Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

The question is everywhere for vegans... "where do you get your protein from?" But vegans along with meat eaters, junk food eaters, low carb dieters, high carb dieters, whatever, they all get enough protein. It's the one thing Americans don't need to worry about and in fact, their obsession with it might be leading them down a road of disease and obesity.

Do you know how much protein the average person needs? Only .8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. I am 210 pounds... that comes out to be about 76 grams. My personal trainer years ago told me to have 200 grams per day. If I listened to him, not only would I have gotten nowhere with my goals but I'm sure I'd be sick. Personal trainers are not supposed to give out nutritional advice, but I have yet to meet a trainer that will follow this rule.

You ever notice the amount of TV ads these days that market protein rich foods? It's almost as common as the ads for prescription drugs. You would think that protein is the most important thing your body needs and that the more you have of protein the better.

[youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txx8sgiOdvc"]

I was like other weight lifters over the years. Yeah, I used the protein powders, thinking they would help me achieve the muscle mass that I worked hard for. I mostly used vegan based powders but did try whey protein once or twice. Whey protein never digested well for me which is why I didn't use it for too long.

Anyway, I believed the same myth that I still hear over and over again... that you need a lot of protein to gain muscle. Before I continue with the article, please note that I am not debating animal versus plant protein here. I'll save that for another time. Rather, I want to focus on this myth that have gotten all too common, about how much protein we need.

I love doing cardio! After all, the treadmill helped me lose most of my weight. I've been trying to cut down on cardio but this week has really been different. I did not use the treadmill for a whole week. I don't want to keep losing weight... I'm so active that it seems like by using the treadmill, I would keep losing weight.

I still get my steps in. According to my pedometer, I do get well over 10,000 steps each day. So what do I need to use the treadmill for when I'm already active enough? I'm focusing on my muscle and I think the results are getting more noticeable each day. Also, I did run for 5 minutes yesterday around a track as a warmup.

I'm really getting into strength training. I have decided that I no longer need the treadmill. I still will do my walking and get my steps in, but I don't need to lose more weight.

During the past few months, I was using the treadmill for about 5 to 10 minutes for 5 days a week. It's not too much, but the weight tends to fall off me so easily now. I want my body to build muscle and using the treadmill might confuse my goals... my body might still think it needs to lose weight. A trainer was talking to me about cardio today, that it could actually hurt my efforts. I don't want it to get in the way of my goals!