How much protein do women need every day for fitness?

If you are a healthy woman with no underlying diseases and participates in strength/aerobic training normally, 1.6-2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight during the daily muscle-building and fat-loss period is enough. If you are a preparatory athlete or powerlifting enthusiast who trains all year round and trains for more than 10 hours a week, it is no problem to increase the protein intake to 2.4-3g. There is no need to blindly chase the ultra-high intake of more than 3g.

Speaking of which, I also encountered this pitfall when I first started working out two years ago. I heard on the Internet that "you need to eat enough protein to lose fat", so I forced myself to give myself 3g per kilogram. With a weight of 57kg, I had to eat more than 170g of protein every day. I ate chicken breasts until I vomited, and also drank two tablespoons of protein. In the end, I didn’t lose much body fat, and my physical examination also revealed that uric acid was temporarily high. After asking a nutritionist, I found out that I only practiced 4 times a week for 1.5 hours each time. I couldn’t consume that much protein at all. The excess was excreted as a metabolic burden. It was a waste of money and harmful to the body.

There are actually two different calculation logics for protein intake. One is based on total body weight, which is suitable for ordinary fitness women with a body fat rate of less than 25%. It is also easy to calculate. For example, if you are 50 kilograms, it is enough to eat 80-110g of protein, which is roughly 2 eggs + a 250ml box of pure milk + a palm-sized piece of lean beef/chicken breast + half a piece of tofu. You can get it by paying a little attention to your daily meals, and you don’t need to calculate the milligrams every time. The other method is to calculate based on lean body mass, which is more suitable for women who have a high body fat rate and are just starting to lose fat. For example, if you have 32% body fat and weigh 60 kilograms, your lean body mass is actually just over 40 kilograms, which is about 80g when calculated as 2g. If calculated based on total body weight, it will be 120g. Eating too much will put a burden on the kidneys. This algorithm is now increasingly recognized in the industry, and you can choose according to your own situation.

Many sisters are afraid that if they eat too much protein, they will gain muscle and become "strong". They are really overly worried. Women's testosterone levels are only 1/20 of men's. If you want to build obvious muscle mass, you have to endure heavy weight training for several years. How can you grow it by eating just a few kilograms of protein? Enough protein is like a "reinforcing glue" for your skin and muscles. When you lose fat, your face will not collapse and your muscles will not collapse. When your metabolism is stable, it will not rebound easily. Several sisters around me ate enough protein during their fat loss period. After losing weight, their waistlines appeared and their faces did not collapse. It is much better than the state of starvation and thinning.

Of course, if you are exercising during pregnancy or lactation, or have problems related to kidney function, don’t make blind calculations on your own. Adjust your diet according to your doctor’s advice first. Safety always comes first.