When you eat a big protein meal (100g) after working out, your muscles absorb more of that protein for building than when you eat a smaller meal (25g) - about 13% of the big meal gets used for muscle building.
Scientific Claim
Ingesting 100 grams of protein after resistance exercise results in a greater incorporation of dietary-protein-derived amino acids into skeletal muscle tissue compared to 25 grams of protein, with 13% of the ingested protein incorporated into muscle over 12 hours in healthy young men.
Source Excerpt
“Dietary-protein-derived amino acid incorporation into skeletal muscle essentially increased linearly over the entire postprandial following the ingestion of 100 g protein (13 g or 13% of the ingested protein).”
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 amino acid incorporation into muscle tissue. The data shows that 13% of the 100g protein was incorporated into muscle tissue over 12 hours, compared to 12-18% for 25g protein.