Best timing and amount of protein intake for building mass
I'm 18 years old and started bodybuilding two years ago. To build muscle mass, I want to optimize my diet/nutrition.
I know that 2g of protein per 1kg body mass would be a good choice and one doesn't need more than that. Anyway, this is not the point I want to discuss.
Assuming I weigh 80kg (which makes about 160g protein per day): What is the best way to split that amount of protein into single portions and what is the best time to take them in?
What I do at the moment is:
eating as much as I can in the morning :D (preferably carbs)
try to "eat as much protein as I can" in the course of the day
eating 500g of low-fat quark/curd (60g protein) before going to sleep
taking in about 60g of protein in the two hours after training
Is this a good plan? Or rather stupid and recommended to be changed?
Thanks in advance for your help!
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There are a couple of articles on that topic usually in the Men's Health. No sugar, no carbs, but fiber, protein and fat: High Protein Diet - The Perfect Day of Eating. But there are known side-effects for this diet, and especially protein supplements. Protein during or right after the training is best for muscle regeneration.
With the basic idea of this diet and a lot of hydration, I gained muscles and got fit within 4 weeks.
I was told before by a trainer, though i can't say how reputable or credible his statements are, that at any given time, our body can only consume a fixed amount, I think it was 30g. For example during a meal if you consume 50g of protein only 30g of actually used by the body while the 20g is wasted. With that in mind, you would wait for a few hours (not sure how long maybe 2-3 hours, enough time for metabolism) before your body can take in another 30g without wasting it. The fixed amount is probably variable to each person, as bigger people can probably take in more. But I guess what I'm trying to say is don't take too much protein in one go and have it spread out the day.
Anyone else heard about this?
It's best to split your meals up throughout the day, about 5-6 meals a day, the main reason is to produce less of an insulin spike so your body can keep burning fat. A fast acting protein such as whey is important post workout and a slow acting protein such as casein (found in milk products) is best before bed. If you want some reading, I would recommend this
Protein consumption timing is highly irrelevant. As long as you hit your macros for the day, you are good to go, whether that be from 8 small meals throughout the day or 1 huge meal.
Since all necessary hormones for muscle growth will increase during the rest and will peak when you sleep so you may consider getting more before sleep. when you wake up your body will hunger for approximately 8 hours so you may get high amount of protein in the morning. You can split the remaining amount. Keep up the good work :-)
Your best bet is to split it into even doses throughout the day. Your body will make good use of it. Now, if you have some before bed, it won't hurt. Essentially, at night when you sleep, two types of adaptations will happen (assuming you have disrupted homeostasis):
Starting when you hit REM sleep, your testosterone levels will peak and remain at that level until you wake up.
Starting when you hit deep sleep, and ending about 1 hour later your growth hormone will be at it's peak.
Testosterone and growth hormone are both known to cause muscle growth and make good use of the amino acids and proteins you have in your body at the time. Note that these are normal hormones produced and managed by your body, not steroids added to cause you to artificially take in more protein. (along with their side effects)
The studies I have read have conflicting things to say about timing the protein, and the best I can surmise is that the usefulness of the protein depends on your level of training/adaptation and the population that the studies used. There are many variables that can affect protein absorption and unfortunately, no-one has a clear understanding of how they all interrelate which compromises the usefulness of the studies.
By splitting your protein intake throughout the day, you are spreading the odds that you will be at a peak protein consuming time. Not to mention that some of the protein absorption depends on your natural circadian rhythms. In short you will have some times of the year where you make better use of it than others.
If you overthink this, you'll drive yourself nuts.
And yes, hydration assists the body in processing protein. 2 L a day is an absolute minimum, better 3+ L a day. In the interest of full disclosure, all water content hydrates.
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