. Protein to build muscle and lose weight.

LynneHubbard

Good morning! Blessings to all on your fitness journey! I would like to know how much protein powder I need to consume per day in order to build muscle to lose weight? My weight is 216lbs.
~LLH

cwolfman13

Protein powder is just a protein supplement and doesn't really have anything to do with losing weight. In regards to building muscle, the quality of your lifting program is going to have the biggest impact...the next would be your overall calorie intake followed by your overall protein consumption.

Also, losing weight and building muscle are conflicting goals. Losing weight requires a calorie (energy) deficit while building muscle requires at minimum a maintenance level of calories (very slow, re-comp) but ideally a small surplus of calories (still slow, but faster than re-comp). When you "diet" you are in a catabolic state and building muscle is an anabolic process.

There are benefits to getting adequate protein and lifting while in a calorie deficit in that you can better preserve the muscle mass that you already have as building it back later is a difficult and long process. A good general rule of thumb if you're a weight room junky is about 1 gram of protein per Lb of your target, healthy weight. Anymore than that and you're just making expensive glucose and pee...and even then, for your average gym goer, that amount is a bit of overkill. How you hit your protein targets is up to you, but I try as much as possible to get it through whole foods. There's nothing magical about protein powder, it's just a supplement to aid in hitting your targets. For the most part I hit mine with plenty of chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef and pork, eggs, Greek yogurt, and other whole food sources.

LynneHubbard

Thank you. I appreciate the insight.