Hello! I was wondering if you could help me determine how much protein I should be eating everyday. I’ve heard so many things. I am 24yo female, I strength train 4 days a week and do yoga 1x a week to break that up. I may be switching that up a bit, but wanted to get a good idea on how to calculate it (if that’s how it works). Thank you.
– Erol B.
The headlines (and advice) are confusing! Between “most healthy adults already get enough protein” and “US adults do not consume enough protein” there is a grey area of observation, based on how the research is interpreted. On the one hand, people that meet energy needs probably meet protein needs, while those that are dieting, recovering from illness or are aging may need more.
For a fit, healthy young adult who is consuming adequate calories to maintain weight, use the protein RDA of 0.8 gm/kg body weight as the guide. Using a range for percentage of calories from protein is less precise. From pounds, divide weight by 2.2 to get kilograms then multiply by 0.8 to get your target amount of daily protein. If you are looking to add lean mass then increasing protein to 1.2 gm/kg is suitable.
To determine if you’re meeting your goal, use a reliable source to count up your protein intake. Check that a diet app or website you’re using relies on the USDA Food Composition Database.
Resources:
– Debbie J., MS, RD
This article should not replace any exercise program or restrictions, any dietary supplements or restrictions, or any other medical recommendations from your primary care physician. Before starting any exercise program or diet, make sure it is approved by your doctor.
Some questions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Have a nutrition question? Our registered dietitian is ready to help!
Email nutrition@lafitness.com or submit your question below and it may be featured in an upcoming article!
With so many sources offering nutrition advice, it’s hard to know what’s true. Even factual information can become distorted by the time it reaches you. Like a game of telephone, the message often changes as it’s passed along. Here, we debunk 5 common diet myths to...
Most comfort foods we turn to are heavily laden with fat, starch and calories. There are healthier ways to enjoy down-home classics by making a few tweaks.
Any good workout plan needs a good nutrition plan. We've compiled the best advice from our RDN, Debbie James, to help you construct your perfect meal plan.
Greetings Nutrition: I am trying to get back in shape. I have a trainer at LA Fitness, and I think that I need to eat better. Could you give me some ideas of how I should be eating? Or a good meal plan that I can follow? I have been given a 1,416 calorie per day limit. Macros are: Carbs 203 grams, Fat 84 grams Protein 65 grams. I am having a hard time finding good breakfast options and making my protein of 65 grams daily. I don’t eat eggs so that cause problems for breakfast. I pretty much eat everything else. Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
– Eric H.
First and foremost, your provided macronutrient targets provide 1,828 total calories (812 calories carbohydrate, 756 calories fat, 260 calories protein), a considerable difference from your caloric limit. If the goal is qualitative, then the approach should be more precise. Not knowing which is more important for you, I’d go with the higher caloric target as you are working out and 1,400 calories may only be appropriate for significant weight loss, older or smaller-framed men.
We don’t provide meal plans, though several sample meals can be found throughout our Living Healthy blog. Since breakfast is the most challenging meal for you, here are some breakfast suggestions that provide roughly 550 calories.* I’ve broken that down as approximately 60 gram carb, 25 gram fat and 20 gram protein.
By working on your own lunch and dinner options, you can get close to the remainder macronutrients for the day. Quality can’t be overlooked, though! Foods with high micronutrient, fiber and unsaturated fat content will make a big difference even if you’re slightly off your gram or calorie goals.
* Calculated by Registered Dietitian Nutritionist using Fitday.com’s food log function. Findings were used along with RDN’s professional judgment.
– Debbie J., MS, RD
This article should not replace any exercise program or restrictions, any dietary supplements or restrictions, or any other medical recommendations from your primary care physician. Before starting any exercise program or diet, make sure it is approved by your doctor.
Some questions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Have a nutrition question? Our registered dietitian is ready to help!
Email nutrition@lafitness.com or submit your question below and it may be featured in an upcoming article!
With so many sources offering nutrition advice, it’s hard to know what’s true. Even factual information can become distorted by the time it reaches you. Like a game of telephone, the message often changes as it’s passed along. Here, we debunk 5 common diet myths to...
Most comfort foods we turn to are heavily laden with fat, starch and calories. There are healthier ways to enjoy down-home classics by making a few tweaks.
Any good workout plan needs a good nutrition plan. We've compiled the best advice from our RDN, Debbie James, to help you construct your perfect meal plan.
Hi, what would be the best supplement to become leaner and cut muscle?
– Lito J.
The leanest, most cut people are generally considered bodybuilders. They most commonly use arginine, beta-alanine, branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), caffeine, citrulline malate, creatine monohydrate, glutamine, and beta-hydroxy-methylbutyrate (HMB). Among these, creatine has been shown to be effective for muscle size and strength when added to a weight training program.1,2 The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) states that “creatine monohydrate is the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes in terms of increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training.”2 Beta-alanine further improves lean mass gains and body fat loss in conjunction with creatine supplementation.1
Arginine and citrulline malate may have ergogenic effects but do not conclusively alter body composition. The BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine and valine) decrease muscle protein breakdown and increase skeletal muscle protein synthesis though these have not translated to increased lean mass. The stimulant caffeine, taken pre-workout, increases strength training performance which allows you to do more muscle-building work.
Read about related topics on our Living Healthy blog – overall supplements and nitric oxide boosters.
Resources:
– Debbie J., MS, RD
This article should not replace any exercise program or restrictions, any dietary supplements or restrictions, or any other medical recommendations from your primary care physician. Before starting any exercise program or diet, make sure it is approved by your doctor.
Some questions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Have a nutrition question? Our registered dietitian is ready to help!
Email nutrition@lafitness.com or submit your question below and it may be featured in an upcoming article!
With so many sources offering nutrition advice, it’s hard to know what’s true. Even factual information can become distorted by the time it reaches you. Like a game of telephone, the message often changes as it’s passed along. Here, we debunk 5 common diet myths to...
Most comfort foods we turn to are heavily laden with fat, starch and calories. There are healthier ways to enjoy down-home classics by making a few tweaks.
Any good workout plan needs a good nutrition plan. We've compiled the best advice from our RDN, Debbie James, to help you construct your perfect meal plan.
I read we need to consume 3,500-4,700 mg of potassium daily. I don’t eat sugar…I had a banana the other day and I almost came out of my skin! I eat spinach and broccoli daily and sweet potatoes regularly. How can I reach these numbers?
– Cliff A.
To reach the US Dietary Guidelines goal for potassium [4,700 mg for adults] from vegetables, dairy, animal protein foods, legumes, nuts and grains with little fruit is doable with the proper planning and tools. Charts such as from Health.gov and the National Institutes of Health show the potassium content in various foods. For our members in Canada, check out HealthLinkBC’s chart with metric measures.
Using the above, we calculated that eating a medium baked potato, ½ Cup cooked beet greens, 2 Cups raw spinach, ½ Cup white or adzuki beans, ½ Cup soybeans, 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt, 1 Cup skim milk, 3 oz cooked salmon, and ½ Cup avocado would meet the potassium goal for the day. If the variety of foods you’re willing to consume is limited, adjust portions accordingly to provide more potassium from what you do eat.
– Debbie J., MS, RD
Disclaimer: Nutrient values were used along with RDN’s professional judgment. Due to variations in products, final calculation is an approximation.
This article should not replace any exercise program or restrictions, any dietary supplements or restrictions, or any other medical recommendations from your primary care physician. Before starting any exercise program or diet, make sure it is approved by your doctor.
Some questions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Have a nutrition question? Our registered dietitian is ready to help!
Email nutrition@lafitness.com or submit your question below and it may be featured in an upcoming article!
With so many sources offering nutrition advice, it’s hard to know what’s true. Even factual information can become distorted by the time it reaches you. Like a game of telephone, the message often changes as it’s passed along. Here, we debunk 5 common diet myths to...
Most comfort foods we turn to are heavily laden with fat, starch and calories. There are healthier ways to enjoy down-home classics by making a few tweaks.
Any good workout plan needs a good nutrition plan. We've compiled the best advice from our RDN, Debbie James, to help you construct your perfect meal plan.
Sipping a cool glass of iced tea feels so refreshing and hydrating! Wouldn’t it be even better if you knew that doing so might also help your waistline? We wanted to find out if that was the case, so we explored which type of iced tea (black, green or white) has a waist-slimming effect.
True tea is brewed from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. The names of the tea colors have to do with leaf maturity and extent of oxidation. Oxidation is the process responsible for the browning of black tea leaves, as well as the development of new flavonoids. When the leaves are simply steamed and crushed manually without additional oxidation they retain a green color. White tea is the variant that undergoes the least processing and the leaves are harvested while the tea plant is still young.
Here’s how the three types fare in comparison to one another for belly fat reduction:
Black tea* is high in polyphenols called flavonoids. A predominant form of flavonoids are polyphenolic catechins. The process of oxidation browns the leaves and causes reduced catechin content – by around 85% compared to green tea – and less bitterness.1
One study on black tea consumption (3 cups/day) showed positive effects on weight and waist circumference at 3 months, but not at 6 months.2 Animal and small human studies suggest that the caffeine in black tea may increase basal metabolism by up to 6 percent.3 It’s proposed that caffeine encourages the body to breakdown stored fat and stimulate its metabolism. With caffeine, more is not better! Safety guidelines recommend you should only consume up to 400mg of caffeine per day (equal to 5-8 cups of black tea). Also, note that black tea is a rich source of oxalates which can cause kidney stones.
* Chinese black tea (called red tea in China since brewing causes a reddish color) is not the same: The leaves are aged for a very long time giving Chinese black tea a different flavor and flavonoid profile. Oolong tea is made from sun-dried tea leaves that are partially oxidized. Pu’er tea is made from leaves that have been oxidized then microbially fermented.
Green tea is characteristically bitter and astringent and has the most catechins compared to black tea. There are eight prominent catechins found in green tea including epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which is believed to be the most pharmacologically active and is the most extensively studied. Green tea catechins (predominantly EGCG) may influence fat distribution by preventing fat cell proliferation, reducing fat absorption, increasing energy expenditure and increasing fat burning.4
It appears that catechins’ ability to impact abdominal fat takes place at a certain threshold. It takes about 500mg catechins (equal to 5 cups of green tea)4,5 to modestly reduce abdominal fat or waist circumference, based on studies using catechin-enhanced beverages.6,7 Again, more is not better… consuming greater than 800mg of EGCG in one sitting would be like slamming a gallon of green tea all at once, and instead of acting as an antioxidant (as it does at lower levels), you’d get pro-oxidant effects!
Aside from sympathetic nervous system action, green tea catechins may also increase satiety. Green tea catechins increase the release of hormones that reduce our appetite and induce a satiating effect, telling our brain that we’ve eaten enough.8
The caffeine naturally present in green tea may increase energy expenditure on its own but it’s evident that caffeine works synergistically with the catechins. A meta-analysis of research4 and other long-term studies9 indicate that decaffeinated green tea extracts do not have an effect on body weight or abdominal fat.
White tea offers a sweeter and lighter taste than black or green teas although it still contains a variety of compounds including EGCG. One study showed that the range of its total catechin content can overlap the variance found in green tea, making the amount comparable.10 The authors concluded that the source, cultivation, and processing of a given tea may have more influence on catechin content than whether it is green or white.10 Another study demonstrated that the caffeine content between green and white tea is not appreciably different.11
Human studies investigating white tea’s effects on abdominal fat are rare. Results of an in vitro study indicated that white tea extract effectively reduced fat deposition and promoted the breakdown of fat.12
The winner… ICED GREEN TEA, if you drink enough – 5 cups! For higher effectiveness, consume green tea while fasted – making it your first food of the day to increase absorption of catechins4 – and spread remaining intake throughout the day rather than all at once.
With so many sources offering nutrition advice, it’s hard to know what’s true. Even factual information can become distorted by the time it reaches you. Like a game of telephone, the message often changes as it’s passed along. Here, we debunk 5 common diet myths to...
Most comfort foods we turn to are heavily laden with fat, starch and calories. There are healthier ways to enjoy down-home classics by making a few tweaks.
Does Intermittent Fasting give you enough time to pack the day's protein? Our registered dietitian helps clear up the confusion!