How much protein should I be eating?

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friendlyquantum
friendlyquantum Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm having trouble with binging on sugar, and I'm wondering if it's because I'm not eating enough protein, or calories. I'm part of an outrigger racing team, and I work out 6 days a week, anywhere from 1-2 hours, depending. How do I go about figuring out how many calories and how much protein I'm actually supposed to be eating? Thanks for any help.

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  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    0.6-0.8g of protein per lb of body mass.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    I would say no less than 0.6-0.8. I eat up to 1.2 grams per pound of body weight some times for the satiety and the thermic effect.
  • Faithful_Chosen
    Faithful_Chosen Posts: 401 Member
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    That depends per country. Here in The Netherlands the recommendation is 0.8 grams per kg of body mass.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
    That depends per country. Here in The Netherlands the recommendation is 0.8 grams per kg of body mass.

    That's the same recommendation as we have in the U.S.

    However, that recommendation is the minimum daily allowance for sedentary individuals to not be deficient. It does not apply to athletes who are looking for an ideal intake for muscle growth or preservation.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    friendlyquantum wrote: »
    I'm having trouble with binging on sugar, and I'm wondering if it's because I'm not eating enough protein, or calories. I'm part of an outrigger racing team, and I work out 6 days a week, anywhere from 1-2 hours, depending. How do I go about figuring out how many calories and how much protein I'm actually supposed to be eating? Thanks for any help.

    MFP will tell you how many calories to eat
  • friendlyquantum
    friendlyquantum Posts: 7 Member
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    Thanks for the response everyone!
    galgenstrick wrote: »
    That's the same recommendation as we have in the U.S.

    However, that recommendation is the minimum daily allowance for sedentary individuals to not be deficient. It does not apply to athletes who are looking for an ideal intake for muscle growth or preservation.

    And galgenstrick, thanks for the additional info. I definitely have to be treating my food intake like an athlete now adays!
  • Faithful_Chosen
    Faithful_Chosen Posts: 401 Member
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    galgenstrick wrote: »
    Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
    That depends per country. Here in The Netherlands the recommendation is 0.8 grams per kg of body mass.

    That's the same recommendation as we have in the U.S.

    However, that recommendation is the minimum daily allowance for sedentary individuals to not be deficient. It does not apply to athletes who are looking for an ideal intake for muscle growth or preservation.

    I thought you guys had 0.8 per pound?
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
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    Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
    galgenstrick wrote: »
    Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
    That depends per country. Here in The Netherlands the recommendation is 0.8 grams per kg of body mass.

    That's the same recommendation as we have in the U.S.

    However, that recommendation is the minimum daily allowance for sedentary individuals to not be deficient. It does not apply to athletes who are looking for an ideal intake for muscle growth or preservation.

    I thought you guys had 0.8 per pound?

    No, it's per kg.

    Here's where it's documented, page 9 on the summary.

    http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI/DRI_Energy/energy_full_report.pdf
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
    I thought you guys had 0.8 per pound?

    that's the broscience number. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_Reference_Intake references 0.8 g per kg however the RDA or DV is about 50 grams (56M / 46F) " RDAs are set to meet the needs of almost all (97 to 98 percent) individuals in a group" www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI/DRI_Tables/macronutrients.pdf
  • jaevans66
    jaevans66 Posts: 4 Member
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    I would say if you are working out 6 times a week it would need to be 1.2 to 1.5 g per kg of body weight to help muscle repair and growth
  • friendlyquantum
    friendlyquantum Posts: 7 Member
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    jaevans66 wrote: »
    I would say if you are working out 6 times a week it would need to be 1.2 to 1.5 g per kg of body weight to help muscle repair and growth

    Krikey. I tried to eat enough protein today and still didn't get enough. Part of that was 8 ounces of ahi sushi, hah. It's gonna take some getting used to, changing my diet like this!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Just eat more sashimi instead. ;-)
  • jaevans66
    jaevans66 Posts: 4 Member
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    Made a a typo should be per pound of body weight if you are struggling with that use protein shakes. If you are training 6 days have pre workout shake and one before bed that should take care of 50 to60 gram of protein. If you use mp to calculate calories I would half the exercise calories as they always seem a bit high as for macros it depends on your goals ie lose fat loose Wieght or put on muscle
  • Cryptonomnomicon
    Cryptonomnomicon Posts: 848 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1
  • friendlyquantum
    friendlyquantum Posts: 7 Member
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    Cryptonomnomicon wrote: »
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

    Thank you!!!

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