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The Bodybuilding Diet Plan and Exercising

Friday, July 16th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed

No matter what you may have heard from various fitness experts, a bodybuilding diet doesn’t have to include huge amounts of protein. The most common suggestion is to have one gram of protein per pound of body weight. That is roughly 200 grams per day, for a 200 pound man. 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.

This calculates to about 64 grams of protein intake a day for a 175 pound person. So why do these numbers vary so widely? Well, to start with the RDA’s suggested levels have been based on research done with college-aged men. The studies found that this was the proper amount of protein to keep a correct nitrogen balance in these young men. However, nitrogen balance has not proven 100% effective in predicting muscle loss or gain. So this probably wouldn’t be a good protein intake estimation for the body building diet.

The AMDR Recommends Between 10%-35% of Daily Calories to 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 issue with this recommendation is that it is a rather large range. 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 It Doesn’t Look Like the RDA or the AMDR are Useful in Coming up With a Body Building Diet

Many of the body building magazines use numbers as high as 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight as a suggestion. That is 350 grams per day, for a 175 pound man! The problem with body building magazines are that they aren’t exactly unbiased. The number one way they make money is by selling ads to advertisers. 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 Eat, The More Protein You Can Digest

Here’s a weird body fact; if you eat large amounts of protein at every meal, your body becomes used to it and has an easier time absorbing it. If your body is accustomed to eating smaller amounts of protein, then a high protein meal will make your stomach upset because your gastro-intestinal system won’t be able to digest it all. 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. The human body is fueled by carbs, fat, and protein. It will simply adjust what it burns for energy depending upon what you eat. So there is a certain level beyond which more protein just won’t make a difference – so how do you determine how much is right for your body building diet?

For Exceptional Muscle Gains A Recent Study Recommends 70-120 Grams Of Protein Each Day

This topic has been covered in a book by Brad Pilon called “How Much Protein.” After comparing quite a few studies, Brad discovered 0.55 to 0.7 grams of protein for each pound of body weight is enough to achieve excellent muscle gains. He also references several studies that have shown that going over 120 grams of protein each day will not help add to your muscle gain. It’s your decision to believe the the reports based on scientific research, or the ads of the supplement companies. The choice, as always, is yours. 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.

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