Protein is Overrated! Here’s 3 Reasons Why…
Protein is important, not as much as the market wants you to believe.
As I write this, I stand at 90 kgs, fairly muscular, technically obese. with ~31% of muscle, and 24% body fat,
The interesting part is I am a pure vegetarian (Jain, if you know), yet I have between 40–50 gms of protein everyday.
If I were to go by the recommendations of fitness experts (which I was too, until 2020), I should be eating a minimum of a gram of protein per ‘pound’ of body weight.
Even the conservative figures recommend at least 0.8 grams per ‘kilogram’.
By both of these standards, I am undernourished with protein.
But I don’t care!
Here’s why:
- Most of these recommendations are not for you
The problem with most of these protein recommendations is they are read and followed out of context by the average joe.
These protein recommendations are for either professional athletes, bodybuilders or regular gym-freaks looking to get big, bulky, and strong.
Yet there is a third category that isn’t specifically considered.
They are casually included in the final group.
And I say this based on my observation, professional experience and my personal experience.
I am talking about busy office goers or working professionals.
Most of these folks are skinny-fat or obese.
Whether you like it or not, the fact is most people in this third group don’t have the motivation to devote the level of time and energy a regular muscle-head does.
They have the desire to look strong, muscular, or athletic.
But that’s it!
No matter how much you try to expect them to understand and follow what you believe in, it won’t happen.
Such a group of people will do absolutely fine even if they manage to look fairly good, strong and fit with 40–60 gms of protein (high-quality natural foods of course).
Some fitness experts will balk or roll their eyes at this unpopular point.
But a fact is a fact, and I am the proof.
With 40–60 gms of protein you cannot look like Arnold, Ronnie, or Jack Reacher, certainly.
And most of these folks aren’t even going to train like them.
So why give them requirements and benchmarks so high, they get demotivated; especially, when they are most likely to start procrastinating on getting started until everything is fine, perfect and in place?
In fact, even if we consider what WE feel is appropriate for them, we need to consider our intent?
It is ‘their benefit’, right?
We have good intentions, but it is also ‘our’ expectation of them to have the same goals.
They won’t. We have to accept it and recommend them what they can actually manage, follow and reap benefits from.
2. Muscle size and strength does not rely on what you eat alone.
A crucial aspect of training that almost 99% of the influencers and experts in the market completely ignore is the workout/training aspect.
The idea that is commonly pushed is Fitness and Bodybuilding is 10% exercise, and 90% nutrition.
It is like saying — making a baby requires 10% dad and 90% mother.
Haha, how silly!
BOTH are equally important.
In fact, there are four aspects and each of them are equally important.
Their quantity, volume, or magnitude differs, not their significance or importance.
I am talking about:
- Exercise
- Diet
- Recovery
- Mindset
If you take two people with the same body size, shape, diet, lifestyle, habits, etc… .everything same, and change their exercise regimen, the results will have a stark difference.
The workout or training you do acts as a stimulus for the body to accept the nutrients from the food.
Think painting a wall.
You can have the best paint in the world, but you won’t get the desired finish on the wall without appropriate pre-paint scrubbing.
Similarly, muscle recovery and mindset play a significant role in the output one will achieve following the exact same diet and training regimen.
After all, the hormones in our body have an upper hand in everything, isn’t it?
3. More protein has a cost that the market doesn’t talk about
Some experts in the market claim that high protein intake harms the kidney.
Some disapprove of this claim.
Yet, both of them agree that high protein creates a high-nitrogen, mildly acidic environment in the body.
Plus, high protein intake requires more water intake and takes the longest to digest (see thermic effect of foods).
This tells us that a high protein diet requires other preparations and habits like adequate water intake and balancing with more ‘base’ foods to balance the increase in acidic environment.
Now that question is, “Is the average working professional willing to do what is necessary? And if willing, will he find it feasible?”
If the answer is not a resounding YES, the answer should be something that they can manage and stick to, versus what is ‘ideal’ or ‘supposed to be’.
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I hope this provides you with the context behind the protein recommendations.
To prevent confusion and misinterpretation, I will summarize my point :
Protein is a very important part of a healthy diet to build muscle, and strength.
It becomes even more important when trying to burn fat, to maintain the muscle mass during the fat-burning process.
However, the level of protein intake varies according to the lifestyle, goals, and current state of the body (commonly referred to as the body type).
So if you are an average working professional, your protein requirement will be different from that of a bodybuilder, athlete, etc.
The higher the level of muscle mass you try to build, the harder you have to train. Proportionately, you will have to increase the protein intake.
