How important is protein?
A lot of negative press has been aimed at protein and its effects on the body, especially when supposed excessive amounts are being consumed. I have to say that from my experience protein definitely does not deserve this tag, in fact I can categorically say that protein has been one of the most valuable nutrients in transforming my body from being an overweight teenager (I was 95kg kilos when I was 18!) to being a trim 66kg at 36 years of age.
The NZ nutrition foundation suggests that the RDI (recommended daily intake) for men is 64 grams and 46 grams for women. This works out to be less than 1 gram of protein per kilo of lean body weight. Could you in fact make gains in strength and muscle size with a lower protein intake as a lot of nutrition experts suggest? This year I decided to experiment with consuming less protein (around 70-80 grams of protein per day), slightly more than these guidelines. I had to slightly increase my consumption of slow digesting carbohydrates to compensate for the reduced protein intake and away I went. The results were interesting (not in a good way) to say the least!
· I needed way more recovery time between workouts. I had to have two days off between each training session instead of one!
· I looked softer and had less vascularity.
· I lost strength in certain exercises.
· I felt hungry all the time.
· My motivation to train was nowhere near as strong.
· I felt fatigued more during the day.
· My body composition changed- I put on fat!
I had read that sometimes your body requires a certain amount of time to adjust to a new pattern of eating (different macronutrient ratios of protein, carbs and fats) so I persevered to see if my body would adapt- Guess what? It didn’t.
From this experiment I confirmed what I already knew, that protein is vital in improving muscle size, strength and recovery. But how much is enough to get the benefits? This can be an individual thing and I wanted to know what I specifically needed. I increased my protein by 25 grams for two weeks and noticed little change. I then added another 25 grams and within a week (I reduced my carbohydrate intake slightly too):
· My motivation returned (with a vengeance!).
· Muscle soreness disappeared faster.
· I had less craving for foods.
· My weights and repetition counts went up.
· I had more energy and could think clearer.
Now when I started adding protein on the 25th of August I was struggling to keep my weight down to 71-72 kg. By 17th of September I was eating around 120 grams -150 grams of protein (around 2-2.5 x RDI) and by Nov the 11th I was a lot leaner and definitely stronger at 66 kilos! Now if you consider that an extra 50-70 grams of protein is basically adding 2-3 protein shakes a day- you can see that it is an extremely cost effective and simple way to change your body and its shape.
I must add that some people may require less protein in relation to their carbohydrate intake than I do. Also some people with specific medical conditions may be unable to consume any more than they already do. However there are a lot of carb sensitive people out there who would benefit from cutting out a lot of simple and processed carbs and increasing their protein intake to get positive results.
So! How important is protein? Extremely important! If you have a low protein intake and experienced some of the negative effects that I did during my experiment then make sure you put an emphasis on getting more high quality protein throughout the day and enjoy more muscle, strength and motivation!
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