Forum | Thrive Personal Fitness » Nutrition and Diet

1. 

   berlinoise
   Member

   Hi Pamela, I have a niggling doubt about protein requirements: any info I have read on the subject specifies anything from .75g to 1.4g of protein per kg of body weight - I'm presuming for more or less sedentary people, as my requirements are higher but anyway.....I keep reading people (particularly in DB forums) who talk about 1g per POUND of body weight. To me, this is completely incoherent, as it's not logical to mix metric with imperial measurements - you're not comparing like with like. Maybe if they were to talk about 1g per 2.2 lbs of body weight, OK....So I usually add my two cents, and was told by one person that in the US, you do mix imperial and metric, and that a ratio of 1g per pound of body weight is not incorrect. I'm not convinced though....what are your thoughts? Thanks, Liz

   Posted 1 year ago #
2. 

   Pamela
   Administrator

   You are right, it is a very complex subject with lots of opinions. In my Nutrition (Perspectives in Nutrition by Wardlaw) text books it states "to maintain protein equilibrium the estimate is .8g per kg of bodyweight". So for the average person (not active athletes) just to maintain a balance of what is used and replenished that may be true. However, within the same chapter is also says 10%-35% of energy (calorie) intake. That's a pretty wide range and depends on the activity level of the person. When I look at another book specifically for athletes (The Diabetic Athlete's Handbook) it does say that those who strength training may require twice as much as a "normal" person, 1.6-1.8 g per kg of body weight. If I use the 1.8 g per kg figure it comes out to about the same as the .8 kg per pound for myself. Finally, my ACSM training manual states for adult athletes the range si 1.5 g -2.0 g per kg of body weight. So long story short, in my opinion people use the lbs because in the U.S. that is easy to use and the level that is "right" is going to depend on each person and their training. Hope that helps bring a bit of clarity to a muddy subject.

   Posted 1 year ago #
3. 

   berlinoise
   Member

   Thanks for the info! There is a lot of confusion out there on this issue. The figures you cite pretty much tally with everything I've ever read. My problem was more the mixing of grams of protein per pound of body weight: to my mind, 1g (as an example) per pound of body weight is wildly inaccurate - it should be 1g per 2.2lbs of body weight as otherwise, you are not comparing like with like and this obviously leads to inaccurate goals. I've no problem with mixing units of measurement as long as the appropriate conversions are made - which rarely seems to be the case. I find the level of incomprehension at this level rather worrying!

   Posted 1 year ago #

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