ExRx.net

hi, i am a little confused about the amount of protein should be consumed. i have heard that our bodies can only take in 50g a day, but have also heard that we need 1g/lb of our body weight. i weigh 160 lbs and lift 4 days a week, combined with hockey, basketball and swimming throughout the week. how much protein should i be consuming daily?

Well, you're going to hear all sorts of recommendations. However, the body only being able to absorb 50 g P / day is way off. The USRDA is way low and based on your common variety couch potatoe. The supplement industry will be pushing for mega amounts. However, most sport nutritionists promote anywhere from 0.8 gr/lb LEAN bodyweight to 1.0gr/lb bwt for very active athletes. A little more or less certainly isn't going to do much harm. I'd just stay around that area. As to how much you need, do the math.
Tim

There may be a limit as to how much you can take in at a time. Maybe that's where the 50g limit came from. Split up your protein over several meals per day rather than a 16oz steak for supper and nothing else the rest of the day.

I thought I would chime in with my tuppence.

The manual they give on nutrition and exercise for the Navy Seal BUDS training program suggests between 0.6-0.8 g/lg per day.

However if you calculate your caloric expenditure of however many calories you burn, then take 15% of those calories and divide by 4 you will get an answer between 0.6-0.8g/lb.