How Much Protein Should You Be Taking?
Protein is a vital nutrient for the development of your skin, hair, muscles... pretty much everything! So if you're not getting enough in your daily diet, the composition of your health and body is going to suffer. But how do we know how much protein you need?
This answer is going to be different for everyone! It is dependent on each individual's age, lifestyle, how active you are in your job, your health/goals, what you put into your body - and your diet. The general rule is 0.8g of protein per kg of your body weight. However, this is a VERY general rule, and studies have shown that this is barely enough to ensure optimal health.
Those who want to lose weight would eat more protein than the average person. We know, this sounds strange - more protein = weight loss?! Protein has shown to increase metabolic rate and reduce your appetite. It is shown to keep you fuller than carbs and fats. It can also help preserve muscle mass which helps burn more calorie at rest.
Those that are aiming to gain muscle and strength will also benefit from an increase in protein.
To gain muscle, your body must synthesize more muscle protein than it breaks down.
There are different conflicting studies as to how much grams of protein you should be taking to gain muscle, however most studies show that taking 1.7g - 2.2g per kg of body weight is the ideal amount of protein to be consuming.
For those wanting to lose weight, it is suggested to follow the same gram intake of .7g - 2.2g per kg of body weight, but use the body weight of your goal. This guide should also be for people that are very active in their job or have a physically demanding job, or people that exercise frequently.
However, for the average person, the guide is stated to be 0.8g - 1.3g of protein per kg of body weight. But if you have more protein, that's still better than having not enough!
So go on, get your Muscle Protein today.
