I’ve been pondering protein in my diet lately:
Thanks,
Albert
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Winter and lower volume (10-12hrs) a week I shoot for 100-120 when the volume goes up I usually bump it up a little to about a gram per lb of bofyweight
probably more than I need but I come from more of a “lifting” back ground and always ate a lot of protein…oh and meat tastes good
favorite sources
-Poultry
-Fish
-Bison
-Game (few hunters in the family so I regularly get moose, deer, grouse etc.)
-Cottage cheese (put some peaches in there delicious)
-Eggs (mostly whites)
-Beans
-PB sandwich with good quality whole wheat bread
I weigh 150lbs offseason weight and the trick with getting enough protein in your diet is to spread it out, make sure you always get a little bit with every meal and not a ton at once
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Dubsey:
Thanks for the details…I think I’m low.
how much do you weigh and how much are you getting a day?
as a rule of thumb if you’re getting any kind of hours in for training I would say .75grams per lb and as the training load increases move it to 1 to 1.
1 to 1 is probably a little more than you NEED but not by much especially if your training hard, there is no reason to go any higher than that though
I weigh 177 and avg. very consistently around 15 hrs. during season…feel fine and eat very healthy but think I can bump the protein.
thanks for your thoughts.
Athletes need roughly 1.5g of protein per kg of body weight (90g for a 60 kg (132 lb)) athlete. It is also fine to look at it as 20% of total calories. Eating more than 1.5g/kg will likely not do anything, as the body can’t break it down and resynthesize more than that.
I had to write a paper called ‘what every athlete should know about sports nutrition,’ link is here:
http://www.edenathletics.com/node/8672
Scroll down to find the protein section.
To answer your questions:
What’s your daily protein intake in grams?
Probably around 100g or so.
favorite sources?
Scrambled eggs and yogurt.
how much do you weigh?
114 lbs
do you up the intake any during higher volume training?
Not on purpose but the more you train, the more calories you take in, and because of that my protein intake increases.
Thanks!
I clarify - my first paragraph - the body not being able to use more than 1.5g/kg/day. What that means is, for an athlete trying to gain muscle mass, over that amount won’t result in greater hypertrophy. Excess protein is broken down and stored as fat.
Wow that is very well written, thanks! Now I’m sure I’m consuming far too little protein. Every day on Slowtwitch I manage to learn yet another thing I’m doing wrong 
I have heard that the body can only handle about 40 grams at one time? Any truth to this?
From everything I’ve read yes there is a limit as to how much protein your body can effectively “use” from any one meal, the trick to upping your protein intake is to get a small amount (20-30grams) in every meal
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I have read 20g at a time, actually, but I do not know the truth to this.
Any excess protein, the nitrogen is cleaved off and turned into urea then excreted. The rest of the molecule gets stored as fat (don’t ask me to describe the chemical process by which that occurs, not on a Sunday night, could find it for you tomorrow though).
Wow that is very well written, thanks! Now I’m sure I’m consuming far too little protein. Every day on Slowtwitch I manage to learn yet another thing I’m doing wrong
Glad you found it useful. I learned a lot about nutrition from that class and all those little things have helped me a lot.
Out of curiosity - why do you think you are low? This is America - we eat more fat and protein than the rest of the world combined…unless of course you are an obsessive triathlete following some sort of diet…are you? :).
I have absolutely no idea how many grams of anything I eat. I do try to eat some protein after each moderate to hard work-out though. I’m sure I’m way above the minimum…
Souces - salami, peanut butter, steak, chicken, pork…eggs/bacon/sausage for breakie…
150 lbs
I eat more of everything when I train more including protein. I doubt the ratios change much.
Are you doing CDA again? I’m going to try and train this year so you don’t lap me on the run (again).
I’d strongly suggest avoiding protein powders.
Dave
Why avoid protein powders? If you are looking to add protein to your diet (I won’t whey in on my opinion), powders offer a low calorie way to isolate protein sources, in addition to being more quickly digested then bars (which can be even hard to stomach post workout). Timing of protein intake is very important, after workout = huge need for protein and don’t forget about before bed. 1g/lb is probably overkill for non hypertrophy goals but most athletes do not adequately intake protein.
Hammer Nutrition claims that one scoop of their Whey protein before bed can increase hgh levels by 400%. What do you think of that? What is that going to do for the triathlete?
Hey Dave:
Yes, doing CDA again…love that race venue. Hope to see you there.
Why do I think I’m low? I think this past season in the quest to try and lose a few pounds (read: get down to 175) I was focusing too much on fruits/veggies, restricting calories…lots of “healthy” salads, maybe not enough protein thru the day and at night. Had a terrible Kona with leg cramping on bike that I’ve never experienced before so trying to turn over all the rocks and figure it out. Already examined sodium/electrolytes, protein is next suspect.
70g-90g
food… no strong preferences, just try for variety
75kg (165lb)
not specifically, but since I eat more during higher volumes, will get more protein anyway. I’ve tried a couple of protein supplements but could not notice any effects.
Use fitday.com to track your diet, I’ve found it quite enlightening. I had the suspicion I was low on protein, but fitday let me see how much I was getting from the unexpected foods - whole-wheat pasta for example is surprisingly high in protein.
I think it is more about just getting a balanced diet and making sure that you are getting protein from good sources that are allow for muscle recovery. I usually use some free form amino acids as supplementation before, during, and after workouts, but the rest of the day I try to get most protein from lean sandwich meat, fish, and Eggs; as all are pretty low bad fats and the fish contains omega fatty acids which are really good. So mostly I might get protein in the morning with some eggs, have some protein in a turkey sandwich, and have some fish at night. My snacks are mostly fruit/cereal/cereal bars, PB and honey sandwiches. Most of my snacks have some protein, but not too much. Any nutrient or calorie, no matter how good for you it is, if taken in excess will be either pissed out or stored as fat and do more harm than good
I have read 20g at a time, actually, but I do not know the truth to this.
Any excess protein, the nitrogen is cleaved off and turned into urea then excreted. The rest of the molecule gets stored as fat (don’t ask me to describe the chemical process by which that occurs, not on a Sunday night, could find it for you tomorrow though).
I think it would only be stored as fat if the calories are in excess. If I were to eat 250 grams of protein one day with no carbs/fat, my body would use that protein for energy right? (I have had days like that in the past)