Protein woes - I am eating enough to build muscle?

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StrongCurves
StrongCurves Posts: 31
in Food and Nutrition
I am 5ft 6 female and weigh 142lbs, I strength train at the gym 3 times a week in order to build muscle to promote fat loss and to gain strength. I know in order to gain muscle you have to consume your body weight or just about in grams of protein (or something along those lines). I manage to consume between 100-170 grams of protein maybe 3-4 days a week, sometimes, but rarely 5. But there are some days where I just feel like having a veggie curry or a stir fry for dinner and my protein intake for these sorts of days will be between 50-90. Also I'm a student, and this stuffs expensive ya know?

On my gym days, as I have a shake after my work outs and with lunch and dinner I usually end up eating over 140grams of protein. But on my rest days I find it difficult to reach 100!

Will I still be able to build and maintain muscle if don't consume the recommended amount of protein for muscle gains every day? I've been lifting for 1 month today and I have indeed developed a reasonable amount of muscle and am pleased with my progress but I'm curious to know if I could be achieving more than I am at the moment if I ate 140 grams of protein a day?

Replies

  • WolfAlexandra
    WolfAlexandra Posts: 11 Member
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    What is your body fat percentage? If you have a high body fat percentage, it is better to calculate your protein intake as 1-1.25g/lean body mass.
    What you have to understand is that you cannot build muscle while losing fat. These are simply two opposed things. While you need to be in a caloric deficit for fat loss, you need a surplus for muscle gain. That is why you must take it one step at a time: either cutting or bulking.
    140 grams of protein is too much and absolutely unnecessary.
    Building muscle is all about a caloric surplus. Eating protein helps with recovery and building strength, yet it is of no use if a caloric surplus is not taken. Protein is not the holy graal of muscle growth, but merely a tool. Lifting for 1 month is a very short time, so my advice is to be patient, as those muscles will not pop out overnight.
    If your goal is to build muscle, calculate your TDEE (daily caloric necessary) and add 200 calories. Eat 1.25 grams of protein/lbm and split the rest of the calories between fat and carbs (careful with a high fat intake, as it leads to higher cholesterol). Lift heavy. No cardio. You will gain muscle and some fat, but you should be able to mantain definition with training. When you plateau, increase your calorie number: keep your proteins the same and add on carbs/fat. Keep doing this until reaching the desired muscle mass, and the start the cutting phase.
    Keep the proteins the same, then start substracting from your carbs and fat, so as to go with your calories under your TDEE by 10-15%. This is the time when you will lose fat gained during bulking and make those muscles visible. When you plateau, substract a little bit more and so on, until you decide it is enough. Continue lifting heavy. If you like eating, then cardio sessions are in order to help you get into a deficit, but some say it is better to lose fat by dieting solely, therefore minimizing muscle loss.
  • Ainar
    Ainar Posts: 858 Member
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    You need to consume around 1g of protein per pound of LEAN body mass, not total body weight, it will just be wasted as calories and not for building muscle. Also anything above 1g is waste of calories. Your body won't be able to use more than 1g pound of lean body mass naturally no matter how hard you work out unless you are on some kind of steroids. Most of people use around 0.8g per pound of lean body mass and some even less but 1g is just a safe line for the most optimal muscle gains, it is by no means a set rule. Since you are new to lifting you build muscle faster so eating more protein, like 1g, is a good idea for the most optimal. And yes even if you would be eating only 0.3g you would still gain some muscle if you are new to lifting. It would not be the fastest and most optimal gains tho but you would. Don't try to over-complicate things... just ate and lift.
  • StrongCurves
    StrongCurves Posts: 31
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    I'm not trying to get huge by any means and I jog 5-6 days a week so I'm always at a deficit. I eat around 1500 cals a day and my diet mainly consists of chicken, fish, dairy and vegetables. At the end of the my my calorie intake is around 1100-200. I have just (today) decided to stop ignoring my celiac disease and commit to living a gluten and wheat free life so I'll have to find my carbs in beans. Is it possible to post pictures on threads? I don't think my body fat percentage is very high. And thanks for your advice, I thought 140 was too much. Would I be ok consuming between 70-100? Would make my life a lot easier.
    So far lifting and jogging has allowed me to lose fat and gain muscle. I'd heard that it was difficult to both these things at the same time. But at the moment I'm having quite a bit of success with both. I'm just looking to get "slender and lean". I've lost 6lbs in a month which is outstanding for me as I'd aimed to lose 1lb a week. I've definitely lost body fat and gained muscle. I think I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing and go easy on the protein. So far my weight loss strategy is giving me nice results. Thanks for your input x
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    You aren't going to build muscle eating more protein- you only build appreciable measurable size by eating a calorie surplus.

    You want to eat protein to MAINTAIN your muscle and develop strength.

    You'll be fine at 70-100 while you are cutting.

    also remember size =/= strength.

    you will get stronger- but you aren't going to get significantly bigger eating at a deficit. Period- especially as a woman- it's just laughable hard to do (unfortunately)

    you're fine- keep doing what you're doing. :)
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    would agree that its probably less important to get a high protein intake while eating at a surplus... but it wouldn't hurt
  • StrongCurves
    StrongCurves Posts: 31
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    Ok that's great! I know I lack the testosterone to get huge, but if protein maintains my muscles then thats all i'm really looking for! Brilliant, I can easily manage 70 - 100 grams a day :) Thanks guyss xxx

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