The Plant-Based Protein Equation for Female Muscle Growth & Peak Performance
How much protein do women really need to prevent muscle loss, maximize growth and prevent menopausal body fat accumulation?
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Hi Frens!
Today’s post about adequate protein intake, fueling for plant-based performance, fat loss, and muscle growth comes from a reader question.
If there are any topics you’d love to know more about, drop me a comment below:
For vegans, vegetarians, and some combo of the former (that may include eggs, dairy, and seafood), fueling for physique transformation and performance from mainly plant-based foods — while consuming complete proteins — is possible with planning and right information.
Keep in mind I am not a doctor and this is for informational purposes only. All studies and sources listed at end of this article.
Can I Get a Complete Amino Acid Profile From Plant Proteins & How Much Do I Need?
And where will I get Omega 3’s if not from fatty fish?
The most important macronutrient for skeletal health, body composition, muscle preservation, and muscle growth is…
… protein.
Muscle is made of protein… or, more literally, the amino acids that create the building blocks that make up protein.
Protein provides the amino acids that prevent muscle from being lost
Protein provides the growth potentiator for new muscle structure via amino acids.
Without essential and complete amino acids, the body’s ability to maximize muscle and minimize body fat is weakened.
When you consume any kind of protein, your body breaks it down into amino acids.
Of all the macros a woman (especially an active, mature one) should consider, it’s protein.
How much protein should I be consuming?
A minimum for basic health where you’re not growing muscle, you’re not active, but you want to preserve as much of what you do have would be 0.4g protein per pound of bodyweight a day.
A 150lb woman would need to bare bones consume at least 60g protein per day. This is not optimal.
This does not mean she’s going to keep all her muscle or bone density as age-related muscle loss (aka sarcopenia) kicks in around her late 30’s. It will, however, help slow the decline a little. Nothing to write home about.
Feel like this isn’t enough protein? It’s not for anyone who is active and concerned about their musculoskeletal health as they age. Like I said, it’s bare bones minimum.
For active women who want to preserve max muscle, maintain/increase bone density, grow muscle, while keeping menopausal body fat accumulation at bay, your bare approximate minimum to potentiate this would be 0.6g protein per pound of bodyweight timed strategically throughout the day to keep a constant stream of amino acids flowing into your muscles.
An active, 40+ year-old, 150lb Everywoman would minimally need 90g protein per day to begin nudging the needle.
❗️This is the bare bones, again. There are multiple variables (sleep, stress, activity level, current fat-to-lean mass ratio, hydration habits, alcohol/smoking habits, body composition goals, carb/fat intake, etc) that would inform her specific protein requirements.
Many former client-athletes may recall on your personalized nutrition programs, I would space 3-4 meals 3-4 hours apart.
Because protein timing is crucial.
If our 150lb Everywoman ate all 90g of her protein in one sitting, she would begin losing muscle about 5-8 hours later and it would continue into the next day (or her next meal).
Let’s call Everywoman “Eve.”
Moreover, Eve’s consumption of carbohydrates and fats would determine how much protein is sent to spare and grow muscle vs. helping to meet the body’s basic energy demands.
Are there dangers of too much protein?
Yes, to your wallet.
All kidding aside, it’s hard to overeat protein if you also have your carbs and fats in balance.
If, however, your goal is to carry less body fat and more muscle, then excessive protein intake becomes a problem via the Caloric Constraint Hypothesis (CCH).
This means once your body has met its unique optimal protein intake, the excess protein will be converted into carbohydrate and act as such in the body in a few ways, depending on your activity level.
The excess protein might:
Replenish muscle glycogen more completely after hypertrophy weightlifting or other similar exercise;
Provide more training energy via blood glucose;
Provide anabolic stimulus; or
Contribute to chronic hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, fat gain and a decline in insulin sensitivity. This, of course, depends on activity level and intake amount of other macros.
What is an optimal range of protein intake for an active, mature woman?
(Immature women tend to survive and thrive on vodka and ramen apparently, so not covering that here. Can prob find that info on TikTok)
Your best bet if you’re weight training wisely — and consistently — in an effort to grow muscle, prevent muscle loss and increase bone density is:
0.8g - 1g of protein per pound of total body mass daily for optimal results.
This means our pal, Eve, at 150lbs should be consuming roughly between 120g -150g of lean protein a day.
This will also vary depending on if it’s a training day or rest day.
Eve should break this total up into at least four meals with carbs and fats filling in the rest of her energy needs.
Some of her protein should be consumed on training days in the form of a peri-workout drink like explained for paying subscribers here:
Being Plant-Based Makes This a Li’l Trickier But Not Impossible
Aside from ethical reasons, vegan, vegetarian and some mishmash of the latter are generally great for keeping total bodyweight low (if that’s your goal).
You could technically be vegan and eat potato chips all day, so it comes down to choices, knowledge and personal desire.
Vegans (especially men) have a more challenging time with increasing muscularity, vegetarians (and variants) have it easier and omnivores have it easiest because animal proteins provide a complete amino acid profile.
Let’s get this out of the way:
Your best plant source of a complete amino acid profile protein is soy and soy products (edamame, tofu, most soy milks, soy protein isolate powders, etc).If you do eat seafood, eggs/egg whites and/or dairy (like whey, casein, cottage cheese) your ability to consume adequate protein becomes exponentially easier.
ABOUT SOY & BREAST CANCER
The Phytoestrogen in soy is 500-10,000x weaker than real estrogen found in factory-farmed dairy products and meats.
Phytoestrogen even blocks your estrogen receptors, thus lowering your risk of breast cancer. Soy is the number one source of isoflavone which lowers your risk of other cancers. One study showed regular consumption of the equivalent of one cup of soy milk daily was associated with up to 38% lower overall mortality among breast cancer patients.
See all studies and sources at end of article.
Again, if you’re strictly vegan, lean soy products are the highest quality proteins available for body recomposition and muscle growth. They need to be on heavy rotation in your diet for maximum results.
🥦But plants have amino acids! Broccoli all day every day!
Yes, plants have amino acids, but almost all of them are incomplete because they don’t contain all nine essential amino acids.
This means you need to mix-n-match your non-animal foods to get the right combo of complete amino acids… or just pick from the lists I put together for you in the free downloads below.
Essential Fatty Acids, Omega 3’s and Omega 6’s
Omega-3 and omega-6 are the only essential fatty acids.
Essential means the body cannot produce them on its own, so we must get essential fatty acids from foods.
Our body has absolutely no need for other fatty acids like trans fats or saturated fats; omega-3 and 6 are the only essential fatty acids humans need.
An ideal ratio of omega-3 to 6 would be 1:2 up to 1:5 but most people have a ratio of around 1:30! This is way too much Omega 6.
You can get plenty of short chain Omega-3’s from nuts and seeds.
If you’re vegan, I highly recommend supplementing with a long chain algae-based Omega-3.
My recommendation is Nordic Naturals Algae Omega.
Other Ideal Supplements if Plant-Based
Protein Isolate Powders: Soy protein powder or pea protein powder. The links are suggestions. Find a brand and flavor you enjoy without added artificial sweeteners and ingredients.
B12 supplement. Vegans, Vegetarians and Omnivores alike are most likely B12 deficient. Follow label instructions.
🥗🛒 Here is a FREE Vegan Optimal Performance Food List Download
Broken Down Into Macro Categories Along with Common Nutrient Data for Ease of Reference:
🥗🏋🏻♀️PLUS, here is a FREE sample Vegan nutrition protocol download for our friend Eve with these assumptions:
Eve is late 40’s/early 50’s, 150 lbs, peri-menopause, in Phase 1 of hypertrophy training cycle
Eve’s Goals: drop body fat, grow muscle, increase bone density
Activity level: Hypertrophy Weightlifts 4x week with active recovery in between.
14-20k steps daily
How to use this peak performance vegan nutrition plan for women:
For training days, use the training day meal plan
For rest days/active recovery days, use the rest day meal plan
Pick foods from each “optimal food list" macro category from the Vegan Optimal Performance Food List Download above and assemble each meal according to this plan and its portions (remember this is for Eve’s body composition and activity level. Adjust as necessary).
Pick one food from each of the four categories to assemble your whole meal:
Veggies
Protein
Fats
Carbs
Enjoy the plant-based body transformation! You’ve got this!
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Thanks for reading, frens! Remember, as Einstein said:
Nothing happens until something moves.
Be the hero of your story!
Michelle
P.S. Have questions? ⬇︎
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