How Much Protein You Really Need Each Day

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Meet Coach Rob And The Goal

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My name is Rodmax Exercise Physiology and First Dynastics. And I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really worked and most importantly, why things work. Thanks the name. There is a method to the method. Before I get started today, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilded of the Gilding Group ELT Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412.

Protein As An Essential Nutrient

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Happy Saturday, everybody. Coach Rob here, and I'm going to talk to you today about protein, probably the most misunderstood macronutrient out there. So I just called protein a macronutrient. That's what it is. It's technically an essential nutrient. And the word essential in this case doesn't mean needed, although it is. What essential means when you're talking about macro and micronutrients means that your body can't produce it without an outside source. So you have to go from outside of your body to get the macronutrient. That's what an essential nutrient is. Now, a macronutrient is protein, carbohydrates, fat, and water. And macro in this case means that you need a lot of it compared to a micro, which means you do not need very much. Now, a micronutrient are two things, vitamins and minerals. And yes, they are considered micronutrients, essential micronutrients, which again means that your body needs to get them from an outside source and you do not need them in great quantities. Micronutrients, vitamins and minerals, macronutrients, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and water. All right. So we are going to talk about protein today because, like I said, it's probably the most misunderstood of the macronutrients. I could make an argument that carbohydrates are as well. I don't think fats really are, and I don't think water is. But protein and carbs are probably the king and queen of being misunderstood. So today I will tackle protein. A very important point that we need to keep in mind here that all of these macronutrients are supposed to be consumed in a balance, in a particular balance. And the balance isn't supposed to be one-third, one-third, one-third when I'm

Balanced Macros And Carb Myths

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talking about the caloric macronutrients, because I'm not talking about water here, but the protein, carbs, and fat. No, it's not supposed to be 33% each, which is the correct distribution that makes them balanced. Most experts believe that your diet should be consumed of roughly 50% carbohydrates generalizing here, 25% protein, 25% fat. That's like a really good balance to think about. People that are more active probably should consume more carbohydrates. And uh, other than that, though, 50, 25, 25 is a very good ratio to think about. That's balanced. And again, I'm talking about protein today because already you carbohydrate freaks out there that think it's making you fat, and by the way, it's not, overeating is, are gonna be going 50% of my diet carbohydrates. Yes, carbohydrates is the macronutrient that you're supposed to be consuming the most because it is what provides energy to your muscles and energy to your brain. All right. 25% protein. Sounds like not very much, but in reality, most Americans consume too much protein. So I'm going to give you the science on that so you no longer have to debate it. If you don't believe me, do your own research because there are protein freaks out there too. They kind of go with the same people that think carbs are bad. They think all you need to eat is protein and you're not going to get fat, you're going to build muscle, you're going to be more active, you're going to be able to handle your activity, I should say. None of this is true. And by the way, I'm not anti-protein whatsoever. We need protein to recover. We need protein to recover. But most people eat too much of it. All right. Most people, not everybody, most people. So let's talk about that. All right.

Daily Protein Targets By Activity

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So, how much protein should you be consuming? It's crazy how little protein you need if you're inactive. And I guarantee you, I could I'd be willing to make a big time bet that even people that are really inactive, if you really looked at their diet, they're eating too much protein. Isn't that crazy? Because if you're a sedentary individual, which I hope you're not, I hope listening to this podcast means that you've started to get up and you're moving around, you're being active, you're no longer sedentary, you're taking care of your health, you're taking care of your fitness. I hope that to be true. But if you are sedentary, you only need 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. Let me repeat, 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. So me being a 170-pound person, if I was sedentary, would only need 62 grams of protein per day. That's it. 62 grams. Now, before I go on with the other recommendations, because hopefully, as I said, most of us are not sedentary listening to this, let me explain why. Protein is a recovery macronutrient. Our muscles don't need protein to grow per se. They need protein to recover, which will help the muscles grow. If you're a dude in the gym and you're a bro dude trying to get big and swole and get big biceps and all that, and if you think you're only going to get those eating protein and you're on some low-carb diet, you are really badly mistaken. You are not going to grow muscles without carbohydrates. So protein is there to help you recover. Carbohydrates are the energy you need to grow. You need both. But protein's role is not in energy distribution. We don't use caloric calories of protein to move. So therefore, we only need enough to help us recover. All right. So again, just 62 grams per me at 170 pounds. Put yourself into that equation, whatever you weigh, you're going to see that you're not, you don't need maybe as much as you think. If you're sedentary, but that's, I'm not even going to go there. You're listening to this, you're not sedentary. All right. Now let's talk about people who exercise regularly, but maybe aren't trying to gain a ton of muscle per se, right? And I hate even saying that because it's just not as easy as all that sounds. But anyway, you would then need 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight if you are exercising on a regular basis. Now, I would assume that is most of you. I would assume that is most of you. If you are coming to me two times a week for strength training, you are exercising regularly. If you're coming to me three times a week, like some of you do to exercise and strength train, you are exercising regularly. If you are walking every day, or most days of the week, you are exercising regularly. So for most of you, it's going to be 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. So in my case, at roughly 170 pounds, that's around 124 to 170 grams per day. Okay. That's still not a huge amount of protein. That is, you know, I'm sorry, you know what? I need I need to back that up a little bit. I I skipped ahead, and that was me for hypertrophy. That was us for hypertrophy. This was for active adults. All right. Looking at my notes here, my faux pas, scratch that out. It is still 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight, but it gave you the wrong total. For me, that's 93 grams to 124 grams. All right. 93 to 124. For me at 170 pounds, that's not a lot. I mean, that's a decent amount. I'm not saying it's easy to get your protein sources, and I'm going to wrap up by talking about that in a bit, but it's not a lot either. I mean, there are freaks out there, and they are freaks, they're just trying to sell you products that are going to sit there and tell you that you need like 400 grams of protein a day. I know people, bodybuilding world people that have told people that. So most of their macronutrient distribution is in the form of protein. That's a crazy amount. It's hard on the kidneys, it's it's hard on your urinary system. Like it is hard, and a lot of it you're just going to store as fat because the proteins we eventually don't use get stored as fat. All right. So now the most protein anybody would need, and again, it's for recovery, it's not for energy, it's for recovery, would be for the people that are trying to gain maximal size, hypertrophy, and maximal strength. Football players, bodybuilders, linebackers, you know, whatever. Uh, some of my burly boys playing softball. I want to hit the ball harder, I want to gain some muscle. The most would be 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. All right. 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight the most. So for me, at 170 pounds, that equals 124 to 170 grams a day. So if you really want to keep it simple, stupid, then you could say the most protein you would need, if you're really trying to grow muscle, would be about a gram per body weight. The most. But do you know how many people supersede that all the time because they think it's what they're supposed to eat? They think if they eat that, they're not gonna get fat. I hate to break it to you, but everybody's going to gain body fat if you eat too much of anything that your body isn't gonna use, whether that be fat, carbs, or protein. Okay? So for most people, if we're gonna really balance this out, it should only be about 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight per day. Make it really, really simple. 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight per day. That is not nearly as much as most people are told they are to consume. It's probably more in line with what maybe many people are taking. Okay. So that is what we need per day. I am a big fan of logging your food, at least for a while, so you can figure out if you're getting your numbers, whether it be for the calories, for the carbohydrates, for the fat, for the protein. I'm a big fan in logging that in a MyFitnessPal type thing. It really, really helps to do that. Once you get an idea of how much protein and carbs and fat you're consuming per day, you probably don't need to log anymore. I still log, it just takes me a few seconds, and the gain I get from it far outweighs the loss I get from it. All

Per Meal Limits And Powder Hype

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right. Now let's talk about per meal. In the old days, not that long ago, really, probably maybe a decade or two, the evidence stated that you're not going to be able to use more than 25 grams of protein at a meal. Like anything more than that, your body wasn't going to be able to digest and most importantly, absorb it into the system for use. There's still some truth to that, but that number has become a little bit obsolete. And the reason is because people are different body weights and there's different activity levels and those types of things. But now we know that anything more than 0.3 to 0.5 grams per kilogram per meal is probably not going to get used for protein. It's just going to get used as fat. So when you see these really expensive, silly protein powders that are out there that state, you know, 40 grams of protein per scoop. I mean, at my weight at 170, right there, that is by one gram over too much protein. So I mean, right there, if you're consuming too much at your meal, it's a waste. I mean, at the very least, you're going to excrete it out. It's going to be expensive urine, it's going to be expensive, you know what. And at the very most, it's putting pressure and stress on your kidneys and you're storing it as fat. So you do not need that much protein per meal, not like you think you do. All right. So for me, that's 23 grams to 39 grams per meal. That's it. That's it. I mean, you know, that's a right there. 23 grams is about a chicken breast. So if I have a chicken breast at my meal, I have enough protein. Now the rest of the plate needs to be filled up with vegetables and complex carbohydrates and maybe a little bit of fat, right? But not all this protein. We don't need as much per day. We don't need as much per meal as we think, but we need enough. So we really, really, really have to make sure that we're getting the right kind and the right sources. All right. So let's talk about that a little bit.

Complete Proteins And Best Food Sources

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What are the best sources of protein? Now, you can be a vegan and get enough protein for sure. It will not be easy, but it can be done. Quinoa and soy products are a complete protein. Now, what a complete protein means is that all of the essential amino acids are present. And there are nine essential amino acids. When they are all present, then that is called a complete protein. Incomplete proteins have to be combined to have all the essential amino acids so they can be used as protein. Now you say, what happens if I eat an incomplete protein? And by the way, I talked a couple podcasts ago about deceptive labeling. That's another one I forgot to mention. But a lot of times, like on bread and stuff, they'll say that it has, I don't know, four grams of protein or something like that. It's not a lie, but it's also not completely true. It does have the protein, but it's typically in bread's case an incomplete protein, which isn't the end of the world as long as you're taking that bread and you're combining it with another plant source that is going to match up and give you all the essential amino acids. Now that can be done, but as you can see, that's also really complicated. So for example, nuts, legumes, peanuts, things like that mixed with wheat bread is going to give you a complete protein. So that's great. If you want a complete protein, then you can make yourself a peanut butter sandwich for sure. But you can see if you didn't know that, you might be taking in some incomplete proteins that don't match with other incomplete proteins. And essentially what you're really taking in then is more carbohydrates. It's going to be used for the energy, but not for the protein needs. Now, look, I am 100% on board with being plant-based. I'm mostly plant-based. Not completely, but mostly. So I have no problem with finding plant proteins. But you do have to do your homework. You do have to make sure that you're getting the correct kind. I mean, you can use Google. I mean, it literally is not hidden information anymore. It probably never was. I mean, everything is just readily right there. Okay. So if you're vegan, if you're plant-based, yes, you can get your protein that you need, especially now that I pointed out you don't need nearly as much as you thought you did for most people, especially especially active people. You can get it done. Quinoa is a complete protein. Soy is a complete protein. So tofu, complete protein. That's fine. You don't have to mix them. The other ones you will have to mix. Now, vegetarians who consume some animal products, but they don't eat the flesh, so they're eating dairy and eggs. I mean, you're getting your complete proteins right there. Greek yogurt is a great source of a complete protein. Cottage cheese is a great source of a complete protein. Milk also is, it's just sometimes it contains a lot of sugar. Now, with these products, you know, I always suggest because you want to watch some of the, you know, um farming techniques used. I mean, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I would go more organic and free range and those types of things. I just think you're probably getting a better product. And most importantly, it's better for the environment and the animals and everything else. But you do have to watch that when you get into that. You probably want to choose the best sources out there. Local is better, you know, and all that, but I'm not going to preach to you on that. But dairy is a complete protein, so it's a great source of getting your protein. If you have some Greek yogurt with your breakfast and you're of normal body weight, you probably got all of the protein you need at that particular meal. Now, when we go up into the flesh sources, the animal sources, well, chicken is going to be a complete great choice of protein. White fish is going to be a good source of a great source of protein. Turkey is going to be a great source of protein. Now, beef and other types of animals not mentioned are also protein, but with them you do have to watch the saturated fats because there is a lot of fat in beef. There's a lot of fat in whole milks and things like that. So some of the protein sources you got to be very careful because along with it comes saturated fat. And I don't care what anybody has told you, saturated fat is linked to heart disease. We do not want to be consuming a lot of saturated nor trans fats. All right. So you can get your sources that way. You can get a list of the best proteins that are out there from animal down to plant. It really isn't hidden information. As I said, it probably never was. It was just where were you going to get that information before, I guess, unless you went and purchased a book. But now you can simply Google it. All right. Timing-wise,

Timing, Tracking, And Final Takeaways

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I'm a believer because I told you you can't digest and absorb all of the protein at once. Like, let's say for me, I need, you know, let's say 150 grams of protein per day. Well, you know what? I'm just going to get all my protein out of the way now and eat it all right now. Okay. Remember, we can't do that because our body only absorbs a certain amount at a time. So it's really best to just try to spread that out among your meals. Spread it out among your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's why it's another reason, real important, to not skip meals and have two big meals per day or whatever, because then you can't space out your macronutrients. And these things are meant to be spaced out. But the best way to do it is to take your protein needs, whatever they might be, and space them out. If you're eating three times a day, space them out that way. If you're eating four times a day, space them out that way. That way your body's readily getting all of the macronutrients that you need. All right. So I hope that helps you. Remember, all essential macronutrients are needed. They're needed in the right balance. Don't believe the hype. Most people are trying to sell you stuff. Do your research, follow and listen to people that have their credentials to help you. Thank you for listening to today's show. I ask you to please hit automatic download and also follow the show. It will cost you nothing. Now I would like to thank our second great sponsor, Procharge Liquid Protein. What I love most about it is it is extremely portable. I have a tendency to make a mess when I'm making my protein smoothies after I exercise because I spill the powders and all that other stuff. But instead, with Procharge, all I have to do is open up the cap and pour it in my mouth. There are two servings per container. Each serving has 20 grams of protein. My personal favorite flavor is lemon lime. Check them out on my website at fittothemax.net.