Ideal Amount of Protein to Eat After Exercise
If you’ve read our article on getting enough protein and want to really get serious about getting the most out of your exercise program, then you might be considering how much protein you eat after exercise to get the most benefit for muscle building.
Once you can reach your daily protein goals (because it is still very important), you can focus on nuances such as eating the “ideal” amount of protein after exercise. According to current research, like this study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 20-25 grams of protein – a 3-ounce can of tuna, 3-ounce chicken breast, or four eggs – eaten sometime after exercise is enough to kickstart the entire recovery and growth process. muscles in your body.
This amount of protein seems reasonable to the average person. However, a recent study published in Physiological Reports , suggests that up to 40 grams can be better. But as Examine.com points out in its article, it depends on your workout. In a study published in Physiological Reports , subjects received full-body strength training, as opposed to leg-only training in previous protein dosage studies . Overall, this suggests that if you are engaging a lot of muscle groups (such as squats or deadlifts ) in strength training, you will benefit from eating at least 25 grams of high quality protein (such as whey protein ) post-workout.
Generally speaking, it is important to get enough of this high quality protein. Getting “just that much” is less important if there are no health problems or dietary restrictions that would contraindicate the increased protein intake. At best, it may be beneficial to increase your post-workout protein intake from 25 grams to 40 grams. In the worst case, “extra” protein is consumed: 60 additional calories out of 15 grams of additional protein, most likely, will not break even the most strict diet.
Check out the article below for full details.
A Second Look at Post-Workout Protein Quality | Examine.com
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