for a natural, is 50g protein a day just as good as 300g?

[boonstack]

i think after most noobs in bodybuilding tweak their diets after a few years (naturals i am speaking of) they realize wtf am i doing eating 1 lb of chicken/steak a day when i can be healthy and eat moderate diet and just train as hard? I think its more of a mental thing saying "300" is better than 40g's.... how do u expect prisoners grow? gee

[spinnis]

Just add some protein shakes if your worried. 50g it probably a bit in the low side lol.

[Mars]

they hype the high intake of protein to sell more supplements, its way overrated i think.

[Cleanest Natural]

they hype the high intake of protein to sell more supplements, its way overrated i think.

And your oppinion would qualify as pertinent because.................

[Mars]

i said its my opinion moron.

[Bast000]

100-150g is good enough.

i just had half a pound of salmon, 58g protein there

[G o a t b o y]

Whether large amounts of protein are needed to build muscle or not, high calories (at least higher than maintenance) are.  You can only get calories from three places (alcohol aside):  Protein, Carbs, and fat.  I prefer to get the largest share of my calories from protein, since it results in a better metabolic profile for maintaining muscle/not gaining fat.  There are also long-term health issues that can be associated with higher levels of fat or carbs, so protein ends up being the default calorie source. 

I'm not going to spend time digging up all the studies on this (you can if you wish), but I can tell you my diet of the past ten years had tended to be much higher in protein and much lower in carbs that that of the average American, and it has always produced great results for me.

[Nordic Beast]

i think after most noobs in bodybuilding tweak their diets after a few years (naturals i am speaking of) they realize wtf am i doing eating 1 lb of chicken/steak a day when i can be healthy and eat moderate diet and just train as hard? I think its more of a mental thing saying "300" is better than 40g's.... how do u expect prisoners grow? gee

prisoners have all sorts of tricks to get more protein and use the food availiable most efficently in a BBing sense---they covet protein

they use their commisary for foods high in protein and there are jailhouse recipes to make meals that yeild the highest protein amount possible

I know people who have been locked up and they told me stories of this---------the big guys in jail eat more than 50grams of protein a day


therefore your argument is flawed

[CT_Muscle]

300 for who? you should be striving for a minimum for 1g per lb of bodyweight a day assuming you're not 30% +++ BF its not a bad place to start.

[boonstack]

i think all of you are brainwashed into believing the bs "1g/lb bodyweight" because thats what bb.com says and flex magazine says as a "nutritonal standard". Has anyone here done thorough scientific research on the subject? Id like to see a study done for 1 year two similar bodytypes (same training regimen) and look at the end of the year the guy who ate 50g/day vs 300g/day and see what the muscle growth difference is.. i bet it wont be much

[CT_Muscle]

i think all of you are brainwashed into believing the bs "1g/lb bodyweight" because thats what bb.com says and flex magazine says as a "nutritonal standard". Has anyone here done thorough scientific research on the subject? Id like to see a study done for 1 year two similar bodytypes (same training regimen) and look at the end of the year the guy who ate 50g/day vs 300g/day and see what the muscle growth difference is.. i bet it wont be much

Why dont you take some before and after pics and you can be the "test subject" 

[candidizzle]

 goatboy is right on target. whether or not you believe a high protein intake is better fro gorwth than a moderaate or low protien intake; a high protein intake is a much better way to eat because it is more anti -cataboli, less likely to make you fat, and assures that anytime your body DOES want to grow; that amino acids are going to be present.


now, as for whether high protein intake is better for muscle growth. i think carbs are important too, and healthy fats, BUT, most studies show that optimal growth occurs at 2 g per lb bodyweight...   and also, 50g protien per meal is where most people will achieve peak protein synthesis.

i would also like to throw this out there... meat = anti catabolic... meat + carbs = anabolic... 

[Bobby]

Whether large amounts of protein are needed to build muscle or not, high calories (at least higher than maintenance) are.  You can only get calories from three places (alcohol aside):  Protein, Carbs, and fat.  I prefer to get the largest share of my calories from protein, since it results in a better metabolic profile for maintaining muscle/not gaining fat.  There are also long-term health issues that can be associated with higher levels of fat or carbs, so protein ends up being the default calorie source. 

I'm not going to spend time digging up all the studies on this (you can if you wish), but I can tell you my diet of the past ten years had tended to be much higher in protein and much lower in carbs that that of the average American, and it has always produced great results for me.

How much protein and carbs do you normally eat?

[MidniteRambo]

The answer to the question is, it depends.  If you're 120 pounds, 300g is much more than your body requires.  If you, like me, are in the 220-230 pound range, 300g is the upper limit for a natural and 50g would be far insufficient on a weight training regimen. 

[candidizzle]

The answer to the question is, it depends.  If you're 120 pounds, 300g is much more than your body requires.  If you, like me, are in the 220-230 pound range, 300g is the upper limit for a natural and 50g would be far insufficient on a weight training regimen. 

in my opinion you would benefit from more than 300 grams of protein.

if it stsarted to add fat to you, cut back on some calories some where else in your diet.

[Luolamies]

Protein builds muscle, pure and simple. If you want to grow or even maintain you need a lot protein, this isn't rocket science and if you try to convince yourself that 40g protein a day does anything, then go ahead and try. As for the jailhouse comment, there's allways ways to get around ANYTHING. If you want something bad enough you'll get it...

[Princess L]

Nice post Goat

[Montague]

The answer to the question is, it depends.  If you're 120 pounds, 300g is much more than your body requires.  If you, like me, are in the 220-230 pound range, 300g is the upper limit for a natural and 50g would be far insufficient on a weight training regimen. 

in my opinion you would benefit from more than 300 grams of protein.

if it stsarted to add fat to you, cut back on some calories some where else in your diet.

I believe the key word is NATURAL. It does benefit a trainee to consume more of all nutrients to a point. But if you're not using "enhancers" then your body is only capable of building so much muscle at a certain rate no matter how much you train and/or feed it.

Drugs that provide an anabolic edge will offset those limits, in which case it does help to eat heaps more.
But the natural trainer should not expect to eat like Ronnie and get Ronnie type results.

[candidizzle]

I believe the key word is NATURAL. It does benefit a trainee to consume more of all nutrients to a point. But if you're not using "enhancers" then your body is only capable of building so much muscle at a certain rate no matter how much you train and/or feed it.

Drugs that provide an anabolic edge will offset those limits, in which case it does help to eat heaps more.
But the natural trainer should not expect to eat like Ronnie and get Ronnie type results.

  steroids dont allow you to eat more broseph. muscle mass does.  steroids enhance muscle building, but as far as what nutrients are utlizied on a daily basis the difference between soemone on steroids and someone training natural is insignificant.

in fact an aas user can eat LESS protein... since aas stops the natural process of protein breakdown , so in reality you really only need to eat a very small amount of meat when on gear.

the natural trainee's body IS CONSTANTLY BREAKING DOWN PROTEINS, and you have got to provide it with proteins to constantly be bulding up. growth occurs when synthesis exceeds breakdown.   but the two process are ALWAYS happening.

[Team Diver]

Always questions about protein, protein, protein.... Why does it matter?! Eating 50g or 150g is not a big difference - some portion of grilled chicken breast and 1-2 shake and there you go.
What about carbs? Do you need 4-5g/kg to grow? Because if yes, then a 80kg man should eat 320-400g carbs per day, which is ~500g rice/day, which is simply impossible to eat, at least for me!!!!
?

[Princess L]

i think all of you are brainwashed into believing the bs "1g/lb bodyweight" because thats what bb.com says and flex magazine says as a "nutritional standard". Has anyone here done thorough scientific research on the subject? Id like to see a study done for 1 year two similar bodytypes (same training regimen) and look at the end of the year the guy who ate 50g/day vs 300g/day and see what the muscle growth difference is.. i bet it wont be much

300 for who? you should be striving for a minimum for 1g per lb of bodyweight a day assuming you're not 30% +++ BF its not a bad place to start.

The "X"g/per lb seems to be continuously perpetuated throughout the bb'g community when in reality, the studies, evidence and recommendations are based on per kg of bodyweight.

[candidizzle]

The "X"g/per lb seems to be continuously perpetuated throughout the bb'g community when in reality, the studies, evidence and recommendations are based on per kg of bodyweight.

[gymrat75]

I have a buddy that eats 8 lean cusines a day and got big ass hell!!! Oh, he always kept his body fat pretty low too, don't know how he did that, because we all know that them weight watcher microwave dinners are always telling the truth on their nutritional facts.

[Faust]

Strenght athletes improve more on 2g/kg than on lower "doses".
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18500968

BL = 1-1,4
RL = 1,6-18
AL = > 2 g/kg


-> The scientists however made the conclusion that there was no statistical effect and that total calories are more important than the protein consumption.

[JasonH]

If you're natural then you don't need that much protein to grow. When I first started training in my mid teens, I had to rely on the food provided for me by my parents and I certainly couldn't afford protein powder as I wasn't earning any money at that point.

I remember I worked out back then that I was taking in about 100 grams of protein a day and I was growing on that - obviously when you're younger and starting out for the first time anyway you will grow but even so, I wouldn't go overboard on the protein consumption if you're natural.