The title of this article asks a very straightforward question. Are you getting your protein requirements? Do you even know? Contrary to popular opinion, everybody has a different requirement based on gender and height and even how old you are. A growing child of 15 needs more protein than an adult of 65. So again I ask, are you getting your protein requirements? If you’re not sure, you might want to read this article.

Let’s first talk about what happens when you DON’T get enough protein or what is commonly referred to as undernutrition or malnutrition. In this case, when not enough protein is consumed, what happens is the body starts to break down its own fat and uses it for calories. When there is no more fat to break down, the body then breaks down other tissues such as muscle and then, eventually, internal organs…leading to death. While this is an extreme case, nonetheless, a diet lacking in protein, over the long term, can be very harmful.

The rule of thumb (and this will vary from person to person slightly based on gender and height) is that you need about 7 grams of protein for every 20 pounds you weigh. So a man weighing about 160 pounds will need about 56 grams of protein each day to maintain that weight. The question is, how easy or hard is that to do? In order to answer that, we need to look at some common foods and their protein levels.

For example, a breakfast of 2 scrambled eggs made with milk, and 2 slices of bacon have about 16 grams of protein. So that’s more than 25% of your daily requirement right there if you’re a 160 pound male.

For lunch, a roast beef sandwich on plain white bread or even whole wheat will give you about 24 grams of protein for a 3 ounce sandwich. Add thast to the 16 grams for breakfast and you’re up to about 40 grams already. That leaves about 16 grams to go for dinner, which is usually your biggest meal of the day.

So as you can see, getting a sufficient amount of protein is very easy. The hard thing is keeping the amount within acceptable levels. Considering a 4 ounce cheeseburger patty will put you at 30 grams alone, you can see why so many people have a problem with this. For help with YOUR protein intake, check out this site. 

Tags: protein, protein requirements