How Much Protein Do We Need?

By Team eLifestyle Fitness and Lifestyle Expert Robb Armstrong

In last week’s Fit Tip we gave you some simple rules to follow to help ensure you’re counting your calories correctly.

This week we share some insight on how consuming the right amounts of protein can accelerate your fitness progress.

What is protein?

Protein is one of the basic building blocks of the human body, making up about 16 percent of our total body weight. Our muscle, hair, skin, and connective tissue are mainly made up of protein.

In fact, protein plays a major role in all of the cells and most of the fluids in our bodies. Even our DNA are at least partially made up of protein.

Do I need more protein if I exercise?

Studies show that people engaging in endurance exercise (such as long distance running) or medium to high intensity resistance exercise (such as fitness training or body building) can benefit from additional protein in their diets.

This is due to the greater demand of muscle repair and maintenance brought on by a greater degree of use by the individual.

The Numbers

Research suggests 1.2 to 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight per day for endurance exercisers and 1.7 to 1.8 grams per kg per day for medium to heavy strength training.

So just how much protein do we need?

Our protein needs depend on our age, size, and activity level. Professional nutritionists and fitness consultants use a standard method to estimate our minimum daily protein requirement where body weight is multiplied in kilograms by .8, or weight in pounds by .37.

Your end number is the number of grams of protein that should be the daily minimum. Therefore, a person weighing 150 lbs. should eat 55 grams of protein per day.

What happens if we don’t eat enough protein?

Unlike fat and glucose, our body has little capacity to store protein. If we were to stop eating protein, our body would start to break down muscle for its needs within a day or so.

So keep your protein intake in check and you’ll greatly enhance the rate in which you meet your weight loss and muscle building goals!

UP NEXT… Top 5 fat-burning foods. We serve them up next week!

Note: Check back every week for more helpful health and fitness tips from eLifestyle's Fit Tips by Robb!