Correct protein dosage: When and how much to take?

Protein is clearly the most popular and practical supplement in the world. From my own experience, I can only confirm that many people consider buying it even much earlier than any diet or workout.

It must have been said a thousand times about proteins. However, there are still a lot of people who are not quite sure how to dose protein or when to take it at all. So I will try to make this article a comprehensive and detailed guide dealing with this very topic.

When is the best time to take protein?

First of all, let's take a look at how to properly time the consumption of such protein. Is there even a best time to drink it and if so, when is that time and what benefits can it bring us?

1. After waking up

As our body's glycogen stores are slowly depleted during sleep, the body is forced, to provide enough energy, to needto support normal metabolic processes, to draw this energy from our amino acid stores and slowly break down muscle tissue. Simply put, we can say that our body is very hungry in the morning, to kick-start our metabolism vs. metabolism and stop catabolism so it desperately needs to get some of those nutrients in.

A well-chosen breakfast full of important nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats thus seems to be the ideal way to start the day. However, if you're the kind of person who gets sick of eggs in the morning, for example, a protein like this could be a great choice for you. It also has the advantage of being easily absorbed, which means that it can get the necessary proteins and amino acids into your body very quickly. However, it is also ideal to combine it with other foods such as fruit, cereal, yoghurt or peanut butter. This way, you will get a complete and balanced meal that provides you with the energy and nutrients you need.

When it comes to drinking protein after you wake up, the question of whether it's appropriate to drink it on an empty stomach often comes up. However, the answer to this question is quite simple, yes it is appropriate, I see no problem with it in principle. However, as I said above, I would not be satisfied with just protein mixed in water.

2. Before training

A properly chosen and timed pre-workout diet has a huge impact on the quality of our training. Honestly, I could easily devote a whole article to this topic sometime in the future, this article is allHowever, this article is dedicated exclusively to protein, so I will only briefly mention the importance of a properly chosen pre-workout diet.

In a nutshell, it is recommended to consume a complete and high quality meal containing all three macronutrients about 2 to 3 hours before the actual training. The carbohydrates are used as a source of energy, the fats enable the body to maintain optimal insulin and blood glucose levels and finallyproteins provide sufficient amino acids to protect and regenerate damaged muscle fibres.

As for the protein itself, drinking it before training can offer us several benefits. Whey protein naturally contains a significant amount of branchedamino acids, which, thanks to their rapid absorption, can also enter our bodies very quickly. Protein before training can thus significantly improve our workouts or even boost protein synthesis. Some studies have also shown the positive effect of drinking protein before training on muscle growth and on the overall anabolic response of our body.

Moreover, its fast absorption is also advantageous because we can afford to give it an hour or even just a30 minutes before a workout without feeling full or full afterwards. With this in mind, I would then recommend combining the protein before training with some fruit, which you can easily add to your diet.The natural sugars will give you the energy you need and, thanks to the potassium content, can prevent possible cramps during training.

In addition, of course, there are many other options for pre-workout nutrition. For example, some people are able to have a full meal 2 to 3 hours before training and then 30 minutes before training and have no problem. Someone else might do it by having a full meal about 3 hours before training meal and then about an hour and a half before the workout, a rice porridge with protein. So you need to test what exactly suits your body and what doesn't. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here either.

Personally, I prefer to eat a full meal about 2 hours before training, and try toI always choose well-digested foods that I know don't put too much strain on my stomach. However, if for example you can't make it to a meal or you're going to work out early in the morning, a pre-workout protein along with fruit may be right for you. Whether you then have it an hour or just 30 minutes before your workout is up to you and your digestion. While 30 minutes before a workout may be too short for some, for others it may be perfectly fine.

3. After a workout

Drinking protein immediately after a workout is the most common and also the best advice you can get when it comes to drinking protein. Of course, the first thing to mention is that increased protein synthesis in the muscles takes place approximately 24 to 48 hours after training. Therefore, it can be said that rather than just drinking protein after a workout, it is more important to maximally support muscle growthIt is more important to have a balanced intake of protein and other nutrients during these 24 to 48 hours after training. Even so, I would still highly recommend drinking protein post-workout for several reasons.

By consuming protein after training we get our body from catabolic to anabolic mode, protein synthesis will also improvefor, thus promoting muscle building and last but not least, it will also start the repair processes.

However, here again I would recommend combining its drinking mainly with carbohydrates. Muscles need to replenish their energy reserves after training, and carbohydrates can be a great source of this energy. Drinking a good quality protein after a workout in combination with properly chosen carbohydrates will do the absolute maximum to support recovery and build muscle mass.

As for the timing of the protein after the workout, wait at least 10 to 15 minutes before drinking it, so that the body can calm down and breathe after the workout. Personally, I take a cold shower first after my workout and then drink my protein in peace.

In connection with this, the phenomenon of the so-called "anabolic window" often occurs, but forget about it. Taking into account the above mentioned, of course, I recommend to have a protein with some carbohydrates or to replenish electrolytes (such as magnesium or potassium) after the workout. However, I don't see any problem with not having any food immediately after your workout. Likewise, I don't see a problem with drinking your protein after you get home from the gym either. That way you definitely don't have to be stressed about some "anabolic window" and the fact that if you take a protein immediately after your workoutyou don't get all the important nutrients you need, you'll lose all your hard-built muscle.

4. During the day

Of course, you can also drink protein at any time of the day, even on non-training days. In such cases, however, it depends primarily on your your total daily protein intake and how much time you actually have to eat. In general, the lowest recommended daily protein intake is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. For active athletes, then, a value of 1.6 to 1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight is often quotedHowever, some sources recommend as much as 2 grams or more per kilogram of body weight. In my opinion, however, this is still a controversial topic with no easy solution. Every person is completely different, so everyone should try to see how many grams of protein is good for their body, how much is too much or not enough. For a start, try to stick to the value of 2 grams per kilogram of body weight. Observe how your body reacts to this and increase or decrease your protein intake according to how you feel.

Then, if you want to find out how much protein you're actually taking in per day, simply try downloading a calorie chart app that can help you do this easily. However, I find it utterly nonsensical to stick to any particular generally recommended value. At best, it's going to make you feel stressed, and at worseworse case, you might even end up with some digestive problems.

But if, for example, you can't manage to eat a full meal or are just hungry or craving for protein, whey protein can be an ideal choice for a quick and easily digestible snack. Apart from supplementing your daily protein intake, its main advantage is that it contains complete spectrum of amino acids, which can be very advantageous especially for vegetarians who are unable to get the full spectrum of amino acids from their diet. Another advantage is also its low caloric value, which makes it perfect for a reduction diet. Moreover, a reduction diet is precisely the time when the intake of more protein is more than suitable.

Of course, you can also use protein to flavour all sorts of foods.oat or rice porridge, cottage cheese or Greek yoghurt or cornmeal or pancakes. Besides the fact that protein can make such food more palatable, it will also make yourc contain much more protein, which I definitely consider a big plus.

5. Before bedtime

Personally, I'm not a big believer in eating protein before bed, preferring to focus on optimal protein intake during the day. However, I don't deny that such protein before sleep can provide us with certain benefits that can definitely be worth investing in.

First and foremost, its slow absorption makes bedtime protein a good option to useto use protein in the form of micellar casein, which can be gradually absorbed by our body for up to 8 hours. Some studies have shown that such micellar casein before bedtime can positively influence not only weight loss but also muscle growth. Thanks to its gradual release and absorption, our muscles are asleep all the time.During the entire sleep period, our muscles are supplied with sufficient amounts of amino acids, which prevents catabolism.

Moreover, micellar casein should not have any negative effect on the quality of our sleep; on the contrary, we can find love in caseinthat have a calming effect on our body and can even balance blood pressure in people suffering from hypertension. Another advantage is its content of glycomacropeptides, which are substances that induce a feeling of satiety. In addition, casein can be a great source of calcium.

However, despite the above, I do not recommend casein in general and if I had to choose, I would choose it as a component ofpart of a multi-ingredient protein, where it has its justification thanks to its gradual absorption. However, if you are hungry in the evening, have a craving or just want to keep your body sufficiently fueled for the night, micellar casein can be a great choice.

How to dose protein correctly?

So now we know what benefits they can give us at different times of the day. So it's time to finally look at how to dose such protein at all.

In view of the above, you may have already figured out that the dosage itselfof protein will ultimately depend on your total daily protein intake.Thus, the dosage calculation can often vary and it is basically up to you how big a portion of protein you take. In general, however, I would stick to one to two scoops, which equates to roughly 25 to 80 grams of protein per day, depending on need, of course. For example, if you're having a chaotic day and you're barely catching up on your meals, I definitely wouldn't worry about those two or more scoops. However, before and after your workout or before bedtime, just one scoop should be plenty.

However, you should also keep in mind that protein powder is just a dietary supplement. It should definitely not be used as a substitute for a full-fledged diet on too large a scale.

Does the dosage of protein in the diet and in volume differ?

Although I'm not too fond of the diet/volume divide, many people are certainly still wonderingalso wondering if protein dosage will be any different in these cases.

Basically, I'd have to say that the actual protein dosage itself won't change in any drastic way. However, as I mentioned above, in a diet it is advisable to consume a higher amount of protein that weighscan help protect as much of the hard-built muscle as possible when losing weight. This is why protein is a great way to keep your daily intake relatively high in the diet protein intake in the diet, while keeping the caloric intake low enough. From this perspective, it is therefore possible to conclude that you may be forced to drink slightly more protein in your diet than you would during bulking.

However, what I have to recommend here is that you forget about any volume and crash phases as soon as possible. Unless you are preparing for a competition, you are unnecessarily torturing yourself with these phases. So I would rather recommend you to focus on gradually building up quality muscle mass, thanks to whichyou will avoid the often unpleasant overeating in volume or, on the contrary, the often unbearable starvation diet. In the long run, it's so much more beneficial, practical, and most importantly more pleasant way to get closer to building your dream figure.

Can "too much" protein hurt?

According to some theories, high protein intake can cause bone damage in the form of osteoporosis. However, these theories have been completely debunked in the past, and even certain studies have subsequently foundthat a high protein intake can improve bone density and reduce the risk of fractures. So, in the end, a high protein intake is very important to support our bone health. As well as promoting muscle growth or recovery, this is another of the many health benefits that a high protein intake can bring.

However, high protein intake is often criticised by some experts and laymen alike in relation to possible damage to our kidneys. While it is true that high protein intake can cause problems for people with kidney disease, the same is not true for people with healthy kidneys. In fact, there is no evidence to date that high protein intake has any detrimental effect on the function of healthy kidneys.

Consuming too much protein on its own can cause digestive problems such as gas, nausea or diarrhoea over time. As far as the harmful effects of drinking protein are concerned, however, that's pretty much it. The only other potential problem is for people who are lactose intolerant. For these people, I would thus strongly recommend avoiding whey concentrate and rather reach for isolated or hydrolysate, or some quality alternative in the form of pea or rice protein.

If we talk about whey protein, it is made from whey, which contains a lot of fat, carbohydrates or lactose in its original form. However, thanks to the microfiltration process, the resulting product is a pure, fully usable and easily digestible protein. Thus, in the vast majority of cases, quality protein cannot harm you.

What kind of protein to choose?

Apart from the actual dosage of protein, a large percentage of people are not sure how to distinguish between the different types of protein. So it seems appropriate to conclude with a brief discussion of how they differ from each other.

Whey protein concentrate is basically the most basic processing of whey, as it is created after the first filtration. Even so, it is obviously a high-quality protein. However, as it may still contain lactose residues, I would not recommend it entirely to people who are lactose intolerant.

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Whey protein isolate is most commonly made using the CFM method, which is the mostThe best and most gentle method of processing whey protein. Because it contains only minimal amounts of fat, carbohydrates and lactose, the isolate is essentially even more pure.The isolate is a much cleaner and therefore more quickly digestible protein than the concentrate mentioned above.

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Whey protein hydrolysate is then the best option ever with zero fat, carbohydrate or lactose content. Thanks to hydrolysis, the protein itself is broken down into di- and tri-peptides, making it the easiest and fastest for our bodies to digest.

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Multi-component proteins are proteins that are made up of multiple protein sources, which can be just the proteinThe aforementioned whey concentrate or isolate, as well as micellar casein or egg albumin. The advantage of these proteins lies in the fact that, thanks to this multi-component composition, they contain fast, medium and slow absorbing proteins.

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When it comes to casein itself, it is often referred to as the so-called "night protein", as it can be absorbed by our bodies for up to 8 hours. The recommended type is micellar casein . On the other hand, you should avoid types such as calcium or sodium caseinate.

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Apart from whey proteins, there are also soy, beef, egg, pea or even rice proteins. Compared to whey proteins, however, plant-based ones have one big disadvantage and that is that they do not contain enough amino acids. So if you are not vegan or lactose intolerant, you should definitely prefer one of the above forms of whey protein. However, if you still want to try a plant-based protein, I would recommend, for example, a combination of pea and rice protein. This is the one that should provide you with a sufficient amount of amino acids.

Conclusion

So now you should have an idea of what types of proteins actually exist and what their benefits are. In addition, you should also already know what benefits drinking protein can offer you and how its consumption differs depending on the time of day.

In conclusion, however, I would like to remind you once again that protein itself is still a mere supplementdiet, which should certainly not be used as a substitute for a full meal to any great extent. To increase your daily protein intake, kick-start your proteosynthesis after a workout, as a quick snack during the day, or to fuel youHowever, it is of course a great choice and can definitely help you build muscle mass or, on the contrary, lose excess fat.

But always make sure you eat a high-quality, varied and balanced diet. If you are then deciding which protein to buy, don't hesitate to check out our ranking of tested proteins. Based on our findings, I believe you can easily choose the best and highest quality one.

And that's really all for now, I hope you enjoyed this article and that it shed some light on when to drink such protein and how to dose it. If you have any questions then definitely don't be afraid to ask in the comments.