Building muscle/losing fat/maintaining weight - what % protein do you consume?

anewell28

Hi, title really says all.
For perspective, I am a student-athlete.
I will be starting to strength train more heavy in November. This summer and fall my focus was to lose some fat I had gained in the spring (which I have successfully done) and now its time to focus on my strength.
I don't want to call it a bulk, but I want to become stronger. I would like to avoid regaining the fat I have lost because I like how I look right now.

My plan right now would be to increase my calorie intake to maintenance, and eat at 45-50% protein. Does that sound like enough?

Any suggestiosn would be appreciated!

AnvilHead

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

deannalfisher

45-50% seems fairly high...for reference - i'm 5'3", 148lbs and do 140g a day (which is about 25% of my daily intake) and I avg 2600cal a day

RoxieDawn

Mine comes out around 25% (115-120 grams a day).

There is no reason to consume 45-50%, for me this much protein just becomes expensive and no added gainz from consuming this much extra.

dieselbyte

No need to consume excess protein. If you are eating maintenance calories, aim for .8-1g/lbs.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Usually somewhere around 1g/Protein per lb? Some people would say around 1g/Protein per lean muscle mass (which is body weight - body fat %).

Depends on what you are doing.....your title indicates several things. If at maintenance or surplus, then def. If you are in a cut, then a little bit more than that.

If you were eating 3,000 calories a day and you did your 45% - 50% then that means that you are putting 1,500 calories into Protein. That is roughly 375g Protein? That is a lot of expensive urine, if you ask me! There is a point at which more is not better.

So, I am 50yo male, 6'0" @ 208lbs. I get roughly 195g Protein every day. I am not in the gym (recovering) and playing with nutrition. But, I get 180g - 210g of Protein every day...usually close to 195g. Just as an example...

sijomial

Macros by percentage are needlessly restrictive IMHO.
I just set minimum goals in grams for protein and fat - gives a lot more flexibility within your calorie budget.

As my daily calorie needs vary enormously (c. 2500 - 3500 a fairly usual variation, 2000 - 6500 exceptional either way) you can see the going by percentage, especially a very high percentage like 50%, would be pretty horrible. There's only so many whole chickens you can eat in a day.

livingleanlivingclean

I prefer to go by grams, not % - whatever calories I'm on, my protein is 0.8-1g per lb.

sgt1372

I've used a 40% macro goal for protein for the past 18 months.

The actual amount protein consumed over this time period was about 34% or an average of 0.8-1.2g per # of body weight.

Lost 38# from 196 to 158, dropped my BF from +20% down to 10% and increased my strength up to the advanced and elite levels for the 4 main compound lifts when compared w/other men my wt and age.