New Recommendations for Daily Protein
 

TL;DR Protein requirement estimates for endurance athletes have gone up -- and higher still on rest days

From a recent review paper (Witard, Oliver C, Hearris, Mark and Morgan, Paul T (2025) Protein Nutrition for Endurance Athletes: A Metabolic Focus on Promoting Recovery and Training Adaptation. Sports Medicine. ISSN 0112-1642):

Table 1 Summary of context-specifc protein requirements and recommendations for endurance athletes
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Protein requirements
1. Endurance-trained men and women should target a dietary protein intake of 1.80 g·kgBM−1·day−1 on standard training days. Female individuals in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle may consider increasing protein intakes to 1.90 g·kgBM−1·day−1
2. Endurance athletes should target a dietary protein intake of 2.0 g·kgBM−1·day−1 on recovery days
3. Endurance athletes should target a dietary protein intake of 1.95 g·kgBM−1·day−1 on training days conducted with low CHO availability

Protein recommendations
1. Endurance athletes should target a protein feed of 0.5 g·kgBM−1 during immediate post-exercise recovery to facilitate the remodelling of contractile muscle proteins damaged in response to exercise
2. Endurance athletes should ingest a moderate (~ 10–20 g) dose of protein before and during prolonged exercise training sessions conducted in a state of low CHO availability to mitigate the exercise-induced increase MPB without impacting the muscle adaptive response to glycogen- depleted training
3. Endurance athletes that do not tolerate optimal (1.2 g·kgBM−1·h−1) CHO intakes during the immediate post-exercise recovery period should target a protein intake of 0.4 g·kgBM−1 to facilitate the resynthesis of muscle glycogen
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BM body mass, CHO carbohydrate, MPB muscle protein breakdown

That pretty much fits with what I've been doing for almost the last two years. Although I haven't been getting any protein while actually on the bike cycling.

However statement #2 sounds like it might only apply to those that do endurance exercise without CHO supplementation. So maybe I'm still good since I don't shy away from carbohydrates on or off the bike. Though I have been going out with just water more often for shorter rides where I'm not planning to stay in the upper zones very much or try for any PB's.

I didn't have time to go into the article yet. But was wondering at what point is a person cycling considered a endurance athlete. Does a 60 mile ride ridden somewhat easily count? Or a 90 minute ride ridden at a very high effort?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d86a54b4f2.png

I don't have a problem with those recommendations, sounds reasonable to me. My daily protein intake is between 1.6 - 1.9 grams per kg of bodyweight. I weigh 74 kg at and my height is 6 ft. I get that form eating 3 meals per day and no snacking in between, no supplements...Beef, chicken, greek yogurt or kefir, eggs, black beans are my main source of daily protein.....More protein doesn't mean more muscle or better recovery, been there done that. The highest protein intake I ever been on was around 300 grams per day and to be honest I don't notice any difference in muscle gain or recovery between 130 grams of protein and 300 grams of protein.

Here are the problems that I have with all of this:

*I have no idea how much protein I intake now, nor how to measure it.

*Increasing protein is probably a good idea as we age, but the recent Consumer Reports expose showed very high levels of lead in many products.

*I ride 3 times a week in-season, averaging about 50 miles. Am I an "endurance-trained athlete" or just another old dude out having a good time with his mates?

Those I know who consider themselves endurance athletes ride ~ 100 miles/week in summer, a little less in winter. About 400 hours of training/year or ~5000 miles/year and you can do pretty much anything you want, not considering racing at all, just long rides.

I also have no idea how much protein I get in a day. I'm a lacto-pisco "vegetarian". Long ago, I experimented with whey protein quantities, trying to find an amount where, over that, my recovery didn't seem to get any better. I use an Isolate, happens to be Nutricost, and I weigh about 70 kilos. I take about 25g/day and when I exercise or ride, another 25g split between start and finish. Sounds like I should increase those to 35g if I'm understanding this post correctly. I'll give it a try.

You can find apps that help log and analyze everything you eat... I've been using the PC version of Cron-o-meter (apparently you can still find it for free and opensource) and it will give you a good approximation of which and how much nutriments, minerals, vitamins, calories you are ingesting!

It's a bit laborious since you need to weight and log every ingredient in your meals, and you might have to add your own meals/recipes as new foods, then just weight how much of it you are eating, etc. Maybe also do some search to find foods rich in those nutriments that your diet is lacking, etc.

They also have an app for the phone, might be more practical to use in the kitchen if you don't own a tablet to run the software, or don't want to write everything down on a paper before entering the data again on the computer.

I was surprised to find out that you really don't need to eat much if you choose the right foods, most of the time I had to add more calories because I could get all the needed nutriments just by eating diverse foods - I'm also lacto-pisco (and ovo) vegetarian like Carbonfiberboy, so this might help with the low calorie thing.

I'm not using it anymore, but it sure helps to find out if you lack some nutriments in your diet for example (mine was regularly missing iron, zinc, some vitamins), or to track your calories...

I think my Oura Ring app has an AI feature to take a picture of the meal and it figures it out, I just learned. If I can get that to work, I will try it out and report back here, instead of weighing my peanut butter.

A very unique thing for a vegetarian. Pisco is a white brandy from Peru. So you are a vegetarian that drinks a lot of pisco brandy?

Pisces is the fish sign. But pisco has no meaning for fish. Pesco-vegetarian or pescatarian, is a vegetarian that also eats fish.

:D

OMG, your right! I remember that one letter incorrectly! Thanks.

I'm a lacto-ovo-pesco-meato vegetarian.

You've been a great audience. Try the veal. Tip your waitress!

After reading this thread, I got out my protein powder and gram scale. I discovered that I've been getting much less protein than recommended here. I increased my quantities as above, which was easy since I get a lot of my dietary protein from whey. Since then I've been recovering much faster and better than before. Thanks!

The Oura app is not helpful, it simply categorizes meal as healthy, fair, etc.

I check a few websites and nutrient info is difficult to find. I did see that most have around 120 cal, but not sure if that is mixed with water or milk or juice. FWIW about same calories as a beer.

Many are quite expensive.

The Mrs. just got back from Starbucks with a protein latte. So, now it's healthy?

How do I know if a supplement "helps my recovery?" I can ride 60 hilly miles and feel pretty good the next day. Am I recovered?

I guess it's like Grandma's take on chicken soup" "It couldn't hurt!"

If you consume a lot of protein, it could hurt. It puts a strain on the kidneys. Lots of animal protein can increase LDL cholesterol and insulin resistance.

Yes, apparently excess of protein can not be stored like fats or carbs, they are just eliminated.

OK, I will stay the course and do nothing additional. I have my annual physical coming up and I'll see what the doc thinks.

True that the body can't store protein. However it isn't all eliminated

Some is turned into fat which is stored. Some in a very slow process is turned into glycogen.

Let's say your body needs 1.6 g/kg of protein, and you eat that amount. Where does that protein go? Rough estimates:

• used by body ~89%
• oxidized for energy ~10%
• stored as fat/glycogen - minimal
• urea excretion - normal

What happens if you eat much more that amount, 3.5 g/kg of protein, roughly:

• used by body ~47%
• oxidized for energy ~49%
• stored as fat/glycogen ~4-6%
• urea excretion - high

So you're probably not getting fat directly from that extra protein. The big effect is urea excretion (and possible stress in kidneys).

But eating excess protein can still make you fat, if your body doesn't use all of that 49% that was "oxidized for energy". Excess calories = more fat.

Protein intake of 1.2 g/kg - 1.6 g/kg is just about optimal for most people. But you can easily survive and be healthy on even less than that. It's easy to get more than enough protein from eating 3 meals per day and not using any supplements. Anything more than that is just a waste. You also don't need to worry about eating exact same of protein every single day. it's perfectly ok to eat less on some days and more on other days. You're not going to fall apart just because you eat a little less protein on some days.

I wouldn't say that eating more protein than your body needs for building and repairing cells is a "waste". The excess protein isn't thrown (or pooped) away. It's converted into energy your body can use.

The issue is kidneys:
The Effects of High-Protein Diets on Kidney Health and Longevity - PMC

Converting protein into glucose is a very energy intensive process. Your body has to work very hard to convert protein into glucose for energy. Too much protein can also end up being stored as fat. Best way to find an ideal protein intake is to experiment by consuming different amounts of protein and see how the body responds to it.

I have some doubts about this one: "oxidized for energy ~49%" (47 + 49 + 4-6 = 100-102 % so urea excretion can't be high...), maybe a typo?

Or I'm missing something.

My understanding is most proteins in excess of our needs are eliminated, so that can't be a few percents only.

But... is the study based off those that ride 100 miles per week? I consider 100 miles per week basic exercise (plus a little bit more), not training to be an endurance athlete. Athlete to me means elite level, pro level athlete - or one training to become such a person.

Many of these articles, consumption guides, training guides are written for the latter group. The 15-20-25+ hour athlete.

I think many of us fall into the trap of considering ourselves athletes - when the reality is, we are just exercisers.

And - that extra x grams of protein, xxx+xx+x grams of carbs we often hear about are for the pro's or elite's to get that final edge on the already sharp knife. Most of us are dull butter knives and all the final sharpening in the world is just wasted effort.