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Aloha!

I am a recently converted vegetarian, and I feel great! I switched to veggie about 1 month ago and I've lost roughly 7 pounds. However, I'm don't really want to lose weight, as I'm really trying to build muscle while remaining a vegetarian. I have no doubt that this is possible, but I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough protein.

How much protein do I need daily?

I'm 24 years old, male, 5 foot 9 inches, and 158 lbs in weight. I exercise about 5 times per week. So I'm pretty active, but I spend 9 hours per day at work sitting at my desk except for about 45 minutes or so that I spend taking walks.

I want to stay active and strong, and continue to build muscle. Most of my exercise is weightlifting with a little cardio mixed in.

The Department of Agriculture's nutrition calculator says I need about 95 grams of protein per day. However, bodybuilding websites, friends, and trainers have told me that I need roughly 150 g per day.

This is a huge discrepancy, and I'd like to know the truth! Do you folks have any advice?

I think that, right now, I get roughly 100 g of protein per day, which comes mainly from kale, mushrooms, peanut butter, cereal or oatmeal, a granola bar, whole wheat bread, beans, and a protein shake.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

IMO dump the peanut butter and the protein shake. Try to keep your fat intake down, and don't worry about the protein. I've made huge gains in muscle and strength since joining a gym. Bench press 1 Rep Max up 178% since March. I eat 1500 - 2500 calories a day (probably closer to 2500 a day here lately) and typically 10% - 15% of that is from protein.

This study pretty much says that protein supplements don't work http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16948480, although I've never try and argue that on the body building forums.

Welcome aboard, Rus! If you eat UNREFINED colorful veggies, starches and fruit you will probably get all of the protein you need.

If you are having trouble getting enough calories because of all of our exercising, you can eat more of the refined starches (whole wheat pastas etc.) and a few nuts. Increasing the calories will usually increase your protein intake.

See

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=30571

Please tell us more about yourself and your goals, Rus!

Read here what Dr. McDougall says;

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2004nl/ ... erload.htm

You do not near as much as you think. 95 grams is way to much and 150 g is insanely high. For that type of need, one would have to be doing Iron Man triathlons and needing 4000 Kcal intake.

Excess protein is not stored in your body but rather converted in the liver and excreted through the kidneys and thus burdens your system.

j

A lot of weightlifting gurus have made a mistake in their reading, and having seen that we need about 1 gram protein per kilo of bodyweight, mistakenly turned that into 1 gram protein per pound of bodyweight.

The actual numbers are about .81 g per kilo, and .37 g per pound of body weight.

Those are WHO's numbers, and are at a level that assures that 95% of adult males will get enough protein. They have a built-in safety margin; your actual need is probably lower.

The only reason you'd need more protein is that you'd need more calories to get through your day without losing weight. Weightlifters and their gurus often say and believe that weightlifters and athletes "need more protein" than if they were not lifting or athletic. But this is again a misinterpretation: The only reason you would "need" more protein is that you would need more calories in total, and if you maintain that ratio of .37g/lb or whatever ratio you decide on, you'll get more protein in grams, but need not increase the ratio.

And you can get it all from plant foods, and it is complete. If you ate sufficient calories of nothing but iceberg lettuce, you'd get more protein than you needed. Unless you're constructing a "vegan" diet of hard sugar candy and stone fruits and nothing else, if you eat enough calories you'll get all or more than all the protein you need.

Protein "needs" have been HUGELY exaggerated to sell supplements and meat. If you simple eat adequate calories on the McD plan of starches, tubers and a variety of veggies and take in some beans or lentils every other day or so, you should be fine.

If you want big muscles, lift hard and heavy, that's more important than high protein intake. Yes, 92% of people out there will tell you I'm wrong, but I'm not. It's them because they have bought into the protein hype.

(video on topic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jZ89lqJ ... re=related