Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Do you eat 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight?

This question is prolly going to elicit answers from lifters and more athletic types but I'm interested in hearing from everybody. I have been doing 1 gram per pound for a while but after listening to many in the lifting world espousing a higher intake, 1.5 grams per pound, I've been doing that since, well, yesterday:) For me, i can do it with whole foods and whey protein powder.

I'm doing two or three whey protein powder+water shakes through the day along with copious meat of course to get 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.

I weigh 174-175 pounds depending on the day. So, that should be roughly 262 grams of protein per day. If i get 250 i'm happy. I can eat big. I like to eat big. However, 262 grams of protein isn't quite as easy as I thought it'd be after eating 175 grams per day for a whole long while.

I know some talk about protein-consumption with regards to lean-bodyweight as opposed to total bodyweight but I'm pretty lean so I'm just going with total bodyweight.

Do you eat 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight?

flag	asked May 22 2011 at 13:29 ben61820 16.1k●1●14●57

	I shoot for around 1.3 grams per BW# on workout days, so somewhere between 200-220 grams, on rest days a little less, about 1.1 or so. Anyways clearly above 1 gram / LBM every day. I recently have upped protein intake significantly (up from 1g / LBM), and I try to keep workout days low in fat, something like 0.3-0.4 per bw#. I know it's probably "more than I need", even according to recommendations from most fitness/nutrition experts, but I'm tryin to introduce more carbs PWO little by little after going low-carb for a while. – Antti May 22 2011 at 17:39
	Antti, I'm doing pretty much the exact same thing as you. I'm finding it great. Paleo for food choices and the macros as you said, which is more inline with the lifting world. If you're higher in carb then lower the fat, if you're gonna go high in fat then lower the carb; don't mess with the protein. – ben61820 May 23 2011 at 13:33

luckybastard · Answer 1 · 2011-05-22 15:50:15Z UTC

1

I eat 1.2-1.5g of protein per lbm. My lbm is 195 so I take in between 250 and 300 almost daily. I use all whole food. Lots of ground beef lamb and fish. I spend about $80/wk on groceries. Beef is mostly organic but sometimes cafo, lamb is mostly grassfed and fish is always wild caught. I'm very greedy so eating this much whole food suits my lifestyle:-)

answered May 22 2011 at 15:50

luckybastard♦
12.5k●1●14●65

	Cool. Oh yeah I actually like all the eating totally. It's just that shooting for 250 grams is a lot different from what I was used to at 175 grams. Already had thought it was high but still working. Thanks for the input – ben61820 May 22 2011 at 16:52
	3lbs of meat a day x 7 days = 21 lbs. At 2-3 dollars a pound.... Are you eating anything but meat? – Satchmo Sep 13 at 20:31
	this was about a year and a half ago. my weight has come down more since this period. i eat about 1-1.5lbs of meat a day currently. moderate starch. – luckybastard♦ Sep 14 at 10:01

ChenZhen · Answer 2 · 2011-05-22 13:40:01Z UTC

I never count the macros but whenever I eat more dairy I also consume much more protein, cheese and curd cheese contain so much of the stuff ;) I guess between 150 - 200g/day.

Every now and then I decide to give up dairy (as you can see with much sucess) and my protein numbers will fall down to about 100g. I've been training hard for about 10 years now and honestly I never felt a difference between high and low protein intake in terms of recovery or muscle growth.

From what I've read, when it comes to gaining muscle, after a certain point your body just can't use all that protein and it's more about adding more calories than more protein. Why would you waste all your money on the most expensive macro if your body can't even use it?

Also, the Jaminets (Perfect Health Diet) have some pretty good arguments against super high protein intake and moreover, fat and carbs taste much better than pure protein (like fatty meat vs lean meat, no-fat curs (urgh!) vs full-fat curd...)

That's just my experience, hope it helps a bit :)

parasitius · Answer 3 · 2011-05-23 02:44:23Z UTC

Has this been debunked or anything: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=2712

Cause ever since reading that article I'm pretty concerned about exceeding and getting toxic. I'm trying to make absolutely certain I don't go over 150grams/day. Male 200lbs 5'10" -- I'm going by what my weight should be 170.

sherpamelissa · Answer 4 · 2011-05-23 02:51:20Z UTC

I don't eat that much protein. I weigh 136 and eat about 75-80 grams per day. I used to eat around 100 grams per day, but when I upped my fat, I needed to cut some protein as well as some carbs to stay within my preferred calorie range.

I need minimum of 65-70 grams per day or I can totally feel the difference. I get really low energy without the protein.

Eric · Answer 5 · 2011-05-23 06:49:44Z UTC

You want to not overeat protien...

If you are just starting lifting weights and want to add muscle maybe go above 1.0 for a few weeks.

However it is hard on the pancreas to process unused protien. So eventually you need to find the level that meets your body composition needs and is just enough to do so....

If you dont overeat protien the pancreas can better fight off cancer...

Do you eat 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight?

5 Answers