Calories and Protein

md7722

They say to build muscle, I need 1 to 1.5 grams per weight. I weigh 172 trying to build lean muscle to 175. I am doing 2500 calories and they say it should be 40%. This puts my protein at 240. Should I cut my calories?

tomcustombuilder

You don’t need that much protein. Muscle is built fine with 1g of protein or even a little less. You can have more if you want however extra carbs before training is going to be more beneficial due to the energy bump.

Enough protein and a slight calorie surplus and a proper weight train program are the ingredients for muscle gain. There is no lean muscle, muscle is muscle. You just want to minimize fat gain.

history_grrrl

md7722 wrote: »

They say to build muscle, I need 1 to 1.5 grams per weight. I weigh 172 trying to build lean muscle to 175. I am doing 2500 calories and they say it should be 40%. This puts my protein at 240. Should I cut my calories?

Genuine question, not snark: who is “they”? Where are you getting this advice?

Retroguy2000

Who is "they"?

Because actual professionals who have done studies, say about 0.7g protein per pound is all you need. If you want to go a little higher, that's fine.

Ofc you'll need a calorie surplus to gain weight, and you'll need a proper program of progressive overload with sufficient volume for most of that weight gain to be muscle.

Hobartlemagne

Even the musclehead gym bros say 1g Protein per Lb of bodyweight.
240 is too much. Maybe go with 175.

AnnPT77

No, don't cut your calories. Reduce the 40% to some number that puts you close to your gram goal. In free MFP, I believe you can only set goals in 5% increments. 175 grams (times 4 calories per gram) would be 700 calories, so 28% of 2500 calories. I'd say set to 25% or 30% and treat it as a minimum, personally.