Dr. Wilson, Attended your talk at UCSF a few weeks back and I'm grateful for the information provided. I am 42, 5’10” and weight 150 lbs. I work out 3-4x/week for usually one hour at a time. Because I am already thin, I spend almost all of my time lifting weights. However, I do run 1x/week for about three miles. For the sake of appearance, I’d like to add 5-10 pounds. I am writing about nutritional supplements. I have read from various sources that you should ingest protein within 20 minutes of our workout to replenish your body? True? 20 minutes? Also, I’ve been taking a protein powder every morning and sometimes before I go to bed trying to fulfill my 150 grams/day requirement. I usually fall short. Do you agree to the rule of one gram of protein for every pound? After attending your session, am wondering if I’ve become too dependent on the powder. Or, if it’s unhealthy. I would appreciate any advice you could provide. Joseph
ANSWER: Joseph, Thank you for your feedback on my talk at UCSF. A quick note on your endurance training: This should be done more regularly than once per week for circulatory health, regardless of body weight, fat content, or apprearance in the mirror. A friend of mine has a quadruple bypass several years ago even though she was extremely thin. Her diet was too high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrates even though she ate very little and had a high metabolism. Concerning protein, when exercising (lifting weights or cardiovascular training) we need more water, healthy fats, carbohydrates and protein, in equal amounts. More protein without more of the rest is like trying to build a house with more bricks (protein) but without more cement (water), electrical (fats recover the nervous system) or without workers (the energy i.e. the carbs). Carbs must include whole grains and vegetables, as discussed in my carbohydrate thread on this blog. My point here is that when you train harder you need more of everything, so the PERCENTAGE of protein in your diet stays the same, but with training you eat more of EVERYTHING. The range of protein intake should be based on PERCENTAGE, not any absolute amount. The range of protein in the diet should be 10-25% for reasons i will not go into here other than to say the lower limit is to provide for tissue growth and the upper limit is to avoid diseases listed by the American Heart Association as being associated with higher protein intake. If your protein is of higher bioavailability you could go as low as 10%. If your protein sources are of lower bioavailability (vegan) it is better to go up to 20 or 25% percent. The body is HIGHLY adaptable to whatever you do as long as you don't go beyond the extremes in either direction. Lets assume you are targeting 20% of your calories as protein (a good number). Then if you are eating 2000 Calories per day you would consume 400 Calories, or 100 grams of protein, which in your case would be less than 1 g of protein per lb body weight. If you were training so hard that you needed 3000 Calories per day, 20% would correspond to 600 Calories, or 150 grams of protein, in which case you would be pretty close to 1 g / lb body weight. Hopefully this makes sense to you: It is not about your body weight, but rather how much damage your body sustains i.e. how hard you are exercising, which is reflected in your CALORIC NEEDS. If you are gaining body fat with time then you do not need as many calories as you had thought, so then you should reduce EVERYTHING you are eating a bit, maintaining the same healthy balance of foods at all times. In terms of protein timing I have posted of this already. In a nutshell: You need protein when muscle is building, which occurs AFTER the damaged tissue is removed in the days following the exercise session. See my last post on this thread.
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