How much protein do I need per day?

[swoleramon]

I am eating about 3000 calories per day and weigh 168 right now. How much protein do I need per day?

[Shadowschmadow]

170-250g. Higher is better.

[swoleramon]

Someone told me 1 gram per pound of weight and I started thinking about it and it didn't make sense.

[Shadowschmadow]

Originally Posted by swoleramon

Someone told me 1 gram per pound of weight and I started thinking about it and it didn't make sense.

Why doesn't it make sense? I just recommended roughly 1-1.5g per pound. And that's because you're not over-weight. If you weighed considerably more (fat), my recommendation would have been 1-1.5g per pound of LBM.

[Soldier]

At least 1g per lb of bodyweight. AT LEAST. The only exception I would ever make to this is if you are cutting. In that case it would be lower (by necessity, to allow you to get at least some fat and/or carbs as well for energy), with plenty of BCAA's to help make up the difference. If you are looking to add strength then the 1g/lb of bodyweight rule is starting point. If you are looking to add mass then I would go even higher, probably at least 200g.

If you are eating 3000 cals a day and following a standard 40-30-30 macro split then that would put you at 225g of protein, which would be a good number to stick too.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Why doesn't it make sense?

If you weigh 120 pounds you eat 120 grams. If you weigh 300 pounds you eat 300 grams.

It encourages underweight individuals, who most likely call themselves hardgainers, and who most likely have fast metabolisms, to undereat protein.

[Shadowschmadow]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

If you weigh 120 pounds you eat 120 grams. If you weigh 300 pounds you eat 300 grams.

It encourages underweight individuals, who most likely call themselves hardgainers, and who most likely have fast metabolisms, to undereat protein.

I understand that, and that's pretty straight forward. Never said he was right. Context is everything.

[rippednmichigan]

I would never recomend going lower than 1 gram per lb of lbm. If your cutting go with 1g per lb lbm, if its a recomp go for 1.5g per lbm, maint go for 1g per lb body weight and for bulking go with 1.5g per lb bw. Now if your going more keto kick the protien up to 2g per lb. I always take in some form of bcaa's, I'm a firm believer in them just for the simple fact I feel better, notice greater over all recovery and it breaks up the same ol same ol with water.

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[Shadowschmadow]

I try to hit higher protein intakes when losing fat. You can easily manage this with in your caloric allowances, but you need to choose leaner sources. To me, it seems foolish to reduce the amount of protein you take in when you're dieting for fat-loss.

[Fazc]

Honestly I've not noticed that much difference between high protein or what some would consider low protein. Hydration and sleep are much more important factors for me.

However the research and evidence from various diet guru's seems to run to the contrary and supports higher protein intake. So who knows.