Another great post from Epsom’s Personal Trainer, Richard Ham Williams

How To Eat Protein:

Diet Considerations For Hard Working Trainees.

A simple calorie restricted diet for weight loss is one thing, but it’s not necessarily the best option for those looking to build lean tissue.

Why would you build lean tissue? To have a higher metabolism, to improve function, to body build, to look better naked, to rehabilitate, to increase sports performance, to help burn fat etc.

The basics:

The average human body needs approximately 0.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to sustain what lean tissue you have (lean tissue is everything that isn’t fat tissue). I weigh 97kg as of writing this so would need 48.5g of protein per day to stay as I am.

I don’t want to stay as I am, I train hard to be stronger and bigger. What should I do with my diet?

One pound of human/mammalian muscle tissue contains approximately one hundred grams of protein (20%): the rest is mostly water with other nutrients and compounds in the mix.

Thus to build a pound of new muscle you need to provide at least 100 grams of protein above and beyond your daily requirements. Which then raises the question of how quickly can the body grow one pound of lean tissue? I have not found a definitive answer in any text book or study but it is fair to say from reading and experience that a well motivated subject can pack on a pound in less than a week given the right stimulus, food and rest. Some may take less than a week.

I go through a hard, full body training routine and aim to trigger a response that will result in lean tissue being added. My body is amazingly clever but not magical: it can’t create tissue from nothing. I have to feed it enough protein after a workout to allow the raw materials needed for change.

How much?

Knowing that one pound holds 100g of protein we should at least aim for that amount drip fed over the hours post workout. Choose a protein that has the full spectrum of essential amino acids, like eggs (there’s a reason they have been used as a workout staple for decades).

Protein is an expensive nutrient for your body to digest and absorb. You lose approximately 20% of the calories from it in the process.

Simplifying that to raw numbers may mean that you only end up with 80g of the 100g being available to you for additional lean tissue.

With me still?

Lets then assume that you had a really gruelling session that has broken down some muscle: wouldn’t you need to repair that tissue? Yes. What does it get repaired with? Protein.

I am not able to accurately tell you how many grams of protein maybe broken down in a workout (that will vary wildly depending on if the workout was new to you, higher volume, heavier weights etc), I will be modest here and suggest 20g as an example.

Now you have another 20g used from you post workout protein intake of 100g.

20g is lost to digestion, 20 grams goes to repairing existing tissues. You are left with 60g of protein to build new tissue. The amount is shrinking and therefore so is your muscle building material.

It would be right to assume then if you have a really intense training session that you should try and take in at least 100 grams of protein in the 4 hours after your workout.

Science shows that protein turnover (your body repairing and building) will stay higher than normal for at least 24 hours after a tough session. This tells me that a higher than normal protein intake should be ingested for at least 12-24 hours after a workout to constantly provide our bodies with the right materials for the job we have signalled it do. BUILD.

What about carbs and fat and all that jazz?

Depends on your goal. If you want to reduce body fat then lay off the carbs as much as possible, especially post workout (circa 2 hours). If your body needs energy that urgently, it can use your fat stores, which it will.

Remember that carbs are energy; body fat is a store of energy. If you want that “energy” from your tummy gone then stop putting carb energy in your mouth.

Fats are awesome, they help us manufacture all the lovely hormones that keep us relaxed and lean. Don’t fear fat unless it’s the crappy man made ones. Naturally occurring saturated fats and monounsaturated fats are our friends. Eat them.

Worried about cholesterol? Here’s the simple low down:

It is the ratio of HDL to LDL that is important, not the total numbers.

Saturated fats increase both HDL and LDL and thus has neutral effect on our cholesterol ratio.

Monounsaturated fats reduce our LDL and increase our LDL, thus bettering our ratio.

This is where the science stands as of 2011.

The public currently sees high cholesterol as a bad thing because the media and doctors still do. It will change as health topics generally do due to the fact so few places actually have the ability to measure cholesterol correctly and until more people can measure it they surely can’t draw accurate conclusions about it’s effects. Could you calculate your cars MPG without accurately measuring distance?

In conclusion:

I workout, I eat 100-150 grams of protein with little carbs in the 4 hours post workout.

I continue to eat higher protein for 24 hours aiming to consume at least 150 grams the day after a workout (which allows for my daily requirement of 48.5g plus the loss incurred from digestion).

After 24 hours I return my protein intake to normal levels, in fact I don’t even bother counting it after 24 hours until I finish my next workout.

Eating high protein every day makes no sense. If your protein turnover stays elevated for 24 hours then anything outside of that leaves your requirements the same as everyone one else (0.5g per kg of body weight).

So what if you do a “split” and work your body in segments i.e. back and biceps one day and then the next day you work chest and tris and you end up working out every day?

Well for starters, stop doing that. Full body training is the right way. Secondly: do you think you will need more protein to repair and grow muscles used in a full body workout or an abs and shoulders workout? Exactly. Splits are a far smaller stimulus and thus require a lesser “feast” on protein.

Eat high protein for 24 hours after a full body workout and limit carbs if you are trying to lose fat. Don’t over eat. Fatty :)

If you need help to push yourself or to achieve your best results yet in less time than ever before - Guaranteed - then contact Epsom’s Personal Trainer today and start looking and feeling better.