Trying to Calculate Needed Protein from Grams to Ounces

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Serendipity1517
Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello - I have recently reset my Macros to 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fats to help stimulate weight loss after a long plateau. However, when I am trying to determine how many ounces of protein I need per day, the conversion says 28 grams is equivalent to 1 oz of protein. If MFP is telling me I need 146 grams of protein per day, that's only 5.2 ounces of protein? This seems VERY low...

Can anyone here help explain this?
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  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    146 grams is indeed 5 ounces of protein.
    Keep in mind that 4 ounces of lean meat only has about 1 ounce of protein in it.
  • Serendipity1517
    Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
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    I am looking back at how they are calculating the protein from what I've been eating, and I am finding an 8-1 ratio (8 grams for each ounce of protein). For example, my 5 oz of venison today was 42 grams of protein... This seems much more accurate... it would put me at around 18 ounces of protein per day, or roughly 6 ounces with each meal...
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    No, definitely not. Or do you eat 15 oz of venison every meal?
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    And 42 grams of protein in ~140 grams of meat seems way too high. 20-25% of the weight is protein in most meats.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Are you trying to equate grams of protein with ounces of meat?

    Keep in mind that meat is not pure protein (this is what @stevencloser was getting at, I believe.) I'm looking at "deer, ground, pan-broiled" in the USDA database, for example, and it says that each 3 oz serving contains 7 grams of fat in addition to 22 grams of protein (plus small amounts of sodium and potassium.)
  • Serendipity1517
    Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
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    Is something off with their calculating system? That was the conversion for the venison...
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Serendipity1517 wrote: »
    Is something off with their calculating system? That was the conversion for the venison...

    Whose calculating system?
  • Serendipity1517
    Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
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    Yes, I need to know (roughly) how many ounces of protein to eat at each meal to hit my grams needed per day. I've found a few resources that give different measurements for cheese, nuts, beans, meat, and milk to equate to 1 oz of protein...

    I summary, I need a cheat sheet so I don't have to drag a food scale around with me.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    Serendipity1517 wrote: »
    Yes, I need to know (roughly) how many ounces of protein to eat at each meal to hit my grams needed per day. I've found a few resources that give different measurements for cheese, nuts, beans, meat, and milk to equate to 1 oz of protein...

    I summary, I need a cheat sheet so I don't have to drag a food scale around with me.

    I'd just try pre logging a typical day and come up with some "go to" meals. There's lots of things I use for protein, but I try to have at least 3 oz of meat with each meal (I eat a lot of chicken).
  • Serendipity1517
    Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
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    Thank you! That's very helpful. I came up with this little guy during my Google research - I am hoping it helps...nkbmm4deo88l.jpg
  • mbeers22
    mbeers22 Posts: 2 Member
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    Serendipity....
    There are 7 grams of protein in 1 ounce. So, a 3 ounce portion of meat would equal 21g protein. Divide your estimated needs 146g/7g equals about 21 ounces protein for the day. Divide that up how you like for meals, 6 oz for meals plus more for snacks etc.
    Hope that helps.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    I'm confused now. Google tells me 1 ounce is 28 grams.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    mbeers22 wrote: »
    Serendipity....
    There are 7 grams of protein in 1 ounce. So, a 3 ounce portion of meat would equal 21g protein.

    No...meat is not 100% protein.
  • Serendipity1517
    Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
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    By strict weight, 1 oz = 28.3 grams
    so, 5 oz venison = 141.5 grams
    25% of 141.5 = 35.37

    Apparently, venison has a protein content, so 5 oz venison = 42 oz protein...

    I am going to use the estimate that 1 oz. protein = 8 grams protein per food item... This seems to be what most websites are calculating...
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    I understand less and less with every post.
  • Abby2205
    Abby2205 Posts: 253 Member
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    This thread is confusing. One ounce of protein is not 8 grams or 7 grams of protein, it is 28 grams of protein. It sound like what you really want is how many ounces of *protein-containing food* you must eat to achieve your protein goal. This varies depending on the food. For most meats, one ounce (28 g) of meat contains roughly 7 g of protein.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Serendipity1517 wrote: »
    By strict weight, 1 oz = 28.3 grams
    so, 5 oz venison = 141.5 grams
    25% of 141.5 = 35.37

    Apparently, venison has a protein content, so 5 oz venison = 42 oz protein...

    I am going to use the estimate that 1 oz. protein = 8 grams protein per food item... This seems to be what most websites are calculating...

    I followed you through the first two steps but am confused by the third. What is the 25% figure?
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,646 Member
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    I thought I knew math before this thread... now I'm not so sure anymore.
  • Serendipity1517
    Serendipity1517 Posts: 18 Member
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    Lol, stevencloser had said that most meat by weight is 20-25% protein. So I used that math to get the 35.37 amount.

    OK, so if I use the 7 grams of protein per ounce rule, then I have to eat even more... Ugh. How do you do this and not go over calories???
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited November 2015
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    Why are you trying to measure your protein in oz? Food labels measure it in grams. You are over-complicating.

    Knowing the protein goal in oz will NOT tell you how many oz of protein-containing foods you should eat, because how much protein is in those foods will vary (and as others have said, will be FAR less than the weight of the protein-containing food). Edit: also you are going to get protein from foods not normally considered "proteins" like vegetables and grains and of course beans.

    That chart you found makes no sense. For example, it claims 1 egg=1 oz protein. That is not true. 1 oz=28 grams, and an average egg contains only about 6 grams of protein. Similarly, 1 oz of skinless, boneless chicken breast (pre cooking) has only 6 grams of protein. If you use 95% lean beef, it also will have about 6 g of protein per oz, but if you use 80% lean it's only 5 grams.

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