How much protein to eat for strength training

For healthy people who regularly perform strength training, the current industry-recognized safe and effective protein intake range is 1.6~2.2g per kilogram of body weight per day. If you are in the fat loss period, preparation period, or the daily training intensity is particularly high and the volume is particularly large, you can also increase it to 2.4~3.0g per kilogram of body weight, which can basically fully cover the needs of muscle growth.

This number is not determined by experts. The sports nutrition community has been arguing about this intake for almost 20 years. In the early years when the domestic fitness circle was just emerging, some people directly copied the dietary guidelines for ordinary people, saying that eating 0.8g per kilogram per day was enough. There were also extreme bloggers who advocated eating more than 4g to build muscle. Now it seems that both opinions are a bit biased.

The current disagreement in the academic community is actually mainly stuck on the upper limit of intake. Some clinical studies believe that the protein utilization threshold of natural trainers is around 2.2g per kilogram. Eating too much will not only increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, but the excess calories will either provide energy or be stored as fat, which will not bring additional muscle-building benefits.； Another part of the research believes that if you are in a fat loss period with a significant calorie deficit, higher protein intake can not only better preserve muscles, but also increase satiety and help you resist the desire to eat snacks. It is no problem to eat up to 3g.

Akai, a natural bodybuilding athlete who has been training beside me for almost five years, was preparing for the local amateur competition last year and had a season weight of 77 kilograms. During the fat loss period, he ate about 210g of protein every day, which happened to be stuck at 2.7g per kilogram. He added 30g of whey and two whole eggs in the morning, 200g of fried beef tenderloin with brown rice at noon, and ate it before training in the afternoon. 150g of steamed shrimp, 25g of whey isolate after training, 180g of pangasius with boiled vegetables at night, and 200g of sugar-free Greek yogurt before going to bed. It was just enough. During the three-month preparation period, I lost 7.8 kilograms of fat and only 0.2 kilograms of muscle mass. My condition was much better than when I was preparing for the competition in the previous two years.

If you are just a novice who has just touched the barbell, and only practices three or four times a week, and has not yet reached the stage of achieving results, there is really no need to stick to the 2g standard from the beginning. The amount of 1.2~1.6g can fully meet the muscle growth needs of the novice welfare period. A while ago, I took care of a little boy who had just graduated. He weighed 63 kilograms. The popular science on the Internet at first said that he should eat enough 2g. He stuffed himself with more than 120 grams of protein a day. He was lactose intolerant and drank ordinary whey every day. He had diarrhea for a whole week. Later, he was adjusted to about 90g a day, replaced the ordinary whey with isolated, and added soy products and braised chicken legs twice a week to change the taste. Instead, he steadily gained 4 kilograms of muscle in three months, and his daily training status was also very good.

As for "eating too much will damage the kidneys" that many people are worried about, it is actually a requirement for people with chronic kidney disease. As long as healthy people have no basic problems with their kidney function, even if they eat 3g per kilogram for a long time, there is currently no clear research evidence that it will cause kidney damage, so there is no need to scare yourself. To put it bluntly, protein is like bricks for building a muscle house. Just count enough. If there is too much and there is no place to put it, it will either be thrown away as construction waste or occupy space in your yard for stockpiling. There is no need to spend money. Adjust slowly according to your own training stage. Don’t force yourself to eat enough. It is better than anything else.