Kcals and Protein Supplements Basic Guidelines for Athletes and Trainers (Part I)

The kcals an athlete needs is individualized for each person, however; a general guideline can be followed as using this equation:

The daily needs= the basic Kcals needs+ the additional Kcals needs

The basic Kcals for an athlete is 1.3kcal/ kg/ hour

EX. a person weight= 70g

The basic Kcals= 1.3kcal/kg* 24hours* 70kg= 2184 kcals

The additional kcal for an athlete is 8.5kcal/kg/ hour of training

EX. a person weight- 70kg with 2 hours training daily

The additional kcals= 8.5kcal/kg* 2hours* 70kg= 1190 kcals

So the total kcals needed= 2184+ 1190=3374 kcals

The protein requirement for athletes is usually higher than for those who are non-atheles, but does every athletes need protein supplements?

Here is a quick guideline you could refer to:

Often the protein requirement for an athlete range from 1.2 to 1.4g/kg daily

the protein requirement increases up to 1.6 to 1.7 for weight lifting athletes

However, as you normally would increase your kcal intake daily, your protein most of the time increases too.

In case the protein supplement is needed, it should be used for acquiring the remaining protein needs only.

For example:

If you require 100g of the protein daily, and you have been consuming 88g from your daily kcal intake, you can acquire the 12g from a protein supplement to meet the daily need.

A protein supplement or amino acids scoop has a 6 to 7g of protein, the 12g pf protein remaining equals 2 scoops of a protein supplement.

*Important thing to note that consuming protein more than the body needed, does not increase your muscle mass content even with continuing resistance training. The execs protein usually flushes out of the body through urination as the consumption of fluids increase, and increase the chance of developing kidneys and liver diseases.

Daily consumed food and their protein in grams:

Regular chicken breast, 27

Milk, 1 cup, 8

Yogurt, 1 cup, 8

Greek yogurt, 1 cup, 12 to 15

Egg, 1, 7

Cheese, 1 oz, 7

Beans, 1/2 cup, 7 to 9

Nut butters, 2 Tsp, 5 to 8

Ground beef cooked, 4 oz, 29

Fish, Salmon cooked, 4 oz, 29

Tofu, 1/2 cup, 20