How Much Protein Should You Eat For Muscle Development?

Establishing a healthy training regime can sometimes be complex, but ultimately the core components are training hard, eating well and deep restful sleep.

Healthy eating and nutrition are sometimes underappreciated when focusing on fitness, and our cafe barn helps to keep it simple with a variety of healthy meals filled with the vitamins, minerals and protein needed for developing the body.

Eating enough protein is essential for building muscle mass, with studies stating that protein intake allows for greater muscle mass gains when strength training, as well as helping to preserve muscle mass.

Most people, bodybuilders or otherwise, are aware of the benefits of protein intake, but what some people might be less certain about is how much you should have to maintain or increase muscle mass. This debate includes not only relative newcomers but studies by experts in the field of nutrition.

The guideline daily recommendations by the UK government is that men between the ages of 19 and 64 should consume 55.5g of protein per day, with women recommended to consume 45g per day.

This roughly equates to 0.75g per kilogramme of body weight, but it must be noted that these guideline daily amounts are for people aiming to maintain their current body weight and overall health.

A position statement from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics helps to provide some more clarity as to how much more protein someone building up their muscles should aim to consume.

The recommendation for strength athletes is 1.2g – 2g of protein per kilogramme of body weight, based on calorie restriction and intensity of exercise, as well as your age, overall health status and general activity level outside of the gym or fit pod.

Ideally, 0.25 – 0.3g of this should be consumed within two hours of finishing your routine in order to take full advantage of the recovery process immediately after training that helps build muscle through hypertrophy.