Unless we are the Rock, no. Our body mass is different, our gut biome is different, our energy level is different…
The point is- don’t ever eat like someone else. Not these YouTube clowns, not some random fit celebrity. Eat like YOU need to eat. For you.
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Are you seriously stalking my comments? Grow the fuck up.
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So, the rock is the guy that carries muscle mass 7 - 10 times what normally fits his frame because of steroids supporting it instead of his gonads, right? Obvious answer then is -no. Not unless you are blasting all kinds of PED.
I am no expert by any means, but my experience (in decades of sports and experimentation) is really close to a study I 've seen in the past, that proposed 0,8 to 1,6-2 grams per kg of bodyweight. I go for the upper limit when I increase activity (especially strength related, instead of endurance), I go for the lower limit when I decrease activity. Been healthy and strong during all this time.
As for food I try to find the least amount possible my body needs to process (why overload my vital organs? is there a good reason?) in order to support my lifestyle (active, and heavy on sports). Going for the most amount possible without a good reason, I consider greedy and harmful for both the environment and the rest of the people. Resources are not limitless.
As for the expensive part, protein exists in cheaper foods too, not everyone relies heavily (or at all) on animal products. Simple (cheap, especially if you prepare them yourself) examples: legumes & beans, seitan, tofu (and all kinds of tofu related products), tempeh. Especially legumes & beans are incredibly rich in most of the other important nutrients too. One might consider vital wheat gluten a protein powder (almost 80grams of protein in 100grams total), even though its lacking a bit in the amino-acids that legumes/beans are full of, comparing the price it has with an actual protein supplement makes it pretty clear what overpriced means.
Pea Protein is a complete protein with all of the essential amino acids. It has slightly less of a few of them, but there are scientific studies showing equivalent or almost equivalent (depending on age) value as whey protein. An added benefit is that it doesn’t leave you feeling bloated or give you gas and your skin will look healthier than when consuming a lot of whey.
Well, I try not to use supplements when I can go for real food, so I wouldn’t know which protein powder is more effective… I enjoy peas even though I don’t eat them often. The foods I mentioned were examples of cheap protein sources. Vital wheat gluten (which is actually an ingredient for meals) is more than 4 times cheaper than pea protein powder in my area and roughly the same amount of amino-acids. All the rest of the nutrients (and the amino-acids it has on lower concentrations) gluten doesn’t have and may exist in a pea protein powder supplement, exist in the rest of the options I mentioned :-)
When I worked out more regularly I looked into the extra protein stuff. This is a little off the dome, so excuse my numbers and any inaccuracies. Anyway Theres a lot of broscience out there, but I remember being able to find some scientific evidence that showed some benefit of a higher protein diet. It was more like 0.7-.8g of protein per lb vs the body builder stuff which would want you to essentially get a 1 or more ratio which is insane and absolutely unnecessary.
Even the lesser ratio can be a pain to maintain. Thats like 150g if you’re 180lbs vs the recommended 50g of protein. It doesnt sound like a lot, and yeah if you like boneless skinless chicken breast you can get there pretty quick, but if you’re maintaining or cutting weight it can be a hassle to it’s hard unless you have a protein shake. Some days you can easily pass it depending on what you eat, while other days you have to try. Me? I like my bread, my sides, my potatoes, my noodles, my rice, and etc. These are all things with protein. Just not enough to get to 100+ figure.
I imagine for actual athletes who are able to do more than go to the gym a few days a week and walk a lot they burn enough calories to be able to make up the difference so theyre already eating a lot making the protein easier to achieve. If we’re talking about the broscience ratio where you’re essentially anywhere from matching your body weight or more in grams of protein then I cant picture an average person sustaining that without putting on a lot of weight or heavily supplementing(and even then whey isnt exactly light in calories for an average sized person who isnt an athlete)
I can believe that the 50g may not be the ideal number and more could be better especially if you are a little active, but there’s no way in hell the answer is eating a full on professional body builder ratio of protein.
I like my bread, my sides, my potatoes, my noodles, my rice, and etc. These are all things with protein. Just not enough to get to 100+ figure.
These are all great carb sources, most meals contain them for that reason, not for their protein. Their protein is really negligible. Let’s take a look,
- baked potatoes ~ 1.7g protein in 100g (1.7%)
- Rice ~ 7.5g protein in 100g. (7.5%)
- Bread, I assume common bread based on wheat flour, so roughly 12g of protein per 100g. (12%) This one is not exactly negligible, but it has almost as high carb content (~75g) as rice (~80g).
- Noodles, depends on what they are made of. Wheat flour or rice, you can see the previous bullets.
So what you say makes sense. If you try to get all your protein mostly from such sources, you will load a great deal of carbohydrates, almost certainly more than you need, even as a very active athlete. Regardless of what path you choose though, even without chicken breasts, there are foods with great concentrations of protein.
And I think you are overestimating the amount of protein you need. 100+ figure is fine, but really not necessary, anything close to 80 for the weight you mentioned, especially in a fairly inactive person, should be pretty much fine. Especially if you have days every once in a while that you go well above 100g.
Carbs tho, regardless of size or calories, once you load all your glycogen (which is what carbs are converted to if you are not already full) stores in the muscle tissue and liver, if you are inactive, will become triglycerides (fat). And an average person doesn’t store too much glycogen either, you can estimate it around 500g to get a sense of how excessive carbs can make us both fat and, eventually, sick. One important reason why complete inactivity (especially in the big muscles groups, take a walk, run, lift, jump, dance -use your legs!), makes us fat fast.
.75-.8g/lb is likely the upper limit for humans in terms of necessity and lower values are likely fine for most individuals. 50g/day is perhaps on the low side, but not unreasonable for a 2000kcal/day person who’s not trying to gain muscle. With that being said, having more protein in the diet is almost never a bad thing (it’s pretty much impossible to hit a problematic level without seriously supplementing) whereas excessive fat or carbs are much more likely to cause problems.
This was a very nice article, both an enjoyable read and informative. Kept the study about endurance athletes on a deficit for later, since I recently went about losing a few kg in exactly the manner they tested.
50g/day is perhaps on the low side, but not unreasonable for a 2000kcal/day person who’s not trying to gain muscle.
Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, I don’t think its unreasonable either, but haven’t even actually tested it on myself.
Did you mean 0.7-0.8g of protein per kg instead of lb? That’s what the article states is the standard guideline. Per pound would require more than twice as much protein as per kg.
I believe you are correct, the most recent study I am aware of is this which points to an upper limit of 1.6g per kg. So even with the upper limit as target, its less than 150g (~129g) for a person of 180lbs. Again, this is the upper limit. As far as I am aware the lower limit is close to 0.8g per kg. Anywhere between these limits seems to be okay for me (an athlete).
edit: “0.8g per kg, not 0.8g total”
Most of what I have read has said that our need for protein is incredibly overstated, and most Americans eat way too much. From what I understand, it’s fiber that we need to eat more. I guess it goes without saying, but the takeaway is that nutrition is very complex and needs can vary greatly from person to person.
The things i’ve been reading/listenig too is that we should be replacing simple carbs with paani protiens and fiber. In every case, the people mention that American diets should reduce intake over all and macros is secondary
More fiber is correct for nearly everyone but excessive protein intake is not really a thing, unless one is trying to raise awareness of how much meat (especially beef) Americans consume.
not really qualified to comment on protein needs; although, as a growing boy putting on muscle, needing more wouldn’t really surprise me
but, from what i do know about nutrition, i’m bothered that no one seemed to consider the ratio of protein to carbs/fats. i think you’ll need more protein if your energy needs aren’t being met by carbs or fats. protein isn’t really a preferential energy source for us, and i could easily imagine people having issues with protein absorption if they’re not receiving adequate energy from the other macros
also, on a personal note, it sucks how difficult it is to get clean, environmentally friendly protein and fat that doesn’t have milk or soy in it. as someone who does keto, there’s basically no brand out there who does meat substitutes right except for Beyond, which is free of allergens (although i’m sure there are a few people who are allergic to pea protein out there) and doesn’t add a bunch of carbs
i need to put more research into substituting whey protein, since it seems like no amount of ingested lactase entirely prevents digestive issues with it. but i’m confident it can be done, with the bonus of being more environmentally friendly. i’ve gotten a recommendation to use rice and pea protein, so it’s just a matter of going out of my way to get some
also, don’t forget that CORPORATIONS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 70% OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. not to say individual choices don’t help, but they’re a minority contribution
also, on a personal note, it sucks how difficult it is to get clean, environmentally friendly protein and fat that doesn’t have milk or soy in it. as someone who does keto, there’s basically no brand out there who does meat substitutes right except for Beyond, which is free of allergens (although i’m sure there are a few people who are allergic to pea protein out there) and doesn’t add a bunch of carbs
It’s sad to have issues with soy :-/ I really love tofu.
I’ve been on keto in the past (for a year or so), mostly as an experiment to test various aspects of it and I learned a lot of things about how insulin and glycogen works (I am a complete nerd on food among other things XD). At some point I re-introduced carbs and started relying heavily on plant based food sources (and what a relief it was to stop worrying about getting out of ketosis when eating plant based foods). But avoiding to spike my insulin levels and avoiding the excessive heights stayed with me as a good thing. So, I try to spike my insulin before or after emptying my muscle glycogen (long bike rides or runs) and avoid spiking it in the last meal of the day, where what I eat can be considered keto. Coconut oil, olive oil are my preferred fats, a few veggies, and a protein source like seitan/tofu/tempeh in a stir fry.
Nuts & seeds are also heavy on protein and fats (but need more care on keto because most of them contain a few carbs too) and really very rich in most of the other nutrients too.
Anyways, I started typing because I wanted to tell you that you might find seitan a good option in order to limit or replace whey. You can prepare it in many different ways (really a matter of taste and variety) and keep it both low on carbs and easily accessible when you are hungry. I usually make a small loaf (remains okay for 5 days -probably even more- or so in the fridge), cooked (so that I can just toss it in a salad if I don’t want to stir fry), and like 3-4 portions of around 30grams of protein. Easy, lazy, tasty, cheap dinner :-)
nice, i’ll give seitan a try sometime
It’s sad to have issues with soy :-/ I really love tofu.
thank you, i appreciate this. i’m a quarter japanese ffs, and for what?? >_<
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