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Best protein sources? Trying to build lean muscle

Pegasus

Pegasus

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
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I'm in the later stages of benzo withdrawal and have lost a bit of weight that I want to regain. I'm 6'1, ~170lb right now (I'm lean as shit though) and want to gain as much as possible. Most of the exercise I do is based on gaining explosiveness rather than size, but I will do some weight training to improve overall strength (again... sigh).

Now to the topic at hand, as I said I'm still in benzo w/d and so I get frustrated pretty easily. Searching for the best sources of protein gives me a lot of opinions and really, my patience can't handle this at the moment. Previously in life when I really bulked up, I was in boot camp and was fed lots of beans, which certainly worked, but I really don't know the science behind it. Most of the exercise I've done outside of that has been on a diet of just "more food". I'm already eating quite a bit of food, maybe 4,000 calories and 100g protein per day (rough estimate) but I want to optimize what I'm eating to get the best results. So, what are the best things to eat for someone like me who wants to build lean muscle?
 
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beans and legumes for sure. complex carbs are great for feeding muscle growth:eek:ats, brown rice etc
 
Get big, then cut the fat. You cant lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.
Milk, Eggs, Beef, Turkey, Fish, Beans.
 
Are certain types of each of these foods better than others? I know that in general these foods have high proteins but what are the best?
 
Hulled hemp seed has complete proteins, omega-3 fat, minerals, vitamins and fiber. It is pretty much one of the best complete foods on the planet.

IMO protein from animal sources (particularly meat) is harder for the body to assimilate and create toxic byproducts during digestion.
 
Ignant said:
Get big, then cut the fat. You cant lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.
Milk, Eggs, Beef, Turkey, Fish, Beans.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding? Lol. You most certainly can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. I guess that maybe you are talking about body building (where they also burn fat and gain muscle at the same time)..which I don't think the OP wants to do necessarily. Fat is just an energy store, and any time you use up your more short terms energy stores you start beta-oxidizing your fats (which certainly happens locally even during weight lifting).

Most protein will be just fine. Mix it up. Chicken, beef, pork, fish, and legumes are all great for protein. It is more important to eat lots of fruit, veggies, and good carbs and fats, and to drink a lot of water. In order to really get your body kickin' you have to eat balanced. Protein, vitamins, minerals, good fats, carbs etc..when possible in a natural form (doesn't have to be bio, just not synthetic crap). Your body needs all this stuff to perform the best. The real key is just getting out and kicking ass with whatever you do to exercise, all this food stuff will just give you the energy and quick recovery times (lots of available building materials) to do it.

Edit: Also take your time. 4000 kcal per day is a pretty massive amount of energy for daily consumption (unless you are doing a shit load of sport).
 
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Well i eat Beans, eggs, peanut butter, drink lots of milk, eat rice, eat chicken..

Im also 6" 1' , and i weigh 172 lb ..
Id like to gain a bit of mass too
 
Let's not to turn this into an "omnivore vs. vegan" debate, but, looking at the facts, animal protein is certainly not the best when you consider all the risks involved: Risks for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and so on.

Therefore, plant protein is the best. Now, according to some, you need to "combine" certain plant proteins (like legumes and rice or nuts and grain) to get a "complete protein."

In short, "complete proteins" have all the amino acids. Some grains lack one while some beans are high in that certain one. (I'll elaborate more on this later if need be. :p)

There are plant sources of "complete proteins," that don't involve protein combining. Quinoa is an excellent (and tasty!) example of one. :)

Also, did a search for "protein" and got numerous results that may help you: Best way to put on weight?; So im tryin to gain some mass; Protein, Muscle Mass, Weight Training. Advice would be Nice =); how to gain 10lbs of muscle? for real. I'm sure you could find plenty more with other keywords. :p
 
whey protein shakes are the easiest and cheapest.

or fish, beef, chicken, etc. lean meat
 
what's the rush? build it over time. it sounds like you're trying to get big quickly, which doesn't really work out for many reasons.

i'm in a similar boat: i'm 5'11/150 w/ little body fat. only meat i eat is fish. otherwise like everyone else said: legumes/beans and rice. whole eat pasta i suppose.

after a certain point when you're eating 5-6 meals a day, the trouble is sticking with the diet imo because you get tired of eating the same stuff every day and there's only so much to go around. then you start straying to less healthful foods and missing the point. thats why slow and steady wins the race. i figure if i'm gonna work out for the rest of my life, which i am, what's three months, six months, a year of "skinny"?

you're your own worst critic i bet
 
Don't worry about "Fat" in foods, it just has a higher calorie per gram than carbs/protein, the only thing you should worry about is artificial trans fat (Real meat with no additives has natural trans fat, which is fine)

Get 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight(I aim for 1.5x however), and aim for 500 calories above your maintenance.

A lot of supplement companies exaggerate and say you need 2.0g protein/lb, but they just do that so you will buy more of their product.

Don't buy any supplements other than fish oil, protein powder, caffeine, and vitamin D. It is really all you need.


Bulking up, or cutting down, diet is the most important part.

But 90% diet 10% exercise is complete bullshit when it comes to bulking up, both are equally important. But when cutting down I've noticed I can half ass my workout sessions while maintaining a perfect diet and still get great results.
 
Ignant said:
Get big, then cut the fat. You cant lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.
Milk, Eggs, Beef, Turkey, Fish, Beans.
Click to expand...

If you don't eat meat or eggs, do these: (well, these are the highest sources of grams of protein anyway)

beans (the magical "fruit")
whole grain rice
sprouted grain pasta, bread, cereal
leafy veggies
Edit: nuts. I don't care if you're straight. Eat them.
veggies in general have a high protein to calorie ratio

If you eat meat and / or eggs, stick to these when you want meat (not all the time, though):

chicken (go organic / vegetable fed)
eggs (free range, organic eggs are higher in protein and nutrients because they are fed things that help them live a strong, happy life)
turkey (same thing; vegetable fed means you get the nutrients from the vegetables they eat)
fish (make it wild fish for the same reasons as above)

However, I would like to add that meat is obviously more expensive than the first section of foods. If you are on a budget, stick vegetarian with meat every so often. If you have no worries about money, still make sure you eat your veggies. You know they're good for you, don't skimp out!
 
Also yeah, like attempt said, whey protein

I don't think there is a single food that can beat whey protein when it comes to total calories to protein ratio... ?
 
Meat and dates are the best foods that are helpful to get the protein. we should use meat in the week at least two times to get the good quantity of the protein.
 
I wouldn't put too much stock into what type of protein you're getting. Just eat enough, typically it's your bodyweight in grams of protein that's recommended, and make sure you put in the proper gym work and get enough sleep. Track how much you eat and weight yourself every week. If you're gaining more than 1-2 lbs per week, you're gaining too much fat.

Easiest and fastest way is to bulk up and then cut, but you could also do a clean bulk. It'll take a while either way, since given an ideal situation you'll max out at around 12-15 lbs of muscle per year.


I'm not sure what your goal is, but 6'1" and 170, given the proper bf%, isn't that bad.

Here's Kessler and Froch. Both 6'1" weighing 168 in the photo:
NSFW:
Mikkel-Kessler-Carl-Froch-weigh-in_2445490.jpg
 
im surprised whey protein wasn't said at the start of this thread.
 
addictivepersona said:
There are plant sources of "complete proteins," that don't involve protein combining. Quinoa is an excellent (and tasty!) example of one. :)
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I love quinoa (its delicious and nutritionally awesome.) However, it just doesn't compare to animal proteins, though, when you're looking for a high-protein diet.

1 cup of quinoa has ~220 calories, 4g of fat, 40 carbs and 8g of protein.
1 lean chicken breast has ~240 calories, 3g of fat, 0 carbs and 48g of protein.

I prefer lean chicken or protein shakes of some kind (either whey or casein depending on what time of day I'm taking them.) Good, dense sources of protein.
 
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