Hi
A little background information first.
I am 53 years old and I have been lifting weights for just over a year. I don’t say training because it has been by and large very unstructured and I have been programme hopping for most of that time. I started following more science based content providers to give me an insight in to the process behind gaining strength and building muscle. I had hyperthyroidism a couple of years ago which left me with a greatly reduced amount of strength and muscle.
I also went into perimenopause shortly after the thyroid issues. I resigned myself to this being the new me. Weak, flabby and unconditioned.
I was inspired to change after my son survived and then thrived after leukaemia. He started lifting weights and totally transformed his body and mind.
If he could do it so could I!
So here i am a year later, training and eating right. I have watched all of your vlogs, seminar q and a etc. You’ve changed how I train, more volume rather than less, I am starting to utilise RPE effectively (I hope) and now looking at the nutrition side.
Right, the question is protein partitioning. I know there should be a period 3-5 hours of fasting between meals, is this vitally important for protein synthesis (typically anabolic resistant, ie less male, older etc.)?
I am eating just around 1500 calories a day. I am 5ft 6 and weigh 130lbs. I am having approximately 125g of protein per day.
I do not want to be hindering my progress by not leaving sufficient time between meals (protein) and to be not making use of the protein most efficiently for muscle protein synthesis.
I typically eat 3x a day with only an hour or so between the last 2 meals. Is this wasting the protein from the last meal?
I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Hi Kim,
It is really cool to hear about your progress and thank you so much for your kind words - it really means a lot.
As far as your questions:
Right, the question is protein partitioning. I know there should be a period 3-5 hours of fasting between meals, is this vitally important for protein synthesis (typically anabolic resistant, ie less male, older etc.)?
In general, we’d like you to consume protein at these intervals to build as much muscle as possible. That said, I can’t confidently say that eating every 3 hours (5x/day) is better than every 5 hours (3x/day). Rather, I can make a stronger case for 3-5x/day over 1-2x/day/
I think what you’re doing now is fine and I wouldn’t micromanage it.
Thank you for the response and reassurance.
kim