The Bodybuilding Diet Routine and Training

No matter what you may have heard from various fitness experts, a body building diet doesn’t have to include huge amounts of protein. The average currently suggested is one gram of protein per pound of body weight. That means a 200 pound man would have to consume around 200 grams of protein per day. This is actually a low number compared to what a lot of the body building magazines recommend.

The Recommended Daily Allowance for Protein consumed by the average adult is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.

So that would be roughly 64 grams for a 175 pound person. So why do these numbers vary so widely? Well first of all the RDA’s sugestion is based on research studying college aged men. This was the amount of protein needed to keep the nitrogen balance in these young men stable. However, nitrogen balance has not proven 100% effective in predicting muscle loss or gain. This would indicate that the RDA’s protein intake estimate wouldn’t be appropriate for the body building diet.

The AMDR recommends that 10%-35% of daily calories should be protein.

This makes the amount of protein you eat dependent upon how many calories you consume in a day. The AMDR stands for Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range and it was established by the Institute of Medicine in 2005. The main problem with the AMDR’s recommendation is that it covers a rather large spread. This is something not taken into account by this recommendation or by the RDA. Someone who trains hard would need to take their activity levels into consideration for their body building diet.

So when it comes to creating a good body building diet, neither the RDA nor the AMDR seem very helpful.

You’ll find some of the various body building magazines will suggest going as high as 2 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. However, that would end up being 350 grams per day for just a 175 pound male! The problem with body building magazines are that they aren’t exactly unbiased. Their main source of income is by selling advertising. And the number one product advertised in body building magazines is protein supplements. So it seems logical that 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight is far more than you really need.

The More Protein You Are Eating, The More Protein You Will Be Able To Digest

The weird thing about protein is that your body will be able to absorb high amounts of protein at every meal, if it is used to high amounts of protein at every meal. If you are used to eating less, then a high protein meal will simply cause an upset stomach due to the body’s inability to digest that protein. You would think that digesting more protein would mean building more muscle, but it isn’t that simple.

Digesting Ten Time More Of Protein Will Not Result In Ten Times More Muscle

Research has shown that the more protein you eat, the more your body switches to using amino acids as fuel. Your body uses protein, fat, and carbs for fuel. Depending on what goes into your system, your body adjusts its fuel burning needs to output energy. So at a certain point it doesn’t make sense to eat more and more protein, but how much is enough?

There are studies which show that consuming 70-120 grams of protein per day is optimal for muscle gain.

This topic has been covered in a book by Brad Pilon called “How Much Protein.” He compared several studies and found that between 0.55 to 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight would be enough for exceptional muscle gains. In fact he quotes several studies that show that anything over 120 grams of protein per day didn’t contribute to any additional muscle gain. So you can believe the supplement companies or scientific research. It’s up to you. My own suggestion would be to just average about 100 grams of protein over your day, which will be easy without having to add the protein shakes to whatever body building diet you’re on.