Do macros balance out

galgenstrick wrote: »

Ideally you should space out your protein intake. There is some controversy as to how much protein you can absorb from one meal. A lot of people say only 30-40 grams. This is probably an underestimate, but you should shoot for a good serving size of protein with every meal.

This isn't true. You do not need to spread protein out over a period of time. Protein absorption isn't so much a controversy as it is people just not understanding physiology. While it's true the body can only process so much protein per hour, the part where many people are misinformed is that they just assume the body gets rid of what it cannot process within the hour. It doesn't. Your body will continue to process it for hours and hours. This is why meal timing isn't of great importance. To use a real world example, we've all thrown up food we ate hours and hours ago. The food is still in the stomach being digested. It's not an hour long process so the amount of protein the body can handle in an hour is somewhat arbitrary. It will eventually absorb the protein.

As to the question of the OP, I would try not to "make up" protein. If you are short on protein on Monday, eating extra protein on Tuesday, while it will eventually be processed, does nothing for the period of time on Monday you were deficient. One day here or there will not make any difference in the long run though. I usually don't worry about this kind of stuff and focus more on trying to be as consistent as possible. It's not one of two exceptions that dictate results, it's what you do the rest of the time that matters most.

vismal wrote: »

galgenstrick wrote: »

Ideally you should space out your protein intake. There is some controversy as to how much protein you can absorb from one meal. A lot of people say only 30-40 grams. This is probably an underestimate, but you should shoot for a good serving size of protein with every meal.

This isn't true. You do not need to spread protein out over a period of time. Protein absorption isn't so much a controversy as it is people just not understanding physiology. While it's true the body can only process so much protein per hour, the part where many people are misinformed is that they just assume the body gets rid of what it cannot process within the hour. It doesn't. Your body will continue to process it for hours and hours. This is why meal timing isn't of great importance. To use a real world example, we've all thrown up food we ate hours and hours ago. The food is still in the stomach being digested. It's not an hour long process so the amount of protein the body can handle in an hour is somewhat arbitrary. It will eventually absorb the protein.

As to the question of the OP, I would try not to "make up" protein. If you are short on protein on Monday, eating extra protein on Tuesday, while it will eventually be processed, does nothing for the period of time on Monday you were deficient. One day here or there will not make any difference in the long run though. I usually don't worry about this kind of stuff and focus more on trying to be as consistent as possible. It's not one of two exceptions that dictate results, it's what you do the rest of the time that matters most.

Are you saying that if you eat say 100 grams of protein in one sitting and your body will eventually absorb all of it?

I think I agree with what you're saying. Like I said, there is a lot of controversial studies in the 30-40 gram per meal side of things. And from what I understand those studies weren't executed very well.

What about consuming post workout protein? Is that just Broscience?

vismal wrote: »

galgenstrick wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

galgenstrick wrote: »

Ideally you should space out your protein intake. There is some controversy as to how much protein you can absorb from one meal. A lot of people say only 30-40 grams. This is probably an underestimate, but you should shoot for a good serving size of protein with every meal.

This isn't true. You do not need to spread protein out over a period of time. Protein absorption isn't so much a controversy as it is people just not understanding physiology. While it's true the body can only process so much protein per hour, the part where many people are misinformed is that they just assume the body gets rid of what it cannot process within the hour. It doesn't. Your body will continue to process it for hours and hours. This is why meal timing isn't of great importance. To use a real world example, we've all thrown up food we ate hours and hours ago. The food is still in the stomach being digested. It's not an hour long process so the amount of protein the body can handle in an hour is somewhat arbitrary. It will eventually absorb the protein.

As to the question of the OP, I would try not to "make up" protein. If you are short on protein on Monday, eating extra protein on Tuesday, while it will eventually be processed, does nothing for the period of time on Monday you were deficient. One day here or there will not make any difference in the long run though. I usually don't worry about this kind of stuff and focus more on trying to be as consistent as possible. It's not one of two exceptions that dictate results, it's what you do the rest of the time that matters most.

Are you saying that if you eat say 100 grams of protein in one sitting and your body will eventually absorb all of it?

I think I agree with what you're saying. Like I said, there is a lot of controversial studies in the 30-40 gram per meal side of things. And from what I understand those studies weren't executed very well.

What about consuming post workout protein? Is that just Broscience?

The problem with the studies is that they are looking at how much protein your body can utilize in an hour. That isn't really relevant. No one is asking the million dollar question, what happens after an hour? The answer is nothing, the body continues to digest and absorb food. The 100 grams of protein eaten in a meal will eventually be broken down. You don't use all of the protein you eat for muscle repair and building anyways. Many people consume more than enough protein for that task and the excess is ultimately stored as glycogen. Post workout protein is the same story. If you eat a preworkout meal, your are probably still digesting some of it in the post workout phase. The only time I would say it's of any importance at all to have post workout protein is if you trained fasted. Even then the whole 30 minute anabolic window thing is complete nonsense. For people who do not have extreme goals, meal timing is of very little consequence. People who train weights should have some kind of a meal within a reasonable time of training but beyond that, hitting calories and macros for the day is going to account for the vast majority of your progress.

Makes sense. Thank you.

You said excess will be stored as glycogen; is there a limit to how much glycogen can be stored? What happens if you eat more protein beyond that point? Or is that just a ridiculous amount of protein?