Why is this important?
Most people think of muscle bound body builders when they think of protein intake, but protein is used for much more than bulging muscles. Protein helps to make up everything in your body from the hair on your head to the nails on your toes and everything in between down to cellular level. So it’s important for you to take in enough for your body to use.
Athletes have the added burden of having to make sure they take in extra amounts of protein to ensure it is available to aid the body in rebuilding muscle fibers and in recuperation. The harder and longer you exercise the more protein you use, and the more you need to rebuild and replenish.
Keep in mind that there are more than enough food sources of protein available (Chicken, Beef, Dish, Tofu, Beans) without having to resort to supplements. Also, it’s estimated the body can absorb at most around 30 grams of protein at one serving, so there is no need to have a 50 gram serving of protein shake along with your 24 grams of protein bar in addition to your chicken breast and egg salad.
How do I use this?
Fill in the values in the form below to get an idea of how much protein you should be taking based on your weight. If you are trying to gain weight, make sure you are on the high end of the range.
kg weight x .8 – 1.8
| If you know your body fat percentage, we can calculate based on your lean mass only, so we use your body fat weight in the calculation. | ||
Want to know more?
You could spend days learning about proper protein intake, ranging from which sources to use (soy/whey/eggs/etc), best time to use them, differing rates of bioavailability/absorption, etc. There are people who have intricate strategies involving percentages of the different types of proteins to take along with a specific time to take each one.
My advice is to not overthink it, but it couldn’t hurt to start by reading this article on protein types on bodybuilding.com or this overview from muscleandstrength.com.