Three times when higher protein is called for
You probably noticed in the example above that using 30%
of calories from protein comes out very close to one gram
per pound of body weight. However, the percentage of total
calories method is more accurate because it accounts for
different goals. The examples above were for someone who
wanted to lose weight. Obviously your optimal caloric intake,
and therefore your protein intake, will vary depending on
what you want to achieve. If you want to gain weight, you’re
going to need more calories, and a substantial portion of
those extra calories should come from protein.
Clearly, there are times when a higher protein intake is
necessary. These include:
1) When you are trying to gain muscular body weight
2) When you are using a low carbohydrate diet for fat
loss
3) When you are "carbohydrate sensitive"
Protein Intake and Gaining Muscular
Body Weight
Let's suppose you're male, you weigh 190 lbs. and you maintain
your weight on 3000 calories per day. To gain weight you’ll
need to increase your calories. Makes sense, right? Specifically,
you’d need about 3500 per day. Now let’s do
the math: 30% of 3500 calories is 1050 calories per day.
1050 calories divided by four calories per gram is 262 grams
of protein a day. That’s nearly 1.4 grams of protein
per pound of body weight!
After everything we’ve discussed so far, you’re
probably wondering, "isn’t that entirely too
much protein?" True, 1.4 grams per pound of bodyweight
seems like a heck of a lot of protein. However, there is
a very logical reason for this extra protein, so stay with
me for a minute. Granted, there’s no scientific "proof"
that high protein intakes this high will grow more muscle,
but that’s not the reason for the extra protein. The
reason is your protein intake has to go up along with your
calories in order to keep your nutrient ratios "balanced."
You need more calories to gain weight, but if you only
add the extra calories from fat or carbohydrate, you would
probably find yourself getting fat - and fast! As bodybuilders
know all too well, excess carbohydrates, especially in the
presence of a calorie surplus, can easily cause fat storage.
The same goes for dietary fats. A high calorie diet with
70% of the calories from carbohydrates might be ok for a
long distance runner, but chances are, a bodybuilder would
get as smooth as a baby’s butt eating like that!
Protein intake and low carbohydrate dieting
The second time when more protein is justified is when
you are using a low carbohydrate diet. The baseline diet
of 55% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 15% fat is without
a doubt the healthiest, most balanced way to eat, and most
people will lose weight on this diet, as long as calories
are below maintenance. However, take a look at the diets
of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness competitors
and you'll discover that nearly all of them use some variation
of the low carbohydrate or moderate carbohydrate diet to
achieve the "ripped" look necessary to win competitions.
If you decide to choose the low carbohydrate approach to
dieting, the problem is that you can’t just drop out
all those carbohydrates and leave the amounts of protein
and fat right where they were. If carbohydrates are decreased
substantially, the protein (and to some extent, the healthy
"good" fats) must be increased correspondingly
so the calorie deficit doesn’t become too large.
When your carbohydrates are too low and your calories are
also low, the result is almost always muscle loss. Not exactly
what a bodybuilder wants, is it? So, to offset the drop
in carbohydrates and keep your calories above "starvation
level," your protein intake must be increased - sometimes
to very high levels. Exactly what ratio of protein to carbohydrate
you take in depends entirely on your type of metabolism
and can only be determined through trial and error.
Not only does a high protein level fend off muscle loss
while on low carbohydrates, but it can also speed up the
fat burning process. Protein has the highest "thermic
effect" of any food. That means that protein foods
speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder
to digest, process and utilize this nutrient compared to
fat or carbohydrate. The "thermic" effect of protein
is one of the reasons that a higher protein diet is more
effective for fat loss than a high fat diet or a high carbohydrate
diet. Too much of any food type can be stored as body fat,
but protein is less likely to be converted to fat than any
other nutrient.
Protein intake for the carbohydrate sensitive
or insulin resistant
A high protein, low carbohydrate diet may not be appropriate
(or healthy) for year round maintenance, but there is no
question that a higher protein diet makes it easier to lose
body fat. One reason for this is because of the thermic
effect of proteins, but another reason is the effect of
moderate or low carbohydrates and high protein on insulin
and blood sugar levels. Let me explain:
Some people are very "sensitive" to carbohydrates.
This means that when they eat a lot of carbohydrates, they
"overreact" and there is an unusually large surge
in their blood sugar and insulin levels. Insulin is an important
anabolic hormone and is responsible for moving glucose into
body cells, but too much is not a good thing. Large concentrations
of insulin in the bloodstream activate fat storage enzymes
and promote the movement of triglycerides in the bloodstream
into fat cells for storage. Too much insulin also inhibits
enzymes that promote the breakdown of stored body fat. The
only solution to this problem is less carbohydrates and
- you guessed it - more protein.
The one gram per pound of bodyweight guideline is good
as a general rule of thumb for bodybuilders, and the 30%
of total calories guideline is even better. However, it's
impossible to set hard and fast rules about protein intakes,
because no single rule could possibly apply to everyone.
The amount of protein you need depends on how hard you are
training and on whether you want to gain, maintain, or lose
bodyweight. It also depends on whether you decide to take
the high carbohydrate, low fat approach or the high protein,
low carbohydrate method. Neither way is right or wrong.
What's right is what works for you.
No single diet will work for everyone. Nutrition is a highly
individual issue and you must make adjustments to your diet
to account for the differences in your metabolism and your
body type. If you've tried the conventional, high carbohydrate,
low fat diet and it hasn't produced satisfactory results,
a diet with moderate or even low carbohydrates might be
the answer. If you decide to take the low carbohydrate approach,
you're going to have to increase your protein to make up
for the lower carbohydrates. If you don't, you'll end up
losing your hard-earned muscle. You're also going to have
to eat more protein if you want to gain lean body weight.
Even though it flies in the face of conventional wisdom
and seems excessive, it's entirely possible that you might
need as much as 1.25 grams to 1.5 grams of protein per day
- or more - to get optimal results.
In the third installment of Bodybuilders and Protein, we
will conclude the series by looking at the often extreme
protein consumption habits of competitive bodybuilders.
Then we will answer the question that's on everyone's mind:
"Isn't eating too much protein bad for your health?"
>>
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Continue to Part
3
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