Contrary to what the fitness experts would have you believe a bodybuilding diet does not need to contain crazy 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. If you compare this to the recommendation shown in the body building magazines, it’s a really low number.

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 is it these numbers are so widely varied? Well, to start with the RDA’s suggested levels have been based on research done with college-aged men. This was the amount of protein needed to keep the nitrogen balance in these young men stable. 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 acronym AMDR stands for Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range and the Institute of Medicine established it in 2005. The issue taken with this recommendation is the fact it has a fairly large range. Neither this recommendation or the RDA takes into account . Someone who is training hard would have to consider their activity levels when putting together a body building diet for themselves.

So when it comes to creating a good body building diet, neither the RDA nor the AMDR seem very helpful.

You’ll find some of the various body building magazines will suggest going as high as 2 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. That is 350 grams per day, for a 175 pound man! Let’s face it, body building magazines aren’t the most neutral parties. Their main source of income is by selling advertising. In turn, protein is the top supplement that the advertisers are selling. 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. However, if you are NOT use to eating a lot, you’ll find ingesting a high protein meal will result in upsetting your stomach due to your body not being able to digest it. You would think that digesting more protein would mean building more muscle, but it isn’t that simple.

Just because you consume ten times more protein than you normally would doesn’t mean you will build ten times more muscle.

It has been shown by research that eating more protein means the more your body will switch over to using amino acids for fuel. Your body uses protein, fat, and carbs for fuel. 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

Brad Pilon is the author of “How Much Protein”, a book on this very topic. By comparing several different studies, he found that if a person eats between 0.55 and 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight a day, that is a good balance for increasing muscle. He quotes several of these studies which found that a protein intake of over 120 grams per day didn’t contribute in any way to additional 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 bodybuilding diet you’re on.

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