Is too much protein bad for you?
x311sublimex
Posts: 40 Member
So was browsing around the internet and came across a blog that stated that it was bad to have too much protein (it was a vegan blog, and no I'm not vegan or vegetarian) they recommended that it should be no more than 0.4g per body weight even if you're working out to be a body builder. But I have fitness books that recommend that I should be consuming 0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per body weight each day. I usually hit around 130-150g per day and I workout 3-4 times a week, 1-1.5hr per session. Also read that too much protein can make you fat. Anyone have any sites that can clear this info up? The ones I've been coming across are saying either or and I don't want to do my body any harm in the long terms of things.
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Replies
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I'm a vegan and I'm consuming closer to 1.5 and currently on a powerlifting style training cycle. I drink plenty of water, am seeing good gains, and my doctor is pleased with all of my blood tests.
I'm currently fluctuating between 220 and 225lbs bodyweight and between 17- 22% bodyfat based on caliper measure.
I wouldn't be concerned unless you have a history of kidney problems, don't stay well hydrated, or are consuming more than your TDEE.
*Edited because typing and grammar are hard.2 -
0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
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0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Yea just wanted to make sure I wasn't over doing it with the protein and doing harm to my body than good. I usually eat around 25-30g of protein per meal or snack. I just recently went on a lean mass diet. I was getting a lot of belly fat and wanted to reduce my daily calorie intake. Been in the 1800-2200 range and my belly has gone down. I don't know if I should cut more calories or not yet going to wait another month or so and see how it goes before determining that.
What would you guys say for someone that lifts 3-4 times a week for a 1-1.5hr per session and that is 162lb. and 5'9"?
I do all the big compound lifts each session and usually drenched in sweat.
My TDEE is recommended at ~2500 but when I was eating around that much I was gaining a lot of belly fat.
Also my body fat is sitting around 20% or so and my goal is 10-15% body fat.
Any suggestions on my diet?0 -
Known and unknown kidney problems could be exacerbated by excess protein.
Increase consumption of animal protein may increase your consumption of saturated fats which are not great for your health. A study suggested a relationship between high protein intake and prostate cancer. Excess protein may also have some implications for people with diabetes.
Multiple studies suggest that, at least in the short term, protein at 2x the RDA and at up to 1g per lb of lean mass provides benefits in terms of lean mass retention, or lean mass creation, during either caloric deficits, or surpluses.
During a caloric surplus excess protein (just like excess carbohydrates, or excess fat) will be stored as fat.
The thermic effect of protein (the cost of the body of using protein as an energy source) is higher than that of using fat or carbohydrates. This effect (and any differences to it caused by different levels of macro consumption) remains small in terms of your overall TDEE as the total thermic effect of all your food combined is generally less than 10% of your TDEE.
For myself, I am personally aiming to consume AROUND 1g of protein per lb of lean mass.
While I was obese, I aimed for 0.8g of protein per lb of the top of the normal weight range associated with my height.
Having said that, vegans, including ones who do not specifically seek to combine complimentary proteins but who do eat a variety of foods, seldom waste away.0 -
0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Wouldn't that be 160 grams? 200lbs at 20% I mean...0 -
It took me a long time to find my relative TDEE. I spend several months experimenting, eating one amount, seeing if there was gain, loss, or maintenance and making adjustments based on that. After several months, I was able to determine that my TDEE is roughly 2800 and in order to lose, I needed to eat less than that.
In my case, there was a lot of trial and error and self experimentation going on during this process.
I'd suggest picking an intake amount, eating that for 4-6 weeks and look at the overall trend in weight and measurements. I say trend, because I tend to fluctuate up to 10lbs in a day based on when I weigh, how much I've eaten, whether I've been to the restroom, etc.
Once you see a trend, you know how to adjust, be it up or down... you can then adjust your calorie intake as needed. For me, another key factor was to get out of a rushed mindset. The more I thought about how much I wanted this now, the worse the journey was for me. I had to change my mindset to a long term view... look at it like, "well, it might take me years to get there, but then again, it took me years to get fat, so that makes sense"
I lost from 280 or so, to 185, roughly and am now increasing weight again currently at 225. I've been at this for years now and can't say that I regret any of it. Sometimes the journey was hard... sometimes easy. Sometimes there were set backs. But all of it was a learning experience and it's helped me to better understand myself, my body, and my nutritional needs.
*edited for clarity... as if anything that I say ever makes any sense.1 -
x311sublimex wrote: »0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Yea just wanted to make sure I wasn't over doing it with the protein and doing harm to my body than good. I usually eat around 25-30g of protein per meal or snack. I just recently went on a lean mass diet. I was getting a lot of belly fat and wanted to reduce my daily calorie intake. Been in the 1800-2200 range and my belly has gone down. I don't know if I should cut more calories or not yet going to wait another month or so and see how it goes before determining that.
What would you guys say for someone that lifts 3-4 times a week for a 1-1.5hr per session and that is 162lb. and 5'9"?
I do all the big compound lifts each session and usually drenched in sweat.
My TDEE is recommended at ~2500 but when I was eating around that much I was gaining a lot of belly fat.
Also my body fat is sitting around 20% or so and my goal is 10-15% body fat.
Any suggestions on my diet?
You're at a normal weight already. Do not drop calories any more especially since you are already losing weight. Continue training.
Use a trending weight application or program as most people who are cutting slow enough to minimize lean mass loss at a normal weight can't even tell they're losing weight on a day to day basis (ergo if you can tell you're probably cutting faster than I would consider optimal).
Whether your intake is adequately measured, or whether you were really gaining on a correctly measured 2500 TDEE remains open to question. Were you really logging your food and measuring everything in grams and picking correct database entries while you were gaining belly fat? Were you training at the same time duration and intensity as you are now?
A 10% to 20% cut off of your TDEE is generally considered safe.
While involved in a progressive training program I would expect you to show appreciable water weight gain after an intense lifting session. This is not fat and is associated with the muscle repair process.
Do not expect to drop 1lb per 3500 logged deficit if you are involved in the first 6-8 months of a weight training program. In the presence of enough fat reserves and a new stimulus you are likely also developing some additional lean mass. The larger the deficit... the smaller the amount of new lean mass.0 -
0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Wouldn't that be 160 grams? 200lbs at 20% I mean...
Yeah. LOL. Something like that. Glad someone around here can math.0 -
0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Wouldn't that be 160 grams? 200lbs at 20% I mean...
Yeah. LOL. Something like that. Glad someone around here can math.
:P hope you know I was just messin' with ya.
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Excess protein can put extra stress on the kidneys, so a very high protein intake is often not recommended for someone with kidney disease or someone who is at a very high risk for developing it (uncontrolled diabetes). People with Parkinsons on Carbidopa-levodopa (Sinemet) should also consume a low-protein diet, because a high protein intake decreases the drug's absorption.1
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0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Wouldn't that be 160 grams? 200lbs at 20% I mean...
Yeah. LOL. Something like that. Glad someone around here can math.
:P hope you know I was just messin' with ya.
#RageQuit0 -
I've been trying to find anything that can prove or disprove that. All I've been finding are blogs with bogus references. One blog I came across that said protein makes you gain weight. I wanted to look at the references that were provided and what I found was the only thing that was stated about too much protein was that there wasn't enough data to conclude too much protein is in any way harmful. I've also looked in to research medical papers from what I could find about the issue. So too much protein has not been proven to be harmful, but is also not entirely discredited.0
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There is a vegan bariatric surgeon, Dr. Garth Davis, that lives and promotes a vegan lifestyle. He wrote a book about the potential problems linked to a high protein diet called Proteinaholic. I'm not worried enough to even go vegetarian but I've certainly changed my view on how much protein (especially meat based) that I really need in my diet.0
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It's 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get the 1.0
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »It's 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get the 1.
For whom?
Someone at maintenance? In a deficit? Doing endurance cardio? Doing serious weight lifting/strength training?
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The word being missed out is "lean". 1g per lean kg of body mass.0
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An important point to keep in mind is that the potential for harm exists if protein is consumed in excess. Such harm is most likely to occur in the individual who consumes protein or amino acid supplements.
For example, excess protein may lead to dehydration, because protein metabolism requires extra water for utilization and excretion (i.e., elimination) of its by-products. Since exercising individuals are already at an increased risk for dehydration, the additional strain of protein waste excretion may further promote dehydration.
Excess protein has also been shown to lead to an increase in the loss of urinary calcium. A chronic calcium loss, due to excess protein intake, is of particular concern because it may increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in women.0 -
mochachichi wrote: »An important point to keep in mind is that the potential for harm exists if protein is consumed in excess. Such harm is most likely to occur in the individual who consumes protein or amino acid supplements.
For example, excess protein may lead to dehydration, because protein metabolism requires extra water for utilization and excretion (i.e., elimination) of its by-products. Since exercising individuals are already at an increased risk for dehydration, the additional strain of protein waste excretion may further promote dehydration.
Excess protein has also been shown to lead to an increase in the loss of urinary calcium. A chronic calcium loss, due to excess protein intake, is of particular concern because it may increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in women.
http://nutritionfacts.org/2014/07/31/does-animal-protein-cause-osteoporosis/
What seemed to be happening is that the excess protein consumption boosted calcium absorption, from down around 19% up to 26%. All of a sudden there was all this extra calcium in the blood, so presumably the kidneys are like “whoa, what are we going to do with it all?” So they dump it into the urine. 90% of the extra calcium in the urine after eating a steak doesn’t appear to be coming from our bones but from our diet. We’re not sure why protein boosts calcium absorption. Maybe protein increases the solubility of calcium by stimulating stomach acid production? Whatever the reason, there was indeed more calcium lost, but also more calcium gained such that in the end, most of that extra calcium is accounted for. In effect, more calcium is lost in the urine stream, but it may be compensated by less loss of calcium through the fecal stream.2 -
mochachichi wrote: »An important point to keep in mind is that the potential for harm exists if protein is consumed in excess. Such harm is most likely to occur in the individual who consumes protein or amino acid supplements.
For example, excess protein may lead to dehydration, because protein metabolism requires extra water for utilization and excretion (i.e., elimination) of its by-products. Since exercising individuals are already at an increased risk for dehydration, the additional strain of protein waste excretion may further promote dehydration.
Excess protein has also been shown to lead to an increase in the loss of urinary calcium. A chronic calcium loss, due to excess protein intake, is of particular concern because it may increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in women.
So what is excess protein consumption?0 -
0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Wouldn't that be 160 grams? 200lbs at 20% I mean...
.8 g per lb at 200 lbs = 160 g, but 1 g per lb at 200 lbs is 200 g. 180 g is the average of the two.0 -
ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »The word being missed out is "lean". 1g per lean kg of body mass.
The word being missed out is "minimum". That's the absolute ABSOLUTE minimum ANYONE should EVER consume on average. It's how much you need to not become deficient. It is not optimal even for a sedentary person.0 -
0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound body weight is pretty standard. I've also seen it quantified as 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. (200 lbs @ 20% body fat = 180 grams a day). If you're staying in this range you have nothing to worry about.
Protein doesn't make you fat. Excess calories makes you fat.
Wouldn't that be 160 grams? 200lbs at 20% I mean...
.8 g per lb at 200 lbs = 160 g, but 1 g per lb at 200 lbs is 200 g. 180 g is the average of the two.
Thanks, Will Hunting.0 -
stevencloser wrote: »ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »The word being missed out is "lean". 1g per lean kg of body mass.
The word being missed out is "minimum". That's the absolute ABSOLUTE minimum ANYONE should EVER consume on average. It's how much you need to not become deficient. It is not optimal even for a sedentary person.
According to the article, there is normally no advantage to consume anymore than 0.82g per lb. I think I'd prefer to go on a recommendation from some half decent research than a dude I don't know on an Internet forum.
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ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »The word being missed out is "lean". 1g per lean kg of body mass.
The word being missed out is "minimum". That's the absolute ABSOLUTE minimum ANYONE should EVER consume on average. It's how much you need to not become deficient. It is not optimal even for a sedentary person.
According to the article, there is normally no advantage to consume anymore than 0.82g per lb. I think I'd prefer to go on a recommendation from some half decent research than a dude I don't know on an Internet forum.
Make up your mind. You first stated 1gr per kg of lean mass, versus .82 per lb, which you are saying now. Which one is it cause 1 is about double the amount.1 -
x311sublimex wrote: »So was browsing around the internet and came across a blog that stated that it was bad to have too much protein (it was a vegan blog, and no I'm not vegan or vegetarian) they recommended that it should be no more than 0.4g per body weight even if you're working out to be a body builder. But I have fitness books that recommend that I should be consuming 0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per body weight each day. I usually hit around 130-150g per day and I workout 3-4 times a week, 1-1.5hr per session. Also read that too much protein can make you fat. Anyone have any sites that can clear this info up? The ones I've been coming across are saying either or and I don't want to do my body any harm in the long terms of things.
HEy, Too Much Of Anything Can Make You Fat.... Moderation Is Key.. The Amount Of Protein You Take In Is Based Upon Your Goals And Generally For Fat Loss 1g / Lb Of LEAN Body Weight Is Recommended For Various Reasons. Layne Nortons Video Log Posted Above By Wetcoaster Is A Great Explanation Of Protein Intake Myths...
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ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »The word being missed out is "lean". 1g per lean kg of body mass.
The word being missed out is "minimum". That's the absolute ABSOLUTE minimum ANYONE should EVER consume on average. It's how much you need to not become deficient. It is not optimal even for a sedentary person.
According to the article, there is normally no advantage to consume anymore than 0.82g per lb. I think I'd prefer to go on a recommendation from some half decent research than a dude I don't know on an Internet forum.
"The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults get a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day (or 8 grams of protein for every 20 pounds of body weight). (1) The Institute of Medicine also sets a wide range for acceptable protein intake—anywhere from 10 to 35 percent of calories each day (same as the USDA btw). Beyond that, there’s relatively little solid information on the ideal amount of protein in the diet or the healthiest target for calories contributed by protein."
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/#ref1
Given a 2000 calorie a day diet, 30% of calories would be 667 or about 165-170g of protein. Harvard School of Public Health is a good enough source for me. Consider it a better source than some guy that quit being a consultant because he liked being in a gym.1 -
Make up your mind. You first stated 1gr per kg of lean mass, versus .82 per lb, which you are saying now. Which one is it cause 1 is about double the amount.
My word! It's not too difficult to notice that you have completely missed the point.
I, that's me, stated that the important part of the 1g per 1kg of protein thing was the omission of the word "lean". Are you with me so far? I didn't mention that I thought it was wrong, should be lower or should be higher. I'm not making a claim to tell you how much protein I think you, or anyone, should consume.
Secondly, I was referring to what that article summarised, I didn't put quotation marks around this: "there is normally no advantage to consume anymore than 0.82g per lb..."
I didn't write that, I'm quoting.
The broscience from all the magazines is 1g per lb of body weight, that article calls it a myth. Not me
Now, is there anything else I've done that you don't fathom?
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ivanfawcettgibson wrote: »
Make up your mind. You first stated 1gr per kg of lean mass, versus .82 per lb, which you are saying now. Which one is it cause 1 is about double the amount.
My word! It's not too difficult to notice that you have completely missed the point.
I, that's me, stated that the important part of the 1g per 1kg of protein thing was the omission of the word "lean". Are you with me so far? I didn't mention that I thought it was wrong, should be lower or should be higher. I'm not making a claim to tell you how much protein I think you, or anyone, should consume.
Secondly, I was referring to what that article summarised, I didn't put quotation marks around this: "there is normally no advantage to consume anymore than 0.82g per lb..."
I didn't write that, I'm quoting.
The broscience from all the magazines is 1g per lb of body weight, that article calls it a myth. Not me
Now, is there anything else I've done that you don't fathom?
"The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults get a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day (or 8 grams of protein for every 20 pounds of body weight). (1) The Institute of Medicine also sets a wide range for acceptable protein intake—anywhere from 10 to 35 percent of calories each day (same as the USDA btw). Beyond that, there’s relatively little solid information on the ideal amount of protein in the diet or the healthiest target for calories contributed by protein."
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/#ref1
Given a 2000 calorie a day diet, 30% of calories would be 667 or about 165-170g of protein (2000 calories a day or even a bit more would be very reasonable for a 170 bl individual). Harvard School of Public Health is a good enough source for me (plus the USDA has the same recommendations). Not really broscience. Consider them a better source than some guy that quit being a consultant because he liked being in a gym.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmV8BlsJTQ
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