When you eat a big protein meal (100g) after working out, a larger portion of the protein building blocks for your muscles comes directly from that meal (27%) compared to a smaller meal (9%).
Scientific Claim
The ingestion of protein after resistance exercise results in a greater contribution of exogenous-protein-derived amino acids to muscle protein synthesis with higher protein doses, with 27% of myofibrillar protein synthesis coming from dietary protein after 100g protein ingestion in healthy young men.
Source Excerpt
“We observed that exogenous-protein-derived amino acids contributed 9% and 27% to total amino acid incorporation following the ingestion of a meal-like amount of protein (25PRO) and the large amount of protein (100PRO), respectively (Figure 6H).”
Evidence from Studies
Supporting Studies
The anabolic response to protein ingestion during recovery from exercise has no upper limit in magnitude and duration in vivo in humans
The study used intrinsically labeled protein to directly measure the contribution of dietary protein to muscle protein synthesis. The data shows a dose-dependent increase in the contribution of exogenous amino acids to muscle protein synthesis.