Do Athletes Need a Lot of Protein?

Not all athletes need a lot of protein. A balanced, healthy diet is completely sufficient for a normally active recreational athlete, in which only about 10 to 15 percent of the energy requirement is derived from protein. The remaining requirement should be covered by 55 to 60 percent carbohydrates and a maximum of 30 percent fat.

A calculation example makes it clear that the protein requirement for muscle building can easily be covered by a balanced diet. If you want to build muscle mass, 2 kg in one year is a realistic goal. Muscle is only 20 percent protein – the rest is mostly water. An additional 400 g of protein must be ingested every year. This corresponds to 1.1 g of protein per day.

The daily recommended intake of protein is 0.8 g per day and a kilogram of body weight. At a weight of 70 kg, this corresponds to 56 g of protein. However, the actual intake of protein is higher than this recommendation: on average, women consume 1 g and men even 1.2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. A woman weighing 70 kilograms gets an average of 70 g of protein per day, men even 84 g.

Most people consume the additional amount of protein of 1.1 g per day required for muscle building every day anyway, which is why additional food supplements are not necessary at all. The necessary proteins can be easily ingested through food – dairy products, meat, fish, and eggs, among other things, provide a sufficient amount of protein. A balanced mixed diet is also completely sufficient for strength athletes.

Too much protein intake can even have a negative effect on the body. If there is an excess of protein, the body has to break down unusable proteins into urea, which is excreted through the kidneys. Bodybuilders excrete twice as much urea as non-athletes, but produce only 25 percent more urine – the kidneys of strength athletes who regularly eat a high-protein diet are therefore exposed to increased stress.