“This is just driving me crazy!” said Barry Hafkin, MD who was sitting next to me at the nurses station on the Orthopedic floor of Brackenridge Hospital. The year was 1982.
“What is?” I asked.
“This kid is never going to heal. Never. He’s going to have a busted bone and a seeping wound forever,” exclaimed Hafkin and there may have been a few words thrown in there that were a bit more aggressive. Can’t recall exactly. But it seems right.
“Why?” I asked.
“Damn hospital food is why. I’ve told them over and over that this kid needs WAY more protein and look at the crap he gets,” yelled Hafkin with a face as red as a ripe tomato.
And that was my first introduction into the world of protein, healing, and tissue rebuilding. Dr. Hafkin went into considerable detail explaining why protein was so critical for his patient and I took as many notes as I could. Of course, hospital food is better now, somewhat anyway, although I don’t know of anyone who loves it.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
I’m going to bet that most of you don’t know how much protein you need, in general, for day to day existence, and how much you need if you train or are recovering from an injury.
Am I right?
I here this routinely from my clients when I ask, “How much protein do you eat per day?”
“Oh a lot. I eat a lot of protein.”
“Great. Can you tell me how much? Break it down for me? Let’s start with breakfast.”
And then the conversation sort of stalls. It’s pretty much next to nothing. Some yogurt, fruit, maybe toast with peanut butter. Some people don’t eat breakfast at all. Some have cereal. Some have a couple of eggs and juice.
But there’s not a focus on how much protein is actually in the meal.
Why bother?
Well, protein is the key to rebuilding your body – injured or not. In fact, remember that ALL exercise is controlled trauma. You’re essentially ALWAYS recovering from an injury. So you need protein.
There is, of course. debate in the professional ranks about this issue with the current recommendation at .8 grams/kg body weight/day (( Campbell, B., R. B. Kreider, et al. (2007). “International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise.” J Int Soc Sports Nutr 4: 8.))
This is the amount you need if you’re NOT training.
If you’re training or rebuilding from an injury, the amount goes up considerably to between 1.4 and 2.0 grams / kg body weight / day.
Wow.
Let’s do the math on that.
Let’s assume you’re a female, weighing 140 lbs (64 kg), active, love to run, want to get stronger. So, you need 64 x 1.4 or 90 grams of protein per day. And if you’re really active, maybe an endurance and strength athlete you’ll need closer to 128 grams per day.
Reality check. A chicken breast, the size of your palm, is about 20 grams of protein.
That’s five chicken breasts per day.
But from my view there’s a hitch in this formula.
Notice that it’s grams/kg of body weight; not lean body weight.
My advice, since most of us, at least first starting out, have a higher fat mass level, is that you should use grams/kg of lean mass.
Reason?
Doing this will prevent you from over-estimating your protein needs and total calories needs. When I first started with with my rebuilding project, I had a body weight of 230 lbs or ~104 kilograms. So, according to this formula, I needed 104 x 1.4 or 145 grams of protein per day. And at 4 calories per gram, that’s a lot of extra calories from that much protein. And frankly if you can’t use the protein, it’s going to fat storage.
Instead, use your lean body weight. This is body weight minus fat content. Yes, that means you have to measure your fat content but remember one of the standards of youthfulness is leanness. So get some calipers and do the work (or you can go the route of underwater weighing, DEXA or air displacement with a BODPOD – but calipers work fairly well once you practice a bit).
So, back to me. I was almost 30% fat when I started. So my lean mass would have been 230 lbs – (229 x.30) = 229-68 = ~161 lbs.
Back then, my protein needs would have been 161 (73 kgs) x 1.4 = 102 grams protein per day.
Now, my lean mass is 173 lbs (I’ve lost fat and gained some muscle). So my daily protein needs are higher, 110 grams, even though my total body weight is less.
Below are recommendations for caloric intake and protein intake based on activity level (and again, I suggest adjusting these numbers based on your lean mass; not total body weight).
But the big question is, “How do I eat THAT much protein?”
And, I’ll share those ideas with you next time…..because it can be done.
How much protein are you eating these days?
