In my most recent article about Osteoporosis I discussed the importance of using strength training for building muscle and strengthening bones to prevent the onset of this disease. While this is an absolute must it is never going to work well if you do not eat a balanced diet that has optimal levels of protein to ensure the muscles can repair and grow. I think most people are aware of the need to eat quality protein to build muscle however, like most things you can have too much of a good thing and over-eat it causing other serious health problems. You must eat the right balance of protein, carbs, and fats to maintain a healthy body but the big question remains, how much protein is enough? There is no definitive answer to this as it all depends on the needs of each person. The more active you are, the more you weigh, the more you are going to need. When you factor in age, sex, and other various health conditions that may affect nutrient absorption you will find that the amount you need may be much more than you think. Also not all protein is equal as some foods have a higher protein quality than others so this is another thing you have to keep this in mind when trying to work out how much you need. In today's article we will take a close look at all of the various factors you need to consider giving you a better understanding of how much protein to eat in your diet.

If you provide the body with the right nutrients, minerals, amino acids at the right time, and get enough rest to allow the body to do it's thing you speed up your recovery time significantly. If you eat take away and junk food, or if you are on a calorie restriction diet you are not going to provide your body with the right tools to to repair damage from your training. It is not just the quality of the foods either, the timing of when you eat them is pivotal in speeding up the recovery process.

There is no doubt that we need to eat protein and there is more to this food than just building strong muscles. It is that important that without it, we die or become seriously malnourished. All your enzymes and cell transporters; all your blood transporters; all your cells’ scaffolding and structures; 100 percent of your hair and fingernails; much of your muscle, bone, and internal organs; and many hormones are made of mostly protein.

This means that protein enables most of our bodies’ functions to work correctly and without it we would not exist.

Why is protein important for building muscle?

All body-builders and professional sporting athletes are very aware of the need to eat quality protein to fuel and sustain muscle growth but for many other people just looking to get in shape they are not aware of just how critical it can be to eat the correct amount of protein.

Most people focus on Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for total protein, but they don’t think about how much of each amino acid they might need.

Protein is made up of amino acids that act as building blocks for cells and tissues in the body. There are 20 amino acids that combine to form proteins. While some can be synthesized by the human body, others cannot. The nine amino acids that the body cannot make are called essential amino acids. These must be obtained through diet.

When a person eats protein, it is digested and broken down into amino acids, which are involved in many processes in the body, including tissue growth and repair, immune function, and energy production. The body uses amino acids for muscle protein synthesis (MPS), the primary driver of muscle repair, recovery, and growth after strenuous exercises.

Like other body tissues, muscle proteins are continuously broken down and rebuilt. In order to build muscle, a person must consume more protein than what is broken down. If a person is not consuming adequate amounts of protein, their body will cannibalize itself by breaking down existing muscle to provide the body with the amino acids needed to support body functions and preserve more important tissues.

This is the equivalent of going one step forward and two steps back and make all of your strength training efforts pointless as this eventually leads to decreased muscle mass and strength. It has nothing to do with your exercise program or techniques but everything to do with your diet.

It is not only the quantity of protein that matters but also the variety. Some people may in fact be eating protein at each meal but always eating the same type of food. If their diet isn’t varied enough, they may be eating enough total protein, but not enough of a specific essential amino acid that is found in other food groups. For example, eating chicken all the time but avoiding fish, eggs, or red meat. More on this shortly, but first let’s discuss how much is enough and can you eat too much.

Will Eating Too Much Protein Ruin Your Kidneys?

Like anything to do with health and fitness you can have too much of a good thing and over-eat protein. It is always important to keep things in balance.

For many years, one of the biggest concerns most people have with eating too much protein is the fear that it will destroy your kidneys. I would be far more concerned with how much water you are drinking than if you are eating too much protein if you do not have an existing kidney problem. Dehydration and low water intake is a problem I would regard as a much bigger problem and I see this much more often versus people eating a too high protein intake.

Usually your body will stop you from over-eating protein as you get so full very fast and you end up feeling very sluggish.

This concern about high protein and kidneys began with a misunderstanding of why doctors tell people with poorly functioning kidneys (usually from pre-existing kidney disease) to eat a low-protein diet. However, you must understand that this is a recommendation to someone who already has a kidney problem. That is a lot different to someone with a healthy kidney looking to make some dietary changes.

A good analogy I read from Precision Nutrition would be comparing the difference between jogging with a broken leg and jogging with a perfectly healthy leg.

Jogging with a broken leg is obviously a bad idea. Doctors would probably tell you not to jog if your leg is broken. But does jogging cause legs to break? No. That’s the same thing with protein and kidneys. High-protein diets do result in increased metabolic waste being excreted in the urine, though, which it is why it is important to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration which as I explained earlier is more likely to be the case with many people today.

According to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, most healthy adults over 19 years old should get between 10-35% of their daily calories from protein. One gram of protein provides 4 calories.

This means that a person who eats 2,000 calories per day would need to consume between 50 and 175 grams of protein per day.

However, this is a rough guide and will need to be adjusted depending on several factors. The Institute of Medicine (US) suggests a huge range in individual protein requirements two people of the same weight and height might have protein needs ranging from 26 to 111 grams per day.

Protein Quality Matters

Most people think about how much protein, but they don’t think all that much about the quality of the protein they’re eating. There are huge differences in the chemical makeup of a given protein source, and how valuable that protein is nutritionally.

The higher a protein’s quality, the more easily it can give your body the amino acids it needs to grow, repair and maintain your body.

The two big factors that make a protein high or low quality are:

1. Digestibility: This refers to how easy is it to digest and your body’s ability to absorb and use the protein.
2. Amino acid composition: This refers to what amino acids is it made of.

A high-quality protein has a good ratio of essential amino acids, and allows our body to use them effectively.

Take a look at the info-graphic below to get an idea of the different benefits to various protein sources.

As we discussed earlier amino acid composition is more important than just the quantity of protein you eat.

You can have way more protein than you need, but if the protein you’re eating is low in an important amino acid (known as the limiting amino acid), you will remain deficient and not reap the rewards of your training efforts.

High-quality proteins have more limiting amino acids, making them much more effective for our bodies to use that protein source better.

The take home message here is to eat a wide variety of protein sources.

As long as you eat a mix of different protein sources, you’ll get all the amino acids you need. You don’t need to weigh your foods and complete complicated calculations just try to mix up your foods and rotate through your various food groups each day.

If you are not a meat eater that is fine but bear in mind many plant-based sources are less protein-dense than animal sources. So if you choose not to eat animal products, you’ll have to work a little harder to get more protein from a wide variety of plant sources to make up the difference and meet your protein needs.

Why You Might Need To Eat MORE Protein?

As mentioned earlier the amount you need to consume can vary a lot from person to person so let’s discuss the things you need to keep in mind so you can find out how much you might need.

Since we need protein to grow, maintain, and repair our tissues, hormones and immune system, there are times we need more protein.

You may need more protein if you are:

• physically active, either through workouts or your job
• injured or sick
• not absorbing protein normally
• pregnant / breastfeeding
• younger (and growing)
• older (and potentially losing lean mass)

Also some health conditions may require an increase in protein.

Here are some specific scenarios that might call for more protein.

Protein For Older Adults

Older age brings with it special nutrition concerns and requirements. In older age, energy needs decrease but nutrition needs increase. In general, because of the physical and lifestyle changes that tend to go along with aging, the need for overall calories is decreased. However, the need for nutrition, in the form of nutrient-dense, well-absorbed foods and targeted supplementation, is more important than ever.

Some of the most recent research shows that many older people, particularly women over 65, need more protein than the current recommendations to slow down muscle loss.

Experts now recommend over 2.0 g/kg of body weight for people older than 65.

You can read more about the specific nutrition requirements for older adults in the article – How to adjust your nutrition as you age

Protein for Sporting Athletes and Building Muscle

Sporting athletes and highly active people will need to eat more protein to ensure their body receives the right amount of protein to build and repair the damage from their physical training. The exact amount will vary from person to person so you need so it is impossible to say how much more each person needs.

The current recommendations vary from 1.2 to 2.2 g/ kg of body weight. The International Society of Sports Nutrition says a range of 1.4-2.0 g/kg is safe and may help with recovering from exercise.

The more protein in your muscles, the bigger and stronger your muscles can get.

Bodybuilders have long known that there is an “anabolic window” after a workout (24-48 hours) during which muscles are especially greedy for amino acids. This is where you regularly see people drinking protein shakes right after they train to take advantage of this metabolic window.

If your goal is to build muscle and improve your strength then you must eat a protein-rich meal within a few hours after training.

Without a doubt, nutrition and recovery are often the most neglected part of a training plan with many amateur athletes. They are so fixated on finding new training techniques, exercises, and methods they forget the value of nutrition and recovery. Nutrition becomes even more important when trying to combine endurance and strength workouts. More specifically the timing of when you eat.

There are a few key things you must do to maximize your nutrition intake.

Eat a meal or snack with a high carbohydrate content within an hour of completing your endurance training is important to refuel the lost glycogen stores and more importantly to turn off the AMPK enzyme.

Have a drink or eat a snack that contains 6-8g of protein before your strength training workout to help deliver amino acids to the working muscles. Since blood flow is increased to these muscles, they will see more amino acids and assist your body with the activation of mTORC1 enzyme resulting in maximal strength gains.

Eat a protein- and carbohydrate-rich meal within 30 minutes of completing training which increases insulin and amino acids in the muscle. This step is critical, for the first 30 minutes after the workout the body is in a frenzied search for amino acids found in quality protein to begin the repair and rebuild process. This is why you see body-builders walking around with protein shakes when they train.

Great article to read about maximising training and nutrition for sports are shown in the articles below

• Can you improve strength and fitness at the same time?
• How to speed up recovery from intense training

Eating More Protein To Lose Body Fat

Eating protein helps with losing fat, for a few reasons.

Firstly, when you eat more protein it makes you feel full and keeps you full for longer periods. This is one of the best ways to avoid over-eating and also eliminate high sugar or fat foods that sabotage you weight loss efforts. This is something I talk about in great detail in the article – how to avoid food cravings

Secondly, protein makes your body work to digest it which is great for improving your metabolic rate which makes weight loss much easier and effective over the longer term.

Not all nutrients take the same energy to digest. Fat and carbohydrates are pretty easy for your body to digest and absorb, but protein takes more energy to digest and absorb. This is good news if you are trying to lose weight as this extra energy will require your body to increase its metabolic rate to help you digest the food. If you eat 100 calories of protein, you’ll only use about 70 calories of it. This creates a thermal effect as it this extra energy produces high levels of heat which is why you sometimes get the “meat sweats” after a big protein-heavy meal. 

Lastly, protein helps you hang on to lean mass while you’re losing fat. This is an extremely important point to remember when trying to lose weight and a big mistake many make. If you want to lose fat and keep it off for good you need to ensure you maintain or improve your muscle mass. When you cut back your food intake and end up in an energy deficit large enough to lose weight your body tries to get rid of everything — fat, muscle, bone, hormones, etc. — all the stuff you need.

It doesn’t just lose the fat and keep muscle which is what most people think. Maintaining your muscle mass is the by far the most important factor in keeping a high metabolic rate which makes it easier to keep your fat off for good.

This is number one on the list for a very good reason as your muscle mass is the factor that has the biggest influence on your metabolic rate.

The breakup of the factors that influence your body’s metabolism over a 24 our period is as follows:

• Lean Muscle Mass = 66%
• Exercise = 17%
• Eating = 12%
• Body Temperature = 5%

(Reference: Metabolic Precision.com)

Many people do not realize that your body constantly burns calories, even when you're doing nothing. This resting metabolic rate is much higher in people with more muscle. Muscle uses about 3 times as many calories as fat per day just to sustain itself. That small difference can add up over time. After a session of strength training, muscles are activated all over your body, raising your average daily metabolic rate.

The only way to ensure this remains in place is to eat lots of protein and use strength training as your main fitness activity to increase your muscle mass.

You can read more about this in the article – how to increase your metabolic rate

Additional Resources to Help You with Exercise & Nutrition

I know there is a ton of information I have not included in this article with regards to healthy eating and exercise that you need to do in combination with eating protein. You will find the PDF reports shown below, that you can instantly download, will provide you with the complete plan for combining healthy eating with exercise, and this applies to people of all ages.

Summary

What does all this information mean to you? Firstly, you can be safe in knowing that eating more protein is very unlikely to cause you any serious harm. Make sure you drink plenty of water and balance this out with a good variety of vegetables and other food groups. Trying to include a portion of lean protein at every meal is a great way to start being sure you try different kinds of protein to meet the amino acid requirements.

If you play sports or trying to build serious muscles you are going to need to increase your protein intake to repair the damage from your training. Also if you’re over 65 and in particular if you are female you will need to eat more protein to help slow down age-related muscle loss.

Lastly, for those looking to lose weight eating protein with each meal can be a real game changer and help you to avoid food cravings and control your meal portions.

If you are feel you might have an underlying health condition that may be affecting your kidneys and liver you should consult your doctor for more advice.

For more ideas and information on specific topics I may not have covered in detail be sure to check out our INDEX PAGE on the website that has over 300 of our best articles. These are all sorted into categories for quick reference so you can find what you are after more easily. You can also subscribe to our FREE fortnightly newsletter by clicking here.

If you live in Melbourne and feel you need specific help with your exercise program please feel free to reach out to me for help and we can set you up with your individualised program. 

About The Author

Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 18 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specializes in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.

Additional References:

• Precision Nutrition
• Obesity Paradox - By Carl J. Lavie M.D.
• Movement - By Gray Cook
• Bending the Aging Curve -  Joseph Signorile
• Athletic Body in Balance - by Gray Cook
• How To Eat, Move & Be Healthy by Paul Chek
• Heart foundation
• CSIRO
• Nutrition & Physical Degeneration - By Weston A Price
• Big Fat Lies - By David Gillespie