quick question: how much protein can the body absorb at one time?

[HDStretchman]

Pretty simple, really. According to the science of it all, your body will uptake what it needs first. It prioritizes. I do a pre/post workout protein shake because the science indicates that there might a possibility that the presence of that protein will cause the body to take it in and draw it up during the time frame that the muscles are doing the work. Whether that's true or not no one can say for certain, but it makes sense. A lot happens during digestion where the body will make some use of it. People on keto run very high protein numbers, and don't normally fall out from lack of carbs, because the body can do other things with it.

And it's not just protein. It's the BCAAs that are present, that allows the body to do what it needs to. Like everyone else says, if the nutrients are present through the rest of the day, it will do what it needs to. IIFYM, there's really no reason not to, at least, IMO. Other than that, it's 3 meals a day.

I also don't know if there's any truth to muscle memory, but guys who do cut/bulk seem to recover their mass after contest cutting, so my best guess is that even though you get smaller while on a cut, you recover that as soon as you re up your cals. So, theoretically speaking, you can drop the fat and still recover the mass. Whether or not you can do that at maintenance levels vs cut levels is the bigger question. Some people say that in order the recover the mass, you have to eat at surplus.

The other thing about levels is feeding your lean body mass instead of your whole body weight. Yes, you can increase your bodyfat with protein, but it's still going to be fat. If you don't want to get fat, up your activity levels. Guys who go through military style training are at it all day, and drop quite a bit, but start to grow again as soon as the activity diminishes. All things considered, they do what they do in a really small time frame, simply because they do a ton of work. Not everyone has the time to do that, but I see the best results training that way. Plus, the results seem to last longer.

When all is said and done, no powder, no magic pill, will replace the amount of work you have to do in order to get the results you desire. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn't always a skinny fat dude. A couple major surgeries and a lot of sitting around on meds did that to me. I am making myself pay for that. The thing I never did before was train on free bar, or watch the diet as meticulously as I am now. For that, I am indebted to this forum. I'm still learning a lot.

[POrtergolf]

I have heard different things on this and I am wondering about it. I usually only put in one scoop of whey isolate in my shake which is 20 but some people put in two. If your body cannot absorb it is it being stored as fat? I would like to know because maybe I need to up my protein amount. thanks

It will vary by person. A common assumption is generally not more than 40g of protein can be absorbed at once. I am no scientist but check out this video of my son he explains protein synthesis well.

[1976pianoman]

It will vary by person. A common assumption is generally not more than 40g of protein can be absorbed at once.

The articles I referenced disprove that number, and they are quite clear about it. I am going with 70g per protein shake on this bulking cycle I'm doing right now. I understand this is not what broscience says to do, however it's what real science says is okay to do. Cute video.

HDStrectch bro - you crack me up. lol "Sloth in training" (I can so relate to that!) and "I wasn't always a skinny fat dude." lol