Hey guys, Dr. Josh Axe here, Doctor of Functional Medicine and Nutritionist.
One of the most common questions I get is how much protein should I consume a day.
Protein is essential for building muscle, for burning fat, for supporting metabolism,
and even the health of certain organs like your thyroid and adrenal glands.
We need protein to heal and to be healthy.
In this video, I'm going to share with you exactly how much protein you need per day.
And that answer is, if you're asking me that question, how much protein should you have
per day is, it really depends on what your health goals are.
I'm going to break things down into three categories.
Number one, how much protein do you need on a regular basis to generally heal and for
your body to regenerate?
Number two, how much protein do you need to burn fat?
And number three, how much protein do you need to build muscle per day?.
In general, if you just want to have general health and longevity, doing about 50% of your
body weight in grams of protein per day is about what you want.
Let's say you weigh 160 pounds.
If you weigh 160 pounds and you're looking to be generally healthy, what I'd recommend
is having about 80 grams of protein a day in your diet.
So if you're eating, let's say, three meals a day, you're going to be getting about 25
grams of protein per meal.
That's going to really get you to where you need to be in terms of the amount of protein
you need in your diet.
The second one is, let's say you're trying to really burn fat fast and you want to get
that body fat off.
In that case, about 0.7 grams to 0.75 grams of protein a day is ideal for overall burning
fat.
Because you're going to replace some of those extra carbohydrates in your diet and get more
protein in during this period of time when you're trying to burn more fat.
In that case, again, if you weigh 160 pounds times 0.75, you're going to do closer to 100
to maybe 120 grams of protein a day if you're trying to really burn fat.
If you're going to eat, let's say four meals a day where you're trying to burn fat, 25
to 30 grams of protein three times a day is the ideal amount that you're going to be getting
if you're looking to really burn fat.
Let's say you're trying to build muscle.
You're trying to build more muscle tone, or you're trying to build muscle in general.
You want to actually take your weight and take that times one.
Eat that many grams of protein a day.
Let's say you weigh 160 pounds and you're wanting to pack on some muscle.
Then, you should be trying to get 160 grams of protein a day.
What that might look like if you're eating five meals a day or let's say, four meals
a day, you're going to be trying to get 40 grams of protein per meal.
That's how much protein you need per day.
Again, it really depends.
Is your goal for general health?
In that case, half your body weight in grams of protein.
If your goal is fat burning, 0.7 to 0.75 grams of protein.
Then, if your goal is to build muscle, you need an equal amount of grams of protein a
day to your body weight if you're going to actually build muscle.
Again, remember these benefits of protein.
I mean, protein is so important for building lean musculature tissue.
It's also very important for organ function.
In fact, a lot of your organs, cells, and tissues require protein for proper regeneration.
So, if you're really trying to heal...
There are actually studies out there that if you have burns or cuts on your body that
you actually need more protein intake.
So if you ever have a severe burn or an injury, your body actually needs more protein during
those times.
Some of the best forms of protein to get are things like grass fed beef, wild caught chicken
and turkey, and free range eggs.
High quality grass fed protein powder, like a good quality whey protein, is also great
to get.
One of my favorites is collagen protein which are actually amino acids.
Doing collagen is another great form of protein, easily absorbable and digestible.
Those are good sources of protein.
Then really, also, you're going to get some protein from high quality nuts and seeds like
chia seeds, flax seeds, and almonds.
Also, in certain types of beans, you're going to get some protein.
Even certain grains like oats have lower to moderate levels of protein as well.
But really be conscious of that this week.
Look at how much protein are you getting on a regular basis, what are your health goals?
And based on your health goals, consume those amounts of protein a day.
I hope you guys have enjoyed this video on how much protein you should consume per day.
This has been Dr. Axe.
By the way, if you want more health tips and want more information like this, we'd love
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I'm putting out quality videos like this every single week to really show you how to live
your best life possible and how to heal naturally.
Thanks, guys.