Friday, October 1, 2010

Am I Getting Enough Protein

If you ask a dietitian or go by the RDA you may of heard you need about 50 grams of protein a day. As a life long weight lifter and personal fitness trainer this has always irked me. Novice weight lifters learns early in the game, you need extra protein if you want to build muscle. There are a few ways to calculate this. The conservative estimate is .5 grams times your body weight. This would be about 75 grams for a 150 lbs. person. The most common viewpoint is .75 - 1.5 gram per lb. which would be a whopping 112 - 150 grams. The most important thing you can learn from this is, going low fat for breakfast can often ruin your chances for muscle gain and fat loss. A bowl of grape nuts or shredded wheat and you're shooting yourself in the foot. Most people who try to get fit, skip the bacon and eggs. They switch to low fat choices that often exclude protein.
For muscle growth, the most important thing to remember is... you need a minimum of 30-40 grams of protein per meal. For a woman this makes three meals close to all you need. A man who is lifting and serious should have a few protein shakes or protein snacks between meals.
A few suggestions for breakfast (because lunch and dinner a pretty easy) would be cottage cheese with fruit, oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder or egg beaters.

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