Quote:
Originally Posted by smittygouv
I listened to an interview with John Berardi and he recommended 10g per day. Too much? I really believe in his stuff, he also recommends 400-500g of protein for a 200lb man.
|
You may want to check your belief criteria. Scientific evidence - versus faith in the words of any particular individual - is the best bet.
Daily creatine 'turnover' is on average about 2g/day. So for folks who don't eat large amounts of red meat, supplementing with anything beyond 2g/day as a maintenance dose would be a good conservative starting point. Loading schemes in the literature are typically 20g/day for 5 days, then a maintenance protocol of 2-5g/day follows that. No where in the scientific literature I've come across recommends a 10g/day maintenance dose. Bear in mind that once intramuscular creatine saturation is reached, any amount beyond that is excreted, so the loading phase only serves to achieve saturation more quickly. There's no way to load creatine in muscle beyond its pre-set limit. Regardless of loading or not, most individuals will reach saturation within a month.
As for setting protein dose at 2-2.5g/lb, there's quite simply no scientific evidence that this is necessary or beneficial for adding lean mass. Half of this amount is a good ballpark starting point from which to fudge up or down as needed. In general, those at caloric maintenance or above need less protein, those who are hypocaloric (dieting) need slightly more.