How much protein should I intake?

The following is an email I received from Christian Finn, the author of Muscle EVO.  It has the best advice I've found so far about how to calculate protein intake to preserve muscle gains.  Right now my priority is weight loss.  It's going good.  I started at a max of 214 in early January and hit a new low of 196 yesterday, February 18 2015.  When I hit my next plateau which should be around 190 pounds, I'm going to switch my priority to muscle building strength training (see Henry Rollins Iron and Steel for the reason why) I don't have a specific plan yet but as I saw evidence of today, I don't need one.  The information will come to me.  Here's my transcription of Christian's email...

Your weapon of mass preservation

by Christian Finn of Muscle EVO

Protein is right up there with strength training as one of the most powerful "weapons" at your disposal for preserving muscles mass while you lose fat.

But how much of it should you eat if you want to lose fat without losing muscle?

In a moment, I am going to give you a precise answer to that very question.

My thought: I usually don't like it when an email doesn't deliver on the headline, this one was different.  The way Christian bolded the line above piqued my interest enough to read the next line.

First, I want to briefly review the different ways in which recommendations for protein intake are given.

You'll often see macronutrient recommendations given in percentages, such as 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 30% fat.

The problem with using percentages is that the numbers are going to be affected in a big way by your total calorie intake. 

For example, 30% protein on a 1500 calorie diet is very different from 30% protein on 2500 calorie diet, even though the percentages are exactly the same.

Protein intake on the 1500 calorie diet is 113 grams, compared with 188 grams on the 2500 calorie diet.  That's despite the fact that both represent 30% of total calorie intake.

Expressing protein intake relative to your weight is a better way to do it, because it stays the same no mater how many calories you're eating.

So if you were to eat one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, you'll be getting the same amount of protein whether you're eating 1500 or 2500 calories.

However, I much prefer to base protein intake on lean body mass rather than total weight.

And by lean body mass, I'm talking about everything in your body that isn't fat (barring the small amount of essential fat in your bones and internal organs).

If you're relatively lean, there's not going to be much difference whether protein intake is expressed relative to your weight or lean body mass.  But it's a different story for someone who's carrying around a lot of fat.

Take the example of an obese guy who weighs 300 pounds.

Do you still base his protein intake on total bodyweight?

Give him one protein per pound of bodyweight, and he'll be taking in a whopping 300 grams of protein per day.

That's far more than he actually needs.

If you want to lose fat while holding on to the muscle you have, most of the research out there shows little benefit to consuming more than 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

So if you weigh 190 pounds with 15% body fat, your lean mass is 162 pounds giving you a daily protein target of 162 grams per day.

If you weigh 190 with 25% body fat, you have 143 pounds of lean body mass, giving you a daily target of 143 grams per day.

Someone with several years of training behind them may be able to get away with even less.

The closer you are to your genetic limit in terms of muscle growth, the slower the gains will come.

And the slower your rate of growth, the less protein you need to support that growth.

In short, if you want to hold on to the muscle you currently have while you drop fat, 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass will be enough for most people, most of the time.

You can eat more if you like.

But it's not going to make a great deal of difference to your results.

If you want a training program you can use to drop fat while retaining (or even gaining) muscle, go here.

Talk soon,

Christian

My thoughts: I'm ambivalent about this article.  The information is good and I read it from start to finish.  As I was reading I thought the writing could be tightened up a little.  I'm leaning toward emails should be the main points from a longer blog post, while still delivering on the headline.  Basically, a very short email should deliver on the promise of the headline while leaving the supporting arguments and resources for the blog post.  Give the information that caused the reader to open the email, always do it in a short and concise way so the reader isn't afraid to open my emails (although I still don't open George Hutton's emails even though I know they're going to be short, why not?), then if the reader wants to know more, link back to the article, also include advice saying how I use Twitter as a bookmarking tool.  Back to Christian's article, I feel like the writing could be a little tighter but if it was would I have been drawn to read the whole thing?

Let me try rewriting it...

The headline "Your weapon of mass preservation" is a little vague but I opened it because I thought it might be about preserving muscle, a topic I'm going to need to know more about soon.  For a blog post, people are searching for an answer to a specific problem.  The blog post this email is based on should have a clearer title, but what about this email headline?  Would this headline interest enough people to get them to take action (open the email) to improve their life, or do I need to give them something a little extra (some eye-candy or a funny pic)?  My gut is definitely saying I need to include some eye-candy or a funny pic in every email so at the very least the reader opens it to see the pic.  

So a vague headline is ok as long as the email includes some eye-candy or a funny pic.

Your weapon of mass preservation

Most protein recommendations are given in percentages 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, 30% fat.

The problem with using percentages is the numbers are affected by your total calorie intake.

30% protein on a 1500 calorie diet is very different than 30% protein on a 2500 calorie diet - 113g vs. 188g.

There is a better way.

If you're concerned about preserving muscle mass while lowering body fat percentage, base your protein intake on your weight.

One gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.  A 180 pound person would consume 180g of protein.

This way protein intake stays the same no matter how many calories you're consuming.

There's an EVEN BETTER way.

For people who are over weight, there's a problem with basing protein intake on body weight.  A 300 pound man should NOT be eating 300g of protein. 

A better way is to base your protein intake on your lean body weight.  A 190 pound man with 15% body fat should eat 162g of protein.  A 190 pound man with 25% body fat should consume 143g.

Base your protein intake on your LEAN body weight.

The closer you are to your genetic limit in terms of muscle growth, the slower the gains will come.

And the slower your rate of growth, the less protein you need to support that growth.

In short, if you want to hold on to the muscle you currently have while you drop fat, 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass will be enough for most people, most of the time.

You can eat more if you like.

But it's not going to make a great deal of difference to your results.