Importance of Protein

Protein is the most important nutrient for building muscle. Without enough high quality protein, you are not going to grow at the rate you deserve to grow—and I don’t care how hard you train in the gym! It is important for you to maintain a balance in the positive flow of nitrogen on a consistent basis. By this, I mean you absolutely must consume more nitrogen than you excrete. You need to keep your body in a positive protein accrual environment. If you happen to be excreting more nitrogen than you consume, it doesn’t matter. I have discovered, like many other bodybuilders, the more protein I consume the bigger and stronger I get. 

-: How Much Protein Should I Eat To Build Muscle? :-
How much is the “right” amount of protein to eat each day, you ask? 100 grams? 250 grams? 500 grams? You will need to experiment to determine what the proper amount of protein is that will keep you in a positive protein accrual environment. Bodybuilders should start with a gram to a gram-and-a-half per pound of body weight - and move upwards from there. Many experts estimate this is how much the average hard-training bodybuilder needs per day. My only suggestion would be, if your body can efficiently use more, then by all means, give it more and build more muscle! There is also a very old, outdated, and conservative method of determining the “proper” amount of protein you should ingest. Unfortunately, too many bodybuilders hold on tightly to this theory. I don't believe there is any way possible this cookie cutter rule can apply to everyone—especially every single hard-training bodybuilder. This method suggests that you multiply your body weight in kilograms times 1.5 to figure the grams of protein to consume daily (divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to determine how much you weigh in kilograms).
The only reason I even include this guideline is because 9 out of 10 people in the bodybuilding world are going to tell you this the “right” amount of protein—not a single gram more! If you ingest any more protein than that, they warn, you are going to damage your kidneys. I suggest you shouldn’t be so conservative about your protein consumption—especially if you want to make the most use of your hard training and pack on some serious, rock-solid muscle mass! But, If you do try this widely accepted formula, be sure to experiment upwards from there. If you are able to handle more than that amount efficiently, you will probably gain more muscle. One thing you don’t want to do is rob yourself of even one more ounce of precious muscle! I calculate my total should be 177 grams a day.” I recommend determining the amount of protein you should eat a little differently. Instead of figuring out the total grams of protein you can efficiently digest in the entire DAY—determine how much you can efficiently digest every two hours. Why? If you eat your daily total, let’s say, of 300 grams of protein in four meals as opposed to eight, the efficiency of how your body digests that protein would differ, wouldn’t it?
If you take those 300 grams of protein and divide that total by four meals, that would equal 75 grams per meal. Those 300 grams of protein divided by eight meals equals 37.5 grams per meal. Obviously, your body will have a much easier time digesting the 37.5 grams per meal than it would 75 grams. You are eating the very same amount of protein for the entire day—but are creating a big difference in the efficiency of its digestion and utilization. Your body would have a much easier time using the protein to help build muscle if it was spaced out evenly throughout the day.
Let me ask you a question: Are you confused about the amount of protein some experts in the bodybuilding community are recommending? You really should be more concerned with consistently eating more frequent, high-protein meals and properly spacing them throughout your day. The average meal replacement contains about 40 grams of protein. Even those people who don’t think the human body can assimilate large amounts of protein will agree that it can digest 40 grams every two to three hours, right?
Every two to three hours creates what I call a “Protein Consumption Window of Opportunity.” The more of these opportunities you take advantage of, the more you will augment your efforts in the gym. The more you consume high quality protein during these windows—regardless of the amount of protein in that “window” or daily total of protein you think your body needs—the more muscle you will build. The key to successfully building muscle is eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. Instead of worrying about that often-debated daily total of protein, break it down into two-hour to three-hour increments. Do the math. The guy who eats eight meals as opposed to four meals a day has twice as many “Protein Consumption Windows of Opportunity” to take advantage of. Four a day, times seven days a week, equals 28 more “windows.” Every month that’s 112 more and every year the total grows to an incredible 1,344 more “Protein Consumption Windows of Opportunity” that are used. All other factors being the same (which they never are, but play along for the sake of this explanation), who do you think will build more muscle over the course of that year?