One of the greatest, and most unfortunate, aspects of the internet is the availability of information, and misinformation.
It is pretty amazing how you can learn just about anything by typing a few key words and then a few clicks on any search engine. The unfortunate part comes into play when there is too much information. More often than not, this flood of information yields conflicting results that typically end in “paralysis by analysis.” You don’t know what to believe or who to trust.
This is very true when it comes to dietary programming. Plenty of internet gurus tell you to follow their “cookie-cutter” meal plan while others just tell you to “eat what the pros eat.” Neither extreme takes into account your own individual dietary needs, likes, or the basic human desire for dietary variety. I’m here to tell you that legitimate dietary programming based in hard nutrition science really isn’t that difficult. It just takes a little bit of effort to plan ahead and to track a few things. So let’s break down how an athlete should program protein on a day-to-day basis.
If you’ve read my articles about the power athlete’s protein requirements or the article about Leucine and Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS), then you probably already have some idea of what you should be shooting for as far as how much protein you need daily. This is the type of information that is EVERYWHERE online. The information that is much harder to find is what to do with that number once you’ve figured it out.
“Legitimate dietary programming based in hard nutrition science really isn’t that difficult”
Let’s say you are using the basic “1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day” calculation and you weigh 200 lbs. That’s 200 grams of protein per day. If your goal is to maximize athletic performance, I assume you are eating throughout the day. So how do you break down 200 grams of protein every day to maximize recovery, promote muscle protein synthesis, limit muscle damage, and promote training-induced adaptations?
Well, we know that there is a Leucine refractory period that limits stimulating muscle protein synthesis to every 4-6 hours, but we also know that the more protein you ingest, the less net muscle protein breakdown the body incurs. So the best way to program 200 grams of protein per day would be to separate it into chunks that at a minimum stimulate MPS, which means that depending on the protein source, we need at least 30 grams every 4-6 hours that you are awake.
If you sleep for 8 hours, that gives us 16 hours to work with. If you eat every 4-6 hours, that would translate to eating 4-5 times to maximally stimulate MPS. From there, you can evenly split that 200 grams up into 4-5 chunks of 40-50 grams of protein. It might look something like this:
7 am: Breakfast (40 grams)
11 am: Lunch (40 grams)
3 pm: Afternoon/pre-training snack (40 grams)
7 pm: Dinner or post-training meal (40 grams)
11 pm: Pre-bed time snack (40 grams)
OR
7 am: Breakfast (50 grams)
12 pm: Lunch (50 grams)
5 pm: Dinner (50 grams)
10-11 pm: Pre-bed time snack (50 grams)
For many of you, this may seem pretty basic. Good, dietary programming should be easy for every athlete to understand. Simplicity and consistency are most often the keys to athletic progress and success.
The hardest part is planning ahead to ensure that you will get the right amount of protein at each protein feeding and then tracking either right before or right after you eat so you know you hit your total goal at the end of the day. I’ve found that one of the easiest ways to do this is to get a decent food scale and an app that will count your calories and track your macronutrients. If you really want to get fancy with the food scale, check out the Prep Pad by Orange Chef. It not only weighs your food, but gives you the macronutrient and calorie breakdown on your phone or ipad. If you use a regular food scale, you may have to run an online search for the calorie and macronutrient breakdown.
That’s really all there is to it. The only way you’ll know if you are doing as much as you possibly can to maximize your athletic performance is to plan your training ahead and track/chart your progress. The same principle is true of your diet. So figure out how much protein you need daily, plan your meals and split it evenly into chunks that will stimulate MPS (minimum of 30 grams) separated by at least 4 hours, track your daily protein intake, and train smart. Your body will take care of the rest.
About Kevin Kuhn:
Kevin Kuhn, M.S.Ed., CSCS, MFS is a Kinesiologist and Sport Nutrition Coach in Dallas, Texas. Before moving to Dallas in 2012, Kevin was the head strength & conditioning coach for the Indiana Invaders professional running club in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kevin specializes in athletic performance with great interest and experience in running-specific strength & conditioning, corrective exercise, and exercise and sport nutrition. Kevin has been certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and as a Master Fitness Specialist by the Cooper Institute.
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