Weight Gain Tips - How Much Protein To Build Muscle?

http://NaturalBodybuildingTips.com - If you want to gain weight and build muscle, you need protein, right? But how much protein do you need to gain weight if you're a skinny hardgainer?

Weight gain! For a lot of people, those are dirty words, but for skinny hardgainers struggling to build muscle mass, it's a moving target that often feels like it just keeps getting further away. One of the most confusing and frustrating factors when it comes to a weight gain diet is the role that protein plays in gaining weight. Most people who struggle with weight gain and with building muscle mass know that they need to eat protein...but there's a lot of conflicting information out there about how MUCH protein they need to consume.

Research has shown that even trained athletes trying to achieve weight gain need far less protein than was originally recommended (and that is still recommended). The old weight gain rule was that you wanted to take in 1 to 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Some fitness experts even recommend as much as 5 grams per pound of body weight.

However, mistake #1 when your goal is weight gain is concerned is to never use body "weight" as the factor for determining how much protein to consume. Only your lean body mass is relevant when doing these types of calculations. This is because only the muscles in your body require protein for growth and maintenance. Body fat doesn't require that protein, so including it in the calculation just inflates the numbers unnecessarily.

For hardgainers trying to achieve weight gain to build muscle mass, therefore, massive amounts of protein are even less necessary. This is because if you have less muscle mass to start with, you need less protein for maintenance. Any additional protein consumed will most likely just be excreted from the body as waist and not assist you with your goal to gain weight.

Another protein consideration when trying to gain weight is that protein is the most "thermic" of all nutrients. You see, any food you put into your body requires calories to be burned in order to digest that food. Of all the nutrients you consume, protein sources require the highest number of calories to be burned in the process of breaking them down and using them within the body. This makes excessive protein consumption yet one more obstacle for the person trying so hard to gain weight because they're essentially burning much needed calories.

To achieve the type of healthy weight gain you can really use, follow these protein tips:

Weight Gain Protein Tip #1: Avoid the overload.

Consuming massive amounts of protein will work against your goal to gain weight and since your body will mainly just excrete most of the unused protein, you'll end up spending more time in the bathroom than in the gym. To get an accurate count for the number of grams you want to consume, have your body fat percentage tested at your local gym to determine your "lean body mass". Multiply your lean body weight by 1.17 and this will be a more accurate amount of protein to shoot for each day.

Weight Gain Protein Tip #2: Focus on portions rather than grams.

I'm not a big fan of counting grams of anything -- too much "work". All you want to do is gain weight, not get your engineering degree, right? Just focus on consuming one "portion" of protein with each of your meals. One portion of "food protein" such as a hamburger patty, chicken breast, etc., is equal to about the size of the palm of your hand. If you're using a protein powder, it's equal to about one single scoop of powder.

Weight Gain Protein Tip #3: Drink lots of water.

Although the jury is still out, some studies have shown that excessive protein consumption can stress the body, in particular the kidneys. Gaining weight shouldn't overstress the body so drink lots of water to reduce any possible effects on your kidneys.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• build muscle
• gain weight
• bodybuilding
• protein
• mass building
• hardgainre

[byrjyu]

Too much protein will cause liver disease. I used to eat a lot of natural protein such as meat,fish plus shakes and guess what with 5'8 and 165 lbs i got a fatty liver disease. It all from taking too much shit. When you only need enough to build. I was not aware of it until it started to hit my health. So now i am on very low diet no fat food at all like no fry meat, anything that has fat got to go.

Hope this help. all those adds that we see about huge guys we dont know about their health.

[kolbrian]

this is good to know. thanks, jeff!

[amokbel]

Thanks for these tips on protein. I've always been on the fence in terms of buying protein supplements, this video helped me clear these doubts.

[PhatAlex1991]

False, your body makes thousands of enzymes that are made how?... Protein...