I need to eat 370g of protein today? Huh...

batorkin

I did a lot of cardio today, burning 2600 calories according to my Garmin forerunner. My protein goal skyrocketed from 167g to 370g as a result. This seems really excessive.

Do I really need to consume more protein if I do cardio? I was under the impression you need about 1g/lb regardless of activity level when bulking.

Based on how macros are calculated, exercise calories should be added as 100% carbs and 0% protein and fat. With MFP Pro, this is possible to setup but I just want to make sure I'm not really suppose to be eating this much protein on an aggressive cardio day.

healingnurtrer

Based on what I've read, I think you're correct, exercise should increase your carbs not protein and fat

MikePTY

Macros are set up to a percentage. All macros will increase with exercise as to the levels they are set. 2600 exercise calories on top of your normal goal is a lot. That's like 4-5 hours of running for most people. So that may be exaggerated. But no, if you are taking in 4000-5000 calories in a day, your body will be taking in macro levels above really what you need for all of them, so you have flexibility. But yes 370 grams of protein would be excessive.

As you mentioned, premujm gives you more flexibility over how you set your macros. But as the default rule, for most exercise calories, increasing the protein as well is a good idea. If someone has a 1200 calorie goal and sets their protein to 20 or 25% of calories, and they burn 400 calories from exercise, it is beneficial to them to have their protein goal increased as well, as it will still be a reasonable and probably more beneficial number. Burning 2600 calories is the exception, not the rule, so if you burn that you are always going to get some screwed macros. But for most people, it's still a good idea to increase the macros.

edickson76

MFP calculates your calorie requirements without including exercise. If you determine your own total daily energy expenditure, you can just ignore the change that MFP gives with exercise. If you want to stick with the caloric changes that MFP gives, then ignore the change to protein. 1g/lb. is plenty.

Chieflrg

1g/lb bw is a catch all for most people.

If you are less male, eating in a deficit, nearing 50 years of age, have health conditions that effect your protein absorption for MPSb etc...you might want to target a tad higher.

.4g/lb bw for fat
Fill in the rest with carbs or what your pleasure.

Don't treat MFP's recommendation or adjustments as gold standard. Like @edickson76 srates the percentages will throw off the targets of macros when exercise is logged.