How Much Protein Do I Need?…by Josh Schlottman

A big question that I’ve always gotten is, “how much protein do I need to build muscle and burn fat?”  And that really all depends, if you’re a skinny guy who needs to pack on a muscle then you should be taking in more than a girl who wants to lean out and shed the belly fat.

Also if you’re the size of an NFL linebacker than you’re going to be able to take in more protein than a high school kid.

It’s still shocking to see young kids drinking 50+ grams of protein in one of those ginormous bodybuilding gorilla shakes because they’re really just wasting their money.

The average person can only absorb about 30 grams of protein in a sitting so if you’re trying to take in 90 pounds of protein for lunch then you’re going to find most of it just coming out your other side.

Click here to discover my 7 Best Muscle Building Foods.

So the best way to take in protein is going to be to spread it out evenly over the 5 or 6 meals you’re eating throughout the day.  This way you’ll have more time to better absorb the protein and use it for recovery and the rebuilding of muscles.  A big rule of thumb is to have some source of lean protein and some vegetables with every meal.

I usually recommend to my clients that they drink a 20-30 gram protein shake, half before their workout and half afterwards.  This way you can use some of the energy you’re getting from your shake for the workout and also get the other half to immediately start rebuilding your body.

Another good rule of thumb for answering the How Much Protein Do I Need question is that if you’re training hard to take in 0.6x-0.8x grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day.  So if you weight 180 lbs. then you should be taking in around 144 grams of protein.  Spread that over 6 meals, eaten 3 hours apart, you should be eating (hold on let me bust out my calculator…) 24 grams of protein per meal.

But this is only if you’re training hard and trying to build muscle and if you’re a lady trying to lean out more than you’ll probably be better off going with just 0.6 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.  If you’re looking for a great protein be sure to check out one of my Prograde reviews to get the low down on their supplements.

Another awesome advantage of taking in a lot of protein is that because of the protein molecules complex structure it’s a heck of a lot more difficult for your body to break down protein than it is carbohydrates of fats.  This means that just by taking in more protein you’ll see in increase in metabolism over having a diet higher in carbohydrates and fats.

I hope this helps answer the question, How Much Protein Do I Need and if you have any more questions be sure to send them my way by leaving a comment below.

To your success,

Josh