Too much protein

shawn3780
shawn3780 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I’m liking this plan. After years of trying to lose weight on my own, logging my food daily and tracking all the macros is definitely eye opening. I’m having trouble staying under my protein number. In the past I assumed that eating chicken and tuna was good, and bread and pasta were bad. I’m well under my carb, cholesterol, and sodium numbers. It would be nice to control my protein numbers and still be losing weight. I’ve lost about 60 pounds but I want to make sure I’m making healthy choices. Any advice?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Well, if you want to control your protein levels, you'll start doing that. I lost about 80 pounds eating at 35-50% carbs, 30-45% fats and 15-20% protein. For weight loss and weight maintenance it's all about calories. You do need a certain amount of fat and protein, but more than that is not any more or less "good" or "bad" unless you have health issues.

    What does your medical team say about the level of protein you eat now? It's just more expensive and turns into over-kill at some point.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,294 Member
    edited October 2022
    Not sure what too much protein looks like for you but it's probably the most important macro when losing weight in the context of protein synthesis for muscle preservation and cellular repair while in a caloric deficit. While insisting some foods are good or bad sounds logical in these days of total nutritional confusion there could be reasons why a particular food may not be ideal for the individual, but, it certainly is very fertile ground for charlatans and the food industrial complex to promote in order to separate us from our money.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Many people think of protein as a minimum, not something they need to stay under.

    Here's a reputable protein calculator:

    https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/

    I shoot for 400 - 500 calories of exercise per day, and when I achieve that, using the MFP default of 20% protein aligns with the protein recommendation from examine. If I were completely sedentary, I'd need to bump it up to 30%.
  • GloriaBJN
    GloriaBJN Posts: 78 Member
    edited October 2022
    The macros are a suggestion. You can adjust the macro percentages in the app if you want. Different diets give you different macro percentages. I consider the default macros to be the best for me and the easiest to maintain. A keto diet gives way more protein but people warn of not having enough carbs with that diet. I have diabetes in my family so I won't mess with the carbs, and keto is out for me, but if you look at the protein macros for keto you might feel better about your protein intake without having to actually go on the keto diet. I used to eat way too much spinach and my Vitamin A was seriously way too high. It's an eye opener for sure.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,294 Member
    edited October 2022
    GloriaBJN wrote: »
    The macros are a suggestion. You can adjust the macro percentages in the app if you want. Different diets give you different macro percentages. I consider the default macros to be the best for me and the easiest to maintain. A keto diet gives way more protein but people warn of not having enough carbs with that diet. I have diabetes in my family so I won't mess with the carbs, and keto is out for me, but if you look at the protein macros for keto you might feel better about your protein intake without having to actually go on the keto diet. I used to eat way too much spinach and my Vitamin A was seriously way too high. It's an eye opener for sure.

    A keto diet is around 15% protein, not what I would consider high. Low carb is generally considered high/er protein. I'm low carb and around 25% protein.
  • GloriaBJN
    GloriaBJN Posts: 78 Member
    neanderthin wrote: »
    GloriaBJN wrote: »
    The macros are a suggestion. You can adjust the macro percentages in the app if you want. Different diets give you different macro percentages. I consider the default macros to be the best for me and the easiest to maintain. A keto diet gives way more protein but people warn of not having enough carbs with that diet. I have diabetes in my family so I won't mess with the carbs, and keto is out for me, but if you look at the protein macros for keto you might feel better about your protein intake without having to actually go on the keto diet. I used to eat way too much spinach and my Vitamin A was seriously way too high. It's an eye opener for sure.

    A keto diet is around 15% protein, not what I would consider high. Low carb is generally considered high/er protein. I'm low carb and around 25% protein.

    I guess I was calling the low carb diet keto in error. Thanks for that correction.

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