When you are working out, your body is going through several changes. Depending on the workout, you may be pushing your cardiac abilities or building up muscles, which is a process of making small tears in your muscles for them to repair even stronger. No matter which option you are working on today, or even if you’re doing a full-body routine, it’s important to ensure that you are giving your body what it needs after the fact so that it can properly recover. This is imperative to prevent injury and to help your body grow stronger with each workout rather than having to take time off and restart at a later time.
Most people know there are a few things that are necessary to help them with proper recovery after intense workouts. Water, being one of the most important, but also protein. Without protein, your body can’t properly recover after a difficult workout, and you may find yourself feeling more sore, tired, and not seeing as much improvement as you would like to see. It’s definitely a must-have in the diet of any athlete.
But now begs the question, how much protein is necessary while working out? Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast answer to that. Men and women both need different amounts of protein in their diet, and then it varies depending on how much working out you do. If you live in the gym, you’ll need more protein than someone who goes in 3-4 days a week and does a much less intense circuit.
Look at Overall Eating
Just sitting down with lean protein is not enough for you to see a toned body in a few weeks, you need to focus on eating better overall. You’ll need to consume a higher amount of protein, while also meeting your needs for carbs and fat. However, with that being said, you don’t want to eat large plates of spaghetti each day. You need to find a balance of lean protein, some carbs, good fats, like avocados, and fruits and vegetables to help keep your body at its best.
To determine how much protein to add to your diet, you’ll first need to calculate your weight in kilograms. So first up is to take your weight in pounds and divide it by 2.2. Then, you’ll need to determine how much protein you should eat a day. There is a range, and the lower end of the range is 0.8 which is good if you live more of a sedentary lifestyle. If you are more active or under a lot of stress, you’ll want to use a number from 1.2 to 2. We recommend perhaps 1.5. You’ll then take your weight in kilograms, and multiply it by the number on the range you’ve chosen. That will tell you how many grams of protein you need to eat per day.
Once you’ve calculated how much protein you need in your diet, you then need to figure out when to eat it and how best to eat it. Sitting down and eating 120 grams of protein in one meal isn’t necessarily the best choice for you. You’ll instead need to space your protein out, and you’ll also want to enjoy some protein immediately after a workout. Generally, it is suggested to eat protein no later than 30 minutes after you complete your workout. Luckily, there are many ways to enjoy protein, so if you’ve cooked up some delicious steaks or chicken or even seafood ahead of time, you can finish your workout, clean up, and then enjoy a nice dinner or you can snack on protein shakes and other protein-filled snacks like peanut butter until you get to mealtime. Spacing your protein out will help your body with absorption and recovery.