Minimum protein intake

emmab0902

Is there a minimum level of protein required to add muscle?? There is so much conflicting information and I am wanting to maximise muscle gain so wondering how much I really need per day. I am 164cm and 47kg (small framed and nearly 44 years old)

My intake varies (rarely enter much in food diary) but usually try for 60g minimum but happy to up this if it will help get results from my training which consists of kettlebells and weights 3x a week plus 3 runs of around 6k and 1 or 2 swims of around 3k each.

byustrongman

Fitness guys will generally say 1 g/ kg of lean body mass. Most studies indicated around .8 g/kg lean body mass. So somewhere in that area is optimal, but a little lower, a little more it's hard to say exactly what the definite minimum is.

greentart

I've read that for women, you should eat from 86-160g of protein. For lifters, I've seen 1g of protein for every lb of body weight. I, however, I can't eat 235g of protein a day so...... yeah!

AJ_G

85g of protein a day would be a good minimum for you based on your weight.

Read up: http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/