I’ve recently been consulted about how much protein (in grams) does one need to get muscles. I ended up writing quite an exhaustive answer, so I thought I might as well share it here with you.
There is actually a short answer and a long answer to this question.
The amount of protein you’ll need for muscle building will depend on your body type, gender, metabolism, lean body mass percentage, activity levels, weight and goal. Your protein requirement will vary depending on what you’re trying do: lose fat and build muscle, or gain muscle weight?
The base guideline for protein consumption is one gram per pound of bodyweight. This is suitable if fat loss is your goal, and is often enough for the average folks. However if you’re a bodybuilder doing some serious weight training you’ll require more protein than that – about 1.25 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
That’s the short answer.
Calculate Your Protein Needs for Muscle Building
The long answer takes on a more personalized approach.
First, you’ll need to calculate your daily calorie needs first, then sort your macronutrient ratios. Macronutrient ratio simply refer to the percentage of your total daily calories that come from carbohydrates, protein and fat. For example, a nutrient ratio of 60-30-10 means 60% of your calories came from Carbs, 30% from protein and 10% from Fat.
There’s no 1 single “best” nutrient ratio that will work well for everybody – you will have to experiment and find what works best for YOU. However, a very good starting point for fat-burning and muscle-building diet is 50-55% carbs, 30% protein, and 15-20% fat. You’ll need to adjust these ratios to suit your own body’s needs, but generally a moderate(40-50%) to high(55-60%) complex carbohydrate, with moderate(25-30%) protein and low fat(10-19%) is generally the best approach.
If you have an Ectomorph body type (thin, skinny, with fast metabolism & have trouble gaining muscle or weight), dont restrict your carbs. For an ectomorph to gain muscle, a diet composed of 50-55% complex carbs with 30% protein and 15-20% fat would be ideal.
You’ll need to track your progress and make the needed adjustments as you evaluate your results.
Here’s how you exactly calculate your personalized Nutrient ratio:
Step 1. Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR
Men = 1 x [ Body weight (kg)] x 24
Women = .9 x [Body weight (kg)] x 24
*1 kg = 2.2 lbs
Step 2. Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
To calculate your TDEE, multiply your BMR with a number determined by how active you are:
Activity factor:
Sedentary =BMR X 1.2
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375
Moderately active = BMR X 1.55
Very active = BMR X 1. 725
Extremely active =BMR X 1.9
So if you’re male, 150 lbs., 25 years old and very active, your BMR will be 1636 calories and your TDEE will be 2823 calories.
If you’re female, 100 lbs., 25 years old and moderately active, your BMR will roughly be 981 calories and your TDEE will be 1521.
If you’re trying to lose fat, consume 300-500 calories less than your TDEE.
Whatever you decide, we’ll call this your Daily Calorie Needs.
If you’re trying to bulk up (build muscle), consume 350 to 500 calories more than your TDEE. This are just recommended starting points – adjust your calorie consumption based on what results you are getting.
Step 3. Choose a Nutrient Ratio to start with.
A Nutrient ratio of 55-35-15 or 50-30-20 is great to start with.You can tweak it later as you go along and track or measure your results.
By the way, if you want a list of high-protein easy to make meals, check out Bodybuilder Diet: Simple, Fast and Easy Recipes for Building Muscle.
Step 4: Decide your calorie needs according to the ratio you chose
To calculate your ratios, take your Daily Calorie Needs and divide it by your desired percentage of each macronutrient. Then, divide the calories from each macronutrient by the calorie content per gram. Remember that:
- 1g of carbohydrate = 4 calories
- 1g of protein = 4 calories
- 1g of fat = 9 calories
So as an example:
For a 2400-calorie-per-day diet on a 50-35-15 ratio:
50% Carbohydrates = (.50) X 2400 = 1200 calories from carbs
= 1200 carb calories/4 cals per gram = 300 g. of carbs needed per DAY
30% Protein = (.30) X 2400 = 720 calories from protein
= 720 protein calories/4 calories per gram = 180 g. protein needed per DAY
15% Fat= (.15) X 2400 = 360 calories from fat
= 360 fat calories/9 calories per gram = 40 g. of fat needed per DAY
Note that since these calculation determines your DAILY requirement, it means you’ll have to make nutrient allocations per meal. So if you’re eating 5 to 6 times a day, aim to get between 30 to 36 grams of protein per meal.
In case you’re wondering, I learned this stuff from Tom Venuto’s book called Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle. It’s the best one I’ve read so far about Nutrition for Bodybuilders. Click on the link above to read my review of it.
