It says I'm having too much protein. what is the downfall of to much protein?

Pascoe76
Pascoe76 Posts: 36 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm new to this healthy eating and exercising. ive been good lost 11kg in a month but I have noticed my protein levels in my food diary are always in the red. by an average of 55-65. i exercise i do on average 10,000 to 16,000 steps a day will this help balance my over proteiness ( if thats a word )

Replies

  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited June 2016
    56 grams per day minimum for the average sedentary man
    You only get 55 to 65? You consider that too much?
    Is this a typo?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Not much unless you have medical concerns for your kidneys.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
    edited June 2016
    post deleted
  • DanIsACyclingFool
    DanIsACyclingFool Posts: 417 Member
    edited June 2016
    The levels may be shown in red because they're too low, not too high. In any event, they ARE pretty low. You should look into eating macros in a more optimum balance. Try here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    The main idea is that when you're in a caloric deficit and losing weight you'd like as much of that weight as possible to be fat, not lean body mass. Eating adequate protein (and ideally, supplementing with resistance training) is a big part of that battle. In fact, you'd be better off slightly over-eating protein than under-eating it.

    Regardless of where your appropriate protein level is for your activity, to answer your original question: protein in excess of your requirements are treated by the body as extra calories, no different than any other calories consumed. In addition, your kidneys have to do a little extra work to excrete the byproducts. So long as you have no underlying medical conditions (such as poor kidney function) then you'd have to grossly over-consume protein to be doing any harm, but it's not impossible if one is truly determined. The kidneys will probably feel the strain first.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    edited June 2016
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    56 grams per day minimum for the average sedentary man
    You only get 55 to 65? You consider that too much?
    Is this a typo?

    He's over by that amount. No typo.

    @Pascoe76 Don't worry about it, being over proteins by that amount is pretty healthy.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    You will eliminate (goes right through you) any surplus proteins. Not a problem.
  • WendyLaubach
    WendyLaubach Posts: 518 Member
    As far as I've been able to gather in reading up on this informally for the last few months, you don't need to worry about eating too much protein unless you're in kidney failure. As for eating too little, lots of people think it's a problem for maintaining lean muscle mass, and although I'm not 100% persuaded it's not a fad, it is a very widespread and firmly held belief. After all, you have to eat something, and you'll always find people to tell you not to eat too much fat or carbs, either, and that's the only 3 choices you have: fat, protein, and carbs. But honestly, try not to get too tangled up in your macro targets. Are you hitting your calorie budget every day? Are you losing weight? Do you feel well, strong, and reasonably satiated? Those are the important things.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    If you're active and losing weight (especially if you're lifting and want to retain muscle mass) it's best to get .8 to 1.2 grams per pound of goal weight as a minimum. Anything above that is optional but not detrimental (assuming you still get adequate fat in your diet).

    No negative affects from overconsumption of protein have been discovered in those with healthy kidneys. Even as much as 2 grams per pound of bodyweight and more.

    As for walking balancing out the protein...it doesn't work like that. Walking just burns calories in general. But again, you don't need it to balance out any protein anyway.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    If you're active and losing weight (especially if you're lifting and want to retain muscle mass) it's best to get .8 to 1.2 grams per pound of goal weight as a minimum. Anything above that is optional but not detrimental (assuming you still get adequate fat in your diet).

    No negative affects from overconsumption of protein have been discovered in those with healthy kidneys. Even as much as 2 grams per pound of bodyweight and more.

    As for walking balancing out the protein...it doesn't work like that. Walking just burns calories in general. But again, you don't need it to balance out any protein anyway.

    And this. As a female eating in a deficit, I'm aiming to get around 130ish grams of protein per day.

    If you're consistently in the red and you aren't concerned about your protein intake for medical reasons, you can just change your macro goals here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals/daily_nutrition_goals
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    MFP's default protein goal is too low.
  • Pascoe76
    Pascoe76 Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you guys yeah it wasn't a huge amount I was just interested to know. Have a good day
  • mstardarsauce
    mstardarsauce Posts: 11 Member
    it's ok to have 8 meals with 50gr protein if needed for bodybuilding. i eat up to 200-250gr per day when building muscles. my coaches always told me not to eat more than 50gr each meal, cause the body cant use more than 50gr, what you eat more will be metabolizing to carbs.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    mstardarsauce wrote: »
    it's ok to have 8 meals with 50gr protein if needed for bodybuilding. i eat up to 200-250gr per day when building muscles. my coaches always told me not to eat more than 50gr each meal, cause the body cant use more than 50gr, what you eat more will be metabolizing to carbs.

    What on earth does that mean?

    are you saying you've been told excess protein converts to carbs? or did I misread that?

    (I wouldn't worry about eating over 50g protein per meal I think you may well have been misinformed there)
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    edited June 2016
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    mstardarsauce wrote: »
    it's ok to have 8 meals with 50gr protein if needed for bodybuilding. i eat up to 200-250gr per day when building muscles. my coaches always told me not to eat more than 50gr each meal, cause the body cant use more than 50gr, what you eat more will be metabolizing to carbs.

    What on earth does that mean?

    are you saying you've been told excess protein converts to carbs? or did I misread that?

    (I wouldn't worry about eating over 50g protein per meal I think you may well have been misinformed there)

    If she has 180 lbs of LBM and is in competition, it might make sense to eat those amounts. Otherwise, lol.

    Excess protein doesn't get pooped out, what actually happens is that your body slows digestion and absorption still occurs - excess amino acids (from protein) are used to create lipids (not carbs, lipids are then possibly stored as fat). But in reality, only when significant excess is available. If one is training hard, meeting calorie limits or even at a slight excess, this is not a concern. Protein isn't significantly used as a lipid source.

    (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22215165)
  • jmaidan
    jmaidan Posts: 93 Member
    lol that's a crazy low amount of protein. I consistently eat 180g+ and have no ill effects. Apparently it can cause calcium buildup in your joints and isn't great for your kidneys if you are frequently dehydrated or taxing them in other ways. Really not much to worry about though, I know guys who eat 400g+ per day with no ill effect.
  • Pascoe76
    Pascoe76 Posts: 36 Member
    jmaidan wrote: »
    lol that's a crazy low amount of protein. I consistently eat 180g+ and have no ill effects. Apparently it can cause calcium buildup in your joints and isn't great for your kidneys if you are frequently dehydrated or taxing them in other ways. Really not much to worry about though, I know guys who eat 400g+ per day with no ill effect.

    Remaining 1,880 235 63 94 2,300 71
    Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium Sugar
    this is what it tells me i can have. im having an extra 60 protein on top of that

    i just follow what it tells me to do im losing weight im not complaining i just dont want to wake up one day with a horn growin out of my head due to a protein side effect. but general consensus is im ok
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Pascoe76 wrote: »
    jmaidan wrote: »
    lol that's a crazy low amount of protein. I consistently eat 180g+ and have no ill effects. Apparently it can cause calcium buildup in your joints and isn't great for your kidneys if you are frequently dehydrated or taxing them in other ways. Really not much to worry about though, I know guys who eat 400g+ per day with no ill effect.

    Remaining 1,880 235 63 94 2,300 71
    Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium Sugar
    this is what it tells me i can have. im having an extra 60 protein on top of that

    i just follow what it tells me to do im losing weight im not complaining i just dont want to wake up one day with a horn growin out of my head due to a protein side effect. but general consensus is im ok

    Yup, it's setting you very low. I'd just change the proportions around and cut down your carbs and add more protein. Or just ignore that it tells you you're in the red.

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