Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hi everyone,

I have a friend who is into body building and his aim is for 300g of protein a day (yiish). Right now hes looking to gain some weight and some mass as well which is why he says he needs to eat so much protein. I know hes somewhere between 190-200lbs.

He is also getting most of his protein sources from animal sources, dairy and some nuts (he says). I am right now doing some reserach into the absorption of plant based protein vs animal based, but would also love some great tips from people who are in the bodybuilding world.

How can I convince him 300g of protein a day is too much and not even beneficial for his body?

Thank you

Some people swear that without lots of protein, they don't make as much progress in their training, and it's possible that some people truly do benefit in taking in larger amounts per day.

300g is probably more than his body will be able to really make full use of (he'd most likely get the same results with keeping intake at around 1g per lb. of bodyweight he is currently at, around 200g/day), but it is possible that he does get better results in building lean mass with a high protein intake.

But, as there's no formula that dictates how much protein is utilized at most by all people (since protein quality, genetics, type/duration/frequency of training, etc. will all affect this differently from person to person), it would be pretty well impossible to be able to actually 'prove' that his notions of what he thinks he needs for protein intake would be excessive.

Rather, I'd suggest making the point that QUALITY protein sources from plant-based foods can do equally well (pea/hemp/brown rice protein, etc.) in place of animal protein sources, and that when you eat quality food sources, many find that they don't need the same excessive amounts of nutrients they were getting from taking in large quantities of lesser quality, heavily processed foods. In which case, you could certainly "challenge" him to change to trying 200g of protein per day from good vegan sources and tell him you bet that he'll get exceptional results AND feel better for it, too

I totally agree with this and found it to be exactly that case. I always consider the bioavailability of a protein and look for those stats when I buy. I use several different versions but of the same trifecta of proteins. Yellow pea,brown rice and hemp. Cleaner sourses with a close comparable bioavailabilty in the hemp and the other two as well. If it gets into your body quicker because of the less fillers that have to be dealt with, all the better. In my case again,i dont feel as bloated i try and get in around 200 or so. 100 or so from shakes,and the rest from food. Garbanzos ,nuts ,legumes beans . And actually since ive upped my clean carbs and cut back my protein ive bulked even more while maintaining around 11% bf..Im 250+..The roel of protein is important to maintain the fullness of the muscle once you start to cut,but the muscles need the fuel to put out the effort to break down and repair.Basically your friendis wasting his money and putting undue stress on his liver and kidneys. Id suggestmilk thistle to him just to aide his organs. Just my opinion im not a nutritionist or Dr..