MFP says 138g protein a day

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biziebun
biziebun Posts: 24 Member
in Food and Nutrition
MFP says I need 138g of protein a day, that can't be right or can it? Other online protein calulatirs says I need about 300'ish

33years old male
280lbs
Cardio/weight train 6/week 60mins



Replies

  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    It depends on your macros. I follow my own ratios instead of the ratios on MFP.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    140 is reasonable. 300- not so much. That's a crap load of protein. at 200 pounds you could probably hit the over 140 goal reasonably well- 300 seems like quiet a bit- do able- sure- necessary- probably not.

    I usually tell people anything over 100 is adequate (there are averages and numbers for why I believe that).

    Don't get to hung up on the exacts- it's nice- but don't make yourself crazy- find a split that works for you in terms of goals and satisfaction. A high carb goal doesn't leave me satisfied- I eat to much high calorie not filling food- so I just aim to get in the ball park.

    A lot of people treat fat and protein as minimums and carbs as maximums.

    I just use them as goals to aim for- and if I hit them great- if not- you know what I'm still doing better than not doing anything at all. It's been working for me for several years.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited August 2015
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    According to the Institute for Medicine, 10-35% of calories should come from protein. They recommend 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. For 280 pounds, that would put you at about 102 grams of protein per day.

    Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids

    Weightlifting websites seem to compete with each other by recommending more and more and more protein. If it were me, I wouldn't go over 0.8 grams per pound of Lean Body Mass.
  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
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    140g on a workout day where you exercise for an hour isn't unreasonable.

    USDA minimum RDA is 0.8g/kg. Ranges up to 1.7g/kg for strength training athletes.

    Widely accepted and agreed upon that anything < 2.2g/kg ( 1g/lb ) is safe ... kidney function changes happen at much higher intake levels.

    Recent medical studies show that up to 1.5g/kg is valuable for muscle sparing properties when eating at a deficit ( preserve muscle when combined with strength training ).

    For me, currently targeting 1g/kg my baseline is 100g/day, and increases 25-30g/day on exercise days, depending. I only track my cardio, which is about 40m 3d/week.

  • biziebun
    biziebun Posts: 24 Member
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    Thanks gang for the input.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    .8g/kg/day. It's not really a minimum as in "Don't go lower!" It's the number that will cover most people adequately. And the kilos are of healthy body weight, not adding more because people are fatter.

    The weight lifters are extremely focused on protein and many of them consider an adequate amount as far too low. They want the maximum amount that could possibly do anyone any good. Some want even more than that.

    Different strokes. If you want lots of protein, go for it! If you don't, follow a lower number, like the MFP number.
  • helenrosec1
    helenrosec1 Posts: 82 Member
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    Don't forget large quantities of protein can be harmful.
  • EXNING
    EXNING Posts: 20 Member
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    Woah, ive never heard of needing that much protein to live, that sounds absurd!
    Unless your body building, i know nothing about that so dont mind me. I just know an average lady like myself needs 40-50 grams. I think our western diet makes protein seem to be this ridiculous standard to get us to eat more meat and dairy but hey, cant win them all
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2015
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    The rule for maximum proven benefit for those trying to maintain muscle mass while losing weight and eating at a deficit (which is you) is .8 g/lb of LBM. (Strength training is also important for this, though.) Since you don't know your LBM, probably, .8 of goal weight is safe and you could go a bit lower (.7 or so). For women, I think .6-.8 of goal, but women will have more bodyfat at goal typically.

    Anyway, the MFP goal is likely reasonable, 300 g is crazy.

    As for those saying lower, if there's a benefit to more (in the range I outlined above) for maintaining lean mass I cannot see why someone wouldn't want that. It was important to me.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    EXNING wrote: »
    I think our western diet makes protein seem to be this ridiculous standard to get us to eat more meat and dairy but hey, cant win them all

    I suspect that's in part do to perception of the whole fitness issues we have in our country.

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