Final thoughts on Protein
For the purpose of building muscle mass I think the goal should be a general recommendation of 70-120 grams of protein per day, and this should be an average intake. As long as you average around 70-120 grams per day you could be lower on some days and slightly higher on others, but muscle growth will still occur.
There is no magic to the strict time period of 24 hours. We live our lives in 24 hour chunks out of convenience with the sun’s schedule, but we tend to assume our nutritional and metabolic needs work this way as well, but this isn’t the case. There is no reason to stress over the amount of protein you have eaten over a 24 hour period, some days you’ll be a bit higher, some days you’ll be a bit lower, it’s the average over weeks and months that matters not hours and days.
Finally, since the average protein intake in North America is roughly 90 grams per day the vast majority of us are already eating enough protein to support muscle growth. Therefore, we don’t need to obsess over our protein intake the way fitness magazines and nutrition experts suggest we should.
Based on all of this research it seems clear to me that there is a very good chance that you don’t need to change anything in your diet and can enjoy the foods you like knowing that you are not hindering your muscle growth.
You don’t need to worry about eating a certain proportion of your diet as protein, or use special protein sources every couple of hours. In fact, I would even argue that you do not have to think of foods as protein containing and non-protein containing foods. Eggs contain an average of 6 grams of protein and are largely considered to be a protein food. A piece of bread contains roughly 5 grams of protein and is NOT considered a protein food.
This type of obsessive compulsive eating and extreme focus on the individual nutrients contained within foods is simply not required in order to increase your muscle mass.
This post is an excerpt from the ebook written by Brad Pilon titled How Much Protein?
When you look at all the available research, instead of one single study you begin to see the big picture. Realistically, you can expect to gain between 2 to 5 pounds of lean mass in 2 to 4 months by working out. There is evidence to suggest that you might be able to gain about 7 pounds of muscle by working out and upping your calorie intake by 2000 calories. Of course, you could get the exact same result by taking creatine, without any potential for gaining body fat.
Finally, look at your own progress. Have your muscle gains exploded since you started counting the grams of protein you eat? My guess is probably not. In fact, your greatest gains in muscle mass probably occurred when you first started lifting weights. When you didn’t even care about how much or type of protein went into your body. You probably ate when you were hungry, lifted when you needed to, and your muscles grew like a weed.
