How Much Protein Do I Need to Build Muscle?

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Dymatize is the best protein powder...

Knowing how much protein to consume each day in order to build muscle can be as confusing as quantum physics. Not only is there a lot of mixed information out there about protein intake, but the fact is, everyone’s body responds differently to nutrients. One person might only need a little bit of protein to get huge muscles, while someone else might need two grams per pound every day.

How Much Protein Do I Need to Build Muscle?

If you haven’t ever looked into how much protein you should be eating everyday, it is usually expressed as the amount of grams of protein relative to each pound of bodyweight. So if someone tells you that you should be eating one gram per pound, they mean that you should be eating one gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight that you have. If that’s still confusing to you, it would mean that if you weigh 150 lbs, then you would need to eat 150 of protein per day. If you read bodybuilding magazines, a lot of times they’ll tell you that you need to eat at least two grams of protein per pound each day. Two grams per pound is a lot… in fact it’s too much, unless you’re on a heavy cycle of steroids, and you’re lifting like a maniac for three hours everyday.

This all goes back to learning what your body responds to. You can’t just read one article and have the specific answers to making your body grow. You need to write down everything you’re doing in a fitness journal and compare your results over a long period of time.

The safest bet…

While bodybuilding sources usually tell you to eat too much protein, other sources can be too conservative. Some sources say you only need .25-.5 grams of protein per pound. I personally have gotten the best results with right around 1 gram per pound per day.

Much more than that and you really just get gas and you’ll get really sick of meat and protein shakes.

As with anything nutrition wise, the most important thing is to choose a plan that you can stick with. If even just one gram per pound is too much for you, go down to .75. If you can’t stick with something for weeks at a time, it obviously won’t do you any good.

The easiest way to get enough protein…

Along those lines, by far the easiest way to get enough protein is to have a high quality protein powder that you can make protein shakes with. I personally like Dymatize Protein the best, especially their Gourmet line. It mixes easy, and it’s a mix of whey and casein proteins.

Some people have to mix it with berries and honey to be able to drink it, but I’ve found that it’s by far the most convenient to just mix it with water. It will also mix much easier if the water isn’t too cold. I drink three or four shakes a day, and that alone gets me to my basic protein requirement… anything else such as chicken or steak is just icing on the cake.