How much protein do I need?

This is a question I get a lot, especially from folks just getting started and looking to build some lean muscle mass.  The answer, obviously depends on exactly what your goals are, but there are a couple general guidelines that should be helpful in a general sense.

If you're lifting consistently and working hard, you want to be eating ~1g of protein per pound of body weight per day to give your muscles the building blocks they need to heal.  So, if you weigh 150lbs. and are lifting hard 4x a week, you want to eat somewhere around 150g of protein a day.

I would also suggest ingesting 20-30g of protein immediately following each workout, within 30 minutes of completion.  This will ensure your body has those aminos to start rebuilding the damage you just caused to your muscles - I've found that quick protein and good stretching are the best things to prevent soreness the following day.

A high protein diet is the easiest way to give your body what it needs - fish, beef, chicken, and turkey are all excellent sources of protein.  Less obvious friends include eggs (hard boiled egg whites are my favorite), nuts, seeds, beef jerky, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt, and milk.

Of course, there are supplements, too.  Protein shakes and bars are everywhere - GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, your gym - even the grocery store!  A bar or shake can be a quick and easy way to meet part of your daily protein needs.  I have some personal favorites that I'm happy to share - after 15 years of pushing protein, trust me, I've been through plenty of good and bad.

Purchasing:
The best prices I've found are at DPS Nutrition.  It's usually worth checking a couple other places, just in case, so I also look at All Star Health and even Amazon.  Sometimes Amazon has free shipping on things, which can be helpful.  DPS and AllStar have low or flat shipping rates on most products, which helps keep the costs down, and their prices are well below what you would find at the brick and mortar establishments.

Shakes:
There are two kinds of shakes - ready to drink (RTD) and powders (which you mix with milk or water).  For the ready to drink variety, I recommend ABB's Pure Pro shakes - the chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream flavors are all palatable, they provide 35 grams of quick protein, and only cost a skosh over $2 a shake.  For powder, I generally use BSN's Syntha6 protein - chocolate, mochachino, strawberry, and vanilla all taste fantastic (I'm not kidding - even my wife likes the mochachino), the only drawback being the cholesterol (a factor in the great taste, I'm sure) - keep in mind the nutritional listing is per scoop, and generally your shake will be 1.5-2 scoops.

Bars:
Generally speaking, I prefer shakes to bars.  That said, there are a couple bars I would recommend - Clif Builder Bars are mostly organic and contain 20g of protein while still tasting great.  I eat one for breakfast most days.  When I need a change of pace, I'll shift to a Zone Perfect bar - it's not quite as healthy, but the chocolate peanut butter is so good it's crazy, and they still have 14g of protein.

Hope this is helpful, and keep working hard.