Muscle Mass: Protein Per Meal and Timing

(Kenny Croxdale) #1

Maintaining and/or Increasing Muscle Mass

While there is good information on the amount of protein needed per day (grams per kilo of lean body mass), another vital factor is the amount of quality protein per meal/serving.

This has to do with…

mTOR (Mammalian Target of Rapamycin)

It is a complex mechanism that that ensure muscle mass is maintained and/or increased.

mTOR is similar to a light switch. When the switch is on with mTOR, the lights are on; or in the case of mTOR, muscle mass is being maintained or increased.

When the mTOR “Light Switch” is off, the light aren’t on; or in the case of mTOR, muscle mass is not being maintained and preserved, let alone increased.

Protein mTOR Research

Research shows that a certain amount of quality protein is necessary for maintaining and increasing muscle mass.

The Dosage Per Meal/Serving

The amount of quality (dosage) per meal/serving is…

  1. Young Individuals: A minimum of 30 gram of quality protein per meal/serving.

These are individual approximately early 20’s or younger:

  1. Older Individuals: A minimum of 40 gram of quality protein per meal/serving.

These individual are approximately 30 years old, plus.

Quality Proteins

They are animal based: Meats, Cheeses, Eggs, etc.

Plant Protein are lower quality proteins.

The determinate factor of a protein being a good quality protein for turning on mTOR and maintaining or increasing muscle mass is the Amino Acid…

Leucine

As per the research…

  1. Younger individual need approximately 2.5 gram per meal/serving.

  2. Older individual need approximately 3.0 gram or more per meal/serving.

Doing The Math

Approximately 8% of quality proteins is composed of Leucine.

That means a younger individual would need approximately 30 gram per meal/serving; obtaining 2.4 gram of Leucine.

An older individual; individual would need approximately 40 gram per meal/serving; obtaining 3.2 gram of Leucine.

Reason For The Difference

Younger individual’s system are more efficient that older individuals.

The older individuals need more to elicit the same response.

Supplementing Your Meal With Leucin

For individual who have a hard time consuming 40 gram of protein per meal/serving or individuals who are more into lower quality vegan proteins, supplementing a meal with Leucine Powder works.

This research demonstrated that…

Added leucine makes wheat protein as anabolic as whey
https://www.ergo-log.com/added-leucine-makes-wheat-protein-as-anabolic-as-whey.html

image

One more thing regarding Leucine.

Unflavored Leucine has an bitter, unpleasant taste. So, mixing it in something eliminates that issue.

Refractory Period

Optimal Muscle Protein Synthesis has to do with the length of time between meals/serving of protein.

Research show (Dr Layne Norton, Dr Gabe Wilson, and others) that Muscle Protein Synthesis is optimized when meals/serving are 4 - 6 hours apart.

The old Bodybuilding Protocol of consuming protein every three hours is counterproductive.

Sponge Example

Think of Muscle Protein Synthesis like a sponge.

A wet sponge is unable to soak up much, if any water.

However, if you allow the sponge to dry out completely, it absorb an enormous amount of water, compared to the wet sponge.

Metaphorically speaking, the same occurs with the time restriction for Muscle Protein Synthesis. You need to allow the “Muscle Protein Synthesis Sponge” to dry out.

Doing so, maximizes your Muscle Protein Synthesis.

More Information

Listed below is more in depth information on this…

Dr Donald Layman

THE TRUTH ABOUT PROTEIN: HOW MUCH AND HOW OFTEN?
https://simplyshredded.com/the-truth-about-protein.html

Kenny Croxdale

Is there a diff b/t building new muscle and restoring unused muscle?
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

For building muscle mass there are three essential amino acids: leucine, iso-leucine, and valine. They are essential because they cannot be made in the body, and they are needed for muscle mass because they are branched-chain amino acids. The other branched-chain amino acids the body needs for building muscle can be made from other amino acids.

Note that BCAA’s in excess of need are dealt with by the same metabolic pathway in the liver that handles ethanol and fructose, and in quantity, BCAA’s cause fatty liver disease, just as too much of either ethanol or fructose does.

(Bob M) #3

For older folk like me (56), it likely doesn’t matter. I eat OMAD, 2MAD, try fasting longer than 24 hours when I can, and still have gained muscle and strength. Now, could I possibly be bigger if I ate protein at “exactly the right time”? Maybe. But how much bigger and does it matter? My answer to those: probably not a lot and not much if at all.

According DEXA scans, it took me an entire year to gain less than 4 pounds of muscle. If I ate “perfectly”, how much more muscle would I have gained? An ounce? A few ounces?

If you’re 20-30, male*, and trying to build muscle, it might be different.

*Not excluding females, just giving an example of who might benefit (in terms of pounds of muscle/year) the most from this.

(Kenny Croxdale) #4

Bob,

Actually, the amount of protein for older individual matters; especially the amount of Leucine.

That was/is the findings of Drs Donald Layman, Layne Norton and others.

Their research demonstrated that the average American only consume enough protein in one meal for maintaining/promoting muscle mass., The meal is dinner.

image
image.jpg785×357 59.6 KB

OMAD or 2MAD

This method was also found to be effective…

Pulse Feeding
Human study: protein pulse gives anabolic stimulus
https://www.ergo-log.com/human-study-protein-pulse-gives-anabolic-stimulus.html

The test subjects in the Université Paris-Descartes experiment didn’t train with weights, they didn’t take supplements or illegal anabolic substances, and they didn’t eat much protein either – yet they built up more muscle mass. All they did was to consume seventy percent of their daily protein allowance during one meal. Protein pulse diets have an anabolic effect.

mTOR

The right kind of exercise also triggers the mTOR, anabolic effect.

Summary

As you know, muscle mass decreases with age.

Two vital components that ensure muscle mass is preserved or increased is…

  1. Consuming the right around of Protein (Leucine) per meal/serving.

  2. Performing the right kind of exercise.

Kenny Croxdale