thepathofstrength.com This is from ThePathofStrength.com, a Substack that we sponsor which presents monthly writing about physical training and practical philosophy. Subscribe if you like it and you will receive articles right in your inbox. This piece is by Al, owner of Terminal City Training.
The Perennial Protein Question
Question from Michelle: How many grams of protein should I eat in a day? Every single one? Most of them?
Answer: Nutritionists and dieticians are allowed to make dietary prescriptions. Strength coaches and trainers are expected to promote the official guidelines from their federal or regional government. When they strictly follow these rules you know what you get. What follows is not intended as a recommendation for how you should eat. Also, this discussion is intended for adults. Children have different nutritional needs than adults.
Now that I have gotten that out of the way: you ask a simple question, Michelle, and instead of giving you a simple answer I am not really going to give you an answer at all. Instead I will suggest a way to think around the question. To me that’s better than an answer
I know Michelle. She is pursuing mountain sports and powerlifting. Since she is planning to take a run at some powerlifting meets in the coming months, I will address her question in relation to strength athletics. I will explore a few different approaches to the “how much protein should I eat?” question.
A few points to keep in mind as we kick this off:
Before experimenting with how much protein you should aim for, you will want to figure out how much protein you eat currently. To find your starting baseline, track the amount of protein that you consume, in grams. Do this for two days each week. Switch the days of the week up and track for three weeks, or one month if you have the patience. Average it out to find a daily average. This is your starting point.
I am going to throw out four protein standards to explore. They represent common benchmarks that you hear thrown around in the strength world. It is important to note up front that one tier is not necessarily better than another. You can test these different approaches and get a sense of what kind of commitment they take, how each serves you, and how they make you feel.
Here are the four standards for adults. I have provided examples for the sake of comparison using Michelle’s bodyweight of 220 pounds (100kg) as a reference:
Abdullah the Butcher eating raw chicken. Wikimedia CommonsSome Thoughts on Each Tier
Standard one: If you are not hitting at least this standard then I think that, as a strength athlete, we have some problems.
Standard two: This is really not much protein to speak of for someone who trains.
Standard three: For a lot of people, who are not used to a high protein diet, this will be a tough to maintain on a daily basis and may take some time to adjust to. It is close to double the typical government standard yet still some way from standard four.
Standard four: Yes, it has been advocated by many strength and physique athletes over the years and there are also limits to this standard. I coached a large male who weighed in the 360+ pound range. At one point he decided to try and eat one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. He spent all of his time eating and crapping. For his quality of life it made more sense for him to bring this down to standard three. It will be easier to pull standard four off if you weigh less, or if you are quite lean.
Ultimately the point with all of this protein experimentation is to find what makes you feel good, serves your goals, and allows you to live a fulfilling and healthy life. Training for performance and training for health are not the same thing. This is true when it comes to eating too. If you eat like a typical heavyweight powerlifter or elite road cyclist then there will be consequences to your health. You will want to be very clear about your priorities and choose your standards and role models carefully in order to make good decisions about your diet. If you can afford it and can find a great nutritionist who knows about the realities of physical preparation and sports performance, then consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, get ready for some trial and error and honest self-assessment. Be willing to reassess and change as you go through different periods in your life. And, most importantly, eat your protein.
Answer: Nutritionists and dieticians are allowed to make dietary prescriptions. Strength coaches and trainers are expected to promote the official guidelines from their federal or regional government. When they strictly follow these rules you know what you get. What follows is not intended as a recommendation for how you should eat. Also, this discussion is intended for adults. Children have different nutritional needs than adults.
Now that I have gotten that out of the way: you ask a simple question, Michelle, and instead of giving you a simple answer I am not really going to give you an answer at all. Instead I will suggest a way to think around the question. To me that’s better than an answer
I know Michelle. She is pursuing mountain sports and powerlifting. Since she is planning to take a run at some powerlifting meets in the coming months, I will address her question in relation to strength athletics. I will explore a few different approaches to the “how much protein should I eat?” question.
A few points to keep in mind as we kick this off:
- Hard training athletes have different nutritional needs than sedentary and normal people.
- Canada’s Food Guide states: “You don’t need to eat large amounts of protein foods to meet your nutritional needs.” This is the kind of dietary advice that I am supposed to share. And, this is why I am not giving advice.
- The classical standard from the world of physical culture is to consume one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Some go with one gram per pound of desiredbodyweight.
- Proteins are not created equally and quality of protein is important. Pea protein powder is different from whey powder and beans are different from steak. Be wary when food activists try to tell you otherwise.
- If you suffer from disordered eating you should probably not be tracking your protein consumption, or anything else, without the guidance of a specialist.
Before experimenting with how much protein you should aim for, you will want to figure out how much protein you eat currently. To find your starting baseline, track the amount of protein that you consume, in grams. Do this for two days each week. Switch the days of the week up and track for three weeks, or one month if you have the patience. Average it out to find a daily average. This is your starting point.
I am going to throw out four protein standards to explore. They represent common benchmarks that you hear thrown around in the strength world. It is important to note up front that one tier is not necessarily better than another. You can test these different approaches and get a sense of what kind of commitment they take, how each serves you, and how they make you feel.
Here are the four standards for adults. I have provided examples for the sake of comparison using Michelle’s bodyweight of 220 pounds (100kg) as a reference:
- The government standard: a commonly promoted standard is 0.8 g protein per kg of body weight (adult male or female). 80 grams for Michelle.
- One gram protein per kg of bodyweight. 100 grams for Michelle.
- One gram per pound of lean mass. Average lean mass for an adult female is 69-75 percent. Average lean mass for an adult male is 76-82% (from Livestrong.com, I don’t claim that these ranges are accurate). One gram of protein per pound of lean mass at 220 pounds (using the low average percentages from above) brings us to 151 grams for Michelle or 167 grams for an adult male. To do this right you would need to get your body composition tested through an accurate method such as the DEXA scan.
- The classical standard for strength athletes and physical culturists: one gram per pound of bodyweight. 220 grams for Michelle.
Abdullah the Butcher eating raw chicken. Wikimedia CommonsSome Thoughts on Each Tier
Standard one: If you are not hitting at least this standard then I think that, as a strength athlete, we have some problems.
Standard two: This is really not much protein to speak of for someone who trains.
Standard three: For a lot of people, who are not used to a high protein diet, this will be a tough to maintain on a daily basis and may take some time to adjust to. It is close to double the typical government standard yet still some way from standard four.
Standard four: Yes, it has been advocated by many strength and physique athletes over the years and there are also limits to this standard. I coached a large male who weighed in the 360+ pound range. At one point he decided to try and eat one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. He spent all of his time eating and crapping. For his quality of life it made more sense for him to bring this down to standard three. It will be easier to pull standard four off if you weigh less, or if you are quite lean.
Ultimately the point with all of this protein experimentation is to find what makes you feel good, serves your goals, and allows you to live a fulfilling and healthy life. Training for performance and training for health are not the same thing. This is true when it comes to eating too. If you eat like a typical heavyweight powerlifter or elite road cyclist then there will be consequences to your health. You will want to be very clear about your priorities and choose your standards and role models carefully in order to make good decisions about your diet. If you can afford it and can find a great nutritionist who knows about the realities of physical preparation and sports performance, then consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, get ready for some trial and error and honest self-assessment. Be willing to reassess and change as you go through different periods in your life. And, most importantly, eat your protein.
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