How Much Protein Should You Eat To Gain Muscle?

Why you need protein 

Protein can be thought of as the “building blocks” for your muscles. They’re a macronutrient that are made up of several amino acids. 

Why this matters: when you’re doing resistance training and weight training to make gains, your muscle fibers actually come under a ton of stress and become damaged. These tiny tears (sometimes called microtears) in your muscle tissues need to be repaired in order to rebuild bigger, thicker, and stronger – in other words, to gain muscle. And what do your tissues need in order to repair? You guessed it – protein!

So how much protein should you eat to gain muscle? 

Again, there’s no one hard-and-fast answer to this question. It depends on a ton of different factors that influence how you gain muscle, like your age, weight, activity level, and fitness goals. However, the general rule of thumb is that you should be eating 1.6 and 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day if you want to gain muscle. Again, this could be more or less depending on how intense your exercise is and the kinds of goals that you have, but this is a good place to start. 

Let’s go through an example of what this would look like. Let’s say you weigh 150 pounds (68 kilograms) and are doing frequent resistance training like weights to gain muscle. In addition to that workout, you should also aim to consume somewhere between 109 and 149 grams of protein per day! 

How to get enough protein with My Healthy Penguin 

Wondering how to get enough of that protein every day to make a difference? If you’re struggling to eat enough protein every day to go with your workout routine, and if you are living in the Los Angeles or Inland Empire area, check out My Healthy Penguin! Every week, My Healthy Penguin delivers delicious and nutritious meals straight to your door that are tailored to your specific health and wellness goals. Whether you’re trying to make big gains, get shredded and toned, lose weight, or just want to eat healthy and delicious meals without needing to spend hours in the kitchen, there’s a My Healthy Penguin meal plan for you. Whether you’re trying to cut fat, lose muscle, or a little bit of both, we’re betting you’ve probably heard again and again that you need plenty of protein to make it happen. 

But the million-dollar question is: how much protein do you actually need to make it happen?  

The answer can vary depending on a variety of factors, like the way that you work out and the kind of specific goals that you have. Let’s talk about how much protein you should be eating to make gains, and why using a meal prep delivery service like My Healthy Penguin can make it infinitely easier to achieve your goal.