The Body Building Diet Plan and Exercising
Saturday, July 24th, 2010No matter what you may have heard from various fitness experts, a body building diet doesn’t have to include huge amounts of protein. The most common suggestion is to have one gram of protein per pound of body weight. That works out to roughly 200 grams per day if you are a 200 pound man. The body building magazines recommend an even higher number compared to this.
The recommendation by the RDA for Protein for Adults is .8 gram per kilogram of body weight.
That would translate to about 64 grams if you’re weighing 175 pounds. So why do these numbers vary so widely? The RDA’s suggestions are based on research studies using college aged men. Their recommended amounts of protein are based on keeping the nitrogen balances of these young men at a stable level. Unfortunately, nitrogen balance is not a 100% proven way to predict muscle gain or muscle loss. So this probably wouldn’t be a good protein intake estimation for the body building diet.
The AMDR Recommends Between 10%-35% of Daily Calories to Be Protein
This makes the amount of protein you eat dependent upon how many calories you consume in a day. The acronym AMDR stands for Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range and the Institute of Medicine established it in 2005. The main problem with the AMDR’s recommendation is that it covers a rather large spread. This is something not taken into account by this recommendation or by the RDA. Someone who is training hard would have to consider their activity levels when putting together a body building diet for themselves.
So is doesn’t seem like the AMDR or the RDA are much help when it comes to creating a body building diet for someone.
Some body building magazines suggest as high as 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. That is 350 grams per day, for a 175 pound man! You need to remember the problem with depending on information from body building magazines is they aren’t always unbiased. The number one way they make money is by selling ads to advertisers. In turn, protein is the top supplement that the advertisers are selling. No doubt that 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight is way more than necessary.
The More Protein You Eat, The More Protein You Can Digest
Here’s a weird body fact; if you eat large amounts of protein at every meal, your body becomes used to it and has an easier time absorbing it. However, if you are NOT use to eating a lot, you’ll find ingesting a high protein meal will result in upsetting your stomach due to your body not being able to digest it. Most people assume that the more protein you digest the more muscle you will build, but it’s not that easy.
Digesting Ten Time More Of Protein Will Not Result In Ten Times More Muscle
Research has demonstrated that the more protein your body consumes, the more likely it is to convert amino acids to fuel instead of fat and carbohydrates. Your body uses protein, fat, and carbs for fuel. Depending on what goes into your system, your body adjusts its fuel burning needs to output energy. So there is a certain level beyond which more protein just won’t make a difference - so how do you determine how much is right for your body building diet?
A Study Which Shows 70-120 Grams of Protein Per Day for Exceptional Muscle Gains
Brad Pilon is the author of “How Much Protein”, a book on this very topic. He compared several studies and found that between 0.55 to 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight would be enough for exceptional muscle gains. He also references several studies that have shown that going over 120 grams of protein each day will not help add to your muscle gain. So who’s advice would you rather follow; solid scientific research or the supplement companies? It’s up to you. My suggestion is to average roughly 100 grams of protein per day, which is easily doable without adding protein shakes to your body building diet.