PROTEIN: Is there such a thing as too much?

Rachelesa94

You should generally eat a gram of protein per your lb of lean body mass. You can manually change your macros percentages to change your goals.

Thanks! I had never heard of 1 gram per 1 lb before. Will change my macros to suit this. Thanks heaps!!

ndj1979

this thread again?????? ...ughhhh can you say dead horse...

nleighp

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

Rachelesa94

I also was curious about this and so I did some searching on this site and found quiet a few pages about it. From what I gathered MFP sets protein too low and unless you have an underlying kidney condition you shouldnt worry about your protein, I dont think you ate too much in one day, most of the post ive read people shoot for between 70-110g a day. It got so frusterating for me, I have taken 'protein' off of my diary so I dont have to see it in the red all the time lol!

I also found a nice little page outside of MFP and wanted to share it with you:

http://www.fitsugar.com/How-Much-Protein-Should-I-Eat-165578 (So as you can see, it varies from person to person depending on weight and activity level.) It may not be very accurate but atleast it helps (:

Thanks for the link!The graph was really helpful! I think mfp made my protein goal so low because i put that i am not very active but that doesn't take into account my exercise..

Rachelesa94

this thread again?????? ...ughhhh can you say dead horse...

Sorry I don't mean to be annoying..
I'm kind of new at the forum thing and not sure how to search up old posts yet..
Was just looking for some help.. which is what i thought the forums were for..

melindasuefritz

She says that's because a diet in which protein makes up more than 30% of your caloric intake causes a buildup of toxic ketones. So-called ketogenic diets can thrust your kidneys into overdrive in order to flush these ketones from your body. As your kidneys rid your body of these toxic ketones, you can lose a significant amount of water, which puts you at risk of dehydration, particularly if you exercise heavily.

That water loss often shows up on the scale as weight loss. But along with losing water, you lose muscle mass and bone calcium. The dehydration also strains your kidneys and puts stress on your heart.

And dehydration from a ketogenic diet can make you feel weak and dizzy, give you bad breath, or lead to other problems.

CoderGal

I've always been taught to eat a high protein diet.
Today my protein consisted of:

Egg whites
Chicken
Protein Shake (with fat burner)

MFP has given me a goal of 45grams of protein a day.
But today i managed to eat 106grams...

I know it's good to eat protein,
But my questions to you are..
Did i eat too much protein for one day?
How much protein do you eat a day?

Keeping in mind i'm 19 female trying to loose 8 kgs/tone currently weighing around 62kgs
I eat 1200 cals a day and burn 200-300 a day.

Thanks for the help

MFP macros for protein is set as a minimum for a healthy weighted female to avoid deficiency problems. You should ALWAYS try to make that number turn red. If you exercise regularly, I'd stick to about 1.8g/kg of body weight (or .8g/lb of body weight)

Then again I wouldn't stick to the minimum 1200 calorie number either. I know 4'9 women who are eating far above that. I'm almost underweight and eat about 2100. To get an idea of what is healthy the average female needs about 2000 cals a day to get most of their nutrition. If you're eating that little, your nutrition is going to suffer for a while so it really depends how long you stick to it. A lot of people will argue they take vitamins but you need so much fat to absorb most of them since they're fat soluble, you need so much protein to retain LBM as you lose weight, and carbs are great for muscle repair. If you take the minimum food route, be careful. My feet were constantly cold and I lost hair that way before I read into things and it finally hit me why.

Rachelesa94

I think MFP protein goals are low. I try to get between 80 and 100 per day. There probably is such a thing as too much but I don't know what that number is. I like more protein than MFP recommends because it helps me to stay full longer.

Protein definitely keeps me full for longer too! Plus i love chicken so it's great haha

Rachelesa94

MFP sets protein too low. To set your macros, check out this link: 

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/911011-calculating-calorie-macronutrient-needs?page=1#posts-13821336

Also, it's hard to have too much protein. 

"It has been observed that the human liver cannot safely metabolise much more than 285-365 g of protein per day (for an 80 kg person), and human kidneys are similarly limited in their capability to remove urea (a byproduct of protein catabolism) from the bloodstream. Exceeding that amount results in excess levels of amino acids, ammonia (hyperammonemia), and/or urea in the bloodstream, with potentially fatal consequences,[1] especially if the person switches to a high-protein diet without giving time for the levels of his or her hepatic enzymes to upregulate. Since protein only contains 4 kcal/gram, and a typical adult human requires in excess of 1900 kcal to maintain the energy balance, it is possible to exceed the safe intake of protein if one is subjected to a high-protein diet with little or no fat or carbohydrates. However, given the lack of scientific data on the effects of high-protein diets, and the observed ability of the liver to compensate over a few days for a shift in protein intake, the US Food and Nutrition Board does not set a Tolerable Upper Limit nor upper Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range for protein.[2] Furthermore, medical sources such as UpToDate[3] do not include listings on this topic." 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

Thanks so much for the link! Very helpful

Rachelesa94

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

That's something i was worried about, because of my low calorie burn can the protein have negative effects.
But seems as though what i thought was a high protein intake isn't actually that high.

Yogi_Carl

OK - so where does the recommendation for 1g per kilo come from?
Other sites give 0.8g per kilo?

Not saying 1g per pound is wrong, but there appears to be a wide load of advice out there.

Rachelesa94

MFP macros for protein is set as a minimum for a healthy weighted female to avoid deficiency problems. You should ALWAYS try to make that number turn red. If you exercise regularly, I'd stick to about 1.8g/kg of body weight (or .8g/lb of body weight)

Then again I wouldn't stick to the minimum 1200 calorie number either. I know 4'9 women who are eating far above that. I'm almost underweight and eat about 2100. To get an idea of what is healthy the average female needs about 2000 cals a day to get most of their nutrition. If you're eating that little, your nutrition is going to suffer for a while so it really depends how long you stick to it. A lot of people will argue they take vitamins but you need so much fat to absorb most of them since they're fat soluble, you need so much protein to retain LBM as you lose weight, and carbs are great for muscle repair. If you take the minimum food route, be careful. My feet were constantly cold and I lost hair that way before I read into things and it finally hit me why.

I am one of those people who takes lots of vitamins and supplements for an easy way of getting some nutrition..
But i've had a lot of experience with under eating and over eating and i am finally eating healthily and 1200 seems to suit me.
I don't log until the very end of the day so sometimes i do end up going over but no big deal.
I realise that 1200 is the very minimum i should eat but i am trying to loose quite a bit of weight still so that's why i have 1200 as my goal.
Thanks for the advice

CoderGal

OK - so where does the recommendation for 1g per kilo come from?
Other sites give 0.8g per kilo?

Not saying 1g per pound is wrong, but there appears to be a wide load of advice out there.

It really depends on who you are and what you do.

The following increases your need for protein:
talller then average
heavier then average
more active then average
male
etc.

The .8g is usually .8g/lb. Unless you're talking about a calculated minimum number for sedentary females and not taking into account their energy metabolism, at which point that is a recommend minimum number offered by the RDI. "The American and Canadian guidelines recommend a daily protein dietary allowance, measured as intake per kilogram body weight, is 0.8 g/kg.[15] However, this recommendation is based on structural requirements, but disregards use of protein for energy metabolism.[15] This requirement is for a normal sedentary person.[17]" -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_(nutrient)

They also have some faults with how they calculated this number. Check out this read:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/869015-fundamental-flaws-with-rda-recommendations-for-protein

I (and many others) highly recommend more.

The crazies I've heard of who end up killing their livers have always been far over the 2.5g/kg range.

0OneTwo3

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

That's something i was worried about, because of my low calorie burn can the protein have negative effects.
But seems as though what i thought was a high protein intake isn't actually that high.

if i'm not mistaken 200-300 kcal are equivalent of 30 mins of running or 1h of weight lifting. done every day this is a good amount of exercise and definitely requires a lot more than the default 45g of protein to allow full recovery.

CoderGal

MFP macros for protein is set as a minimum for a healthy weighted female to avoid deficiency problems. You should ALWAYS try to make that number turn red. If you exercise regularly, I'd stick to about 1.8g/kg of body weight (or .8g/lb of body weight)

Then again I wouldn't stick to the minimum 1200 calorie number either. I know 4'9 women who are eating far above that. I'm almost underweight and eat about 2100. To get an idea of what is healthy the average female needs about 2000 cals a day to get most of their nutrition. If you're eating that little, your nutrition is going to suffer for a while so it really depends how long you stick to it. A lot of people will argue they take vitamins but you need so much fat to absorb most of them since they're fat soluble, you need so much protein to retain LBM as you lose weight, and carbs are great for muscle repair. If you take the minimum food route, be careful. My feet were constantly cold and I lost hair that way before I read into things and it finally hit me why.

I am one of those people who takes lots of vitamins and supplements for an easy way of getting some nutrition..
But i've had a lot of experience with under eating and over eating and i am finally eating healthily and 1200 seems to suit me.
I don't log until the very end of the day so sometimes i do end up going over but no big deal.
I realise that 1200 is the very minimum i should eat but i am trying to loose quite a bit of weight still so that's why i have 1200 as my goal.
Thanks for the advice

No problem, just keep in mind there are many people in the dieting world who would consider eating 1200 calories healthy and nobody in the healthy world would consider eating that regularly healthy. Also, many people who under eat end up getting rid of water weight and LBM which isn't really ideal. Most people want to lose weight and firm up. I talk from experience, I did the 1200 calories thing for many months and did a lot of research during and after. I am highly against it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/637094-cinderella-s-weight-loss-knowledge

^I recommend reading everything from the title "Glycogen" and down

In the end it is your body and your choice. If you supplemented strength training and were lucky enough to not get injured by the lack of refuel to repair your body then you could end up pretty lean.

Acg67

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

Only the first link was pertaining to athletes. So what is a proper carb to fat to protein ratio?

CoderGal

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

That's something i was worried about, because of my low calorie burn can the protein have negative effects.
But seems as though what i thought was a high protein intake isn't actually that high.

if i'm not mistaken 200-300 kcal are equivalent of 30 mins of running or 1h of weight lifting. done every day this is a good amount of exercise and definitely requires a lot more than the default 45g of protein to allow full recovery.

I'll just throw it out there that I came here and dropped my protein because this site told me to and all my nails cracked off within 3 weeks and my hair got fairly dry. Everyone told me to eat more protein but everyone seemed to be a big muscle head in my mind throwing out athlete stuff. Well, eventually I took the advice and I'm definitely not sorry. Nails are longer then anyone I know and there were long stents of time where I was sedentary and exercising none and eating over 100g of protein every day at 120lbs. Keep in mind that the majority of people on this site are on calorie restrictions. And they don't want to be flabby and more protein is linked to more LBM. The point of many of those 'athlete' studies out there is to show that the more protein you eat, the more muscle mass you'll save. Not only that but there are many proteins out there that are essential to have in your body and on 1200 cals well, you're not getting much period. The MFP recommendation is very low. Particularly to those that are overweight.

CoderGal

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

Only the first link was pertaining to athletes. So what is a proper carb to fat to protein ratio?

Yes, I am also interested in hearing that one lol. People have been trying to figure that one out forever, perhaps this one holds the key (no offense intended, but this is a highly debated topic and it's highly debated for a reason).

CoderGal

Acg67 all of your research applies to true athletes. OP says she works off 200-300 calories a day-- that's like walking around as normal for the day. I agree, athlete's bodies can tolerate more. The average, day-to-day person should not.

Overloading the body with amino acids and not maintaining a proper carb to fat to protein ratio is not healthful and can be extremely detrimental. That's all I'm saying.

That's something i was worried about, because of my low calorie burn can the protein have negative effects.
But seems as though what i thought was a high protein intake isn't actually that high.

Most people fall into that trap, I was also one of them for a while...I think I actually argued with ACG over it at some point. Mostly because he comes off having a strong personality who needed a punch in the strong exterior and I was a flabby weak girl that didn't think I should be in the same category. For comparison I'm 125lbs and eat over 100g daily and have for over a year now. If I was over weight I would need more. I exercise now but there were about 6 months I wasn't and worked 9-5 on a computer and sat at a computer at home. If anything my nails and hair got stronger. And when I was exercising hard I was having over 130g daily for a while and was waiting for a bad 'feeling' even if it was in my head because I wasn't use to trying to get more protein. I felt fantastic.

cwolfman13

I try to get about 1 gram per Lb of LBM...I usually end up with slightly more than that. I generally get between 25-30% of my diet in fat and round out the rest with carbs.