High Protein Diets: How Much Protein Do You Need?

To bulk up, we need a high protein diet plan.

This doesn’t mean excessively high protein, as we don’t want too much protein, and also need the equally important good carbohydrates and good fats as well.

So how much protein do we need? And what are the sources?

Here we’ll go through how to work out our daily protein intake requirement and also what are the good sources of proteins when bodybuilding.

And it doesn’t mean lots of calculations either, there are some in the beginning to get you started, but after that you’ll know how much to have.

Amount Of Protein Needed Per Day

So here’s how to work out your requirements for protein when working out.

While there are many different recommendations for protein intake, it’s generally estimated that for a sedentary person or someone doing only mild exercise, that their protein requirements per day are 0.75g per kg of body weight (or 0.375g per pound of body weight).

This is the WHO recommendations for protein intake for an average person, published in 1985.

However, if you’re exercising daily, then your requirement is probably around 1.0 - 1.2 g per kg (or 0.5 – 0.6g per pound)

For endurance athletes, this is 1.2-1.4 g per kg (or 0.6 – 0.7g per pound)

For bodybuilders this is 1.6 – 1.7 g per kg (or 0.8 – 0.85g per pound) [1]

According to Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, her recommendation for adults building muscle mass is 1.32 – 1.98g per kg (or 0.6-0.9g per pound).

There are some calculators out there that suggest even higher levels of protein intake, but these are the more conservative values.

Make up your own mind.

There have been concerns of protein overload in rat studies with excessive protein intakes.

So keep to a good solid amount of protein (which is a pretty respectable amount of protein per day) whether it's through dietary protein or protein supplements. But like with most things, there may be no benefit by overdoing it.

A high protein diet is aimed to provide you with enough amino acid building blocks to repair the body, including the workd out muscles.

Want to lose the fat on your gut? Protein is one of the parts of the plan to lose stomach fat and get a six pack. You can get in shape now, and with less effort, once you know the steps.

Reference

1. www.sugar-bureau.co.uk/energy_zone/protein.html