Contrary to what the fitness experts would have you believe a bodybuilding diet does not need to contain crazy amounts of protein. A common suggestion is one gram of protein per pound of body weight. That means a 200 pound man would have to consume around 200 grams of protein per day. The body building magazines recommend an even higher number compared to this.

The RDA for Protein for Adults is .8 grams per Kilogram of Body Weight

So that would be roughly 64 grams for a 175 pound person. So why are these numbers so vastly different? The RDA’s suggestions are based on research studies using college aged men. The studies found that this was the proper amount of protein to keep a correct nitrogen balance in these young men. However, using a nitrogen balance as the basis to predict muscle gain or loss has not been proven to be 100% accurate. So this probably wouldn’t be a good protein intake estimation for the body building diet.

The AMDR recommends that 10%-35% of daily calories should be protein.

This would mean the amount of protein eaten is dependent on the number of calories you are consuming in a day. The acronym AMDR stands for Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range and the Institute of Medicine established it in 2005. The issue taken with this recommendation is the fact it has a fairly large range. Neither the AMDR or the RDA take exercise into account with their recommendations. Someone who is training hard would have to consider their activity levels when putting together a body building diet for themselves.

So It Doesn’t Look Like the RDA or the AMDR are Useful in Coming up With a Body Building Diet

You’ll find some of the various body building magazines will suggest going as high as 2 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. However, that would end up being 350 grams per day for just a 175 pound male! The problem with body building magazines are that they aren’t exactly unbiased. The number one way they make money is by selling ads to advertisers. In turn, protein is the top supplement that the advertisers are selling. So it seems logical that 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight is far more than you really need.

The More Protein You Are Eating, The More Protein You Will Be Able To Digest

Here’s a weird body fact; if you eat large amounts of protein at every meal, your body becomes used to it and has an easier time absorbing it. However, if you are NOT use to eating a lot, you’ll find ingesting a high protein meal will result in upsetting your stomach due to your body not being able to digest it. You would think that digesting more protein would mean building more muscle, but it isn’t that simple.

Digesting Ten Time More Of Protein Will Not Result In Ten Times More Muscle

Research has demonstrated that the more protein your body consumes, the more likely it is to convert amino acids to fuel instead of fat and carbohydrates. Your body uses protein, fat, and carbs for fuel. Depending on what goes into your system, your body adjusts its fuel burning needs to output energy. Based on that information it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to keep increasing the protein, but exactly what is enough?

There are studies which show that consuming 70-120 grams of protein per day is optimal for muscle gain.

Brad Pilon wrote a whole book on this topic called “How Much Protein”. By comparing several different studies, he found that if a person eats between 0.55 and 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight a day, that is a good balance for increasing muscle. He quotes several of these studies which found that a protein intake of over 120 grams per day didn’t contribute in any way to additional muscle gain. So you can believe the supplement companies or scientific research. The choice, as always, is yours. My own suggestion would be to just average about 100 grams of protein over your day, which will be easy without having to add the protein shakes to whatever bodybuilding diet you’re on.