Are You Eating Enough Protein?

Are You Eating Enough Protein?

When you hear the term “protein intake,” you might just think about building muscle, but it’s much bigger than that. Protein is essential for our bodies to work properly from head to toe. Getting the right amount of protein is important and depends on each individual.

You can think of protein as the worker bees of your body. The body doesn’t store protein at all. The proteins of your body — made up of individual components called amino acids — are acting as the manpower of movement, the hard-working immune system, and carriers of oxygen in your blood, just to name a few roles. Each protein has a job and is doing that job pretty much all the time. Protein rarely just sits around idle in your body, nor is muscle simply “stored” protein.

When it comes to muscle, dietary protein is essential for ensuring your body has the necessary building blocks (amino acids) to maintain and build lean body mass. Without a surplus of available amino acids, muscles will not grow in strength or size. Of course, protein in the body is not enough to build muscle; adding resistance exercise to your daily routine gets you on the fast track to muscle growth.

Nine out of the 20 possible amino acids are essential, meaning the body cannot make them on its own; they must be ingested. Animal proteins are “complete” proteins because they contain all nine essential amino acids. Plant-based proteins (such as legumes) are not all complete proteins, but as long as you eat a varied diet with lots of sources of protein, you can meet your complete amino acid needs. The exception to this is tofu, which is a complete protein. but can be paired together to easily meet your amino acid needs. For example, eating beans with brown rice would fit the bill, and tofu is another great plant-based complete protein.

HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO YOU NEED?

Protein has a Recommended Dietary Allowance level of 0.8g/kg of body weight. However, this is technically the minimum daily average intake level to meet the requirements of 97–98% of Americans. So while this is a good starting place, there is certainly a lot of wiggle room based on individual lifestyle and personal goals.

You may have heard that you need 0.8-1g/kg of body weight for protein. This recommendation is based on the minimum amount of protein to preserve the muscle mass you already have during weight maintenance. However, if you are active, trying to lose weight, or gaining muscle, you likely need more protein to reach your goals. For example, “strength and endurance athletes [may consume] 0.5–0.8 grams per pound of body weight per day,” says Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, a registered dietitian based in Pittsburgh. “Those trying to decrease body fat but maintain muscle [may consume] 1.0 grams protein per pound of body weight per day.” That’s why tracking your protein intake with an app like MyFitnessPal is ideal, since you can see how much you’re presently consuming and make changes from there.

Many eating styles suggest using a percentage of your total calories to determine your protein needs is sufficient. While this is a decent guideline, it doesn’t account for your unique body and personal goals. Therefore, determining your general protein needs is best defined by using your weight.
Most formulas use kilograms as the bodyweight measurement. You can easily convert your weight in pounds to kilograms with this formula:
Weight in pounds / 2.2 = weight in kilograms
For example: 150 lbs / 2.2 = 68.2kg

DAILY PROTEIN NEEDS

The range of recommended protein varies for different populations. You should consider protein intake as a range to experiment with, not a set-in-stone, never-miss number. Working with a range gives you flexibility based on the day’s activity levels, hunger, the way your body feels and desired outcomes.

PROTEIN TIMING

Newer research is beginning to look not just at how much protein is needed daily but also how and when it is consumed. It seems to make a difference on body composition, satiety and even athletic performance if protein is spread throughout the day instead of eaten more heavily at one time of the day (e.g., dinnertime). Research has shown interesting results that spreading total protein needs over the day evenly (about ¼ of your body weight in grams per meal) is more effective at stimulating muscle synthesis and may translate to an overall healthier body long term.