveat being if you are in a cutting phase, you might benefit from upping the target to 2.2g/kg (or 1g/lb) while cutting.

There does come a point where you’re consuming too much protein and it can cause problems. It’s likely that you will start feeling digestive discomfort when that happens. In theory, too much protein for too long could damage your liver and/or kidneys. But I’m not aware of any cases of that happening. It would be very difficult to eat that much protein.

 

[sg127]

@nowhereman I’ve heard you should do .8g per lb but just round up to 1g per lb. Unless you’re pretty fat then do 1g per lean lb

 

[ivans]

@nowhereman Aim for 185g a day. If you are a little short, no big deal.

 

[punmonpiu]

@nowhereman So my follow up question is do you go by your current weight or your desired weight? In either case of trying to gain and trying to lose? I always just figured it was based on the desired weight so for me who's pushing 290 lbs I aim for about 180g of protein since my goal is 180 lbs. But, my gym partner that I go with has the opposite problem, he's 6'2" and weights 134 lbs, he's trying to gain and has been aiming for 170g of protein since that's where he wants to finish. Is this right?

 

[kasia7777]

@nowhereman I did a very large amount of research also and had the same issues that you are experiencing in finding the right levels.
I try to eat over 200 grams of protein per day on workout days.... and the day after. I workout 3 times a week when I can, sometimes 2 days.

I have experienced muscle growth and fat loss with weight gain.

I do regular blood tests to make sure my liver kidneys and everything else is in good shape.

I can't tell you what to do, or what will work for you. But I recommend getting regular testing done to keep track of how your body is doing.

 

[jameswelch]

@nowhereman I think this is great but a reminder to op that if you go over the 222g of protein and you didn’t work out enough to absorb more, then your body just would poop it out.