how much protein should I be eating?

[wanderlusty]

yeah I don't see how I could possibly gain weight on my diet because I'm only eating like 1,800 calories! I'm curious too about whether we ought to be eating 1g per bodyweight or 1g per lean mass weight.

 

[poohbear]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but there hasn't been scientific evidence to support that the body needs more than 2 gram of protein per kilo of body weight. That breaks down to .9g per pound, right. It's easier for me to use body weight to calculate protein needs than LBM. Frankly, I haven't stumbled into that research either. At your current weight you're going to need 206*.9=185g of protein. Adjust as you start losing weight.

Also, don't worry if you do gain a little weight with 1800. Remember that muscles weighs more than fat, considering that same amount of space is taken. I would increase the cardio to longer sessions at least 4x a week and up the intensity on your lifting. Can't get anywhere curling 2.5lbs.

... I have to go somewhere. I'll continue this later

 

[wanderlusty]

well i'm curling slightly more than 2.5 pounds. My upper body is pretty weak still, but I do as much weight as I can. No toning for this girl My lower body is not bad though.. maybe from having to deal all this extra weight for so long! I did 11 reps of 275 lbs on the leg press yesterday Not too bad for two months of lifting.. i think. Actually I have no idea if that's good or not.. but it *feels* good

I did 100 min of cardio today with my hr between 130 and 160 bpm. That enough?

185 g huh.. well that's gonna be a challenge.. but i'll do my best Thanks for the advice.

 

[poohbear]

I did 100 min of cardio today with my hr between 130 and 160 bpm. That enough?
185 g huh.. well that's gonna be a challenge.. but i'll do my best Thanks for the advice.

That's an excellent session. The 2.5lbs was just a figure of speech. Anyhow, you're doing a great job. The diet will come in time. Keep up the good work

 

[tripleV]

that's great wanderlusty, you are on your way girl!

 

[tripleV]

my nutrition for one day:

Meal 1:

1.5 c Oatmeal 225 kcal

Just occured to me, that's alot of oatmeal girl. I eat 1/2 cup and it fills my bowl and it's so filling.

ANd the nutrional value I have is 117 cal/490 kJ per 3/4 cup and you're eating half that. What's a kilocal comparatively?

 

[poohbear]

What's a kilocal comparatively?

the kilocal is also known as the Calorie, which we normally use as a measure of energy in foods. Ex: 1 gram of carbs = 4 Calories. The calorie with little see is mostly used, as you know, but instead of measure of heat it takes to raise 1 kg of water 1 degree celsius, it's only 1 gram of water.


So, your 117 cal is also 117 kcal or 117 Cal

 

[Phemomena]

i'm assuming that that oat meal is 1.5 cups cooked, probably about 1/2 to 2/3 cup dry... (i use 50 ml which is just under a third of a cup - which comes in at about 120 cals)

 

[wilson6]

Hey Pooh,

Add 200 grams of extra carbs a day to your diet for 4 weeks. Get in the UW weigh tank before and after. Then lose the fat. After you're back to baseline, add 200 grams of extra protein to your diet for 4 weeks. Check it again. Let me know if the results are the same. Bet they are not.

I'd adjust protein to LBM. Pooh is correct, any kcals above what is expended with be stored, although protein is the most labor intensive for the body to convert to fat. Thus, if you're bodyfat is high and you base your protein intake on total body mass, it may be too much, or comprise too high a percent of your total calories.


W6

 

[wanderlusty]

yeah it's 1.5 cups cooked, and .75 cups raw

I'm not sure why I use kcal sometimes... a weird habit I picked up I guess. In a sense it IS more correct than cal.. but everybody knows what you mean when you use cal, so that's probably a better word to use (can you tell I'm a linguistics major?)