Downside of too much protein
cstehansen
Posts: 1,984 Member
When I lost most of my excess weight in 2015, it was through lower carb but staying fairly low fat and high protein. As I have learned through Dr Fung, you want to lose some "lean mass" because some of that is excess skin. Below is a pic from December 2015 where the facial wrinkles are quite pronounced. Then there is a pic from this December where the wrinkles are significantly reduced since being LCHF for the last 5 months. Losing the beard helped with making me look a bit younger as well, but wanted to show one example of why too much protein while losing weight is not a good thing.
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Wow! Amazing change.0
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As a T2 diabetic, eating a low carb high protein diet can also result in a higher BG too. In my earlier attempts at going very low carb, I leaned too heavily on meat to overcome my carb cravings. It wasn't until I started swapping meat for fat that I really saw the BG plummet to new lows.4
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wow it almost looks like 2 different people2
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No way! You look like a different person. Good advice.0
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Thanks for sharing, very interesting!0
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Hey, high five! Congrats on your accomplishments!0
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Omg, you not only shaved off the beard, but it looks like 20 yrs as well. Good job!
Interestingly, I notice a lot of people like old classmates and such that are very wrinkly indeed. Most noticeably on my old high school teacher who is a registered dietician, who happened to be on TV. Her skin looked like 75+ yrs. I wonder if following the allegedly "heart healthy" diet of low sat fats and high plant and seed oils she taught us 30 yrs ago, made her even more wrinkly. She even talked about the "French Paradox". There's no paradox, only annoyingly inconsistent data contradicting Ancel Key's faulty conclusions.
I'm secretly smiling at all the fake "anti-wrinkle" creams. Gimme some bacon and people think I'm a decade younger!5 -
Dang, I might have to buy some Veet to get such a smooth & youthful baby face!5
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I think you look great man, and congrats on your losses.
I'm pretty skeptical of Fung's claim on this particular issue though. I don't think it's possible to somehow manipulate dietary protein in order to achieve protein breakdown and lean mass loss only in the skin. I would tend to think that if you're at the point that you're encouraging the loss of lean mass you'd also be risking unwanted lean mass loss to other areas as well.
EDIT: I would tend to think that you'd be better off with higher protein intakes for collagen production which would (at least I would think) promote firmer skin.
Either way, this isn't meant as a personal attack on you, you look great and congrats! I just am quite skeptical of the claim Fung is making.
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@cstehansen that is fantastic!1
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@SideSteel, it isn't just skin of course, there's a lot of connective tissue, etc. that needs to be gotten rid of too, plus if you think about it, as a lighter person, one doesn't need all the extra muscle to move around or even stay upright. It takes a lot more muscle for a 300 lb body to just stand/move/function than a 150 lb body. That extra muscle would be unnecessary, and yet a good supply of amino acids after breakdown. Many of Dr. Fung's nephrology practice patients have fasted for a month or more and yet they haven't lost necessary muscle mass. Yes, they have lost some muscle mass, because when the fat weight is lost there is less need for the supporting extra muscle tissue. It isn't that it's only in the skin that there is loss, but that's where it is most visually obvious.
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I think you look great man, and congrats on your losses.
I'm pretty skeptical of Fung's claim on this particular issue though. I don't think it's possible to somehow manipulate dietary protein in order to achieve protein breakdown and lean mass loss only in the skin. I would tend to think that if you're at the point that you're encouraging the loss of lean mass you'd also be risking unwanted lean mass loss to other areas as well.
EDIT: I would tend to think that you'd be better off with higher protein intakes for collagen production which would (at least I would think) promote firmer skin.
Either way, this isn't meant as a personal attack on you, you look great and congrats! I just am quite skeptical of the claim Fung is making.
Losing muscle is not something that appealed to me. I consistently did/do strength training. I think this is key in not losing needed lean mass and only losing/primarily losing only the lean mass that is no longer needed.
There is an older thread with a link for a study showing how the lean mass that is broken down will get repurposed within your body meaning you do not need as much in your diet as many people think.
Like everything else here, YMMV, but while losing weight, I do see the value in lowering protein.1 -
Foamroller wrote: »...
I wonder if following the allegedly "heart healthy" diet of low sat fats and high plant and seed oils she taught us 30 yrs ago, made her even more wrinkly. She even talked about the "French Paradox". There's no paradox, only annoyingly inconsistent data contradicting Ancel Key's faulty conclusions.
I'm secretly smiling at all the fake "anti-wrinkle" creams. Gimme some bacon and people think I'm a decade younger!
I love that phrase "French Paradox." An entire nation has shown something to be false (i.e., eating low fat equals health and beauty) but somehow the demonstrable facts continue to amaze and confound the powers that be. It's like that old joke about "Who are you going to believe: me or your own lying eyes?"3 -
Wow! Congrats!0
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Wow! What an amazing difference! I've been concerned about weight loss causing me to look more wrinkled but after looking at these photos I feel much better. My sister lost a lot of weight using a low fat diet and a prescription diet pill (since gained most of it back) and in doing so she got very wrinkled. So far I've not had that problem except a bit in the neck area. These photos give me hope that I won't experience the wrinkling that she did.2
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Awesome!0
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That's great! You look wonderful; thanks for sharing!
I did Dukan in the past to lose weight and I do remember noticing my facial skin getting visibly more wrinkled looking (I was 37 at the time; 3 years ago).
I've now eaten LCHF for a year and I'm curious now to do a photo comparison compared to 3 years ago.0 -
Wow! Who knew that LCHF could reverse wrinkles. Just another added bonus to this WOE!1
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Wow! Congrats on looking 20 years younger! 0
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