Originally Posted by
tetonrider
there is truth to this--it's definitely possible to eat more protein than one can process at a time.
spreading out your protein will also affect satiety throughout a day and can lead to eating less (or less over-eating).
i worked with someone on nutrition who responded really well to the notion that eating too much of a good thing can actually be wasting food if their body is not going to take full advantage of it. this person would never let food spoil or would not throw food away...but they didn't realize that huge amounts of protein in one sitting can amount to throwing the food away. was an interesting perspective.
The comments about the max rate of protein absorption made me google the concept, because I've been trying to figure out the optimal protein and carb doses for my recovery drinks, in the context of being in the process of losing weight so every calorie counts. The best I've been able to come up with is a dose of 0.4 gm/kg BW protein and 0.8 gm/kg BW carb. So that's what I have in my recovery drinks, which works out for me to ~25 gm protein and ~50 gm carb, a substantial number of calories for me given my overall daily budget. I know it could be argued that more carbs relative to protein would be even better, but I'm reluctant to add more calories and the relatively higher protein dose seems to really help with hunger after interval workouts.
So of course the post about max rate of protein absorption was of concern. Reading a bit on that, however, it sounds like you actually do pretty much digest/absorb your entire protein dose (for the most part- more so if in liquid form and less so if there's fiber in the drink). Its just that if max protein absorption rate is 10 gm/hr, and you take in a dose of 25 gm all at once, it will take you a few hours to get it all digested/absorbed, not that protein consumed in excess of 10 gm will be wasted. Maybe absorption rate is important if you care when those amino acids/protein reaches your muscles relative to your workout. But not that you're missing part of the dose.
However, none of which is the point of this post, I just thought that stuff was interesting. My question is: does anyone have any good insight into what the optimal protein and carb doses are for a recovery drink? Not the ratio of one to the other, but the ideal absolute amounts of each on a gm/kg BW basis? I'm not sure by any means that I have my doses right. Things are going fine overall with both the cycling and the weight loss. But I always wonder if I could do better.