Nowadays all professional athletes and most gym-goers consume protein powder on a daily basis. But do you really need it that much? If you are an active individual, the short answer is yes. The longer one is: it depends.
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When do you need protein powder?
The average sedentary male needs approximately 56 grams of protein to function properly. The average sedentary female would need around 35 grams. One large egg contains 7 grams of protein on average, making 8 eggs per day more than enough to fill a man’s basic need for protein. Please, don’t only eat eggs, they are just used as a measure here to give a better understanding.
Let’s assume the fact that you are not a sedentary individual, and instead you are actively working out and exercising at least 4 days per week. For an athlete, depending on your diet, your overall protein consumption should be between 20 % and 30 % of your daily calorie intake. Both lower and higher amounts can lead to an imbalanced diet.
This means that if you are aiming for 2000kcal per day, you should consume at least 400 calories from protein or 100 grams of protein, since one gram of protein contains 4 calories. A protein shake would usually contain between 20 and 29 grams of protein per scoop which could greatly boost you toward your daily goal.
If you are able to reach your daily protein goal without a shake, great. If you are not, however, it is a good idea to supplement your body’s needs with a few extra grams of protein that you just could not get throughout the day.
This is the egg protein powder to go for.
Can you build muscle without protein powder?
You absolutely can build muscle without protein powder, if you are eating protein-rich foods and reaching your daily protein intake goals. Protein powder is a supplement that aims to facilitate your protein consumption in reaching those goals.
It is not a good idea to substitute real food with supplements though, so make sure you’re getting real sources of protein.
You can definitely build muscle without protein powder, but you can’t build muscle without real food. In general, if you are consuming protein-rich foods such as eggs, milk, broccoli, lentils, poultry, chickpeas, beef, tuna, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, almonds, and whole grains, you might not need protein powder that much after all.
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FAQs about protein intake
What happens if you don’t reach your daily protein goal?
If you do not consume enough protein on a daily basis, your body will be forced to find ways to produce protein itself – which means needing more calories overall and a lesser quality of amino acids in your intake. Moreover, if you do not fuel your body with the needed dose, it might start burning muscles instead of fat, which might further lead to a slower metabolism rate in general.
What happens if you consume too much protein?
Regardless of whether you drink or eat protein, if you are well over your calorie goal and consume more than 30% of your calories from protein, the excess protein will be stored in your body as fat.
How much protein should you eat per meal?
Studies find that the recommended dose of protein per meal should vary between 15 – 25 grams. Higher doses of 40 grams or more, are not beneficial to our bodies. Instead, for a more effective diet, protein intake should be spread out throughout the day.
User comment about using protein powder
Why I Use Protein Powder
Protein is something that all athletes want to have in their daily diets, but most of them don’t realize why they need it and what benefits they can get from it.
There are many people who are not getting enough protein in their diet and there are some who are under performing at their sports and are experiencing muscle injuries.
A big reason why you need to get enough protein
One of the reasons that you might not get enough protein into your diet is that you don’t know how to properly mix it. If you mix it correctly and give it a good shake, you will see results in no time. One of the benefits that I got out of protein powder is that my energy levels were up and I wasn’t feeling tired as much.
I had been drinking a protein shake every morning before I even got out of bed. The thing is that I was drinking a protein shake that tasted horrible and had lots of sugar in it. I was also mixing it with milk, which I hate, and it was very bitter.
I wanted to get some big muscles
Now, I didn’t want to go without it because I really wanted to build muscle. You would think that by drinking a protein shake every day, that I wouldn’t get hungry, but the problem is that I couldn’t stop myself from eating when I felt hungry. It’s much easier to keep yourself from eating when you are eating something healthy instead of having something that is hard to digest. When you drink a protein powder, it helps your body to break down proteins, so your body doesn’t have to break down other foods.
If you are a newbie to the world of muscle building, it is highly recommended that you use protein powder on a regular basis. It will also help you to gain weight at the same time.
If you are an intermediate or advanced body builder, it will also help you lose weight as well. When you add protein to your diet, your body begins to produce more protein and as a result, your body gets more energy. Plus, it is better for your health than other forms of food.
