A common issue among the people who practice fitness or weight training is not knowing their daily ideal protein intake. Considering that protein demands are higher for individuals who work out regularly, this question becomes even more important.
Protein Amount per Meal
Your target should be to consume one gram of protein per pound of body weight in one day. Meaning that if you weigh 170 pounds then your goal should be to intake 170 grams of protein per day. However, this amount must be divided equally into five meals of approximately 35 grams each. It has been scientifically established that a person of average weight is able to metabolize no more than 35 to 40 grams of protein per meal every three hours. Everything more than that gets discharged by your body.
Solid Food or Protein Shakes ?
Protein can be in taken either from solid foods or in the form of a protein shake. Solid food must be digested until protein gets extracted and then metabolized into the valuable amino acids that enter the blood stream and the muscle cells eventually. On the other hand, the protein that originates from protein supplementation skips the digestion part thus reducing the time period that it becomes available to muscle tissue. So, a combination of solid food and supplementation would be ideal. For example, I would recommend that two of your daily meals consists of a protein shake and three or four from solid food.
Meal Plan
So, let us say that your first meal is at 08.00, you could plan your meals as following: 08.00 Brekfast 11.30 Protein Shake 14.30 Solid Food Meal 18.00 Protein Shake 21.00 Solid Food Meal This is just an example. It is up to you to organize your meal plan in a way that it suits your workout hours and your other daily activities. It is important to get the 35 to grams of protein from each meal in order to sum up the amount your body needs, on a daily basis. The type of protein shake you use is also significant to your meal plan. If for example you are currently taking Whey Protein, you must drink your shake directly after workout in order to get the maximum out of it. On the other hand, Casein Protein or Weight Gainers can be in taken any time of the day.
As a conclusion, we might say that being aware of the ideal protein intake amount is critical for our success and for reaching our goals in the gym.
