I was introduced to Barbell Medicine when my son recommended that I listen to Dr. Baraki’s lecture on sarcopenia. I’m in my early 60s and had never heard that one’s protein needs rise with aging! So thanks so much for that. I’ve also read the articles on nutrition on the site and have listened to most of what is on Youtube.I’ve really appreciated all the information because I feel I can trust it because you’re so focused on what the research suppports and what it doesn’t.
My overall goal is a long healthspan, so I have been focused for the last several years on building muscle strength and trying to build some more muscle mass. I do strength training 2-3x/wk and also do various kinds of cardio that I enjoy several times a week.
I weigh about 70 kg, so after listening to the sarcopenia lecture, I’ve been shooting for .4 g per kilo per meal, so about 28 g protein per meal with a daily goal of 84-112 if my math is correct. It wasn’t hard to make the change though it was more meat than I was used to eating and I’d actually been aiming for more plant-based protein prior to listening to the lecture…
Questions: 1. Is it ok to get a little less than .4 x kilos at one meal if the overall daily goal is met? (For instance, breakfast for me is a cup of cooked spinach, an egg, and about ½ c egg whites, so about 25 g protein) Do I need to add a slice of bread or something to get to 28 g?
2. Dr. Feigenbaum’s article, “Optimizing Protein Intake” also says that 3-4 g of leucine per meal has been shown to maximize muscle protein synthesis. Does that get pro-rated per kilo or is that a straight number? If it’s a straight number, it becomes more complicated to meet needs for optimal protein muscle synthesis, because I could get the recommended amount of protein as per the sarcopenia lecture but still not hit the 3 g of leucine. (E.g. Leucine for my typical breakfast would under 2 g. FoodData Central 3 oz braised chicken breast has 27 g protein (which with other things at the meal would easily hit the 28 g I’m after) but only 2.25 g of leucine. To hit the 3 g of leucine, I’d need 4 oz, or 36 g protein. Adding seeds or nuts to multiple meals would significantly increase fat intake and leucine doesn’t seem to be as widespread in as many other foods as general protein.
Am I overthinking this? Since I’m making changes, I’d like to make the right ones.
Thanks for joining the forum and you’ve raised some excellent questions.
Based on the existing evidence, the recommendation for protein would work out to be ~120-150g per day split into 2-5 meals. Each meal would have close to 3g leucine and a complement of essential amino acids. That all being said, I don’t think it’s worth micromanaging your protein intake, but rather I’d be aiming for ~30g of protein per meal from good sources 4-5x/day.
Since this post, I tried unsuccessfully for several months to lose weight, b/c my waist measurement was very elevated (37 in for a woman ) despite a normal BMI. I finally went to a dietician to see where I could tweak something and still get my nutrients because I was already eating a healthy diet; there wasn’t an obvious place to cut. I got some recommendations as to what to cut and It turns out 1800 cal per day produces about 1 lb loss per week or so. I am okay with losing slowly. However, I have to be a more fine-tuned with exactly what I’m eating and reading back over this, I think the protein intake was underestimated in the food plan.
I am eating 2-3 meals per day now instead of 4, so need to readjust protein intake per meal and want to make sure I understood what you said here and in other posts I’ve read. When you said 30 grams of protein from “good sources” did that mean from animal sources…and then let plant sources (bread, veges, etc.) fill in the rest? Of the 120-150g I should be eating, am I correct in understanding that about 2/3 of that should come from animal sources ?
Wrt MPS: If I am understanding correctly, if I am consuming between 120-150 g per day, it will all go to MPS if distributed fairly equally between meals, right ? I am wondering if there is a “cap” per meal such that any excess goes to glucose rather than MPS? I don’t need extra fuel.
I know to wait 3 hours from last protein to the next meal for the refractory period. I sometimes get hungry if I’m later for dinner and have been eating a piece of fruit to hold me over. Somewhere, either a vlog or a post, I think you said carbs in between don’t affect MPS. What about a small amount of protein, like 5-6 grams in a serving of nuts? Does that interfere with the MPS for the last meal or the next or just not contribute to MPS (gets converted to glucose)? Sometimes something a little more substantial than fruit would be helpful, but I’m more focused on not interfering with MPS.
Thanks again for your help on this forum. I marvel at how patient you are at answering questions (even ones you’ve answered more than a couple times!) I did spend a while searching your previous posts before asking in an attempt not to take advantage of that patience! Hope I succeeded at least to some degree.
