Greetings,
I’m focusing on protein intake. I’m 50+ and have a modest power:weight. I took to heart the advice to fuel one’s workouts and am now focusing on protein intake.
Given my mass and the recommendations I aim for 160+ grams of protein per day (my mass is about 97 Kg and I train/ride about 6 hours/week). My understanding is similar to carb intake our bodies can only absorb so much protein in a single go, and I am using 40 grams as my max absorbed protein/meal… What is the period of time suggested before I take my next glob of protein? Any studies or guides on that?
I can’t find the very good presentation I saw some time ago on YouTube unfortunately however the gist of it was first to get 3g of Leucine in each dose. Second was that as we age protein synthesis declines. So for an 18yo 20g/serve is fine but for a 50yo that should be closer to 40g/serve to get the same benefit.
I used to over think this type of stuff. Now I just eat a well balanced whole food diet (a bit of everything) and ride my bike fueling with carbs. Tracking macros did nothing for me but add unnecessary stress. Now I eat what I want when I want and sit at a steady weight with an appropriate and stable body composition.
This probably doesn’t help too much and I hope I don’t come across as being dismissive, that’s not my intent. I think there’s more to life than weighing your chicken breast or steak at each meal and entering it into a macro tracker. I have enough to do with my day. Food is to be enjoyed and not made into a chore in my opinion.
Older persons require a higher dose of leucine per meal to achieve maximum protein synthesis. There will be a dose response up to 45 grams of protein per meal. Eating 40 grams protein per meal (or 0.4g/kg) is fine. This implies fewer, bigger meals. There is no advantage to eating a little a bit of protein during 6 meals (and there is no benefit to eating more protein than required). The timing of your meals is not terribly important unless you’re an advanced strength trainee. If you eat 3-4 meals per day you’ll be fine. It seems beneficial to eat at least 50% in the second half of the day.
No I take your response as thoughtful and thank you for it. I have to track macros, as soon as I stop I start packing on weight. I try to get the nutrients from normal foods but the usual constraints usually drive me to blending up PP smoothies.