"How Much Protein Should My High School Athlete Be Eating?"

You’ve got a smaller-framed high school athlete that needs to put on muscle, and you’ve finally made the decision to get serious about their weight gain goal.

Congratulations! Now you just have to wade through all the hype surrounding diet.

And, if you are at all like most parents, you probably have a lot of questions about protein in particular.

• “Does my athlete really need to be eating a lot of protein to put on muscle?” 

• ”If so, how much? Is there a magical number?”

• “And does this mean I should have them drinking protein shakes after their workouts?”

We hear you and we’ve got answers for you. Let’s get into it.

How much protein should your athlete be eating per day?

We’ve found that aiming to consume around 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass (LBM) per day seems to be one of the most commonly accepted practices for athletes that want to achieve that lean, athletic physique. And, to be honest with you, most people aren’t really taking that LBM stipulation to account at all.

In other words, in most cases it’s going to be a decent idea to simply use their bodyweight instead of that LBM figure for the sake of keeping things as simple as possible.

It’s also worth nothing that while some experts recommend a bit more protein per day (1.2g or more per pound of LBM) and other researchers and gurus allow for a bit less (as low as 0.7g per pound of LBM), this “1g per Pound Rule” still seems to be the most popular pick. 

But, why?

I think it’s because that 1:1 ratio of grams of protein to bodyweight is just a really easy way to calculate your daily protein intake. And, let’s be honest: “Easy” works really well for most people because “easy” is usually adherence-friendly and sustainable long-term.

Think about it this way. People like basic math, and basic math is easy.

If your athlete weighs 125 pounds, they’d eat around 125g of protein per day.
If your athlete weighs 150 pounds, they’d eat around 150g of protein per day.
If your athlete weighs 175 pounds, they’d eat around 175g of protein per day. Simple, right?

I think you get the point.

What does it look like to eat that much protein?

Depending on the size of your athlete and their protein target, it essentially comes down to eating 20-40g of high-quality protein every 3-5 hours.

Just because I know people like specifics, take a look at how I would personally split up my protein meals throughout the day if I were a 180-pound high school athlete with a traditional high school schedule.

SAMPLE DAILY Protein SCHEDULE as a Student-Athlete

6:30AM - Breakfast: 2 whole eggs and 140g of egg whites with oatmeal and toast for 38g of protein

9:30AM - Morning Snack: 43g of whey isolate and an apple for 35g of protein

12:30PM - Lunch: 6 ounces of lean protein, rice or potatoes, and a vegetable for around 36g of protein

3:30PM - Pre-Practice Meal: 43g of whey isolate and a bagel for 44g of protein

7:00PM - Dinner (Post-Practice Meal): 6 ounces of lean protein, a high-carb source, and a vegetable for around 36g of protein

This entire day of eating would yield about 190g of protein from mostly high-quality sources, which would be an amazing start to most 180-pound high school athletes’ pursuit of optimal muscle gain.

But as a quick note, you and your athlete can’t only think about protein and get the results you want. Protein, after all, is just one piece of the bigger puzzle. For a hearty write-up on all the things you’d need to consider, we’ll have a full description of that coming out soon.

Also, if your athlete is smaller than 180 pounds, be sure to tweak those protein quantities to fit their adjusted goal. On average, female athletes will probably need a bit less protein simply due to the fact that they will likely weight less than their male peers. If you’d like help making those decisions for your athlete, don’t hesitate to email us and ask about coaching.

Lastly, keep in mind that this is just how I would structure my own eating. If your athlete has food allergies or preferences against any of the foods mentioned, know that there are plenty of other meal options we could discuss with you.

Although we are not registered dietitians, we can certainly help provide resources to guide you in the dietary choices you make (including those who are vegetarian or vegan).

Does everybody need to be eating that much protein?

Of course not. I want to be clear that these recommendations aren’t for everyday Joe’s and Jane’s – they’re for high school athletes who really want to start taking their muscle gains seriously.

In other words, I’m not suggesting your sweet Grandpa Bob should be shotgunning 60g of whey protein after his mid-morning gardening session to support optimal hamstring and glute development. That would be, well, quite unnecessary (and also hilarious) because Grandpa isn’t trying to get a scholarship as the future star running back of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Protein recommendations for people less interested in getting jacked and lean are, of course, much lower because they aren’t loading up their bodies with heavy loads with the focused intent of developing the size and density of their muscles.

Since proteins are widely considered the buildings blocks of muscle repair and growth, it makes sense to be eating more protein if you want to be more muscular.

Simply put, if you have an athlete that wants to get jacked and lean to support their sport performance, they are going to need more protein relative to the person that doesn’t.

So, let’s just make sure we’re clear about that.

What does it mean to be “taking things seriously” as a high school athlete?"

I’ve come up with the following checklist to help you make sense of that question for yourself.

Your son or daughter is probably ready to take their physique development “seriously enough” if they are:

1. Willing to train intelligently with resistance for hypertrophy 3-6 (or even more) times per week as a supplement to their sport specific weightlifting at school.

2. Willing to eat purposefully in a caloric deficit, a caloric surplus, or at maintenance for the desire body recomposition outcome.

3. Willing to prioritize their protein intake across 3-6 meals per day if/when possible.

4. Willing to get the majority of their calories and protein from nutrient-dense foods while saving “junk foods” for treats and special occasions.

5. Willing to optimize their rest and recovery as much as possible.

Is that your son or daughter? If so, you might give hiring a personal coach some serious consideration.

Playing sports in college can be a lot of fun, and - in my opinion - there’s no need to let your athlete’s lack of attention to diet and nutrition in high school be the difference between continuing the love of the game and letting it go forever once they graduate.

If they have a real chance at playing in college, why not optimize the odds?

So, what’s the takeaway here?

1. We think it makes the most sense to keep your young athlete’s calculations of protein intake as simple as eating 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day if you’re hoping to look as lean and mean as possible this summer assuming you aren’t considerably overweight or even obese.

2. Remember that there is no “one size fits all” amount of protein your athlete should be consuming, but there are evidence-based ranges that are likely to optimize your progress toward your physique goal. These ranges are calculated on an individual basis based on your current level of leanness. For more detail on that, check out this article of ours.

3. And, just as a bonus takeaway, no, your athlete doesn’t necessarily need to be drinking protein shakes, but it sure does make hitting their protein targets much easier on a consistent basis. I would personally recommend utilizing shakes once or twice a day if you have a serious goal to build muscle - prioritizing them pre-workout and post-workout when possible.

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If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to another parent of a promising high school athlete. And, of course, we encourage you to take the time to flip through some of our other recent posts for additional content as well.

You can also find a different set of semi-daily content being posted to our Instagram at @ivry.fitness.

Lastly, we do have coaching spots available if you’re interested in hiring a coach to guide your high school athlete toward their muscle building goal. If that’s you, reach out. We know it’s a lot to wade through as a parent, and we’d be happy to walk you and your entire family through the process.

Until next time,

-Andrew

3 Nerdy Ways to Calculate Your Protein Intake

As a general rule of thumb, the easiest and most common way to go about calculating your protein needs is simply to play by the "1g per Pound of Bodyweight Rule” - assuming you’re within striking distance of being somewhat lean.

But, also I know that there are plenty of analytically-minded people out there that might enjoy a slightly more mathematic approach, so I’ve thrown together three additional ways you could go about calculating your protein needs on a more granular level - the one common theme here being that these methods give greater consideration to this idea of your lean body mass (LBM) rather than your overall bodyweight.

What is lean body mass?

Although most people think of their LBM as just “how shredded you are underneath it all,” your lean body mass is actually the sum composition of all of your non-fat bodily structures including your muscles, bones, organs, tissues, and even water.

How do you measure lean body mass?

Well, if you want the most accurate number possible, you’d probably have to get what’s called a DEXA scan, which stands for dual energy x-ray absorptiometry.

But, don’t drown yourself in the alphabet soup.

All you need to know is that it’s a fancy machine that some high-level athletes and fitness influencers utilize from time to time to measure their body fat percentage and lean body mass.

But, this isn’t typically what “regular” people do (although you totally could).

Practically speaking, the best way to figure out your lean body mass is to crunch a few numbers based on your estimated body fat percentage, but we’ll explore that idea in more detail a bit later.

Now that we’ve defined a few terms, let’s get into the methodology of how you might calculate your protein based on your estimations of LBM.

The “Goal Weight Method”

The first method you could use to calculate your protein intake based on your LBM is to think about your LBM loosely as your goal weight if your goal is to lose body fat.

In other words, how much would you weigh if you were beach lean with visible abs?

To use myself as an example, I’m currently 185 pounds, but I know that getting beach lean would require me to be weighing in around 175 pounds.

That means my goal weight in this case would be 175 pounds, which takes the place of this LBM number in that it represents a very lean (but obviously not completely fat-free version of myself).

It’s “close enough” for our purposes - if you will.

In my case, it also helps to know that my driver’s license when I was a skinny 16 year-old soccer player listed me at a weight of 172 pounds, so I know that 175 is probably a decent number to aim for as a fat loss goal.

So, by this “calculation,” striving for a maximum of 175g of protein per day would be a pretty good idea based on what the whole of evidence-based research seems to indicate at the moment, which is that eating between 0.7-1.0g of protein per pound of LBM per day is a great way to optimize a lean physique.

One Important Stipulation

Note, however, that this method doesn’t apply if you are a leaner individual who is trying to gain weight. Why?

Because in this instance, your goal weight and your lean body mass would no longer be similar numbers.

In fact, they drift farther and farther apart as you gain both lean tissue and body fat in a gaining phase.

So, if you are already lean and your aim is to bulk up, it makes more sense to use your current bodyweight in pounds as your target protein intake (in grams per day).

And although some hypertrophy experts might encourage leaner individuals who are trying to mass to bump their protein intake to 1.2g of protein per pound of LBM, I personally think this is unnecessary.

The “True Lean Mass Method”

The second method actually requires you to do a bit of math using your estimated body fat percentage to identify your true lean body mass.

This method, however, can easily be overwhelming, so use it with caution.

Truthfully, I only recommend using it if you are the type of person that actually enjoys crunching numbers (which I personally do).

If that’s not you, you might consider skipping it altogether and sticking with The Goal Weight Method for the sake of simplicity. 

Here’s how this one works: Being 185 pounds right now, my best estimate of my current body fat percentage is probably around 15%.

This is based on pictures and opinions of trusted friends, but I openly admit this is a bit of a fool’s errand.

Let me explain.

WHY EYEBALLING YOUR BODY FAT PERCENTAGE IS DIFFICULT

Body fat percentages are extremely difficult to eyeball because everyone holds their body fat in different ways.

Some people can appear leaner than they are while others can appear heavier than they are simply based on where how your fat is distributed across your body.

For example, some guys can sport a raging six-pack all the way up to 15% body fat while some guys have blurry tummies around 12%.

Similarly, some women can appear leaner or “look hotter” because they store their fat in the breasts and their bums instead of on their stomachs.

For a little visual help, I think the graphic you see here from Legion Athletics is the best graphic on the internet for this sort of thing.

Nonetheless, this method does a good-enough job of providing a ballpark estimate that you can adjust in practice as you see fit.

In practice, if my estimated body fat percentage is 18% right now, that means 82% of my body composition should (in theory) be lean body mass. Then we just do a little math to figure out what my lean body mass since we now have a decent guess of what my fat mass is.

185 pounds x 0.85 (as a percentage of estimated lean body mass) =

157.25 pounds of lean body mass

Right away, you can see that this number is quite a bit different from the number we got from The Goal Weight Method, and this is for good reason.

The first one is a real-life anticipation of what I might weigh if I lost all the body fat I want to lose, while the True Lean Mass Method is a prediction of what I’d weigh if I had no body fat at all (which is impossible).

So, by the True Lean Mass Method, I would be eating around 158g of protein at 185 pounds and an estimated body fat percentage of 15%.

Getting Cheeky with Your Manipulation of the True Lean Mass Formula

Interestingly enough, you could easily adjust that formula to reflect what you might weigh at any given “aesthetically pleasing” body fat percentage you might desire.

For example, in the physique space, people tend to consider that 6-8% body fat range (for men) to be the “golden zone” of looking pretty darn lean.

And for women, you can generally bump those numbers by 7-10 percentage points as a general rule.

Given that we’ve already got an equation in place that allows for the manipulation of body fat percentage, it’s easy to make a calculation that lands us specifically in that golden zone for looking like a movie star on the beach.

I call this the 8% Method.

The “8% Method”

If I wanted to set my sights specifically on being 8% body fat by the end of my fat loss phase, I would do the following:

185 pounds x (0.85 + 0.08) = 172 pounds of lean body mass

If you’re wondering how that equation works, let me break it down for you quickly.

The 0.85 figure represents my predicted LBM based on my estimation of being around 15% body fat.

100% - 15% = 85%, which is the LBM figure here.

Eighty-five percent reflected in decimal form is 0.85.

Now, to add back that 8%, we simply adjust the decimal from 0.85 up to 0.93 by adding the 0.08, which leaves us with the configuration you see above.

And that’s that! You get an estimation of being 172 pounds at 8% body fat.

You could, of course, do this calculation based on any desired body fat percentage. Here, 8% just functions as a common example of what would leave most men looking pretty diced.

And, if you wanted to bring all of this information back around to protein intake, our calculations from the 8% Method would have me eating around 172g of protein per day at 185 pounds.

Let’s wrap it up.

We’ve now got three numbers here to compare.

1. The “Goal Weight Method” – 175 pounds of lean body mass

2. The “True Lean Mass Method” – 157 pounds of lean body mass

3. The “8% Method” – 172 pounds of lean body mass

Which one do we pick then?

For the sake of keeping things simple, I would just aim to consume between 157-175g of protein per day since it reflects the range of all three of these calculations.

In fact, this is exactly what I do.

One Last Disclaimer

Remember, however, that all of this protein talk still assumes a proper training program for hypertrophy – we’re just not discussing the training piece of the physique puzzle at this time because our focus is on daily protein intake.

Apart from brilliant genetics, you can’t only eat protein and “get jacked” without working out to initiate the growth. If you can, congratulations! You are a genetic anomaly.

Curious about the training portion of how all this works?

Skip on over to this article about seven simple rules of thumb when it comes to training for maximal muscle growth.

“HOW DO I EAT THIS MUCH PROTEIN?”

Ah, yes! The next logical question as we think about the big picture of building muscle…

Fortunately, I’ve got you covered with a list of 9 Sneaky Ways to Get More Protein Into Your Diet.

So check that out and get to eating!

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew

"How Much Protein Should I Be Eating to Maximize My Summer Body?"

Summer is almost here, and you’ve finally made the decision to get serious about your physique goal. Congratulations!

Or maybe it’s some other random time of the year and you’re looking to get peeled like a banana for some other warm-weathered trip.

Either way, that’s awesome and I’m excited for you and your new goal.

Now you just have to wade through all the hype surrounding protein.

And, if you are at all like I was when I first started, you probably have a lot of questions.

“Do I really need to be eating a lot of protein to look lean and toned?” 

”If so, how much? Is there a magical number?”

Trust me, I hear you and I’ve been there, so let’s get into it.

How much protein should you be eating per day?

I’ve found that aiming to consume between 0.7-1.0g of protein per pound of lean body mass (LBM) per day seems to be one of the most commonly accepted recommendations for people who want to achieve that lean, summer-ready physique.

If you’re in a time crunch, feel free to let that last sentence be your practical takeaway from this article and get back to your regularly-scheduled life.

LEAN BODY MASS VERSUS TOTAL BODYWEIGHT

But for those who want more nuance, know that most people aren’t really taking that LBM stipulation to account at all.

In other words, most people simply use their bodyweight instead of that LBM figure for the sake of keeping things as simple as possible (and this is totally understandable).

Why?

Because estimating your LBM isn’t always easy unless you have access to a DEXA or an InBody scan.

So, while some experts recommend a bit more protein per day (1.2g or more per pound of LBM) and other gurus push for a bit less (as low as 0.7g per pound of LBM), this “1g per Pound of Bodyweight Rule” still seems to be the most popular pick. 

Did you catch that detail? What I’m saying is that although using your lean body mass in your calculation is probably a bit more accurate, most people will use their total bodyweight instead.

But, why?

Well, I think the most obvious reason is because that 1:1 ratio of grams of protein to bodyweight is just a really easy way to calculate your daily protein intake.

And, let’s be honest with ourselves.

“Easy” works really well for most people because “easy” is usually adherence-friendly and sustainable for the long-term, which is extremely important.

Think about it this way. People like basic math because basic math is easy.

If you weigh 125 pounds, you’d eat a maximum of 125g of protein per day. Easy.
If you weigh 150 pounds, you’d eat a maximum of 150g of protein per day. Simple, right?
If you weigh 175 pounds, you’d eat a maximum of 175g of protein per day.

You get the point.

So, although I do think it’s slightly better to calculate your daily protein intake using your lean body mass, I think it’s also fine to use your total bodyweight in most (but not all) cases.

For a deeper dive on this, I’d encourage you to reference this article I wrote on a very other ways to calculate your protein needs.

Does everybody need to be eating that much protein?

Of course not. I want to be clear that these recommendations aren’t for everyday Joe’s and Jane’s – they’re for people who really want to start taking their body recomposition effort seriously.

In other words, I’m not suggesting your sweet Grandma Margaret should be shotgunning 60g of whey protein after her mid-morning gardening session to support optimal hamstring and glute development.

That would be, well, quite unnecessary (and also hilarious) since Grandma probably isn’t trying to look jacked and lean at the pool by mid-June.

Protein recommendations for people less interested in getting jacked and lean are, of course, much lower because they aren’t loading up their bodies with heavy loads with the focused intent of developing the size and density of their muscles.

Since proteins are widely considered the buildings blocks of muscle repair and growth, it makes sense to be eating more protein if you want to be more muscular.

Simply put, if you want to get jacked and lean, you need more protein relative to the person that doesn’t.

So, let’s just make sure we’re clear about that. If you’ve decided you want to be more jacked and lean, you’re in a different category of recommended protein intake now.

But, what does it mean to be “taking your body recomposition effort seriously?”

I’ve come up with the following checklist to help you make sense of that question for yourself.

You’re probably taking your body recomposition effort “seriously enough” if you are:

1. Training intelligently with resistance for hypertrophy or something like CrossFit 3-6 (or even more) times per week.

2. Eating purposefully in a caloric deficit, a caloric surplus, or at maintenance based on the specific goal at hand.

3. Prioritizing your protein intake across a minimum of 3 meals per day in most cases.

4. Trying to get the majority of your calories and protein from nutrient-dense foods while saving “junk foods” for treats and special occasions.

5. Optimizing your rest and recovery as much as possible.

6. Minimizing or eliminating alcohol consumption.

But back to protein and how much you should be consuming per day.

As wonderfully as the “1g per Pound Rule” works in most cases, there is one semi-exception worth mentioning.

An Exception for Very Overweight or Obese Folks

As we just discussed, that “1g per Round Rule” is based on your lean body mass (LBM), which isn’t the same as your total body mass (bodyweight).

So the implied exception is this:

The more overweight you are, the more important it is to calculate your daily protein intake based off of your lean body mass rather than your total bodyweight.

For example, if you’re a 180-pound female but you’d probably be a lean, healthy version of yourself at 130 pounds, I would argue that eating 180g of protein a day just isn’t necessary unless you really love eating protein.

But even then I would make the argument that those calories would be better spent on nutrient-dense carbohydrates or fats to aid in both day-to-day energy availability for quality training and optimized recovery.

And just to be clear, in this example, the 130 pounds represent a number that would be a much closer estimation to your lean body mass based on the Goal Weight Method, and thus a better figure to be using in your calculation.

The bottom line is this:

You don’t get bonus gains for eating more protein once you’ve met the evidence-based requirement, so make sure you aren’t consuming unnecessary amounts of protein as person who might be considered overweight or obese.

In fact, it can even be a detriment to your overall dietary pattern if your protein consumption starts to crowd out other important foods that provide macronutrient and micronutrient diversity.

So, what’s the takeaway here?

1. I think it makes the most sense to keep your protein intake as simple as eating between 0.7-1.0g of protein per pound of lean body mass (LBM) per day if you’re hoping to optimize your body recomposition effort. I like this approach because it accounts for people of varied amounts of body fat due to the use of the lean mass figure. I regularly consume toward the 0.7 multiplier of LBM and continue to see great progression in strength, performance, and muscle mass.

2. Remember that there is no magical amount of protein you should be consuming, but there are evidence-based ranges that are likely to optimize your progress toward your physique goal.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew