How much Protein?

Silkysausage

Hello,

I actually don't want to lose weight, when I get my gains...it's going to take some time...I'm going to be eating more but of the correct food types. Will this app allow me to override the fact that it's more geared towards weight loss?

I also thought that this app would help me out with working out how much protein I should eat too?

Any help would be amazing, thank you

cwolfman13

When you put in your stats and goals, put it to gain weight...you can choose to gain, maintain, or lose. MFP's default macros are basically the minimum amount of protein for general health...you're going to want more. Probably around 1 gram per Lb of LBM.

Gallowmere1984

Yes, you can manually set calories, macros, etc. under your goals.

As for protein: up to you. I'd say bare minimum of 0.8-1g/lbs. LBM, but I've been known to go absurdly high (400+g/day) when bulking, just because I love protein rich foods.

Silkysausage

Thanks, I've read about the 1 gram per pound of body weight so I'll stick to that. I've got gallstones so I won't go crazy, the old body wouldn't cope I expect.

psuLemon

Silkysausage wrote: »

Thanks, I've read about the 1 gram per pound of body weight so I'll stick to that. I've got gallstones so I won't go crazy, the old body wouldn't cope I expect.

Gallstones are more directly related to fat and calorie restriction IIRC. But depending on if you are cutting, maintaining or bulk, there is a wide range that is acceptable.. but generally 1.5-2.2g/kg. At the higher end as you become more lean, increase training and are cutting weight.

mcraw75

Silkysausage wrote: »

Thanks, I've read about the 1 gram per pound of body weight so I'll stick to that. I've got gallstones so I won't go crazy, the old body wouldn't cope I expect.

1g per pound of lean body mass, not body weight.

se015

mcraw75 wrote: »

Silkysausage wrote: »

Thanks, I've read about the 1 gram per pound of body weight so I'll stick to that. I've got gallstones so I won't go crazy, the old body wouldn't cope I expect.

1g per pound of lean body mass, not body weight.

I've read people make that distinction. What happens if you do go over that following the lb per actual body weight instead of LBM, it can't hurt right?

psuLemon

Seth1825 wrote: »

mcraw75 wrote: »

Silkysausage wrote: »

Thanks, I've read about the 1 gram per pound of body weight so I'll stick to that. I've got gallstones so I won't go crazy, the old body wouldn't cope I expect.

1g per pound of lean body mass, not body weight.

I've read people make that distinction. What happens if you do go over that following the lb per actual body weight instead of LBM, it can't hurt right?

Nope. I do it for satiety.

deannalfisher

my RD has me on 1g protein per goal LMM - LMM right now is 110 (as of my body scan mid-feb), and I'm on 130g a day (overall weight is 149 currently)

AnnPT77

mcraw75 wrote: »

Silkysausage wrote: »

Thanks, I've read about the 1 gram per pound of body weight so I'll stick to that. I've got gallstones so I won't go crazy, the old body wouldn't cope I expect.

1g per pound of lean body mass, not body weight.

Not necessarily. Some people really do advocate something like 1g per pound of (a healthy goal) body weight, under the assumption that for many/most people that's an approximation for something in the range of 0.6-08g/pound of LBM.

Others advocate more like 1.2g/pound of healthy goal weight, an estimation for more like .8-1.0g/pound of LBM.

There's such endless debate about protein levels, and such different ways of expressing/estimating them (per pound LBM, per pound healthy body weight, per kg of either of those)!

It's not necessary to assume someone is using the wrong basis (LBM vs. healthy goal weight); they may just have a different opinion about the desirable protein level.

I usually express the goal in terms of pounds of healthy goal body weight, because most people don't have any accurate basis for estimating LBM. If you're going to approximate LBM roughly anyway, you might as well express the goal with the approximation built in, and save them some math, I figure.

Silkysausage

So...it's wrong then to use my weight per gram of protein? So confused by this as the programme has given me my goal to reach per day, how is it working it out if not by weight, it has no access to LBM??

trigden1991

Silkysausage wrote: »

So...it's wrong then to use my weight per gram of protein? So confused by this as the programme has given me my goal to reach per day, how is it working it out if not by weight, it has no access to LBM??

In the grand scheme of things it won't make any difference. Use your body weight, use 0.8-1.2 times that number and you're fine.

Protein is a nicety especially when bulking, focus on overall caloric intake.

psuLemon

Silkysausage wrote: »

So...it's wrong then to use my weight per gram of protein? So confused by this as the programme has given me my goal to reach per day, how is it working it out if not by weight, it has no access to LBM??

Some studies would suggest 1g per lb is more than adequate. Many base off lbm, but others can suggest higher. Personally, i go 1g per lb but has days of less.

AnnPT77

Silkysausage wrote: »

So...it's wrong then to use my weight per gram of protein? So confused by this as the programme has given me my goal to reach per day, how is it working it out if not by weight, it has no access to LBM??

You don't need protein in order to maintain fat mass - it's for maintaining non-fat mass (LBM).

If you're of reasonable (close to a healthy goal) weight, the difference is immaterial - extra protein won't hurt you, absent unusual health conditions.

If you're overweight or obese, it's fine to estimate your protein needs in term of grams per pound of healthy goal weight (while using protein grams scaled accordingly). If you agree with someone who says Xg per pound of lean body mass, then assume you have some non-LBM, and scale accordingly.

For most, this means assuming your LBM is 80% or less - likely much less, if obese. I figure 1g/pound of LBM is on the order of 0.6-0.8g/pound of healthy goal weight, depending on where you are now compared to healthy goal weight. When in doubt, absent disease considerations, eat on the side of more protein.

JMO, and both psulemon and trigden1991 are waaaaay more knowledgeable than I, no question. I yield to them. (I'm commenting because I perceive their answers as assuming you're somewhere in hailing distance of goal weight, and I don't know that. Maybe they know you, and you are.)

Obese people, using current body weight, sometimes get crazy-high (unachievable at calorie goal) protein levels. Eating for that, at their calorie goal, drives out other needed nutrition (healthy fat, fruits'n'veggies). Common sense rules, IMO. Yah, this is the recomp thread, so we assume people are at maintenance weight. Sometimes, people wander in who aren't.

Silkysausage

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Silkysausage wrote: »

So...it's wrong then to use my weight per gram of protein? So confused by this as the programme has given me my goal to reach per day, how is it working it out if not by weight, it has no access to LBM??

You don't need protein in order to maintain fat mass - it's for maintaining non-fat mass (LBM).

If you're of reasonable (close to a healthy goal) weight, the difference is immaterial - extra protein won't hurt you, absent unusual health conditions.

If you're overweight or obese, it's fine to estimate your protein needs in term of grams per pound of healthy goal weight (while using protein grams scaled accordingly). If you agree with someone who says Xg per pound of lean body mass, then assume you have some non-LBM, and scale accordingly.

For most, this means assuming your LBM is 80% or less - likely much less, if obese. I figure 1g/pound of LBM is on the order of 0.6-0.8g/pound of healthy goal weight, depending on where you are now compared to healthy goal weight. When in doubt, absent disease considerations, eat on the side of more protein.

JMO, and both psulemon and trigden1991 are waaaaay more knowledgeable than I, no question. I yield to them. (I'm commenting because I perceive their answers as assuming you're somewhere in hailing distance of goal weight, and I don't know that. Maybe they know you, and you are.)

Obese people, using current body weight, sometimes get crazy-high (unachievable at calorie goal) protein levels. Eating for that, at their calorie goal, drives out other needed nutrition (healthy fat, fruits'n'veggies). Common sense rules, IMO. Yah, this is the recomp thread, so we assume people are at maintenance weight. Sometimes, people wander in who aren't.

I'm 116 pounds and 5 foot 3", so yes I'm at an already ideal weight. I'm wanting to gain muscle and train quite hard for my female size 3 times per week.